Showing posts with label Editing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Editing. Show all posts
Magazine Articles: The Ten Golden Rules
| Most magazines, especially women's magazines, are full of feature articles. If your aim is to write this kind of article, here are ten rules that will help put your work at the top of the pile! For most people, magazines are a treat, a small indulgence that they buy for themselves as a little luxury. For some it's a contented lunch or evening read. These readers expect to be entertained, informed and amused so features need to be sharp and to the point whilst still being readable and interesting. The following ten points will help you, as a writer, craft your features to fit almost any niche in any magazine feature article. 1. Do your own research. Magazine editors are savvy creatures and they'll spot a composite, internet-trawled piece a mile off. I'm not saying don't use the web for research - just make very sure that the article your write is truly yours and in your own 'voice'. 2. Study the trends of the magazine you're writing for. A good place to look is in the ads columns - who are they targeted at? What kinds of products do they feature? This can give an you an excellent idea of both the magazine's typical reader and what style of writing you may have to adopt. 3. Use the first paragraph to tell the reader just why they should read your feature article. Explain the core of your article here and get all the article benefits in as early as possible. 4. Don't leave any questions hanging in the air. This article is yours - you are the expert of the moment and your reader will expect everything you say to be accurate and informative. Don't be vague on any points - do more research and find the answer! 5. If you are reviewing a product, try and test it personally. Rather than give sterile specifications and measurements, include your opinion - but make it clear that it is your opinion. If you have had a product on test, give a verdict. People will expect it. 6. Keep your writing style as simple as possible. This may not be easy if your article is all about particle physics or celestial mechanics but avoid using flowery language and overlong words. Your readers don't want to have to refer to a dictionary to understand what they're reading! 7. Give some thought to what the people feel who buy the magazine your article will appear in when they pick it up from the newsstand. Most readers say that a magazine is definitely a form of diversion and some comfort they're seeking. It's up to you to help fulfil that need. 8. Try to be as much like your readers as possible. If they can't identify with you as a person, they're unlikely to have any great interest in what you write, no matter how topical or potentially interesting it may be. Also - don't brag. Even if you're fortunate enough to have a second home and an ocean-going yacht - don't boast. Readers need to feel empathy with the writer, not be alienated by their snobbery or smugness. 9. If you are lucky enough to be writing your feature article about a celebrity you have interviewed, try to throw in one or two surprise questions. Not embarrassing ones, of course - more along the lines of 'If someone stole your handbag/wallet, what would you miss most?' Such questions give an insight into the person being interviewed and add a great deal of interest. Avoid shallow, meaningless questions such as 'Do you prefer tea or coffee?' - they tell the reader nothing about the subject. 10. If you find yourself being asked to write on a well-known theme, try to surprise your reader with some little-known fact about the subject. Readers love surprises! Here the internet can be a boon, with such sites as Wikepedia providing some truly obscure facts about the commonest subjects. However, it's always a good idea to validate your facts by checking with at least one other source - you don't wish to be known as the writer who got their facts wrong on their chosen subject! The above points aren't an exhaustive by any means but, if you adhere to them when writing your feature article you won't wander far from the mark and the magazine editor will appreciate it too! |
| Author Resource:- Steve Dempster writes informative articles such as the one above as part of his working day. Learn more about feature article writing here - and he'd also be delighted if you would pay his writing website a visit. |
| Article From New Ezine Articles |
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The Science of the Magazine Publishing Process
Production: The Perfect Bind
The models, editors and photographers have done their job. Now the pages are laid out and completed. Without the right finish to the product, they will be nothing but tattered pages of words and pictures. It is time to turn these pages into a magazine.
The different sections of the magazine are printed out separately. Some are in black and white, others in full color. It all depends on the editor's preference.
After this, there are two ways by which a magazine's sections can be bound together. It could be done through saddle-stitching or perfect binding. Saddle-stitching does not use thread or any weak material. It is done by stapling the center fold within the magazine's cover page. This is often used for magazines that don't have a lot of pages and don't need heavy duty material to bind the pages together. If staple wire is too weak to put the sections together, then a spine is made by gluing one end of the pages together. This is called perfect binding and is used for thick magazines such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan.
Distribution: Tapping into Globalization and the World Wide Web
As times have changed, the magazine industry has naturally evolved to adopt the paper-free system. Indeed, magazine publishing has already infiltrated cyberspace and beyond. There are no pages to print and no papers to bind. These are called online magazines and are usually either copies of the paper-based ones or are independent magazines themselves. All they need are their publishing schedules, pictures and articles, and they're good to go once they have a solid reader base. The profit they generate will most probably be from pay-per-read articles or from the profit generated from high traffic to the website.
