Magazine Publishing Advice From a Pro

Interview with WOW! Women on Writing Publisher Angela Mackintosh

Jan 1, 2009

Wow! Women on Writing is an award winning e-zine and one of Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers. In this follow-up interview to WOW! Women on Writing Success Story, founder and CEO Angela Mackintosh offers some practical advice for first-time magazine publishers and freelance writers.

Suite 101: What advice would you offer to those interesting in publishing an e-zine?

Angela Mackintosh (Angela): My best advice for anyone who wants to start an e-zine is to start off with a business plan. Think big from the start and treat it like a business. You'll be surprised at how quickly it takes off and you want to be prepared. Also, have some many saved, a solid revenue structure planned out in advance, or find an investor. It's a lot more expensive than people think. If you want good content, you should be prepared to pay for it like we do. One thing that really perturbs me is websites that don't pay writers. Don't start an e-zine unless you can pay contributors. We all need to make a living! Support your fellow writers.

Another think you need to do immediately is to set up an email newsletter. That is the one sure way you'll attract advertisers. Advertising revenue will allow you to pay freelancers. But you want to make sure you garner the right advertising. Target advertisers that make sense and mesh with your content.

Finally, follow your passion. It doesn't matter what it is, but you have to believe in it. If you're simply starting an e-zine to make money...don't. You have to have a greater purpose for starting one. It's a really noisy world online, and you should be prepared to do the work. You're going to have to market your idea, make contacts, and work just as hard as any other venture, so make sure you have a passion for it.

Suite 101: Could you share a little about your marketing efforts and the role they play in your success?

Angela: In the beginning, we advertised on many networks, such as Google, Yahoo, and others, but as we grew we found we didn't need to advertise anymore. That was one of the very first suggestions that my senior editor, Annette Fix, mentioned when coming on board in November 2007. She said, "Why are you spending hundreds of dollars on advertising when you already have the traffic?"

I thought for a moment, and couldn't think of an answer other than, "That's what everyone else does." It quickly occurred to me that she was right. Why spend the money on keywords when I could spend it on helping women freelancers. I'd rather help women writers than spend empty dollars on advertising. So most of our marketing is word-of-mouth marketing from real readers who love our site.

We also have a certain set of standards that lend to our great customer service. one thing we've done from the beginning is form the "WOW! Alumni." Anyone who has been previously published on WOW! Women on Writing as a freelancer, contest winner, or otherwise, can utilize our Buzz feature in our monthly newsletters that go out to 20,000 subscribers. It allows Alumni members to post any promotional materials about what they're up to, books they've published, etc., in the newsletter under the announcements category.

The relationships and contacts we establish through WOW! are treated with care. Every gift that we send out to writing contest winners is tenderly wrapped in tissue and ribbon and comes with a handwritten note. It doesn't matter how large we've grown, we still try our best to pay special attention to our readers and writers. That's about the extent of our marketing today.

Suite 101: You receive hundreds of queries a month. What advice would you give a freelancer trying to break in? What catches your eye in a query?

Angela: This was a question we received in a recent interview. This was our senior editor, Annette Fix's response: The query evaluation process includes questions that have to be answered. Is it a topic that would be of interest to our readers? Does the freelancer have the expertise to write the article she is proposing? Has she fully fleshed-out her idea? Has she listed sources, or prospective sources for quotes? Does she have a strong voice? Has she come up with a unique title? We may not use the title for the published article, but if it's memorable like "How to Hog-Tie an Agent," it keeps the query on our minds, rather than getting lost in the mix with all the queries titled: "How to Get an Agent."

Queries should include clips or some sort of writing sample; at the very least, a link to a blog post written like a how-to article. If you are serious about freelancing, you should have a blog that showcases your writing ability.

For submissions, show us that you know how to structure an article for the web: subheadings, short paragraphs, bullet lists, sidebars, a content-rich article with no excessive wordiness.

Suite 101: What would you like readers to know about your e-zine WOW! Women on Writing?

Angela: We offer many other services to women writers, such as our Premium-Green Markets Newsletter and community. We send a 100 plus page e-book every month filled with markets and articles you can use to advance your writing career. We also have special events, where we field queries for the WOW! e-zine from PG subscribers. If you want to get involved in a supportive group and discuss freelance topics on the list-serve, this is a good resource.

Thank you, Angela, for sharing your experience and expertise with Suite 101 readers.

To learn how Angela went from an e-zine with no readers to one of the most successful online writers' magazines around, read WOW! Women on Writing Success Story.

The copyright of the article Magazine Publishing Advice From a Pro in Magazine Publishing is owned by Mary Yerkes. Permission to republish Magazine Publishing Advice From a Pro in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Apr 6, 2009 6:02 AM

Guest :

Good information.

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