Rating: 
Summary: No-nonsense, friendly advice
Review: "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles," by Sheree Bykofsky, Jennifer Basye Sander, and Lynne Rominger, is a straightforward yet entertaining book about the world of freelance writing. In such a book you might expect to find the typical information on writers' guidelines, stamped self-addressed envelopes, query letters, and making sure you spell editors' names correctly--and you will find that here. However, you'll also find quite a few other, less expected things.
The authors do not assume familiarity with the industry. They walk you through the rewards of being a freelance writer, explain why magazines hire freelancers and what freelancers do for magazines, share some success stories from real freelancers, share information from editors on what they look for in a writer, and provide a "reality check" to help you decide if this is what you really want to do. This book is particularly good about pointing out all of the mistaken attitudes, inadvertent errors and inappropriate assumptions that can mess up your chances. And it does it without either coddling you or harshing on you.
This book came out in 2000, but it does a good job of covering the basics of online publication--better than I've seen in many other places, actually. It doesn't just cover online versions of print magazines or a brief discussion of electronic rights. Instead it goes in-depth into 'zines, content providers, building your own web site in order to attract editors to you, and so on. It also goes into the business side of writing: business filing, taxes and contracts. It discusses how you can choose and create a specialty for yourself, and how you can decide whether or not you should develop an article into a book proposal!
This is a fantastic book. It contains only a handful of typos of the wouldn't-be-caught-by-a-spell-checker variety (most people probably wouldn't even notice). The advice is helpful and encouraging yet practical and realistic. I've rarely seen an approach that so clearly manages to convey the things to watch out for when freelancing without becoming preachy, condescending or morose, and there's plenty of advice in here that I haven't seen repeated in a dozen other places.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Sold Articles For Me
Review: Before reading this book, I'd written and sold a couple of short fiction stories but had never tried nonfiction. I liked the idea of writing magazine articles but had no idea how to go about it. I picked up "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles" because I like their simplified approach to topics and because I'd read the other IDIOT'S GUIDE Sheree Bykofsky co-wrote (Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published). The Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles gives you a no-nonsense approach from start to finish, covering things like studying the market, generating ideas, querying editors, assignments, conducting interviews, and actually writing the article, as well as some tips on book proposals, the life of a magazine writer (waiting/praying for checks), even taxes. After I read "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles" I thought up a couple ideas, fired off some queries, and sold three articles the month after I bought the book. Now I'm working on assignment (not spec) writing a second piece for one of the magazines to which I sold an article last month. If you can write and if you have something interesting to say, this book and a copy of "Writer's Market" are the twin pillars on which you can build a freelance career. Charles Hustmyre
New Orleans, LA
Rating:
Summary: Helped me get published!
Review: I bought this book last September because it was the only book I could find that included Web writing and email queries. It has been an enormous help. I also really liked the advice on finding a niche. Since I'm an accredited breastfeeding counselor, mine has turned out to be pregnancy, breastfeeding, and babies. I guess I'm doing something right, because I've sold three feature articles to ePregnancy.com, Breastfeeding Baby Steps and Best Foot Forward. Another will be posted soon. In addition, I've gotten two article assignments from a local parenting magazine, one on swimming programs for young children and another on baby-wearing (slings, wraps, etc.). I've been meaning to write a review for many weeks, but considering my young kids and my new writing career, I've been pleasantly busy. This has helped me get started with online publishing in a field I know well. I consider this a great book!
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've come across!
Review: I wish this had been the first book on writing magazine articles I had bought instead of number 60-something. There is information in this book that I'd never seen in other books.
I highly recommend this book, especially to those starting out
in their writing career. It covers practically everything the
new writer needs to know; I can't think of anything that was left out.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous book!
