Break into the Parenting Magazine Market

Break into the Parenting Magazine Market You know you are a writer when, instead of wondering whether youre expecting a boy or a girl, you wonder which magazine you can sell your parenting stories to. Conversations with my husband often went astray: I: What about Elle? Hub I: Theres also Marie Claire. Hub I: Actually, Cosmopolitan would be perfect! Hub More than 250 magazines in English are devoted to family and parenting topics. Month after month, issue after issue, they print material for readers who, millennia after millennia, have borne and raised children, dealing with issues that others before them have faced and others after them will face. They always have fresh readers new parents struggling with changing diapers or where to take ba Pay is usually $50-200 per article for first rights, based on research required and interviews included. Bigger publications like Parents Canada pay between $200 and $500. Reprints run $35-50. All magazines require market exclusivity in the month in which the article runs. Topics abound, such as: conception, pregnancy, birth, feeding, sleeping, health, parenting styles, child care, development and milestones, summer fun and activities, routines and schedules, disciplining, social interactions, work/life balance, finance, food and diet, and everything from Newborn to Empty Nest. Focus on one aspect of any topic. Bullying is a popular subject encompassing a variety of issues, impacts, reasonings and strategies, but one 1,500-word article cannot cover them all. Slanting the piece toward tweens, approaching it from the teachers point of view and limiting the scope to the playground gives you a unique combination. Lead features range upward to 1,500 words, secondary features and columns stay within the 800 to 900-word range. Text is balanced with imagery, so these magazines are a good outlet for photographers, too. Parenting magazines are often tied to a location, containing names of regions within their titles. Simply search for Family/Parent and Magazine, along with the location of interest. Canada Family Magazine gives Canadian Family, Canadian Military Family, Parents Canada, Todays Parent, Focus on the Family, Oh Ba With the number of big states, cities and towns in USA, UK, Australia, Canada, and other English-speaking countries, opportunities are limitless. Theres something for everyone short blog posts, long personal essays, humor pieces, in-depth reporting/journalistic pieces, opinion and criticism from the teaching and education community. Many general interest, lifestyle or womens magazines also include sections on family life. Some magazines consider work from local writers only. Others accept national and international submissions as long as they are relevant and useful to their readers. With a fresh approach to an evergreen idea, a clear understanding of the magazines style, and a decent skill with the pen, you can make your parenthood work for your writing career!