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1. All magazines are directed to a specific market. Target your submission to the particular magazine's readership.
2. To understand a specific magazine's market, read several back issues of the publication. While some issues may be directed to a more specific readership, the slant of the articles is often different.
3. Pay special attention to the advertisements in the magazine. The magazine might have a targeted audience of wives and mothers between the ages of thirty to sixty. However, if the ads display designer clothing, fur coats and expensive jewelry, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to interest that editor in an article on how you can save sixty cents by buying six cans of pork and beans instead of a single can.
4. Avoid, where possible, words ending in "ly" and limit the use of adjectives to those that are necessary to emphasize a point. Editors frown on the words "as to." Replace them.
5. Anecdotes, whether humorous or to offer a different point of view, often add to the desirability of an article. Many writers open their articles with them to establish their point of view. Basically, an anecdote can be used to establish the purpose of the article.
6. If you need to indicate who is speaking, use the word "said". The word "said" has become almost invisible while phrases like "she retorted", "he replied", and similar verbiage often distracts the reader from the meaning of the quote.
PHOTOS
7. Editors have often been quoted as saying, "I bought the article, not because the writing was great, but the photos were."
8. Photos must be an integral part of the story. They are not an add on or after thought. They must contribute to the story being told. Limit the number of persons in the photo to those the story is about. Eliminate those standing around waiting to be included in the story. Action photos are always best.
9. Resources such as WRITERS DIGEST, offer guidelines for submissions, including those for photos, i.e, color, black and white, or slides. If you are unsure of what the publishers expect, write for the guidelines.
10. STAND CLOSE, STAND CLOSE, STAND CLOSE TO WHAT YOU ARE PHOTOGRAPHING. Recognizable features are more important than distance. One newspaper editor I know gives his new reporters a camera and a four foot piece of string. "Have your subject put one end of the string on the end of his nose and you back off ‘til you get to the other end and then take the picture." When a flash is used, the most common cause of dark pictures is that the photographer is too far away from his subject. Do not embarrass yourself by sending dark pictures to any editor.