Review: I've always had a writing bug and I love to tell other people about neat things that I've done. So, at the beginning of 2003, I picked up the book, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles." First, I brainstormed about what to write. Then, I used the ideas in the book to determine which magazines to target first. I wrote several articles using the tips on writing effective articles. And, finally, I wrote a few query letters. I approached 2 magazines with 1 article in February and 2 other magazines with another article in March and April. The first article was rejected both times. The second article was rejected once in March, but some interest was expressed by the second magazine in April. After a month or so of back and forth communication, the second publication (Nuts & Volts, for electronic hobbyists) agreed to buy my article. My family and friends were quite impressed when they visited their local ...bookstores and saw that my article was the main, headliner article on the cover of the July 2003 issue! What more can I say but, "the advise in this book works!"
Rating:
Summary: Made lead, cover article with the help of this book!
Review: I've always had a writing bug and I love to tell other people about neat things that I've done. So, at the beginning of 2003, I picked up the book, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles." First, I brainstormed about what to write. Then, I used the ideas in the book to determine which magazines to target first. I wrote several articles using the tips on writing effective articles. And, finally, I wrote a few query letters. I approached 2 magazines with 1 article in February and 2 other magazines with another article in March and April. The first article was rejected both times. The second article was rejected once in March, but some interest was expressed by the second magazine in April. After a month or so of back and forth communication, the second publication (Nuts & Volts, for electronic hobbyists) agreed to buy my article. My family and friends were quite impressed when they visited their local ...bookstores and saw that my article was the main, headliner article on the cover of the July 2003 issue! What more can I say but, "the advise in this book works!"
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book to get you started...
Review: Over the last week or so, I've been reading The Complete Idiot's Guide To Publishing Magazine Articles by Sheree Bykofsky, Jennifer Basye Sander, and Lynne Rominger. If you're inclined to want to explore this area of freelance writing, I would readily recommend this book for you. The authors take a topic with an abundance of material and present it in an entertaining, digestible fashion. They cover topics from what a freelance writer does, the basics of writing, and how the periodical industry works, to how to write an effective article and how to treat your writing as a business. When you finish, you'll be able to tell whether this is something you want to pursue, as well as how to get started. For me, I learned some tips on writing style (which is always good). I also received some confirmation that steps I've taken already are leading me down the right path. Bottom line... this is an excellent book to move you further along in the periodical freelancing area.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book to get you started...
Review: Over the last week or so, I've been reading The Complete Idiot's Guide To Publishing Magazine Articles by Sheree Bykofsky, Jennifer Basye Sander, and Lynne Rominger. If you're inclined to want to explore this area of freelance writing, I would readily recommend this book for you. The authors take a topic with an abundance of material and present it in an entertaining, digestible fashion. They cover topics from what a freelance writer does, the basics of writing, and how the periodical industry works, to how to write an effective article and how to treat your writing as a business. When you finish, you'll be able to tell whether this is something you want to pursue, as well as how to get started. For me, I learned some tips on writing style (which is always good). I also received some confirmation that steps I've taken already are leading me down the right path. Bottom line... this is an excellent book to move you further along in the periodical freelancing area.
Rating: 
Summary: Idiots Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles
Review: Publishing Magazine Articles encourages you to pursue your love of free-lance writing for magazines, newspapers, and online content. However, Chapter 5 gives you a reality check by giving you the "real scoop" on being a free-lance writer. In other words, you have to be able to be persistent and accept rejection without quitting. If you can get past Chapter 5 and say to yourself, "Yes, freelance writing is still for me!", then the rest of the book is your key to becoming a successful free-lance writer.
Rating: 
Summary: OK For A Woman
Review: This is a book written by women - for women - almost all of the examples and people profiled are women - they even go so far as to quote a writer page 235 co-auther Jennifer) as saying, "Sometimes it bores me - why I am pigeonholed into looking at things from a woman's point of view all the time?" One gets the feeling that this collaboration was done by a few ladies sipping espresso for the purposes of marketing themselves and hoping to garnish more freelance work in the process. Some of the chapters are useful - if you are a woman and want to write about women's issues - but the areas where they deal with non-women-focused interviews, quotes and advice seem as they were thrown in as an after-thought - somewhat as if the manuscript was finished and the editors commented that they needed SOMETHING for SOMEBODY who isn't a feminist.
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