24th September 2008
Deborah Owen

Most authors write their stories and articles and then try to find a market for them. While their efforts are admirable, they are going about it the wrong way. Remember the old saying, "He who aims at nothing hits same"? That old adage applies to writing better than anything else.

I have old stories, good stories, sitting around and waiting for the right magazine to be invented. I have untold hours tied up in those abundant efforts, yet there they sit. If only one of my teachers had told me to target my market first and then write for it, it would have saved me hundreds of work hours and much discouragement. The same thing will happen to you if you don't target your market.

First of all, invest in a copy of The Writer's Market. This book is worth its weight in gold. It will cost about $39. Get the online version because it is updated monthly, whereas the hard copy is updated annually. If you can't afford that, go on Ebay and buy a copy of last year's edition. It will tell you pretty much the same thing.

With this book, you can see what a magazine is looking for. It will tell you what the distribution rate is, whether or not they accept a certain genre, how much they pay, and a lot of other information.

Let's say you like to write mystery stories. To find a good market for them, log in to Writer's Market online and go through the process of narrowing the fields on the search page. It is pretty self-explanatory and you will get through it with no trouble.

Ultimately, you will wind up with a list of magazines that buy mystery stories. Review each of them and select one that is at least 75% freelance written. (Writer's Market will give you that information.) Then, of course, look at what they pay. If you are not experienced, don't try for higher paying magazines. You'll be wasting your time. Writing is something you grow into. It isn't like skipping a grade in school.

When you have arrived at the best magazine market for your article, make another investment and buy three consecutive (recent) copies of that magazine. (Go online, look up the magazine, and write for three back copies.) Never, but never send a story to a magazine you haven't read well.
When you receive the magazines you ordered, go to the page that show the names of the editors and staff (in the front), and match them up with the names of the stories in the magazine. (The ones they write are called "in house" writing. If an article doesn't have anyone's name by it, it was probably written by staff.)

When you have identified which articles belong to paid staff and which ones belong to freelance writers, you are on the right trail. Especially read the stories that are written by freelancers. When you find a story where you think to yourself, "I could write that," you have found your needle in the haystack. This is the market you want to sell to.

Read all the stories again. Are they all written in the same voice (first, second or third person)? If so, write your mystery in that voice. See what other common characteristics the stories have. Pick those stories apart and compare them.

That is how you become a selling author. You write the story for the magazine. You don't write the story and then try to find a magazine that will buy it. For many years I resisted that kind of logic because I was determined to have my own voice. I thought that, in studying the style of other authors, I would lose my own style. I was determined to be separate and unique.

Your style will always be your style. The more literature you read, the more you will learn about writing. In the end, you will be the sum total of what you experience in life, and you will have your own unique way of expressing it.

I wish you the very best in your writing efforts.

Compliments of http://www.creativewritinginstitute.com  and Deborah Owen. To register for The Writer's Choice, the school's newsletter, write to deborahowen@cwinst.com.