Get Published in Regional Parenting Magazines

So you’ve written a brilliant article that would be a great fit for a local parenting magazine. Sounds easy, right? Just find a couple of magazines that would LOVE to have your essay or article, and send an e-mail.

Not so fast. You know the biggies: Parents, Parenting, BabyTalk, American Baby, Mothering, Good Housekeeping. If you’re brand-new, you probably aren’t ready for these yet. But you have to start somewhere and get some clips in order to get into the big mags. Read on to learn the “science” behind getting published in a local parenting magazine.

Start by checking out the Parenting Publications of America Web site (link below). On any given day, there may be close to 120 different publications that are members of this organization. Also, Google “writer’s guidelines parenting magazines.” This will yield even more gold. Magazines start up (and go out of business) every day.

Once at the PPA Web site, click on Find a Member, then leave Search fields empty so you get all results. Print a copy of all PPA members so you can check them off as you gather information.

Starting at the top of the Members list, click on the bold member (e.g, About Families – Berks County). Print the Member Publication Details sheet so you have contact, circulation and frequency information.

Visit the Web site of each specific publication and poke around there. Look for Writer’s Guidelines, which are sometimes hiding under tabs like “About Us” or “Contact Us” or are lurking at the bottom of the page. If you find them, print and file them in a system that works for you. Peruse copies of the magazine online, if they have that capability or send off for a paper copy, if you prefer. Visit TheKerrieShow.com for new guidelines added often. Enter all the information you can find into your e-mail contacts program so you don’t have to search through mounds of paper when it’s time to query.

Come up with a killer e-mail query, putting your article as text in the body of the e-mail below the query unless the writer’s guidelines state “only attachments.” Some e-mail programs send anything new with an attachment to Spam, so don’t submit your article as an attachment unless the editor asks for it that way in written guidelines.

Send your e-mail query (with article directly under the query) to the publications you’ve studied online, have a sample copy of or know will be a good fit based on their guidelines. If you have the editor’s name, always address the e-mail to that person. If you’ve read a local parenting publication and had a favorite article, mention that when you query the magazine. It shows you know the publication. Don’t submit to competing areas/publications, and NEVER mass-query (meaning, don’t use the blind carbon copy function in your e-mail, which is tres tacky).

Most important, don’t give up, because getting published is a numbers game, even with a well-written piece. The 50th place you submit to may just be the one that publishes you!

An even faster way is to check out the e-book I wrote called "Get Published in Regional Parenting Magazines", available through thekerrieshow.com or payloadz.com.