How do you do it? Is it more about who you know? I think it's utterly stupid but I can't deny that it would be AWESOMELY Great for business. What yall think?
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
Never fancied the whole cover thing, but have been working on my writing. It has taken time but I have now had a fair few articles published.
My angle was to contact editors, or writers at specific publications and just get talking to them about how to get into writing and my experience. It has taken me a good few years of networking and getting stuff put up on various web based publications, but in 2008 I had 8 articles published and i am to top that in 2009.
Maybe this could be a route that you look at to getting on the cover of a mag, but i think that writing allows people to find out a little more about you, and of course it is a great plug for your business.
Ages, i am not a natural writer, so I just started doing short articles and posting them on a few forums. That helped to build my confidence, so i started doing some longer ones. fficeffice" />
I started to submit these to a load of web based fitness publications and lifestyle type web publications.
This then lead to some contacts with local media such as radio, newspapers and magazines. Then I have got into a few nationally.
All in all i spent about two years working up to it and building up a portfolio of experience.
One good tip I got wa snot just to limit yourself to fitness type publications, I have written for a few business type publications, such as de-stressing through exercise, eating well at work, etc...
Just talk to as many people as possible, send out as many examples as you can. But beware most will ignore you or reject you, but keep trying and you will get there.
Good luck mate if you want any more info, feel free to ask!
TOM
Covers are so overrated anyway. I have a couple of friends who have been on the cover of major mags, and that was their only moment of glory. They couldn't be more invisible now... Did nothing for them other than giving their egos a nice little boost.
Focus your energies on things that will build your income, not on things that you or anybody else will care about years from now.
It depends on what kind of image you want for yourself. Generally, people will remember you more from communication and real life interaction that a magazine stand. I've experienced it myself, so for business it's waaaay better to focus on building the contacts where you can meet and educate hundreds of people (lectures and charity events are great examples) then being "that guy with the tight white shirt from the May issue". Then if you are a good musician, a passable action movie star, a hot celebrity or someone sleeping with a hot celebrity, the mag cover won't be an issue (you can work on those, too, no harm .
Ages, i am not a natural writer, so I just started doing short articles and posting them on a few forums. That helped to build my confidence, so i started doing some longer ones. fficeffice" />
I started to submit these to a load of web based fitness publications and lifestyle type web publications.
This then lead to some contacts with local media such as radio, newspapers and magazines. Then I have got into a few nationally.
All in all i spent about two years working up to it and building up a portfolio of experience.
One good tip I got wa snot just to limit yourself to fitness type publications, I have written for a few business type publications, such as de-stressing through exercise, eating well at work, etc...
Just talk to as many people as possible, send out as many examples as you can. But beware most will ignore you or reject you, but keep trying and you will get there.
Good luck mate if you want any more info, feel free to ask!
TOM
Some great advice Tom, I enjoy writing and I've recently been aspiring to get some of my articles published. I just had my website redone so that I can upload articles to it as I write them and so far I've had one published in a local town newspaper. One of the trainers I work with has begun writing for the Examiner.com which is aparently a site that pays based on the number of hits you get. He hasn't made much money from it but it's good exposure and seems like a good way to get your feet wet in the writing world.
Great Brian,
The website is great, I am also in the middle of having my site re-done which will have a resources and articles section. This can then also be used as a portfolio for anyone who is interested in your writing.
Just keep chipping away at it, that is my advice. One article tends to lead onto the next. If the publication you have been in already liked your stuff they will keep using you. A lot of the time not only for articles they may want but as the local fitness/nutrition/wellbeing/wh atever expert when they run a relevant feature. All great exposure.
As for earning from writing, I have always said as I enjoy it and it is great exposure, I will do it for free. That is not to say that if the opportunity to make some money doing it came along I would not take it, but I feel I am a way off that yet.
Good luck mate
TOM
Awesome! I just decided last night that I needed to make a website, and make some youtube instructional videos, just so that people I meet can feel comfortable listening since they have already met me in real life and know my style.
I seriously can't wait. As soon as I find an opportunity to make one, I'll learn how.
1) I agree with what Tom said about not limiting yourself to writing for fitness magazines. There's lots of opportunity to write about health and fitness for other types of publications, such as general/lifestyle or business magazines or websites.
2) Scoring a cover on a magazine is a one-shot deal. It could make more sense to position yourself as someone who appears regularly in the magazine as an author or expert.
BUT if you leverage that one-shot deal (being on a magazine cover) in the right ways - recycle it, promote it properly - it can turn into an amazing marketing tool - one that really sets you apart from your competitors. You have to leverage it properly though.
3) I wanted to offer encouragement to those who are having success getting published already: Please don't write for free forever!
Seek out markets that PAY. There are lots of them. You get the same credibility and marketing perks (maybe even more so), plus the added bonus of receiving direct payment for your time and expertise.
I made a decision very early in my fitness writing career not to write for free unless it really made sense to do so. Ninety-nine percent of the articles I write are for pay.
I wrote on my blog about why fitness pros seem reluctant to get paid for their articles:
o reply to your question, myself I am new to writing, with less than a year experiance. It is something that I do however enjoy greatly. I write mainly for free, my reasons are that I feel that I am trying to build up a portfolio of work taht will be able to be used later to get paid writing work.
Also I do not feel that I currently have the right contacts in teh media to enable me to write for fees. Do you have any advice about how to get paid writing work?
I think it's smart of you to build up a portfolio of published clips that you can use to then get assignments that pay. I did the same thing when I was first starting out. Even a few published articles will help, so don't feel as if you have to keep writing for free if your goal is to make money with articles.
You asked if I have advice about how to break into magazines that pay. The quick answer: It's as simple as knowing a bit about how the magazine industry works, and what editors expect.
When you know the how's and why's of approaching editors at magazines that pay, it's a lot easier to make contact. For example, editors usually want you to come to them with an idea for an article, using something called a query. (See more about how this works on my blog and website.)
Using the right approach with editors that pay is half the battle.
Tom, many people just write for free to get their name out there first. Just know that someone is going to realize that you are a credible source (assuming that you are), and they will bleed you dry. Amanda is right... Don't get caught in that trap. If you can get an article or quote or blurb in a big mag, then use that to get you more opportunities. I have noticed that editors tend to come back to reliable sources.
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