MindMany years ago, I wrote an article titled “Demystifying the X“. It was about the fear of variables I often saw in my high-school-level math students, and how that fear could easily be avoided if only we got our children comfortable with variables much earlier.
Every first grader, after all, knows how to solve this problem: 2 + __ = 5 .
What could be simpler than teaching that same child to solve this one: 2 + x = 5 ?
I wrote the article, but I never submitted it anywhere. It just seemed too simple, too obvious. Wouldn’t everyone who might be interested in teaching mathematics to a child have already recognized the possibilities?
Several years later, when my daughter’s elementary school introduced a revolutionary new textbook series that introduced students to variables in the early grades, I learned something very important about writing for a living.
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Many Paying Publications are Filled with “Ordinary” Articles
Too often, writers looking to “break in” make the mistake of thinking that they have to scour the world for some unique piece of information or formulation that’s never been seen or suggested before. And, of course, creativity and a unique angle can set a query apart, and can help a writer move to the next level. But think, for a moment, about the magazines you’ve read—or even those you’ve just glanced at in a waiting room or grocery store.
Did you learn something revolutionary?
Did you find information that you couldn’t have found yourself if you’d taken the time to do a little Internet research on the subject?
Were you floored by the author’s fresh new perspective on the benefits of environmentally friendly light bulbs?
I suspect that the answer to each of those three questions is “no“.
What Makes an Article Worth Reading (and Thus, Worth Writing)?
So what do you see in those articles that makes them worth the reader’s time and the publisher’s money? Here are just a few of the things that a straightforward, no-frills magazine article can do to earn its keep—and its place in print:
- Gather information that the reader could gather on her own, but probably hasn’t;
- Focus in on an issue that people aren’t consciously thinking about and bring it to the foreground;
- Provide timely reminders of important information;
- Provide straightforward “how to” direction;
- Let the reader know that she’s not alone in whatever problem / situation / confusion the article addresses.
Since I experienced my own little demystification, I’ve sold articles about incorporating math into everyday life as a “sneak teaching” method, about the startling discovery that most of the other professionals in the world were parents too, about beach safety for children, about how a newbie can contribute to a writers’ group, and about incorporating educational opportunities into family vacations. All of those topics—and many more—are things I would once have considered too commonplace to pitch.
The publishing world is full of opportunities for well-researched, well-written articles that simply present accurate information in a clear, well-organized format; engaging writing is a big plus. It may not be the kind of writing that you want to do for the rest of your life, but the more respectable clips you have under your belt, the more options will be open to you. And, of course, the more articles you sell the more confidence you’ll have in the fact that you have something valuable to share—that will save you the often counterproductive effort of trying to bend your subject matter until it looks like something newer and more earth shattering.
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Tripping over Topics in Everyday Life
Chances are good that you’ve done something this week that you can spin into a magazine article.
- Have you shopped for a car? If so, think about the research you did, the mistakes you made, the things you wish you’d known before you got started, and then look at paying markets that offer consumer advice, whether it’s geared toward the general public or automobile purchasers specifically.
- Attend your child’s school open house? Tips on working effectively with your child’s teacher, a list of key questions to ask at school conferences, or a first-person essay about how you were blindsided (or delighted) by the outside perception of your child have great potential with a parenting magazine, especially a local or regional one.
- Stay in the hospital? What did you forget that you found yourself wishing for at midnight when your family had all gone home? Did you run into problems with your medications that could have been avoided if you’d been carrying a list? What kind of preparations did you make for your kids? Your pets? Each of these stories has a niche, whether it’s geared toward pet-owners or older Americans.
- Find an easier way to do something around the house? People are always looking for easy ways to simplify; magazine covers (especially those geared toward women) scream promises of time-saving, money-saving, and weight loss in “30 days” or “5 easy steps“.
This list could go on indefinitely; I could, perhaps, write an article about the possible articles in everyday life. (And if I did, there would likely be a market for it.) But your life and resources and knowledge and experience are different from everyone else’s, so rather than trying to guess what might be happening in your life that could be rolled into a saleable article, I’ll leave you with this thought: If the only thing keeping you from pitching an article is the vague idea that “everyone already knows….“, you’re probably wrong.
Posted by Tiffany Sanders
