Finding The Bacon
By Meg Weaver

Trade magazines are often overlooked as good markets for freelancers because the pay is usually miniscule.

But if you are a new writer, they can provide a place to break in and put some valuable clips in your portfolio.  A clip from a trade mag may not land you an article in a top magazine like ROSIE, or a magazine with the wide distribution of AMERICAN PROFILE, but they may provide you a gig with a smaller publication, which in turn may get you that assignment that leads you to a call from ROSIE...

In other words, manage your clips portfolio; don't let its content just happen.  Set your goal and plan how to get the clips that will get you there.  A long-time goal of mine is to one day be published in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and before my business began to take most of my time, I wrote for small local magazines, which provided the clips to eventually get in with AUDUBON, DISCOVERY and SUNSET, which provided the clout to query NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.  Alas, I have yet to get an assignment from them.  But I'm still trying.

Trade magazines, however, require in-depth professional knowledge.  You're writing for readers, who work in the field and they are looking to you for advice.  But check out your "day-job" duties and you'll probably find something you're an expert in and which can be turned into an article. Then go looking for the trade magazines published for readers interested in your topic, like EOM below is for mapping professionals.

EOM
EOM, Inc
PO Box 3623
Littleton, CO 80161-3623
Phone: (303) 713-9500
Fax: (303) 713-9944
Website: www.eomonline.com 

E-queries: Yes
Contact: Roland Mangold
Email: editorial@eomonline.com 
Writer's guidelines online:
http://www.eomonline.com/Common/Editguidelines/editguide.html 
Pays: $0.05 to $0.10 per word
Photos, graphics and other illustration: Yes, but they are considered part of the article - no additional payment.
Rights: All Rights
Description: This is a trade magazine for "earth observation and geographic mapping."
Circulation: 30,000
Needs: According to their 2002 editorial calendar, the August issue will deal with the environment and the September issue with petroleum.

************************************************

ROSIE
Gruner + Jahr USA Publishing
375 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10017-5514
Phone: (212) 499-1772
Fax: (212) 499-1778
Website: www.rosiemagazine.com 

E-queries: No.  And in general, they prefer to receive query letters rather than completed manuscripts - except for submissions to their "'Say So" and "On Being" sections.
Contact: Leslie Smith
Writer's guidelines online: No
Pays: $0.75 to $1.25 per word
Rights: First North American Serial Rights
Description Rosie is trying to position itself as a lifestyle magazine, rather than a traditional women's service magazine.
Circulation: 1,350,000

************************************************

AMERICAN PROFILE
341 Cool Springs Blvd., Suite 400
Franklin, TN 37067
Phone: (615) 468-6000
Fax: (615) 468-6100
E-mail: editorial@americanprofile.com 
Website: www.americanprofile.com 

E-queries: No
Contact: Editorial Department/Queries
Writer's guidelines online: http://www.americanprofile.com/aboutus/writers.asp 
Pays: $0.25 per word to $1.00 per word
Rights: First Rights
Electronic Rights: All Electronic Rights for six months
Description: American Profile's audience is hometown America.  They seek articles that are "useful, informative, human, and concise; full of detail and color."
Circulation: 1,800,000
Fiction: No
Needs: Coverage of people, places, or events.
Note: This is a weekly publication, distributed as a Sunday supplement in local and regional newspapers.

************************************************

EXOTIC PLACES TO RETIRE
Places To Retire, Inc
54 Elgin Street
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 3N2
Phone: (705) 670-8099
Fax: (705) 670-9097
Website: www.exoticplacestoretire.com 

Writer's guidelines online: No.  This magazine does not provide writer's guidelines but the editor writes: "We invite experienced professional writers and photographers to contact us if interested in assignments for our two publications, EXOTIC PLACES TO RETIRE and PLACES TO RETIRE IN CANADA.  Please complete the contact information form on the website and press "submit."
Pays: $0.05 per word to $0.10 per word
Rights: All Rights
Description: Exotic Places to Retire explores lifestyle options for retirees.
Circulation: 185,000

************************************************

THE GOOD LIFE
Panache Publishing, Inc
PO Box 4400
Austin, TX 78765
Phone: (512) 474-1022
Fax: (512) 474-5725
Website: www.goodlifemag.com 

E-queries: Yes
Contact: Ken Martin
Email: editor@goodlifemag.com 
Writer's guidelines online: http://www.goodlifemag.com/writers.html 
Pays: $0.10 per word to $0.13 per word
Rights: First North American Serial Rights
Electronic Rights: Electronic rights for one month
Description: The Good Life is "for and about the people of Central Texas,
who live and work in the five counties that make up the Austin metropolitan
area."
Circulation: 20,000

These markets are brought to you by Wooden Horse Publishing - a news and
resource site for article writers at http://www.woodenhorsepub.com.  Check
it out for the latest magazine news and markets, markets, markets.

Interview With Susan Bays, Independent Publisher
By Gloriana

Susan Stites Bays publishes under the name of Susan Bays, and writes as Susan Stites.  She owns and operates Arbutus Press, a small independent company that publishes nonfiction subjects relating to Michigan and the Midwest only. Arbutus Press flourishes due to Susan’s skills, resourcefulness and drive.  Here, Susan shares some of her secrets—how she began, what she’s learned along the way, and her vision of the future.

Tell us about your company in its present state.

Arbutus Press is still a very small publishing company with a bright future.

What got you into self-publishing?

It all started under the name Discovery Travel Tours, a production company for audio travel tour tapes. After some success with writing a script, hiring an announcer, booking studio time, finding an artist for cover art, ordering jewel cases and J-card inserts, and selecting music or sound effects for audio, a 60-minute audio cassette tape describing Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore found its way into the marketplace. That was in 1989.  It is still stocked through regional bookstores.

I guess that venture got my feet wet. Actually, it was total immersion into the exciting field of writing and producing.

To read the rest of this column, click here.