UPDATES to "The Mother of All Writing Market Books"

Last updated 12/4/23

Thanks for purchasing The Mother of All Writing Market Books. I created this post because the publishing industry changes QUICKLY. One day you're submitting an article to your favorite regional parenting publication, and the next day that magazine is printing its final issue. 

Or maybe you send a reprint as a simultaneous submission to 100 regional parenting magazines and a couple of the emails bounce back.

So bookmark this tab and come back periodically (maybe set a reminder on your Google Calendar). This is where you'll find updates to the 8th edition of my parenting, family, and women's writing markets book—for free. 

And be sure to join my Parenting Magazine Writers Facebook group for all the intel and conversation. We're almost 900 members strong, and we have a lot to say!

Write for Reader's Digest Magazine -- Submission Writers Guidelines

Check out this post on The Adventurous Writer/Writing Blossoms titled 10 Things You Need to Know About Writing for Reader's Digest. Then see the submission guidelines below. Good luck to you!

Don't send the completed manuscript of your article. The editors will not read it or mail it back. Instead, write a summary of no more than one page. If you will interview the hero of the story, be sure to mention it---it may help you sell your story. Email your proposal to articleproposals@readersdigest.com.

If writing an entire article is too daunting, try something shorter. Reader's Digest encourages its readers to send in funny true stories, jokes, and humorous quotations. Keep your submission within the 500-word limit. If you submit an anecdote originally published elsewhere, include the name of where and when it was published, including the page number.

How to Find Out if Your Work Was Published without Your Knowledge

Keep Publishers Honest!

Issuu.com has changed everything about their site and now writers can't find their published work anymore.

Updates as of 2023:

One member of the Parenting Magazine Writers Facebook group shared: "I just checked Muckrack and it only shows 5-10% of publications at most of my articles. So it's a minimally helpful resource."

Another shared: "One thing that seems to be working is searching my name and the word 'magazine' and filtering by image. This shows a good amount of my stuff."

One member shared: "Given that my experience is that 20-25% of regional publications try to get away without paying writers (unless you spot your article and invoice them...and even then a few require months of begging), that's a lot of money we're losing out on..."

Below is the old information about Issuu.com. Back when they actually were amazing and helpful.

I stumbled across Issuu.com years ago when I was Googling myself. It's a publishing service like BlueToad, only you can put in your name (best to put it in quotes), and magazine covers will come up that most likely contain an article of yours because you may have simultaneously submitted a regional parenting magazine. You can then click on the cover and see your piece! Using Issuu.com I was able to find a piece of mine that was published that I wasn't aware was going to be used at that time. I usually find at least one piece per month that was used without my permission.

Just type your name in the search bar like this: "Kerrie McLoughlin" (in quotes)

If I find what I call “borrowed work,” I contact the magazine and send an invoice for $50 (unless I know from my own book of markets, guidelines, and pay information that they pay more than that).

I thank them for using my work and ask them to ask me next time just in case there are competitors in the area who might have also snapped at the same piece only they were considerate enough to let me know first.

Happy searching!

How to Use HootSuite to Schedule Social Media for FREE!

It didn't take me long to figure out that social media was where a lot of my traffic was coming from for blogging and other writing. I used to write at Bubblews before they went defunct, where my pay was based on views, likes and comments, and I needed to get the word out about pieces I wrote or I didn't make much money. 

I knew I couldn't sit on Twitter or Facebook or other social media all day spamming my followers with message after message ... I don't want to alienate my readers!

Solution: HootSuite!

It's free! (unless you want the fancy version that gives you all the reports)

Here's what you do:

1. Go to HootSuite and sign up.

2. Add your FIVE social networks that you send info to the most. Options include Twitter, Facebook, G+, LinkedIn, FourSquare, WordPress. I have a little owl icon at the top of my toolbar in Chrome. I click on him and then choose up to five different places to send my post or message. I usually choose my Facebook fan page for The Kerrie Show for general items because I have that set up to also automatically tweet everything that hits there.

Sometimes I pick other places to send my message, like to my Homeschooling Mommybot Facebook fan page or to the fan page for THIS blog!

3. Find a post you want some love on.

4. Add an image if it doesn't already show up on the HootSuite box.

5. HootSuite shortens the link for you! Then you can tailor the message if you like.

6. Click on the calendar to schedule your message for whenever you want it to hit. I do love, however, the Auto Schedule option, which takes it out of your hands and spaces messages far enough apart so as to not spam your followers, plus it apparently sends messages at optimal times somehow.

Talk about making money while you sleep! You could schedule a bunch of tweets overnight for your worldwide fan base and wake up with a nice amount in your AdSense account or find that affiliate links have been clicked or, like used to happen for me, that your Bubblews amount increased incredibly!

If this post confounds you, just check on YouTube because there are HootSuite how-to videos that show you step-by-step ways to set this up and use it.

