THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING & SELLING MAGAZINE ARTICLES by Peggy Fielding and Dan Case, not only tells you what subjects to write about but also where to go to get help with your writing.

The book warns that in order to be considered a professional by editors, publishers and contest judges, you need to choose the right subjects but you must also lay your work out in the correct manner. THE GUIDE shows you the way to make your work look really good, really finished, really professional.

The inspirational pep talks are in themselves worth the cost of the book. When you read of the successes of other writers and how they did it, you realize that you too, can do it; Researching writing and selling your nonfiction articles. Following Case and Fielding's directions can shorten the time from WANTING to write to REACHING the goal of publication for pay.

Their formula for writing magazine articles might be the only help you need to put your career on the right track if you've already been fooling around with writing in some way. They put your pen or typewriter or computer on the EXACT path that leads to the goal you always wanted to attain. The book actually makes formatting an article easy to do.

And the book offers the secrets of sidebars and ways of illustrating your piece which can add a good many dollars to your every sale. You'll actually learn what a sidebar is and what it can do for your work.

The big deal in the book comes in Chapter Seven where you learn all about the secret key to selling your articles and it gives you a step-by-step way to go about preparing and using that key.

Chapter Fifteen reveals another secret piece of information, something that Fielding and Case say is not known even by editors… even though they recognize it when it's missing.

Markets, addresses for email contacts and a world of other stuff make this book an absolute necessity for people who want to sell what they write.

The real clincher: It is fun to read and the many "Chicken Writer" cartoons are hilarious. Get a copy now.

Review:

REVIEW By Pat Wade for Writing for DOLLARS!

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING AND SELLING MAGAZINE ARTICLES
By Peggy Fielding and Dan Case

ISBN: 0-9707507-0-6
AWOC.COM Publishing

Do you have a shelf full of books about writing magazine articles? You can replace them all with The Complete Guide to Writing and Selling Magazine Articles. It gives you everything you need in clear, concise, and fun-to-read prose, and it's available in hard copy or electronic format. Caution: You can read it in a day, but you will keep it for a lifetime.

The Complete Guide gives you not only instructions but also inspiration. Best of all, if you follow the instructions and "…can write a complete sentence in English," you'll be a published writer.

Skeptical? Consider what The Complete Guide to Writing and Selling Magazine Articles reveals:

Is this information a secret? No, but Fielding did the research for you, and she organized it with insight and humor. To make certain you're amused, Dan Case added original Chicken Writer cartoons. They're sure to keep you smiling.

You'll learn the top five article topics that sell and a method to mine your own experience. If you don't consider yourself an expert, you will when you've finished the first chapter. Fielding's step-by-step technique for uncovering your areas of expertise is easy and effective.

Part of the success of this book is the fact that Fielding uses good writing techniques to entice you from one chapter to the next. Who doesn't appreciate a good "page turner," and how many times are you compelled to read each new chapter in a reference book? You'll have that impulse here.

While Fielding admits to being "technically challenged," Case has helped her join the 20^th Century and is working to "…bring her into the 21^st Century." She has included a number of internet Learning references along with time honored reference book titles, "background" reading materials, and tips for making the best use of them.

Have you ever wondered how editors make buying decisions? Undoubtedly you've read books or articles and thought, "I could do a better job." Fielding outlines the practices that assure your manuscript will find it's way to an editor's desk and be read.

While Fielding shares her knowledge and experience about writing, submitting, and running a writing business, Case provides information on how to make the best use of electronic writing tools for both your articles and queries. He has excellent advice for novice and experienced computer users. You'll learn why the experienced person is more likely to make mistakes on e-submissions.

His e-tools chapter contains solid advice and references. In addition to the technical information, Case includes an extensive Appendix of magazines with succinct comments on their content, payment structure, and the URLs for guidelines. With this resource, you can get a magazine's latest guidelines any time you need them.

The list includes well-known titles like Field & Stream, but many of the names will be unfamiliar. That's encouraging. It adds the reassurance that there are far more possibilities for getting published than you realized.

