March 2016 – Joyce K. Ellis

Joyce K. Ellis is author or coauthor of more than a dozen books, including The 500 Hats of a Modern-Day Woman, updated and revised. She has also published hundreds of magazine articles, writes a grammar column for Christian Communicator magazine, served as a staff editor for two Christian magazines, and currently does editing for Prayer Connect magazine. She received a Gold Medallion Award for her children’s devotional book, The One-Minute Bible for Kids, and she has won numerous awards from the Evangelical Press Association for her articles. She mentors students of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild correspondence course, has served as assistant director for the Write-to-Publish Conference in the Chicago area, and teaches at writers conferences and speaks for women’s groups and retreats across the country and internationally. She and Steve, her husband of 45 years, who live in suburban Minneapolis, love traveling, reading, and being involved in the lives of their five grandchildren.

How to Study Magazines to Increase Your Publication Potential

Magazine editors often say their chief complaint about freelance writers is that they obviously haven’t studied the magazine before submitting manuscripts. What does it mean when they say, “Study our publication before submitting”? How do we know the best fit for our articles? We’ll discover some clues by tearing apart sample magazine and individual articles to see what makes an article “just right” for our target market—or how to find the right market—and how to delight an editor by doing our homework. Please bring a sample copy of a magazine you want to write for (one that accepts freelance submissions) to this very hands-on workshop. (Others will be available if you forget, but you’ll get more out of this workshop if you bring one of your own choice.)