Start a new career and plan to become a Magazine Writer. A fruitful long-term career that can be approached in the right way.
Hi Friends, Today my topic for discussion is a little more specific about choosing a career tip to become a magazine writer or freelancer.
Let’s see who is a magazine writer, his role, educational qualifications, and earning opportunities in detail in this article.
Magazine writers are best at their crafting skills either be it an article, or stories for use within various media purposes.
They work for Publications, Magazines, and Journals either as staff writers or freelance writers on a contract basis.
The scope of this field might be slow over the next few years, with the new opportunities coming in new media formats.
In this field, as general task reporters, you are assigned to the news that is relevant to that outlet’s audience.
After getting experience in reporting, many move on to become editors, producers, supervising reporters, and publishers.
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Roles and Qualifications to Become a Magazine Writer
A career as a magazine writer is very competitive and at the same time can be rewarding and fun. You will get to meet and work with interesting people, and learn about new topics.
Also, you will get an opportunity to craft fascinating stories that readers enjoy. It is a kind job that requires diligence and patience as two key factors to survive a long time.
The typical responsibilities of a magazine writer are listed below:
- Generate ideas for future stories that would interest the magazine’s readers
- Reading and researching features and articles
- Writing, editing, proofreading, and subbing text
- Attending relevant events, fairs, and conferences
- Making new and maintaining existing contacts
- Staying up-to-date with privacy, defamation, and contempt law
Magazine writers are called journalists because they find, research, and write stories that interest readers. The kind of journalism that magazine writers focus on varies from journalism to publications such as newspapers.
There are exceptions as well, magazine writers often produce feature-oriented pieces. Some might produce smaller stories, others produce narrative, pieces.
The journalist’s role can be profile-based also like based on exclusive interviews with celebrities. Some magazines need stories for their online publications so some writers exclusively work for it.
Read More: How to Become a Writer and Make Money from Home? Important Tips
Educational Qualifications
To become a magazine writer you want to complete at least a bachelor’s degree in communications or journalism.
While completing your degree, you can decide in which field you want to proceed either, in print or broadcast journalism.
Here is some of the Journalism course for choosing a career in Journalism in India.
- BA in Journalism – 3 Years of the UG program
- BA in Journalism and Mass Communication – 3 Years of the UG program
- Bachelor of Journalism – 3 Years of the UG program
- BBA in Mass Communication and Journalism – 3 Years of the UG program
- Diploma in Journalism – 1 Year-long Diploma program
How Much Can Magazine Writers Make?
The annual income for a junior-level writer depends on the type of article and publication you work for.
For consumer magazines, according to Writer’s Market, a junior-level writer, the rate is likely closer to 37 cents (USD) per word.
For trade journal wages, juniors get 37 cents per word, whereas, in India, beginners make Rs. 8000 to 10,000 per month.
In terms of annual salary, you can earn below 2 lakhs. You want to create 5-6 convincing stories a day.
Read More: Things You Should Give up to Become a Successful Writer.
1. How to Get Magazine Writer Jobs?
Even though Journalism is a challenging field, it plays a key role in the nation’s development.
There is no doubt that it has become a prestigious career choice for many students in India.
As a magazine writer, you can find job opportunities in various ways.
1.1. Apply for a Job in the Relevant Field after your College
You should earn a college degree that will be of great help to every individual who dreams to become a journalist.
In most cases, a bachelor’s in journalism or a related field is a minimum criterion to become a journalist.
If you want to become a staff writer for any magazine, a solid education in writing and proofreading might help significantly.
For the right talented individual with a thirst for chasing his passion, a college degree is not always necessary.
Experience and a long list of published articles can also get you to fit in this field.
1.2. Get Into An Internship Program
Many magazines offer internships for college students, and though they are unpaid or pay very little, they add to valuable experience.
These Intern positions will give you an insight into the publishing process and sum up extra points to your job resume.
Surprisingly, for interns, the chances of getting hired as permanent employees in the same magazines are very high.
Creative Writers are still in demand in numerous agencies. Talented candidates can get jobs quickly in the fields:
- Newspapers
- Advertising Agencies
- Movies/ Entertainment
- Media
Magazine writers can still find jobs in online periodicals as well, as people want to see live news when they come online.
You can still expect tough competition for magazine assignments, whether you are employed by periodicals or freelance.
2. Eight(8) Best Tips to Become A Magazine Writer?
There are many types of writers available there around the world some are content writers, copywriters, technical writers, etc. Whomever you may be, here are a few tips to follow so that you can become a master.
