Submission Guidelines for Regional Parenting and Family Magazines

In an ideal world where you might have unlimited time, you would be able to read back copies of every regional family and parenting magazine in existence to get a feel for what kinds of articles they publish. But with so many demands on our time, that's just not possible. So if there are no writer's guidelines available for a regional parenting magazine, follow the rules below:

Make sure you have a copy of the Associated Press Stylebook because most RPMs like articles to follow "AP style" (a few prefer the Chicago Manual of Style).

Always include your name, address, phone number, email address and word count with every submission.

Use one space after periods so your piece is print-ready for most publications. RPMs like to  save  as  much  space  as  they  can,  and  that  gives  them  more  room  for  advertising  and sidebars.

Include a general service sidebar of where readers can go to get more information (websites, books, etc.).

If you can, include either local quotes in your article or quotes from experts around the country, not just from your hometown.

Photos  may  be  submitted  with  the  story,  but  since  many  editors  don't  read   email  with attachments (or it goes to their Spam folder),  just offer and describe the photo in your "cover letter." I sometimes put a fitting photo on my author site with the synopsis of the story.

Unless otherwise stated, the subject line in your email should be "Submission: [Article Name]."

Submit a "cover letter" in your email. Unfortunately, you will also have to add something to it like "Please let me know if you plan to use my article, as I want to make sure two magazines in the same region don't use it at the same time. Also, I need to send you an invoice because my work is not free " It's sad, but some magazines will use your work without telling you and without paying you and you need to point back to your original email.

Submit seasonal pieces (e.g., Christmas, Mother's Day) three months in advance as a general rule, unless writer's guidelines state otherwise.

Add a one to two sentence bio at the end of each article. For instance, "Kerrie McLoughlin is the homeschooling mom of five naughty kids and wife of Aron. Catch up with her at www.TheKerrieShow.com."

Make sure your submission says it's available for "purchase."

You'll save hours if you make every piece general, but put in your cover email letter that you are happy to include a local sidebar of resources (e.g., local meal prep stores, local food bank donation centers, etc.) depending on the topic of your article.

Don't submit your article as an attachment unless the editor asks for it that way in written guidelines, or it may end up in the editor's Spam folder. Instead, place the submission in the body of the email. (Update: I recently sent out SIX different birthday reprints AS ATTACHMENTS to everyone on my submission list as a last-ditch effort and also so as not to bug them with six different emails. The result? So far I heard from one magazine wanting to buy all six at $25 each, and then I heard from a magazine I never worked with before - that is in this book, of course - wanting to buy print and online rights for one article for a total of $5O! So far so good!)

Keep your piece under 1,000 words unless guidelines state otherwise.

OTHER INFORMATION

Editors always reserve the right to edit for clarity, length and style.

Most publications receive many more submissions than they can use.

Check out this post on my 12-step process for getting published!

Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my resource with 600 markets! (use promo code PPBLOG20 for 20% off) You can order "TheMother of All Writing Market Books" here.

The 12-Step Process for Getting Published

In my book How to Get Published (and Paid!) Writing About Your Kids: The Ultimate Guide for Selling Your Stories to Parenting Magazines, I share not only 382 markets with hyperlinked websites, submission guidelines and email addresses, as well as pay information, but I also share a wealth of knowledge from over a dozen years of working in this niche.

I'd like to share these steps with you here, but please know I go into MUCH more detail in the book and answer questions about previously published work versus new work, blog posts as articles, etc.

Below is a typical process I follow when submitting to regional parenting magazines. This might go in a different order for some.

1.     Read magazines you want to write for.

2.   Brainstorm. Check out my blog post called Generating Ideas for Articles and Blog posts here.

3.   Get the bones down.

4.   Call for quotes (only if necessary).

5.    Research. (some do this right after the Brainstorm step and some prefer to do it later). 

6.   Check out the General Submission Guidelines here.

7.    Read the Writer’s Guidelines in the book.

8.   Finish, proofread, read it out loud, give it to a friend.

9.   Add it to your writing website.

10.  Keep good records.

11.   Enter the email addresses and prepare your message.

12. Hit Send!

Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my resource with 600 markets! (use promo code PPBLOG20 for 20% off) You can order "The Mother of All Writing Market Books" here.

Do You Need a Website as a Freelance Writer or Author?

Even though the pay is relatively low, writing for regional parenting magazines can earn you valuable publishing credits. You'll need those clips and credits in order to make your move to writing for national publications in the future. Don't think an author website is unnecessary and too costly for you to set up. You don't need a professional website developer to showcase your writing credits and synopses of your published pieces. For now, in fact, my author website is on Blogger, and I hear amazing things about WordPress, whether you host it yourself or let them do it.

Once you get a decent body of work, you'll want to periodically send an email to editors to let them know about your freelance writing (author) website, which will list all of your available reprints. (If you don't have time for this now, just send out your reprint list every few months and call it good.) The reason you do this is to keep your work fresh in their minds for when they need filler pieces.

Your writer website is important and should include the following:

• Something about you as a writer and a person. Are you a new parent, mom of triplets, single full-time dad?
• A photo of you.
• Summaries of articles you have written or have had published.
• Links to the places where you have been published (your publishing credits), serving as a type of online resume.
• A list of available reprints you have for sale. How you organize these is up to you. I organize mine by month because editors are often looking for something for a specific month's issue. Then I also have a category called EVERGREEN, plus sections for BIRTHDAYS, CAMP, and HOMESCHOOLING. I also add the word count and a snippet of the article or a synopsis.
• Testimonials/references. Don't be afraid to ask for these from editors you have worked with. I have found LinkedIn to be a great resource for asking for recommendations.
• Links to any other online writing you have done so editors can see your writing style.
• Contact information. Once an editor falls in love with your writing style, they want to be able to get in touch with you!
• Social media links.

I like to keep a post on my author site dedicated to projects that are in the works. Articles, books, etc. For instance, one magazine routinely asks me to write a fresh piece for them for $40-50 each month. It's only 500 words and doesn't take me long to research and write. I don't like to sell it as a reprint until it is actually a reprint (meaning, the magazine has published it), which might be a couple of months away. I like to post the title of the piece and the approximate word count on my site so other editors know it will be available soon and coming their way via email.

With a little patience and a lot of hard work, your writer website will grow as you write more pieces, are published more places, and as you gain testimonials.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THIS
I honestly have not gotten many sales with my reprint list on my author website but I leave it there anyway and attempt to update it. I have much better luck keeping my work in front of editors by sending out my entire reprint list every few months. I also make sales when I send a wrap-up of articles that might fit for the next few months. For instance, in early February I might send out articles for March through June.

It might sound crazy to send out March pieces in February, but you'd be surprised how many editors DO NOT work ahead six months or who might have a last-minute space to fill. I have received many emails right before an issue goes to press because an editor realized they had room for a piece and I had sent them something recently enough that I was still on the top of their mind.

Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my resource with 600 markets! (use promo code PPBLOG20 for 20% off) You can order "The Mother of All Writing Market Books" here.

Check out this article on Writer's Digest called A Step-by-Step Guide to Build Your Author Website