Magazine Writer

As an English Major it can sometimes seem depressing to wonder what the future will hold. Perhaps you have been called idealistic, or a Borders-employee-in-the-making. No fun. Not to fret, it appears that there are some options which don’t involve starvation, readily available for you. Yours for the taking! Have you ever thought about magazine writing? If you are looking for freelance jobs to cold call, according to another person’s blog, I’ll pass along the grapevine four very good starting point websites to visit: Mediabistro, MastHeads, Wooden Horse, and Ed2010.

If you are a Portlander like me, there are a lot of local organizations based in Portland which might be good first choices as well. It is known that living in proximity of the center of a field is most likely to get you the job than being best qualified. Get into the heart of the action, and this isn’t hard for a Portlander because although our city is small, we do have plenty of local organizations available to send internship requests for. The more well known magazines based in Portland are: Wend, NW Palate Magazine, Bitch Magazine, Flossin Magazine, and Spot Magazine.

The outlook of any author, writer, and editor position is said to have an expected growth rate of 8% by the year 2018, approximately the rate of most other jobs as well. This is not the best of news but it definitely is not the worst of news either. Writers and authors are noted to have had median annual wages at $53,070 according to a census in May two years ago. This is definitely a livable salary.

For more information about freelance writing, it is advisable to contact the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and for Creative writing programs and conferences, one should contact The Association of Writers and Writing Programs.

If you haven’t worked at any publications before, work carefully to craft your own sample portfolio to send into magazines as an example of what you are capable of. Make sure to reference published magazine articles for tips on style, voice, content, etc. Contacting the agents after this point should be easy. Address them by name to show your familiarity with the publication and ask for the submission guidelines.

Don’t expect to get paid for the beginning of your time writing at the publication when you get accepted, with this being said do not disregard the quality of your work. Usually your first few pieces are your probation period for the company to see whether you are good enough to work for their company or not.

In general, the best thing you can do is start small and work your resume upwards of that. This is why it’s great to start young, and arguably your beginning jobs will be your most challenging. My high school newspaper experience got me a collegiate publication job and that earned me a job editing a book. You can’t expect to climb a ladder with one giant leap and you’ll spend your entire life trying. Realize that small steps are the way to go. Good luck!



-Ines Kuna