2.1. Read Magazines to Gain Knowledge
Writing is rightly said as a craft so it’s very important to read, read more, and more. It is essential to pay attention to how other writers write.
Secondly, You have to identify the style and prose of a writer whom you want to emulate. Improve your grammar by reading other magazines regularly.
You want to learn about your market, particularly if you wish to focus on a specific niche topic such as beauty, fashion, or technology.
Through research, you will learn about the length and format of the story and how magazine writers capture a reader’s attention.
2.2. Keep Writing Till You Satisfy
Even though practicing writing is a mundane task, simply follow it by giving assignments yourself to write sample stories.
Creating your own characters sometimes for your boring story will keep you enthusiastic whenever you feel bored with it.
For any aspiring writer, writing should not be a duty rather it should be a hobby for them.
So it’s always important that you stand by your dreams and practice them regularly before trying to step into them.
2.3. Create Your Writing Style
It is easy for anyone to learn the mechanics of writing like grammar or spelling.
Discovering your style is, however, based on the personal journey like where you grew up, your family, relationships, etc.
All these factors will contribute to the person who you are today, and they will reflect your writing pattern as well.
Knowing your writing style helps an easier understanding of the client’s needs.
Start first by finding a niche that you love to write about to keep you motivated and authoritative.
2.4. Send an Email with a Sample of your Work
Like any other field, the magazine world is very competitive and can be frustrating at times.
Especially when you send more queries to editors, and have received no response, don’t give up.
Persistence is a key that keeps you motivated, so try sending out every sample work or story or pitch crafted.
It can be sent as an email to the editor daily, which might help you one day or the day to get a call back from him.
Know that editors are always busy, but they are well aware of emails, chat, calls, and fax whatever they are receiving.
The more queries you send, best at your ideas, creativity, and writing, the more you get noticed.
2.5. Keep Applying New Proposals
Before even getting your hands dirty in this exercise, create a list of targeted editors to whom you like to send the proposal.
If you have a great idea you think would be perfect, try sending it to a particular editor.
If he thinks your idea is a great one, then sooner or later, you will get a call from the editor. But before sending an email, make sure you edit your proposal first.
It might be embarrassing if you forget to remove other editors’ names when you are sending the same purpose to many.
It is always best practice to keep a note on the proposals list sent to which editors and who had responded.
2.6. Do Not Lose Your Enthusiasm
As the sentence, “Enthusiasm is everything: try to discover what you love” passion and enthusiasm should glitter in your words.
Choose the magazines for which you are likely to fall, try to read, and follow all the issues of that particular magazine.
Put yourself into the shoes of the readers, and you will get to know the audience’s taste, and you will have an idea of what they want?
Accordingly, you can start writing and sending your stories, pitches, or stories to that magazine.
So there might be good chances for your love transforms into your profession if the editor/Publisher likes your work.
2.7. Pay Attention to Your Rights
Creative work delivered by a writer can be used in many different ways. As an author of the work, you hold every right for your work before you give a green signal to publish.
Once you agree for publishing it’s one way of granting rights is to the publisher to use it for single publications, or serial publications.
The more you sell your rights, the more you lose control of your work, and at the same time more you can earn.
So every writer must have a look at the contract paper for all rights sections before working for publications.
I recommend not to give sole rights for your words to editors nowadays, editors plan to buy all rights.
2.8. Love Deadlines and Complete Beforehand
Setting deadlines is a definitive procedure in every work, and you must make it within the set deadline.
It seems to be easy to procrastinate on any article until the last minute. But focusing on the quality of the content is also equally important.
So, if you are assigned work with a deadline, try to plan and break up the whole task into easily achievable.
Spend some time by making it a priority to complete the task on time.
A writer who consistently misses deadlines will get his reputation down, and that can significantly affect his prospects. Learn to love deadlines and consider them essential for your career growth.
Conclusion
An undeniable fact is every hour there is some story of politics, science, sports, and education from around the world. The role of journalists is very important because it is impossible to reach people without them.
Over the years, the scope of journalism has increased, and communication channels have broadened their wings to various mediums. It has spread through mediums like radio, television sets, and newspapers to social media and many online news websites.
The audience mass has also increased drastically with the growing numbers in the communication channels. I feel I have done my best in describing right from the roles and responsibilities of a writer and educational qualifications.
I have explained career options, its futuristic scope via this article, and tips to become a magazine writer in the journalism field. Writing is fun. Start and end with the search for truth as you reflect the society to the world.
Pay attention to the world around you, and do not feel scared as you are on the right path.
