Less Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, More Economist

October 30, 2008 11:24 AM

How do I get published in policy and trade magazines?

I am a PhD student in a top tier research university program. I have published many articles in academic research journals and am well award of that process.

However, for my own reasons, I am more interested in writing articles for policy and news publications. In a sentence: I want to publish less in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation and more in the Economist.

How do I go about submitting articles to policy, trade, and news magazines?

posted by Spurious to work & money (4 answers total)

Edit: The academic journals I publish in are less like the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation and more like Nature or Science. They are highly quantitative and inaccessible to the general publich.
posted by Spurious at 11:31 AM on October 30, 2008

If freelancing is what you want, sending out pitches is probably the first place to start. Use your previously published works as portfolio clips and work from there. Try basing your first few pitches (at least) on subjects you know intimately.

Try Writer's Market to find some advice and a few publications you want to aim for. Develop your ideas and send.

Also try searching publication websites for their writer's guidelines. If it's not on their site, email or snail mail (with SASE) for a copy.
posted by cmgonzalez at 12:28 PM on October 30, 2008

Why not call their U.S. editorial offices and ask them?

NORTH AMERICA/LATIN AMERICA
The Economist
111 West 57th Street
New York NY 10019
USA

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
posted by snuffleupagus at 12:34 PM on October 30, 2008

Bonus Filter: Do I need to buy a new copy of the Writer's Market book (not online version) every year or can I use last year's version? Is the online version much better?
posted by Spurious at 1:46 PM on October 30, 2008