Make Money from Home on Fiverr

I stumbled on Fiverr.com in April of 2013 when I was looking for a way to make money from home online to pay off some mounting dental bills and other things. I needed a job that would allow me to continue homeschooling, a job that would travel well if I had to go out of town or work from another location.

I was not disappointed. 

I immediately had a full queue of jobs and found that I could easily customize my "gigs" (what I offer for $5). I could promise to deliver a proofreading job to a client within 24 hours. Or, if life was busy and I was not able to do that, I could change it to a longer delivery time to discourage new orders from coming in as quickly. It's very customizable!

Parenting and Family Magazines That Pay ... Over 600 of Them!!! (Print & Online)

Woo hoo! The latest edition of my ebook for writers who want to write for parenting/family markets is live here on Amazon! There are over 600 markets! Please let your friends know who might want to break into this lucrative market because it's exactly how I have a blast while making money for my family.

I personally love having a print copy of everything and thought you might also like that option, so you can also buy it as an instant download here and print it yourself. This makes it easier to highlight publications your work appears in, cross out email addresses that may change, black out publications that fold, add those lovely Post-It notes anywhere you like, etc.!

I've been in over 160 parenting mags and it's growing ... and there are 50ish new markets in the 6th edition! You can do what I've done. I have no English or Journalism degree ... just parenting knowledge and a love for writing.

My Love-Hate Relationship with Scrivener

I got Scrivener in 2020 when the lockdown was first in effect and was surprised/happy about the reasonable price. Many of my favorite writers raved about this program, so I had to try it.

While I love how I can organize and move chapters around easily without much scrolling, I hate a few things even more, which are huge time-wasters in my writing career:

1. I can't make the screen bigger without making the font bigger like you can in, say, an Internet browser when you increase the screen print size.
   
   
2. I can't do a search. At least I could never get it to work, so trying to find one magazine market in a sea of several hundred market names was not possible.
   
   
3. When I compiled it into a Word document so I could do final proofreading, Scrivener randomly smooshed words together and randomly messed up the formatting, which wasted a lot of time. So my text might look like this:

Writer's guidelines canbe found on thewebsite.

I am also a proofreader on Fiverr and have been since 2013. I used to get so frustrated when book projects would come to me for proofreading as shown above quite often: a writer has put their trust in Scrivener and exported, then sent it straight to me. And when I receive it, it's a formatting nightmare with words smashed together and extra spaces inserted.

If you can overlook these things, give it a go. If you can't, just keep using Microsoft Word like I do. Shrug. I'd love to hear from Scrivener to find out what I'm doing wrong and if this happens to anyone else. 

Update December 2020: I went through the manual and tried many different ways to compile my book into a document that was how it should be (including hyperlinks). Doing "Custom" then choosing the "Times 12 pt" option from above and the "RTF" format from below worked the best, but there were still smooshed words, missing periods, and extra spaces in every single file I compiled, no matter how I compiled it. I went back to the original Scrivener document to see if the mistake originated with me, but nope. GLITCH.

Update: I got this in my email inbox recently so I'll definitely let them know what I like and don't like. I'm truly hoping these are easy fixes for a programmer and that I can go back to Scrivener with open arms and lots of writing ideas!

The Pomodoro Technique: Focus for ADHD Writers

I'm reading The Art and Business of Writing by Chris Jones on my Kindle and it's full of helpful advice. I'll review it in a later post. For now, please take this gem I got in there (then, interestingly enough, I also found the same gem the next day in a speed-reading ebook I was proofreading on Fiverr, which tells me the Universe wants me to try it).

Basically in the mornings, I put my butt in my seat after getting my coffee and something to eat. Focusing after that is hard. I want to check email, Facebook, my ebook sales, Fiverr, blog stats, do some blog social media, and more. Back and forth and then I've wasted an hour! That is no way to make your dreams come true of moving to the country, traveling the world with your family, and writing a bunch more books! 

So you start by hitting the app store with your smartphone (or you can just do it yourself with a timer, I suppose, but I am trying out this free app to see if it keeps track of stats and stuff ... there are also paid versions).

Then you handle your settings. I left mine on the default. So I proofread for 25 minutes and then take a break. I plan to also use this for writing so I can get articles and ebooks actually WORKED ON! After every 4 sets, you get a longer break. I'll have to use this to switch out the laundry, do some dishes, throw dinner in the slow cooker, brush my teeth, get dressed, etc. I am only doing this in the mornings so far when the kids are sleeping and I am not distracted or interrupted. Once the kids are up, all bets are off and it's homeschool and family time until I can get more work done at night, usually about another hour until my brain is too tired to think.

The timer goes quietly for 25 minutes and then buzzes or can go off with an alarm with noise and then switches to 4 minutes of break (yes, you can pause it if you need to). Sometimes I might grab my 5-pound weights I keep by my desk (a 1950s Formica table in the corner of the kitchen, my "office") or do some planks or squats. Or check email. But the point is when that time is up I have to get back to work. No more languishing in Facebook land for me!

