Writing for Children's Magazines

Kids Magazines are an Important Market for Children’s Writers

Jan 10, 2010
K.D. Kuch

Children's Magazines Offer Writers Opportunities - R. Young

Children's magazines offer writers plentiful opportunities for publication,. Writers can see their work quickly and find steady writing work with pay.

It has been said often that kids' magazines are a great place for unpublished writers to break into the children’s marketplace. However, the truth is, writing for children's magainies is a great market for already published writers, too. By their nature, children’s magazines need lot of material. Most publications include a variety of formats for their young readers, like fiction and nonfiction stories, poetry, puzzles, crafts, recipes and games. That gives new writers a chance to try out different styles of writing to discover their niche and gives writing pros an opportunity to stretch their writing muscles in a different genre.

With all that content needed, it is understandable that there are a lot of kids' writers vieing for those articles. Yes, competition is stiff, but with good research and well-crafted writing, it is possible to break into writing for children’s magazines.

Study Children’s Magazines Before Writing

This is one case where knowing the market is important. Children’s magazines are very topic specific, covering such subjects as history, science, skateboarding, animals and general interest for boys or girls. Read the magazines to understand what the publication expects. Many kids’ magazines are not sold in stores or newsstands, so check the library for copies or send for a sample of the magazine. Most children’s magazines make sample copies available for writers for the cost of shipping or have editorial guidelines available on their Internet sites. The Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator Market has a listing specifically for children’s magazines,

Editorial Guidelines are Meant to be Followed... Especially Children's Magazine

Magazines provide detailed editorial guidelines for writers, which includes everything from age groups the magazine is intended for, to upcoming themes and specific word counts. Many times the editorial guidelines will even specify current needs. And, of course,payment and rights are in the guidelines. That information, plus the research already done on the magazine, will help the writer construct just right article ideas for the kids' magazine. And that’s an important concept to keep in mind. Too many writers send out ideas or manuscripts blindly, without research. It is a waste of time for the writer and for the magazine’s editorial staff.

Send the Children's Editor a Polished Query Letter

Keep it simple, keep it focused, keep it professional and above all, keep it interesting. A query letter is not only a short sales pitch for the article idea; it lets the editor know the very quickly if the writer is an effective communicator. A query letter for a magazine should be one page long and contain the following elements:

An opening paragraph to hook the editor’s attention
The format offered (a fiction story, a nonfiction article, etc).
The body of the pitch with more detail of the story/article
The writer’s credentials
The closing paragraph

Because many articles or pieces for children’s magazines are so short, the editorial guidelines may request a completed manuscript. This is especially true for poems, puzzles, games and recipes. Whatever form is sent, it should be the best the writer can produce – well thought out and written, proofread and polished.