Once you have your initial pack of ideas ready, it’s time to prepare for the next part of the journey– finding the markets and editors who will pay you for these ideas. These markets could include national magazines that you stack in your bookshelf regularly, trade journals that will offer hefty per-word assignments, or websites and e-zines that while short on prestige and payment, make up for it with quicker response times and easier assignments. Matching the idea to the market happens in one of two ways: either there’s a market you want to write for, in which case you’ll study the magazine thoroughly and come up with ideas for it, or you have a list of ideas and a list of markets and you match them up together. We already have the list of ideas, now it’s time to start hunting down those markets.

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The Markets

To start off, it’s essential to know the different kinds of markets that are available for your work. Here are the few basic types. (All rates discussed are applicable to US-based markets. To the best of my knowledge, market rates for India follow no standard and are usually based on the experience of the writer and his/her relationship with the magazine. I think this is typical in most of Asia and some parts of Europe.)
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Consumer Magazines

These are the magazines that you’ll often find on your local newsstand. They’re focused towards a particular demographic or age group, such as magazines for pet owners, college students, women, etc, and cover the interests of that particular audience. Popular magazine categories include health and fitness, teen, parenting, politics, and women. Consumer magazines are my focus, and those are what I’ll mostly be talking about.

Pay rates: Medium. Fluctuate from extremely low to extremely high. You can expect to see an average of $1 per word from national publications.

Looking for: Mostly service pieces that will help their readers solve a problem or live their lives better. Profiles and do-it-yourself pieces are also quite popular in this market.

Best way to get work: Think up a unique idea catering to the interests of the market and send a detailed proposal or query letter.

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Trade Magazines

These magazines are targeted to people in specific professions and trades. For instance, magazines such as Writer’s Digest and The Writer are trade magazines because they give advice to professional writers and authors. Similarly, there are magazines for doctors, lawyers, shopkeepers and numerous other trades. A prerequisite of writing for this market is that you should have impeccable research skills and the willingness to write on sometimes boring topics.

Pay rates: High. That’s the best feature of trade magazines. You can expect rates from $0.50 per word and up. Usually, you’ll find a standard rate of $1 per word even for low circulation magazines.

Best way to get work: Send in a letter of introduction outlining your previous writing and industry experience and ask for assignments.

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Web Markets

Websites and e-zines are a great jumping off point for the new writer and some markets in this category can pay extremely well, especially those associated with print publications. However, most independent websites and e-zines will pay somewhere between $10 and $100. While these markets are great for starting out, most writers can’t rely on them too much for regular income. Some blogging jobs are paid-for as well these days, but professional writers attest that the pay is minuscule and not worth the work that goes into it. I would advise against writing for pay-per-click ventures.

Pay rates: Low. Usually between $10-100, though a handful will pay as much as $1 per word.

Looking for: Mostly how-to articles, sometimes personal essays.

Best way to get work: Send complete submissions, or very short queries.

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There are, of course, many other categories as well, including newspapers, anthologies, and writing competitions, but I will be focusing mostly on consumer magazines.