Market Round-Up April 2007© Jodi
M. Webb –
All Rights Reserved
Teacher, bookkeeper, waitress, nanny,
saleswoman…these are just a few of the jobs I had on the way to becoming a
writer. Instead of lines on my resume I’d rather forget, they’ve become
experience that I’ve turned into assignments working for trade magazines. At
first glance, trade magazines look like a market for highly technical
articles written by industry experts. That’s true, but there are other ways
to get into the less competitive (but still paying) trade market.
First, profile articles. You need access
to an industry insider and a basic understanding of the business to
determine what questions to ask but basically an interview is an interview.
I interviewed the president of an international model train company after a
visit to their website and a quick cram session with my train fanatic
neighbor.
Second, be in a profession universal to
every business. All business owners needs to know how to retain (or fire)
employees, spend their advertising budget effectively, or build a website.
Third, can your hobby or profession lead
to assignments in related fields? Experience as a teacher led me to articles
for a toy industry journal. Your love of yoga could land you an article on
yoga adapted for sitting positions in an office manager magazine.
Fourth, general articles. Many trade
magazines also run articles on travel, health, history of their industry (do
you like to do research?), and others that don’t require any special
industry knowledge.
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In addition to technical
information on trucks used for long hauling, The Road King
is also for the people who drive the trucks. They run many
lifestyle articles: tourist attractions, health and
nutrition, interesting Internet sites, nurturing
long-distance relationships, even traveling with a pet.
Writer’s Guidelines:
http://www.roadking.com/writers-guidelines/
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Bee Culture is a
highly technical publication but is also looking for
business management articles, both interviews with
successful beekeepers to discover their secrets and
more general articles: advertising, extending your
customer base, etc.
Writer’s Guidelines:
http://www.beeculture.com/content/WritersGuidelines.pdf
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Jodi’s Tip:
Remember those dreaded employee evaluations
that you suffered through every three months in the 9 to 5 world? Well, now
that you’re the boss you have even more reason for those periodic
evaluations. We’re all creatures of habit and easily slip into a comfortable
spot. It’s time to stop and ask yourself—what types of writing do I want to
do? Why am I constantly passing up postings for press release writers in
favor of parenting and lifestyle articles? Do I need to take a class, hone
my craft doing freebies for non-profits, or just give myself a pep talk?
There are hundreds of different writing jobs--don’t fall into a writing rut.
There’s no boss to give you a promotion. So promote yourself to gardening
writer, catalog copy writer, or business plan writer.
About the author:
Jodi M. Webb spent years writing articles for
dozens of magazines such as Pennsylvania Magazine, American Profile, and
Christian Science Monthly. But recently she’s been discovering a wonderful
new market: business writing. Her new specialty includes catalog copy,
customer newsletters, and writing in the voice of her alter-ego the
Organizer Genie. Like every writer Jodi feels she has a book(or two…or
three) in her but she hasn’t managed to get an agent or publisher to agree
with yet. Stay tuned for updates!
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