Writing a Magazine Article

Marty Barrack

Choosing a Subject

So many Marian Catechists ask me, "What should I write about?" My first answer is always, "What you know best." If we have real depth in one particular area, whether it's catechetics, apologetics, spiritual development, etc., that's what we should write about.

Beyond that, we look ahead about six to nine months and anticipate what topics will be especially relevant. If it is early Spring in an even numbered year, the prospect is for an election that November. Good time to write about Catholic social teaching as it relates to voting. Since most faithful Catholics would agree that abortion, the deliberate killing by mothers of millions of children in their own wombs, is the moral issue of our time, articles on the moral imperative of voting pro-life and strategies for maximizing pro-life impact are always helpful. If the Shroud of Turin will be going on public exhibit in eight or nine months, an article on the Shroud would be timely. Many other examples could be adduced, but you get the idea.

There certainly are many hardy perennial subjects as well.

Choosing a Magazine

The next question I get asked very often is, “Which magazine should I write for?”

Each magazine editor has a certain writing style that he prefers. Initially, we look for a magazine that publishes articles with a writing style similar to ours. Within that group it's initially trial and error as we send an article first to one magazine and then to another. When a magazine editor publishes one of our articles, he gets first look at our next one. If he liked the first one, he'll probably like the second one as well. Once we find an editor that takes two or three of our articles one after another, we have a home.

The Catholic Press Association has a pretty good list of magazine publishers.

Style Sheets

Every magazine has a "style sheet," a list of instructions to writers on the magazine's subjects, tone, and approach. Envoy's style sheet is a good example. Before submitting an article to a magazine, we generally look on its web site or contact the editor for a copy of its instructions to writers. Every magazine has to have a consistent style and tone, and the editor keeps it consistent by publishing only submissions that follow its style sheet.

Payment for Articles

Marian Catechists follow Archbishop Burke's guidelines.

In most cases, not accepting payment will get a Catholic writer published more often. Give an editor a choice between two articles of equal quality, one for which he has to pay for and one for which he does not, and you tell me which he will take.

Copies of the Magazine

When a Catholic magazine publishes our article, the editor usually sends us a copy of the magazine. However, most authors call up right away and order (and pay for) several more copies. If it's our first article, we usually order many copies, perhaps 20 or more. Our diocesan bishop and parish priest will appreciate receiving a copy, as will family members and devoutly Catholic friends. Also, sometimes we encounter a friend who is trying to find exactly the information in our article; it is good to have a copy on hand to give him.

After we have gathered more experience and are regularly published in a magazine, we buy fewer copies. I generally order five copies of each magazine in which one of my articles is published, more if it's a major article or fewer if it's a book review.

Magazine publishers always have extra copies of their magazine during the current month. The probability that it will remain in stock as a back issue drops sharply as the months pass.