So you want to write for magazines! You've got the drive. You've got
the talent. You can almost see your name in print. But the competition is
stiff, and getting your foot in the door has been tricky. Until now...
Franklynn Peterson and Judi Kesselman-Turkel, who have sold
hundreds of articles to such outstanding publications as Fortune, Omni,
Family Circle, Woman's Day, McCall's, Playgirl, Popular Mechanics,
Seventeen, Science Digest, and House Beautiful - reveal their
inside know-how to help you achieve fast freelancing success. With their
30 years of experience on your side, you can't miss!
You'll learn valuable hints on how to write and do business like the
pros. Avoid the heartache of a woman who thought her article idea was
stolen by a dishonest editor. Conserve the time and energy wasted by the
man ho tried to sell a satire to a humorless magazine. With The
Magazine Writer's Handbook, you're guaranteed expertise on every
aspect of writing for magazines - from the initial story concept right
down to the final sale.
Complete with sample magazine articles and real-life anecdotes about
novice writers, The Magazine Writer's Handbook is the only advice
you'll ever need on how to break into print.
What the reviewers said:
"The authors, experienced as editors and as free-lancers, have
taught university courses on magazine writing. They illustrate their points with generous excerpts from published
articles, showing how articles are conceived, developed, and modified.
They urge cultivation of the ability to anticipate an editor's needs,
outlook, and probable reactions to submissions. 'Marketing' articles
is the theme that unites sections on picking ideas, the query letter,
slanting, focus, interviewing, research, exposition, using quotes and
anecdotes, and generally performing like a pro. This valuable book is
recommended for...practicing or aspiring magazine
writers."
—Library Journal
"Good book. Good advice. The authors give a realistic,
detailed picture of the job of free-lance magazine writing....They cover
both the creative and the business aspects of magazine writing.
They include how to study the markets, list the important reference
tools, demonstrate article formats and give examples of query letters.
They discuss researching and rewriting, sales tactics and collecting
money. Along with tips on successful interviewing, they discuss
the pros and cons of using a tape recorder. There is information
on taxes and the best explanation of the new copyright laws I've ever
seen. Each point is illustrated with published articles or
anecdotes. From
writing techniques to preparing the final manuscript, this handbook
contains everything a serious writer needs to know. The authors are
generous, honest, and obviously practice what they preach."
—Kliatt
"An essential resource for
freelancers who want to break into the magazine marketplace, or lift
their writing career to the next level--and beyond."
—Lisa Collier Cool, national magazine award winner
and Past President of the American Society of Journalists and Authors
Find out what
our readers said
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Click here to order an autographed copy.

an excerpt from The Magazine Writer's Handbook:
Introduction to the Second Revised
Edition
Dear Frank and Judi,
It isn’t very often that I come
across a book that evokes a spontaneous “I wish I’d written that!” Your
Magazine Writer’s Handbook is one of my favorites. I can’t
imagine why I never found the book before this year!
Although I
already knew practically everything covered, I read the book with
interest and enjoyment. And I was grateful to be reminded of some areas
I’d half-forgotten. This is a valuable book for the beginner, the
intermediate writer, and the well-seasoned professional. The information
it contains is outstanding and the writing is superb.
It is
with great pleasure that I recommend The Magazine Writer’s Handbook
to my writing classes. I just want to thank you again for doing such a
wonderful job.
Cordially,
Louise Purwin Zobel,
Professor of Journalism, San Jose State University, author, The Travel
Writer’s Handbook (Writer’s Digest Books); contributor to Better Homes
and Gardens, Bride’s Magazine, House Beautiful, Medical Economics,
Modern Maturity, Parents Magazine and newspapers around the country.
This delightful letter arrived in our mail four years after Frank and I
first wrote The Magazine Writer’s Handbook. The funny thing is, we
wrote it because we needed a textbook. We’d been teaching courses and
seminars in magazine writing, first in New York City and on Long Island,
and then with the outreach arm of the University of Wisconsin. We’d been
looking for a good textbook for serious students, with no luck. Most books
on writing didn’t even explain what a query is, much less how to write
one--and the query is the one tool you need most to sell a magazine
article. Few showed how to write a good lead, or how to find live experts
(and interview them once you found them). Not one demonstrated the work
that must go into writing a final draft for submission.
So we wrote the
book we needed for our courses--and soon began getting heartwarming
letters like the one from Louise, reproduced here with her kind
permission. To our pride and satisfaction, we heard that other journalism
professors were using the book in colleges around the country. We also
heard that several top magazine editors were recommending it to favorite
novice writers. Long after the first and second editions sold out, we were
thrilled when University of Wisconsin Press wanted to publish this updated
edition.
Re-reading the prior editions carefully, we’ve seen little
change in magazine publishing in twenty-two years. The only major
innovation has been technologic. Computers are here to stay, and they’ve
greatly evolved since the 1982 edition. They’re a boon to magazine
writers, making short work of sending out many queries on the same topic
and making it easy to resell reworked articles many times over.
Since
1982, many magazines have folded and new ones have popped up; some have
moved or been bought by other publishers. Editors have retired, moved up
on the masthead, or jumped to better-paying jobs. In their place are new,
unseasoned editors full of drive and anxious to discover new writers. In
the intervening twenty-five years, several magazines raised their fees to
free lancers; others lowered already low fees. A few more fiction markets
opened up, but they faded just as fast. Otherwise, every word in the first
edition is as true today as when we wrote it.
This excerpt is copyrighted. Readers may print one copy for their own
use. If you want to print more than one copy of any excerpt, or would like an
article on another topic written for publication, email
the authors by clicking here.