How to find markets for the 'short personality piece'?

Layla Nahar

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Hi All -

I want to start writing for magazines & the easiest place I think I can get started is writing little (300-900w) profiles about interesting people.

I went to my local library with high hopes of finding 5-10 magazines with this type of article so I could get a feel for the composition & such like but my library had no magazines with any kind of articles like that. Well, the craft beer one had an article about a guy who breeds strains of yeast... But that's a whole different ball game, I think. I was hoping to start with sort of human-interest profiles based on people I know either directly or by association.

So my first question is - how can I find magazines that use these kind of stories?

& I guess the second is - is there a way to find people like the yeast guy, so that I can sell them to some kind of specialty magazine? How would you go about doing something like that?

Thanks -
LN
 

Angie

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Hi, Layla -

Unfortunately, I don't know of a lot of magazines that do this. You're better off looking at the magazines you'd be interested in writing for, analyzing the kinds of articles they publish, and then come up with a story idea that fits one of those formats. Trying to work the other way around can just get frustrating, for the reason you noted - it's hard to find magazines that publish the type of article you want to write.
 

gettingby

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If you want to write profile pieces, try to find a newsy or timely reason people will want to read about the person you are profiling. I don't think the beer example is really a different game. If you have access to someone doing something interesting like this, it could work well for a niche publication.

One thing I want to warn you against is using friends as sources. You may think you are doing a nice piece, but then the person you interviewed commits a crime or makes it into the news for something less favorable. An editor might then ask you to take the piece in a different direction and if you say "But this is my friend" the editor could likely say "What are you doing interviewing friends? This is about journalism, not friendship." I have worked with a lot of editors who thought this way. I was even asked about a piece "This is not a friend of yours, is it?" And it wasn't. Just keep in mind that if you are writing for magazines or newspapers, you are not doing PR. Understanding that difference will help strengthen the piece and help you sell the story and/or profile you are pitching.

As far as finding these interesting people and stories, it is journalism 101. Get out there, Put yourself out there. Read the newspaper. You might come across someone in a news story saying something interesting that will lead you to believe a closer look at him or her could make for a good profile piece. Like if there was a story about a dozen new businesses coming to a small town, and one of those businesses was a lipstick shop, selling only lipstick. The owner says in the news story, that her formula is a family secret. Now, the lipstick shop owner was only a small part of the news story, but Cosmo or Marie Claire might take a profile on this woman and her lipsticks.

I will add that I worked for more than one publication that did all of its profiles in house.

Check out your local newspapers. A lot of them have sections for this and need to fill that section regularly. The pay won't be the same as some magazines, but it could be a place to start. Good luck!
 

Layla Nahar

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You're better off looking at the magazines you'd be interested in writing for, analyzing the kinds of articles they publish, and then come up with a story idea that fits one of those formats.

So intimidating...

but it makes sense...

(I'm one of those people who is really chicken to put myself out there. Not a lot of confidence.)

Welp. Nothing to it but to do it, as they say.
 

Layla Nahar

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Thanks gettingby - lots to think about.

As above, I'm a very un-confident person. Fiction is nice because you can hide behind it. But a lot of the wisdom I've been seeing lately is that writing for magazines is some good bread & butter between (fiction) sales. The brings me up against the kind of lack of confidence that makes it hard for me to make decisions and take actions... :(

As above: Welp, nothing to it but to do it.
 
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melindamusil

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Layla, this is one of those cases where you have to "just do it". Sending my first query email was scary, but once you get over that hump, it does get easier.

I wouldn't say it ever goes away entirely - I recently wrote an article that is extremely personal, and sending it to editors is still scary. And yes, you WILL get rejections - not necessarily because your writing is poor, but often because you article doesn't fit with the magazine right now. You just have to take the leap!