The R Us Group

Got a true life story which you think might make the tabloids sit up and beg? You know the type, My devil worshipping granny turned lesbian at 80! or My partner kept his underage lover in our coal cellar! They are more common that you think and with the huge payouts they command, it is little wonder more than a few writers have turned their eyes to this type of writing!

Payment for these kinds of magazine articles far out strips anything else on offer, typically anywhere from a thousand pounds upwards and the additional prospect of a byline in a magazine with a circulation of many thousands is a further attraction.

So how difficult is it to break into this area of magazine writing? Assuming you have a devil worshipping grandmother or something similar, not very! There are agencies and brokers which will welcome you with open arms if you have a story of this type sell.

These are industry professionals with good contacts. For a percentage of the fee, they will negotiate the best price for the story on your behalf, a little like a book publishing agent, but there the similarity ends because unlike the world of book publishing, it is highly unlikely that you will be allowed to write your story!

The big snag is and it is a big one for anyone who is serious about launching a writing career is it is very unlikely that you will be doing any writing! Tabloid magazines and newspapers employ their own in house staff trained to milk each story for every drop of lurid, sensational tidbit.

Your attempts to hold to the truth will largely go unheeded and it is very likely that you will also have to agree to photographs of yourself being spread all over the centre pages.

The good news is, you can earn a reasonably good living writing for magazines without having to paddle in these somewhat murky waters!

If you have a reasonably good command of the English language, some basic research skills and the ability to writing in a clear and entertaining way, there are hundreds and hundreds of magazines and websites willing to pay realistic fees for your work.

Give yourself a good grounding in the basic skills of writing magazine articles and take on board the fact that writing is a business and you will soon begin to make sales.

You will find there is a lot of help available so do plenty of back ground reading on writing for magazinesbefore you start submitting your articles.

Get started by joining a good creative writing community. These very often carry market listings which pay for magazine articlesand are also a pillar of support for the emerging writer. You should also sign up for Mags & Rags, a superb ecourse on writing for magazines.This is currently free and will give you a good grounding in all aspects of magazine writing.