This is just a sample of the valuable information in this book. The longer you own The Complete Guide to Writing and Selling Magazine Articles, the more you'll understand why it's the only book on the subject that you need, whether it's on your bookshelf or on your hard drive.

Excerpt:

What To Write About

If you want to write articles for magazines you're on the right track. Nonfiction articles are among the easiest of all written materials to sell. If you can write a complete sentence in English, you can be a writer, if you really want to. By following the instructions in this book you will put yourself on the right track toward seeing your words in print as well as helping yourself toward cashing those checks. All you must do is write every day, then market what you write. Concentration on your subject, commitment to your work, and maintenance of your confidence in allowing yourself to submit your work, will make you into a practicing writer in a short time.

There are, of course, some secrets to selling. We will take you by the hand and bit by bit we will lead you through the processes required for becoming a selling writer.

"But what shall I write about?" you ask. Let's start there.

A BILLION SUBJECTS

There are innumerable subjects that you can write and sell. But just to give ourselves a bit of an edge, let's talk about the top six subjects which appear in the magazines you read every day. These are the subjects that American readers are most interested in seeing in their magazines,

If you think sex is the subject that is of most interest to American readers, you're close but only partly right. Sex, love and human relations are actually fifth down the line. The truth is most readers are more interested in family, children and parenting than in all other subjects. Probably every editor knows that.

Second on the list of subjects we long to read about are health, disease, and medicine. If you can write about a new disease or about a new cure for an old disease, you'll have a sure sale.

American readers' third interest is in money, business and the state of the economy... which doesn't mean we're greedy. It's just that we use money as the marker of our success.

Our fourth subject is...yeah, sports, hobbies and the great outdoors. Basketball or motorcycles will beat out war every time with our audience.

Then comes sex, love and human relations.

Our readers want to improve themselves, so one of the top selling subjects can be any form of psychological, spiritual, or physical self-improvement. "Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better!" is our motto.

There you have it

Become an expert in any of these top subjects and you will be able to write and sell with no problem. Be able to combine some of these subjects as an expert and you've given yourself a tiny edge in the race to market your articles, well into the foreseeable future.

BODIES OF KNOWLEDGE

Aside from the subjects above, what can you find to write about in the nonfiction area? You'd probably be surprised at the bodies of knowledge which you already carry with you. Lay hands on a few index cards or pieces of paper and answer the following questions, one per card. You end up with a handful of subjects which will require little or no research when you splinter them into tiny pieces to build articles. Your bodies of knowledge make easy stuff to write about.

1. What jobs (other than writing) have you held in your lifetime? Each job you list offers all sorts of material for presentation as articles. Sold insurance? Article: "What Type of Insurance Should Every Family Member Carry?" Worked in real estate? Article: "Ten Easy Things To Do To Make Your Property More Salable."

2. What jobs did your husband or wife hold? Use those spouses for all they've worth.

3. What is your hobby? Favorite sport?

4. What is your spouse's hobby or sport?

5. Have you had children (stepchildren)? What a gold mine those kids can be! Remember the top six subjects magazines want?

6. Have you or any of your family had a disease of any kind? This is a particularly good body of knowledge if the disease is rare and the symptoms are really horrid.

7 Have you fallen in (or out of) love? Are you married? Divorced? Widowed? Use a separate card for each "yes" answer.

8. Where have you lived?

After you've answered all eight questions you can start another set of cards about two or three subjects you have always wanted to learn about. Anthropology? Diamonds? Politics? With these new cards, you've just given yourself enough ammunition to last you through years of sales of articles.

All of these cards which you've answered lay out invaluable bodies of knowledge which you own and can now mine for information. Those cards stand for the things you want to learn. They can give you tons more articles to write. See how easy your bodies of knowledge can make you writing job?

There is one caution. There is no use writing all these articles until you've had a show of interest from an editor. That's the great news about nonfiction writing. You sell it before you write it. There is a key to selling the articles that your bodies of knowledge can generate. We'll look at that key in a later chapter.