How do you study magazines before querying them? How does this help you put your query together and find the right kind of article to query to that magazine? That’s something I have always wondered.

Interesting question, and the answer to which has become much easier in the last two years. Reading a publication cover to cover (several issues preferably) is quite important, in my opinion, because without that, it’s very difficult to ascertain what may or may not fit. Are the articles one-pagers or do they run for several thousand words? How important is photography? What is the tone– serious or fun or a mix of both?

As a reader, you already know the answers to those questions, which is why you subscribe to a magazine. But if there’s a publication that’s new to you, it’s important to understand what they’re trying to achieve and how you can contribute to that.

It’s becoming possible to find all this out exclusively on the Internet these days, though I do recommend picking up at a copy (or asking for a pdf). I follow magazines and newspapers on Twitter to see what kind of articles they’re publishing, how long they run, how many people they interview, etc. I’ll also spend a substantial time on their website, again reading the content and seeing what they’ve featured and why.

Once you have a better idea of the publications (and you read them regularly), you’ll easily be able to see the distinction. I often say things like, “This is a Marie Claire piece,” or “Oh, this is totally Elle,” and even within those two similar magazines, there’s a world of difference.

Some things to consider:

1.    What’s the goal of this publication?
2.    Who is the target audience?
3.    Which departments take freelance contributions? (Check out the bylines and compare with the masthead.)
4.    What is the length of the articles in the section you’re targeting?
5.    What kind of articles got the most reader feedback? (Read the letters to the editor.)

I’ve written more about this here.