Writing. How to find your market

OK, you know might know what you want to write about (I have already touched on using your own specialism to write articles about). But where might you aim your articles?

Firstly, go and take a look at the magazine selection in your nearest large newsagents such as W. H. Smiths.

Have a look at the magazines that re on sale. Computing, sailing, transport industry, cars, buses, writing, puzzles, communications, management, knitting, crafts, etc., etc. This will give you a good broad knowledge of what types of magazines are available for you to explore for potential targets for your articles.

Also, check your nearest main or reference library. It should have (budgetary restraints willing, of course!) a large collection of various magazines over a wide range of subject matter that it subscribes to. And don't forget to look on line, too. This research will serve a variety of functions. It will provide contact details and will also show you the kind of work that the magazine is currently publishing. You will be able to pick up valuable hints on house style, currently editorial requirements, etc.

Some magazines in the United Kingdom are now following the American trend and publish guidelines (send an SAE) which will let you know exactly the kind of articles they are interested in.

However, to properly establish the widest possible range of potential targets for your writing endeavours, you really do need the Writers’ Handbook, published by Macmillan. This book is a “must have” for the serious writer. It offers articles which offer guidance and hints on writing craft, how to work out what you can claim back against income tax (you’ll be surprised. I know I was!) and so forth.

It also contains a list of newspapers and magazines that are published within the United Kingdom. This is useful as the list not only gives full contact details for the magazine, including editorial contacts, but in some instances it also indicates what likely fees could be payable to the freelance writer or journalist.

There is also another similar publication called The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. Although the older of the two publications, I fear that, although still useful, the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook is perhaps now not the better of the two.

The price for the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook is approximately £10.00 and the price fro the Writer’s Handbook (edited by Barry Turner) is also about £10.00. Both books are available from Amazon UK.
You might not want to write for a magazine. Perhaps you have ambitions that are aimed at the regional press? In that case, it would be worthwhile looking at the website www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk This website contains listings of all the regional daily and weekly newspapers within the entire United Kingdom.

And do not forget www.google.com the resource of resources!

It also contains many useful sections including a database of useful contacts, lists of websites of potential use to journalists and writers for the regional press and many, many other extremely useful features. Including a section that offers the stuck staff reporter a whole host of new ideas for stories to present to the editor as your own! Yeah. Maybe it is cheating. And it certainly does help during a Monday morning editorial conference! It can also kick off some useful ideas for the freelance writer too, so do not be tempted to overlook this.

The website also contains lists of job opportunities throughout the regional press from court reporters to science correspondents and from junior reporters to editors.

There is also another website www.thepaperboy.com which lists newspapers all over the world, including in the UIK. This is useful if you are trying to establish which paper covers which town (for example you might have found out about a story that has happened in your town which involves someone from –say- Birmingham. It is useful to be able to know which papers cover Birmingham (Birmingham Post, a quality daily and the Birmingham Evening Mail) who might, conceivably, want to buy the story from you.

There are other ways of finding out about magazines that might be suitable targets for your writing. The Periodical Publishers Association has many magazines and magazine publishers as members. Visit the website at www.ppa.co.uk It contains a great deal of useful information, hints and tips and a host of useful links to other websites.

Also, go to www.yell.com and search on magazines, publishers, newspapers, etc. Do not use a location, allow it to default to a United Kingdom search, and see the variety of potential clients that come up. Some of then have websites listed. Visit them, see if they might require freelance writers. Or staff writers, as I have to admit that after several years of trying to sort out taxation for myself, that I decided to go to the dark side of the writing force and become a paid staffer. Much easier. I can still pretty much do my own thing, but get someone else to worry about PAYE and the like. There’s even a stationary cupboard from which I can obtain pens and reporters notebooks for work related activities!

There are also magazines for writers. The two best known examples are Writer’s Forum and Writer’s News, both available by subscription or over the counter at W. H. Smiths and a host of other leading newsagents.

There are some other things that you will need. The three Ps will help, tremendously. Persistence. Patience. Perception. Oh. And research. The same skills that help you research the subjects that you want to write about will also help you to find potential markets for your work.

There will be more from Be That Writer, soon.