Episode 1: How to Identify the Right Magazines to Target for Your Article, Tutorial, or Design Submission

Welcome to the first episode of the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show, hosted by Marie Segares.

About The Show

This podcast is focused on the unique challenges and joys of being a creative indie business owner in the yarn industry. Whether you’re a crochet or knitting designer, blogger, maker, podcaster, publisher, tech editor, or author; or a yarn spinner or dyer; or you make crochet hooks or knitting needles or accessories; this show will be all about how you can grow your business while hopefully staying productive, creative, and sane! The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show format combines solo shows and interviews.

About This Episode

This week’s episode is about how to identify the right magazines to target for article, design, and tutorial submissions. The publishing industry has changed so much in the last few years and you may not be thinking about submitting to magazines anymore. There are a lot of reasons you might want to periodically revisit whether submitting proposals to magazines is a good fit for your business, and if it is, which magazines make the most sense for you to consider as possible publishers.

This episode originally included a downloadable chart with crochet and knitting magazines, but since it first aired in 2014, many things have changed. Create your own list by visiting each magazine's website and searching for design guidelines, submissions, or editorial calendar. When proposal guidelines aren’t posted, you can reach out to the contact email and ask to join a proposal call list and/or to submit an unsolicited proposal.

Another great source for current magazine calls for proposals is the Designers group on Ravelry.

Identify the Right Magazines to Target for Your Article, Tutorial, or Design Submission: 10 Factors to Consider

1. Distribution Channels and Customer Base
2. Magazine’s Overall Aesthetic
3. Editorial Calendar, Mood Board, and/or Call for Proposals
4. Submission and Pre-Publication Process and the Publication Supports Available
5. Compensation
6. The Team
7. Copyright and Exclusivity Terms
8. Confidentiality/Pre-Publication Social Media Policies
9. Deadline/Timeline for Current and Near Future Issues
10. Cost of Submission

Considering these factors helps you decide if a particular magazine is a good fit with you values, your business goals, and your current schedule. It should also lead to a higher acceptance rate since you aren’t targeting magazines that don’t fit your style, and more satisfaction with the terms of your publishing agreement.

1) Distribution Channels and Customer Base

Print magazines are available in local yarn shops (LYS), book stores, grocery stores, big box stores, and other places an indie may have a hard time accessing. Digital magazines may be available on a particular platform that you aren’t working with already. The magazine may expose you to a different (or larger) audience than those who have already been introduced to your work. You may choose a magazine that reaches your existing audience to reinforce your presence among future customers.

2) Magazine’s Overall Aesthetic

Besides the magazine’s website, blog, or Facebook page, Ravelry is a good source for looking through past issues. Some questions to ask to see if the magazine is the right fit for your business are:

• How does the overall aesthetic of the magazine connect with your (current or future) work?
• What type of yarn is used? (Large vs. indie brands, fiber types, weights, price points.)
• How do you feel about the styling, photography, and layout?
• What types of projects and articles are featured?
• What skill level(s) are targeted?

3) Editorial Calendar, Mood Board, and/or Call for Proposals

Do you feel inspired to propose something in response to a mood board or posted call for proposals? If not, you may want to target this magazine at another time. When mood boards or call information isn’t publicly available, try to find out about the editorial calendar so you can submit proposals that are timely.

4) Submission and Pre-Publication Process and the Publication Supports Available

Are you pitching an idea and then moving forward if it is approved by the editorial team? Or, are you sending in the completed content (the complete article or tutorial with photos, or the pattern with photographs of a completed sample) as the proposal?

What types of publication supports are available? Some examples include:

• Editing and tech editing,
• Styling and photography,
• Pattern layout and formatting,
• Content curation,
• Yarn (who selects the yarn, who arranges for yarn support),
• Prom...