Submitting articles for publication.

[MrsSeanBean]

Does anyone know:

can you submit articles directly to the publication / magazine in question, (ie without going through an agent) or is this a waste of time?

No it is not a waste of time.
It is how I got started.
And I know someone else who began the same way only about 2 years ago.
Good luck!

Thanks Barbarian. How does it pay? (Just so I can weigh up any 'offers', assuming I get any!)

Crikey would you turn an offer down?

What kind of publication?

No Barbarian Just nosey I guess, and have no idea what the 'going rate' is.

Meg - Women's mags - mid market, nothing too highbrow.

It depends very much on what sort of articles and what sort of publications. TBVBH (very brutally honest) if you are thinking of submitting to Cosmopolitan or a national newspaper, unless you have been previously published a lot it is not worth bothering: they have far more regular writers than they can use all the time.
If you are, for instance, submitting a specialist article to a specialist magazine (say, you're a budgie breeder and you want to write about new , oh I don;t know, herbal cage cleaning oils or something) then it's worth emailing the features editor/editor and asking if they accept unsolicited contributions. The smaller the mag, the more likely they will take a look.
Though some mags, particularly specialist ones, are actively gagging for new contributors and may well have a paragraph on the contents page inviting people to send stuff in. However, these are the ones where you will be lucky to get £50 per feature as they don't have much budget.
Still, best of luck.

I think you are talking two figures.

Mrs SB, hve you had much published? Because the women's mag market is saturated with writers on the whole (particularly as most of the mags do most of the stuff in house these days ie rewrite press releases or ghostwrite proleporn ie my hubby threw his willy out of the window on our wedding night but I still had his baby).

Nope SolidGold, not setting my sights to the likes of Cosmo or the Dailies. I am ambitious but not silly!

However, this does beg the interesting question - if they only accept work from people who have been published a lot - where do these people start out...?

What SGB said, basically.

The women's mag market is highly competitive (and one I've experience in myself) -- to be honest, unless you're an established writer you're unlikely to even get a reply from most features eds.

If you're writing real-life features then there are agencies that specialise in them and you might have more luck selling features through one of these.

Otherwise if you are trying to get published for the first time then don't even think about money. Think about how you can get your work seen anywhere -- blogs are a great way to showcase your skills and build up your profile, for example.

Hmm. I would be intrested in a blog certainly. Any insider tips for sites with 'visibility' Meg?

Also, it is a terrible time to try to carve out a career as a freelance journalist -- budgets are being cut left, right and centre and a lot of work which was previously available to freelancers is being foisted on staffers, who are much cheaper.

Add to the fact that there have recently been hundreds of redundancies across the consumer mag sector many of whom will turn their hand to freelancing and you have more people chasing less work for less money.

Sorry to be doom and gloom about it!

Also: with the real life feauture agencies, how would one track down a contact for such an organisation? I could try Googling I suppose.

If it's the cash you are after, you could 'sell your story' to one of the proleporn mags. It doesn't have to be dead babies or domestic violence, they like happy, funny stuff as well (My fanjo fell off in the bath! My dog gets messages from Beyond the Grave) and generally pay about £100-200. But you won't get to write it yourself, and they will want your real name and photographs - and everyone you know will see it.

Yes, Google should throw up a few agencies. Also, the mag I last worked at used to buy a lot of its RL stories from local newspapers -- so that might also be a place to start.

Don't know much about blogging myself but I'd start with something like Wordpress and try to build contacts with people doing similar things to yourself -- word of mouth can go a long way.

"if they only accept work from people who have been published a lot - where do these people start out...?"

They start at the bottom! I started my career as an editorial assistant at a trade magazine for the market research industry. Oh, the glamour...

No solidgold, that's not for me. Would rather write for free and build up a reputation than descend to that.

I like the name proleporn though.

It's not cash but honing the art that drives me. That's why I like MN. It has re-tuned my brain after 12 months of baby gaga. I need something to motivate me to go further though.

I started mine with a ballad in the long gone and I am sure much missed Brownie Magazine.

I think I will try blitzing a few contacts. The worst that can happen is that I've had some fun and sharpened my muse up. Anything further would be a bonus!

please don't work for nothing, it just fucks things up for the rest of us...

...if you start working for nothing it's very hard to get a raise, iykwim?

OK, maybe a peppercorn fee then.

It's not working for nothing though, is it? It's working for experience. And pleasure. You could use the fucks it up for the rest of us argument for any one who does a bit of voluntary. Parents who help out in schools, for instance.