When before, magazines were only distributed in the country of its origin, now it is being distributed worldwide and franchised by different countries. Today, magazine publishing has overdone itself in that it has allowed its publications to sprout up in countries such as China and Australia, allowing them to work under the name of the magazine but produce their own content.
Of course, the content must still be parallel with the topics that the main franchise of the magazine is known for. The irony here is that the different countries can localize their content but are participating in a worldwide company, allowing diversity in the process of globalization.
As you can see, the magazine publishing industry is in its booming stage, and many people are cashing in on the potential of the magazine business to grow. As it involves a complicated process in production and distribution, it allows creative minds to venture in and participate. It takes brains and willpower to get an edge in the magazine industry.
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The process of magazine publishing
Magazine publication in all of its many forms, is geared primarily on making information available to the public, regardless of how it is being presented, whether in print or electronic media.
Magazine publishing traces it roots back to the ancient days when paper was first invented and was discovered to be a good form of communication media.
From the simple ink and paper process to the trendiest and most colorful pages of today, magazine publishing has indeed taken a new turn for the better.
Commonly, the publishing process includes the stages of the development, acquisition, copyediting, graphic design, production – printing and its electronic equivalents, marketing and distribution.
However, magazine publishing is not just limited to concept and printing, but it also involves a tedious process before it even reaches the newsstands.
Editorial, commercial, informational and entertainment content are among the most commonly used content for many and most magazine publications, that involves a multi-faceted skill set that not lonely involves warm bodies, but costs money as well.
For the publication business, cost is relative- the better the talent, the pricier it gets. This is also reflective in the commercial aspect of distribution and marketing- the better the quality, the more it costs money to pay for the product.
Another factor for consideration is that book and magazine publishers spend a great deal of time and money buying and commissioning copy, which for many publishers would add more weight, quality and repute to their products.
For a small publishing company or press, it is possible to rely mainly on commissioned material, but as activity and business increases, the need for more works like subscribing to syndicated materials or outsourced printing manuscripts may overwhelm the publisher's commissioned circle of writers.
First is the need for solicited material, which forms part of the actual concept and framework of a magazine publication.
Next and among the most common practice in acquiring material is that writers often submit a proposal, for which the majority of unsolicited submissions come from previously unpublished authors.
These unsolicited manuscripts through what is called a slush pile , where editors which sift through the material to identify manuscripts of sufficient quality or revenue potential. Established and reputable writers are oftentimes represented by a literary agent, who markets their work to publishers and negotiate contracts for their writing materials.
Upon acceptance and endorsement for publication, commissioning editors negotiate the purchase of intellectual property rights and agree on royalty rates for book publications, and copyright license or permission for magazine publications, depending on the material for publication.
This is followed by the editorial process, that takes place once the immediate commercial decisions are taken and the technical legal issues resolved, book authors may be asked to improve the quality of the work through rewriting or smaller changes, after which the editorial staff will edit the work, the process which could also apply to syndicated materials either with a single article or a series.
Magazine publishers usually adopt a house style, oftentimes a format which makes it unique for a specific publishing company, be it a writing style or a lay-out design and the editorial staff will copy edit to ensure that the work matches the style and grammatical requirements of each market.
Material editing may also involve structural changes and requests for more information.
The last in the process of magazine publishing is marketing and distribution, that releases the product to the main market, thus, giving us our adored and subscribed magazine publishing.
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Magazine publishing: what you need to know
Here are some things that you need to know when you get into magazine publishing.
1. It’s expensive.
It’s not a joke to finance a magazine. Besides the writers that you have to hire, you also have to pay for the paper and printing. Just imagine, you have to publish thousands of copies. Each costs tens of dollars. Remember that unlike newspapers, the paper used in magazines is glossy and thick. This means that the paper used in magazines are more expensive. You should also be able to provide for the office equipment and the office space. So unless you have billions of dollars to burn from the bank, think twice before you invest in magazines.
2. It’s difficult to source out.
Sourcing out the materials for the magazine, from the paper to the printer can be hard especially if you are on a tight budget. Getting good writers that you don’t have to edit is already hard enough; but you also need to hire marketing personnel who will also help sell the pages.
That is why it is good that you are already part of the industry or have been working in the industry before you get into magazine publishing. That way, you will already have contacts who can give you a much lower price. It is also better if you already know writers that are really good and just in case you cannot afford to pay for an editor, it will be good that you already have an idea on how to do it. Besides, being in the industry will allow you to have better taste when it comes to content and layout.
3. Competition is tough
A magazine cannot thrive in circulation alone. To survive, your magazine should also rake in advertisements. This is when the job becomes hard. You see with all the magazines that have been cropping up in the metro, it will be hard for you to get advertisers that have already been advertising in other publications for your first issue. You first have to convince the advertisers that your magazine is interesting before you will be able to get their attention. This is oftentimes the case of the egg and the chicken. You need to have a good circulation to get advertisers but you need advertisers in order to increase your circulation!
