My New Magazine Gig

I filled out 80 forms.

Ok. Not quite 80....but close. There were 6.

And now I'm an official contributor for Disney's FamilyFun magazine (yay!).

I'm so excited about this new opportunity. I've loved Family Fun magazine for ages. It's always chock full of brilliant ideas and recipes and games and crafts and, well, family fun ideas.

So, yep, I'm a happy girl.

How about you? Are you interested in pitching ideas to FamilyFun?

Here are a few tips*....

#1: Read the magazine! Know what they like to publish and what they've already put in it. You can search around on their site to see what they've already put in the magazine and to get a feel for what they like.

#2: If you're subbing craft ideas, I think you need to be aware of crafty trends....what crafts have been so overdone that they need to go hide in the basement with your clothes from the '90s? Some things have been done to death. Come up with something unique. Put a spin on a classic craft. Basically know crafts and think of something new.

#3: Make a sample of your craft (or recipe or play the game) and think about....

Would kids actually like to do this?

and

Would it be too hard for them?

#4: Take good pictures to include with your pitch.


#5: Come up with a clever way to pitch the idea. Something short and snappy. You have to capture the editor's attention quickly. And you have to let them know why this craft is perfect for FamilyFun. Get some ideas for pitching by checking out the crafts on their site and then reading the blurb about the craft under the picture. See what I mean by looking at these crafts on their sites...

Can-Do Robots

Springy Spoonfolk

Magazine Bead Bracelet

#6: Be patient. You might have to pitch quite a few ideas before you find one that is a good fit. They get loads and loads of submissions. They might have already seen your idea 100 times before from other crafters. In fact, they may have already bought the idea from someone else. But keep trying!

#7: When submitting to a magazine or a publisher or an agent, there is one thing you always need to do. Learn  how to go about submitting to them. You can find FamilyFun's submission guidelines Here.

Good luck!


*Warning: Sometimes I like to pretend I know what I'm talking about. Kind of like when I pretend I'm British and walk around town talking like a tourist. Wait. That's not really the same at all, is it.....Anyways, there's always a chance I'm completely wrong. A small one. But still there's a chance.... And, no, I don't really pretend I'm British. No, I'm more of a Pretend-to-be-Irish kind of girl. Or maybe Italian. No....my legs are too white for that....