Getting Published in an Interior Design Magazine

It is every writer's dream to be published. It is also every writer's worst nightmare to try to get published. Magazine feature and article writers saturate the market, and thousands upon thousands of prospective "wannabe" writers are rejected every day. While the competition will not get any easier over the years - there will always be an unbelievable amount of writers to get rejected. Here are some ways to add to your magazine success.

The most important advice for publication is to consider what is written and only submit article queries or copy to magazines that would want to see that specific topic. A writer should write what they know. If an interior designer wishes to be published in one of the nation's leading interior design magazines, in effect the scholarly journal of that profession, then there are essentials for that designer to understand before submission.

First, do not ever write a complete article and simply mail it to the magazine. That is called sending a magazine article "on spec" or "on speculation." Our interior design friend may spend about a month crafting an award winning, in his mind, article about "Designing Your Toilet to be a Religious Experience," but if the magazine editors of his field never accept his topic then he just spent about a month of his time for nothing.

Instead of sending a completed manuscript, our interior designer should have written a well-worded and interesting magazine query. In nonfiction, a letter is sent to the editors whose job includes reading these letters, called queries, and then the editors decide whether or not they wish to see more about the proposed magazine article. Keep in mind that many magazines will only accept articles from previously published writers.

It is also important to be polite in the query letter and to make a point to research the magazine being queried. Our interior designer should not send his toilet article to a hunting magazine specializing in deer, fox and fowl. That is, unless he creatively decides to query this magazine to offer writing an article about designing something specific to hunting, such as designing a new interior for a hunting lodge or cabin.

And that is the last, and really the most important, aspect about the basics of attempting to be published. This advice is for interior designers of course, but for anyone in any profession also. The best advice is to be courageous and take chances with querying and submissions. So do not be afraid to take a risk, when the worst thing that could happen is some editor rejecting your idea so that another editor can snap it right up. Have courage.