I'd love to hear about your tips, tricks, and tools for getting things done! And be sure to come back to read my review of Chris Jones' book! You'll love it!

All About Making Money on #Fiverr as a #Proofreader, #Writer and More! #WAHM

I stumbled on Fiverr.com in April of 2013 when I was looking for a way to make money from home online to pay off some mounting dental bills and other things and my husband had FINALLY given in and suggested we get Internet at home.

I was not disappointed. I immediately had a full queue of jobs and found that I could customize my gigs, which means that if I had extra time to work, I could put my gig on a 1-day delivery time to get more orders. If I was full up with parenting and homeschooling, I could change it to a 29-day delivery time to discourage new customers who were in a hurry. 

Check out my information below to see if it might be for you and then give it a shot. It's a versatile way to make money online. It's free to sign up, and I'd love it if you'd use my referral code.

Write Timely Articles Parenting Magazine Editors Want to Purchase

As parenting magazine writers, we all need ideas for articles to write about all year long.

Do you feel like you have written everything you have to say on the topic of birthday parties or camp or holidays?

Need some inspiration because your brain has run dry?

Check out this site. Turns out there are not only those obvious and popular things we knew about like Valentine's Day in February, but also things that should be on our radar like Black History Month ... and did you know that February 20 is Love Your Pet Day? What a great time to whip out that piece about whether or not your kid should get a pet. Or maybe you sold it in December about getting a pet for Christmas and it just needs a little tweak and a re-send.

To me, this is writing idea GOLD. I am brainstorming like crazy because the regionals work a few months ahead. Some have their editorial calendar all laid out for the whole YEAR, but I get quite a few last-minute assignments, so it never hurts to have some of these babies in your stable of articles.

Now get your butt in your seat and WRITE! Or, you can try what I do and dictate into your phone while you are driving or walking for exercise or waiting for kids to come out of something. At least get the ideas down and they will start ruminating in your head and turn into an article with a little research, maybe a human quote or two, and a lot of crafting and care.

For more brainstorming inspiration, check out my upcoming Write for Magazines: The Workbook, which will be available as an instant download on e-junkie, as an ebook on Amazon, and also as a print book on Amazon. Stay tuned!

Write for Highlights for Children Magazine -- Submission Writers Guidelines

We do not accept work through Submittable (or through e-mail) from writers younger than 16. Young writers and artists may send their work to: Highlights for Children, 803 Church Street, Honesdale, PA 18431. 

Highlights is a general-interest magazine for children ages 6-12. By publishing stories, puzzles, articles, and activities that are fun and engaging, we aim to inspire kids to be their best selves–creative, curious, caring, and confident. Highlights was founded in 1946 by Dr. Garry Cleveland Myers and Caroline Clark Myers, and is still owned and run by their family. The magazine accepts no outside advertising and has no religious or organizational affiliation. Highlights has a circulation of about a million and is published monthly.

Write for Magazines: The Basics (Book 2 in the Write Anywhere series)

 

This little red beauty about selling magazine article reprints was a true labor of love. She came about when I realized that maybe not everyone wanted to jump right into Book 1, The Mother of All Writing Market Books. 

I squinched up my eyes, cocked my head to one side, put my finger on my temple and thought, Hmmm, maybe some people just want to know how to get started, find out if this parenting and family magazine niche is right for them. Maybe they don't need the regional markets and the national markets just yet. And when that time comes, they can grab THOSE books separately as well.

In Rachel Zoe speak: Options.

Write for Magazines: The Basics includes just the how-to-get-started information from the front of The Mother of All Writing Market Books: 600 Homes for Your Family, Parenting & Women’s Articles, Essays & More (Book 1 in the series). It also includes the Appendices, Glossary of Terms, and the website and book recommendations.

Now available on Amazon as an ebook or print book (almost 100 pages). Also available in my e-junkie shop as an instant download (64 pages size 8 1/2 x 11")!

I'd love for you to join my Parenting Magazine Writers Facebook group as well, where I share all sorts of new and interesting markets (not all parenting related!), and we have discussions about lots of different topics.

8 Steps to Make Over $500 for a Regional Parenting Magazine Reprint

Let me start by saying not EVERY article I write makes this much money. I've written and submitted over 100 parenting magazine articles. Some have sold a total of a few hundred dollars. But today I want to share with you the 

ARTICLE ROCK STARS

I'm sharing this not to say, "Woo hoo, I am awesome and check out how much money I make doing this." Instead, I'm sharing to say, "Wow, I didn't realize that it all added up like this! I mean, I knew my Christmas Peace piece did pretty great, but it might hit over $1,000 in total sales if I tweak it a bit! This can happen for other writers as well, and there seems to be plenty of room for all of us to make money writing from home!"