Trade Publications Can Start a Freelance Career
An Easier Way to Earn Glossy Clips for Your Writing Portfolio
Nov 30, 2008
Most readers and many writers do not know the difference between standard glossy magazines and trade magazines. Trades cater to a particular professional niche. Landscape Magazine caters to lawn care maintenance companies. Bar Business Magazine provides guidance to owners and managers of bars, nightclubs, lounges and on-premise establishments that serve liquor. The professions range from construction to computers, agriculture to food preparation, law enforcement to healthcare.
Many writers overlook these publications because they do not feel qualified to write on such specialized subjects. These editors, however, often do not require expertise. Instead, they expect good writing and savvy research skills.
Good Generic Topics for Trades
- Employee management
- Basic business organization
- Marketing and promotional ideas
- Creating an online presence
- Income taxes and their effect on the business
- Conferences
A topic about how to network at a conference applies to many professions. Maintaining a happy workforce fits most trades as well. Think global and general, and then insert enough references to make your article match the magazine’s environment.
Identify local celebrities or new faces in your geographic area that belong to one of these professions and ask for an interview. Trades thrive on profiles of businesses, leaders, and cutting edge souls who make their profession come alive. An hour interview and a few pictures, and you have a workable piece.
How to Pitch the Editor
Pitch trade publications as you would any other magazine. Make the query no more than one page. Open with a catchy idea for your article, and then explain how that article fits the magazine. Then write a paragraph about your expertise either in the profession or as a writer. If you just studied the subject in college or belong to a club, that’s fine. You aren’t expected to be a scholar or trailblazer. Trades are the best way to “write what you know,” even if it’s just a little bit.
Cynthia Clark studied agronomy in college but worked in business, gardening on the side. She interviewed an irrigation supply company for Turf Magazine and a commercial floriculture company for American Careers Magazine. Just show a connection and prove via your query that you know how to write, and you’ll grab an editor’s interest.
Payment
Trades publish pieces from around 500 to 2,000 words, averaging around 1,500. Pay usually runs from $150 to $350. They do not offer kill fees if they choose not to publish the submission. They often require photography with the writing in a package deal. Insure your pictures are 300 dpi, taken with a good digital camera.
Finding Copies
When you open a trade, you’ll notice a considerable amount of advertising keenly unique to the niche of small business, wireless communications, food and beverage or whatever the title. That’s because the goal of a trade is to act as a conduit between the reader and his or her industry’s services and products. The stories are only fillers to the advertising. As a result, you won’t find trades in Barnes & Noble or Borders. You locate them where that profession exists, usually on a reader’s desk.
However, you can find these publications free online at sites such as Tradepub.com and FreeTradeMagazineSource.com. Sign up for as many subscriptions as you like, and you’ll soon become intimate in the trends of a trade magazine. While trades only pay in the twenty cent per word range, you’ll find the articles easier to write, the acceptances quicker, and the checks faster in your mailbox.
 |
 |
