Do you have dreams of getting featured in national magazines?
Have you seen how many of the Big Me Uppers get in week after week.
We love it!
I used to work for the magazine market when it exploded onto the supermarket shelves back in the early 90’s.
I know, I’ve been around a while – more than 25 years in the industry.
They would pay silly money for features back then and they couldn’t get enough of you.
Nowadays there’s not the money around and everyone is vying for a piece of the pie so competition is a bit fiercer.
It’s a specialist area too with rules of their own and a very different format to the newspapers.
We used to call the writing flowery – which meant you could write much more than you would for a paper and you could throw is a lot more description than when you wrote for the tabloids.
It’s called feature writing.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to be a writing expert – leave that to the journalists.
You just need to have a great story idea and let them take care of the rest.
Here are my 8 wins when it comes to getting your name out there in the glossies.
1: Pitch your idea 3 to 6 months ahead of schedule as this is how far in advance they work.
2: Visit Journorequest daily on Twitter if you are serious about writing for magazines and reply to journalist requests.
3: Make friend with the “stringers” or freelance journalists on Twitter and put them in a Twitter List so you can see what they are working on all the time and keep up with current trends.
4: Put a note in your diary to reach out to your journalist contacts at least every 90 days.
5: When pitching ideas magazines love new trends, new research, or an unusual angle on a big story.
6: Check the headlines on magazines in supermarkets to see what stories are selling copies.
7: Back up or “qualify” everything you claim in your article with links to research.
8: Follow up, follow up, and follow up. When I was an editor I often published those writers I knew were all in.
Above all else the key to getting printed is being persistent and never give in.
If you follow the rules above you have an amazing chance to get featured in the national press.
The question is – what do you do then?
I’ll cover that in my blog on Wednesday.
Yvonne “love a bit of flowery writing” Radley xx
If you would like more advice and help getting media for your business join my FREE media challenge HERE