4. Socializing is part of it.
Believe it or not, the success of a magazine is not only dependent on the content and the people who write for you; it is also dependent on the buzz that you create for your magazines. This can be done through socializing with people that are part of your target market. This is part of the marketing campaign for magazine publishing. To promote the mag, some companies even hold events.
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Finding Your Niche in Magazine Publishing
Editorial/Writing
For anyone who has flair for writing, a career in magazine publishing is an easy one. A good start is to work as an intern in a magazine publishing company. Though this is the least fabulous of all the positions, it will provide you training and connections in the industry. It would also be helpful if you would have a folio that it always on hand. One may also start in an entry-level position as an editorial assistant. Aside from writing, rewriting and copyediting, certain office duties may also be asked. You could then work your way up to being an associate editor, managing editor, executive editor and finally, an editor-in-chief!
Marketing
If you are meticulous, could communicate well and could convince people into an idea or a brand in ways other than writing, then you could have a spot in marketing. Through marketing, you make sure that you make your market hear what the magazine wants them to hear. You must then know how to harmonize the behavior and trends of your market with your publications. This may involve overseeing the sales, the distribution of the publication as well as what kind of articles goes into the magazine.
Production
This is the actual production of the magazine. You must be very keen with the details, the deadline and the technology that goes with it. Production is used to be associated with machineries and heavy equipment. However now, production goes beyond the tangible paper and ink. Online publishing have changed the way magazines are produced. Production now also involves a great deal of information technology skills.
Design
Other than writing, you could also channel your creativity by being involved with the design of the magazine. Magazines rely heavily on the aesthetics, not only for sales, but also as an alternative way for expression. The design of the magazine also helps it to turn into a brand. Magazines like Time have a signature red border on its cover while the National Geographic has a yellow border.
Sales
Just like any business, magazine publishing also has a concern with sales. However, there is more to it than simply being able to sell. You need to be charismatic, diplomatic and to have integrity. Building good relationships with your clients is important. Aside from people skills, you also need to develop your analytical skills in studying market reports and sales. You have to know how will your ads will be effective to your magazine and its market.
There are many career paths to choose from in the magazine publishing industry. You may have a proven ability for writing or graphic design but a university degree would be, if not mandatory, extremely helpful. Keep in mind that magazine publishing also involves corporate work and that companies do want to present a professional image to the market.
Just make sure that the degree that you’ll be having or is already pursuing is relevant to the industry. If you are still undecided of which field to choose, it is highly recommended that you take an internship in a magazine publishing company. You may not start out glamorous (think Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada) but you’ll definitely learn a lot. In time, you’ll learn the tricks of the trade and you’ll be on your way to the top.
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Writing for a Magazine Publishing
Most magazines hire people who graduated with a degree in Journalism. But it takes a special skill to write about airplanes, cars, medicine and computers. This is where you come in because if you are knowledgeable about any of these topics, a magazine publication would like to get your input and have this published.
Are you well compensated while working for a magazine publication? A lot of people say yes. Just to give you an idea, some companies who make brochures and fact sheets pay writers from $50 to $1000 per project. A blogger is could be paid per word, by the hour or per project that could also translate to thousands of dollars.
These rates vary on several factors namely where the article will be published if it is print or online, the kind of article being written, word count, number of pages and if there will be diagrams or images included.
For writers who are required to add images to their articles, the rates will also vary because this will be assessed by an article editor and a photographic editor.
If you are able to work for them for quite some time, naturally the rate will be higher. You may even be able to demand how much you want to be paid. This is not applicable to a newcomer because he or she has to prove themselves first. They will have to prove their writing abilities and eventually build up their own portfolio so they too can negotiate how much they will be paid.
For veterans and newcomers alike, once your article has been approved, do not think that the job is finished. Most often than not, some things will have to be revised so be prepared to edit.
If the article you wrote is not approved, find out why so you can improve your writing skills. Getting feedback is better than not getting any.
Also try to submit this elsewhere so all the hard work you did in doing the necessary research does not go to waste.
Some people find it easier to write for a newspaper than a magazine publication because of the larger circulation size. People who have tried both say that the pay rate is not that far apart. You just have to work for it.
Once you have landed a nice writing job for a magazine publication, the trick now is to keep it. The only way this can be done is by maintaining consistency in your work.
So should you write for any magazine publication? This depends if you share the same interests. If you don’t, perhaps you should work for someone one else. If you have a magazine in mind, it is best to read as many copies of that magazine as possible so you know how they work and who their target audience is.
If the editor likes what you did, the title of your article may just get on the front cover and this could be the start of something big in magazine Publishing.
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