Getting Started (Part 7):
More Marketing Secrets
By Joanne Kiggins

NOTE: Apologies are in order once again for my absence. I’ve always said there’s no excuse for not writing, unless you’ve been hit by a truck, are sick in the hospital, or grieving a family member’s death. Unfortunately, since my last column, I’ve experienced all three. I was hit by a truck on an Interstate coming home from a well-needed vacation, which did land me in the hospital for cervical spine surgery, and I recently became a widow, hence the return of my maiden name. I’m well on the road to recovery, writing and ready to get something accomplished, and hoping for a great year in 2005. 

Now let’s Get Started! 

At the end of my last column I promised to help you learn how to market your articles best by giving you tips on obtaining marketing information, writers’ guidelines, and copies of magazines without it sending your budget into the next millennium. 
 
OBTAINING MARKETING INFORMATION 

Let me begin with how to find markets that you would be proud to have publish your work. 
 
BEFORE you begin to jot down a list of magazines to target, have this list handy and make notes. 

Make a list. You’ll want to know what type of person will be reading your article and what areas (geographically) the magazine covers. Most of this information can be found in Writer’s Market. Look for the circulation numbers. Sometimes they even list what type of articles they are looking for. Check under “Special Sections” in the listing. 

Is the magazine aimed at women or men?   Or is it geared for both sexes? Depending on the type of writing you do, this could be your first clue as to which magazines to target.

What age group does the magazine target? Is it a teen, adult, or senior magazine? Age is important. If you’re writing a retirement article, you don’t want to send it to a teen magazine.

Price of the magazine is important too. How much the reader is willing to spend on a magazine can make a big difference. For example, I recently browsed two “general interest” magazines that seemed to be similar; however, one contained advertising for very expensive clothing and perfumes, while the other contained advertising for Wal-Mart and Sears. Make sure your article would be appealing for the magazine reader’s income bracket.

Geographical lifestyles are a major issue to watch in any magazine you plan to target. Magazines that target women may still have very different readership. One may be more for the sophisticated, another may lean more toward the housewife or office worker, yet another may clearly target sport-oriented women. So if the magazine is geared toward a geographic area that has potato farming, don’t send an article about how to look your best at the office.  

Geographical areas are also very important. Make sure you know what regions the magazines send its distribution. You don’t want to send an article about skiing to a regional publication in Florida (unless of course, it’s a travel magazine or you have seen travel articles in the publication by reviewing past issues). 

Never aim too high. Most beginning writers shoot off a finished article to some of the leading women’s magazines and get let down by a rejection. Why? Because if you have bothered to check the articles in Redbook, Family Circle, or Ladies Home Journal, you’ll find that they can afford to pay well-known writers for an exclusive peek at a novelette. So you are competing with the best. Start small and work your way up to the big magazines. 

Remember, when you start gathering back issues, check the advertising in every magazine you would like to target. Advertising is one of the biggest clues to the magazine’s audience. 

Now that you know what to look for when targeting a magazine for your particular writing style, make the list of magazines you want to target and get ready to start finding back issues to study them. Next column we’ll help you find free sample issues and writers’ guidelines. 
 
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FROM READERS (Questions have been cut and pasted here from the emails.) 

This question is from Dara: 

I'm very interested in writing about a portion of my life. Many legal professionals are strongly advising me to tell the story. Unfortunately, a lot of it is very unpleasant and I realize I am taking a shot in the dark here. I just don't know where/how to start. Writing classes are out; I'm in a Northern City and funds are limited. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The true story is about a man who stalks, harasses and keeps reappearing. It's sick, sad, perverse, and damn pathetic, but maybe it's time it was told in book form. 

Thanks for your time
DD 
 
ANSWER: 

Dear DD, 

Most people have something in life that either deserves or “needs” to be written. Most experiences such as these become books. So I’m going with the idea that you are considering writing a book-length manuscript. 

My suggestion would be to make up your mind as to whether or not you have it in you to “re-live” this story. Then ask yourself if you’re ready for the repercussions that may come from it being published. If nothing else, for publishing or not, write it just to get it out of your system. 

If you haven’t already begun writing, do the following things:

Make a list of characters that will be in the story.

Write a time line. This involves setting the length of time the story will entail. Is it over a period of weeks, months or years? For example: if this is something that was ongoing, then each year could be a chapter.

Jot down notes of circumstances that stand out most in your mind from the experience. (Each of these circumstances can be the main focus of each chapter, and as you write you will expand on the events.)

Beside these notes, write a short sentence as to why it should or shouldn’t be included in the story.

Then write down what makes your story different from others you may have read and what about your experience would make it appeal to a readership. Determining what type of book it will be, an autobiography or a self-help book like David Pelzer’s A Child Called It, can determine how you set out to tell the story. 
Is this experience something that is disturbingly different from someone else’s already on the market? If so, why? While answering this, ask who would be interested in reading this? After all, writing it is one thing; if you’re looking to publish it, it has to be something extraordinary and quite astonishing from what is already published. 

I hope this has helped some, DD, but please remember to ask yourself all these questions and write your answers down before deciding. 

Good luck,
Joanne
 
-Joanne will accept questions by email about writing from readers and answer those questions in her column.

E-mail Joanne: joannedkiggins@comcast.net. 

Visit her site at http://home.comcast.net/~joannedkiggins

Joanne (Stanko) Kiggins has published more than 2,500 articles. She was award recipient of the 1990 Woman of the Year for Beaver County, Pennsylvania, for her accomplishments in her community and excellence in journalism. 

She was on the staff of Slippery Rock University teaching her copyrighted writing course "Sell What You Write" and creative and freelance writing. She has appeared on television and radio, hosted several writers' conferences, and spoken at many conferences and writer's organizations. Her most recent articles were published in ByLine Magazine, AbsoluteWrite.com, and Moondance.org.

For more columns by Joanne (Stanko) Kiggins, please click here.

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