How To Get Published in Trade Magazines

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Contents Copyright© 2004 Mica Calfee
Please contact for permission to reproduce anything on these pages.

Writing a good, informative, article is only half of what it takes to get published. The first thing you have need to do is get your article read by the right person. You will probably have to provide an introductory "query" letter before your article is considered worthy of being read.

Perhaps you could use a little advice on how to go about getting an article read and published.
This e-book can help you.

Learn the tricks and inside secrets from someone who
has learned them the hard way.

He has been published in almost every major fire service publication. These include:
FireRescue Magazine
Fire Chiefs Magazine
Firehouse Magazine
Fire Engineering Magazine
He has also been published in several other magazines on a variety of subjects.
See this page for examples.

Mica Calfee is a 27 year veteran of the fire service.
He has been a professional firefighter since 1980.
He is presently a captain of one of the busier stations in Irving, Texas.
Within two fire departments he has served as:
Paramedic
Dispatch Captain
Firefighter
Driver/Engineer
Fire Service Instructor
State Field Examiner
He holds the certification of Master Firefighter.

4. Know the magazine.
OK, you have jumped through all the hoops and your article is being read by an editor. How can we improve the odds that the editors will like it? There are several things that can instantly turn off the person who reads your submission. One of them is not knowing the magazine’s goals and mission. Likewise, writing an article that appears to be exactly the kind of piece that this magazine publishes will get you points.

A good example of this might be FireRescue Magazine. Their motto is “Read it today. Use it tomorrow.” They are not big on theory or esoteric articles. They want to see “meat and potatoes” articles in their pages. If you send them something that demonstrates that you don’t have a grasp on their style or mission, it will quickly be considered a waste of their time. On the other hand, a magazine such as Fire Chiefs Magazine, might be able to use your article on budget management theory.

Every magazine has a style or flavor in its pages. It is up to you to find that style and capitalize off of what you have found. Editors are, after all, usually flattered if they think that you have read their work and that you “get it”. If they think for a second that you haven’t bothered to check out their hard work, then your hard work will be rejected at the speed of a “delete” button.

Knowing the style or mission of a magazine is never more important than in the query letter. It is a good idea to express that you know their motto or style in this letter. After all, this letter is your chance to tell the editors that “this article would fit well” in their publication.

Almost every time I have been published an editor has responded with the words, “Your article would be a ‘good fit’ for our magazine.” Likewise, the rejections usually say, “This is a good article, but we feel that it is not a ‘good fit’ for our magazine.” Apparently, how well an article “fits” is of paramount concern.