fitness magazine editor tells all

Published: Tue, 09/18/12

Hey, 

Usually I keep my emails short and just post on my blog and send you a link to it. 

But my blog seemed to be acting up so I'll email this one instead - this way you can keep it in your account and go back to it easier when you have time to fully digest what it is about. 

It's a long email but "full" of knowledge. 

See I used to collect Muscle Magazines years ago and I had boxes upon boxes of them. I'm sure your pretty much like me and thumb through magazine after magazine but never really knew the inside scoop on how these get made each month. 

Now years later I write articles for magazines and publish books and I still have much to learn about the business of writing.  

I have a hook up now because Sean Hyson the editor at Men's Fitness and Muscle & Fitness is sharing his knowledge with me and you on how YOU too can write for publications. 

I really love this stuff - this is what I want to share more than the "how to get a six-pack" type of stuff most of us bodybuilders and fitness models already know. 

I hope you enjoy this and really take the time to read it. I'm sure this is something you have never read before and for an editor to tell you exactly how to write for a fitness magazine is pretty awesome! 

Enjoy, 

Brian

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Writing Domination in the Fitness Industry

By Sean Hyson

I'm an editor at Men's Fitness and Muscle & Fitness. 

Because each magazine has its own needs and systems, some of the following information and advice is specific to my own duties. I use "magazine" and "publication" interchangeably, and while both words imply I'm talking about a print magazine like MF, I don't mean it that way. 

The advice here applies to any media entity, traditional or online, in which an editor decides whether or not to publish your article. The editor is the gatekeeper, and you need him or her to help you get into the mix. In other words, getting your work published is all about dealing with editors. 

So let's begin with a discussion of what editors do.

The Editor's Job

Editors are a lot like The Terminator, only most of us couldn't hurt a fly and don't dress like bikers. Our mission is to make the articles we work on fit our publications. We don't feel pain, pity, or remorse when contorting your work to serve this purpose, and we'll stop at nothing to get it done by the deadline.

Those of you who have worked with Lou or me in the past will (I hope) note that we're not quite so cold and mechanical, but the take-home point remains: 

Whatever you send to an editor has to ultimately fit his publication's criteria. There are no exceptions to the rule or ways around it, no matter the quality of your writing or information. 

Because of this, articles (commonly referred to as "stories" by editors) need to be done in a very specific way. If that doesn't jibe with what you wanted to unveil to the world, you're terminated.

In addition to mass murder, an editor's job includes these duties:

Come up with ideas for his sections

Editors are always open to pitches from writers, but because they know best what their publication needs, they generate the ideas for many of the articles themselves.

Assign stories

When an idea is fleshed out, it's then assigned to a writer. The writer will have his or her own thoughts about how the story should be done (what angle to take, whom to interview, etc.), but the editor must approve these. A deadline is set and a fee for the work may or may not be offered.

Edit stories

When the piece comes back to the editor, he begins the process of making sure it fits the magazine's mold. It could be the greatest piece of writing since the Ten Commandments, but if it's too long, too highfalutin, or didn't accomplish the goal of the assignment, it's hasta la vista, baby. 

An editor generally won't shoot you or "kill" the piece (that's actually an official industry term, which conveniently fits our Terminator metaphor) for turning in a story that fails to meet the assignment, but he will have you rewrite it. Sometimes, if time is short or the piece needs considerable retooling, he'll rewrite it himself and then choose whether or not to give you the byline--that is, credit for writing the article.

Breathe easy. If you're a respected fitness pro, and if you sincerely tried to fulfill the assignment, you'll almost certainly get the byline. Lou and I have dealt with many more fitness experts over the years than professional writers. Our goal is to get good training information, which rarely arrives with clever writing. We're happy to supply it ourselves. 

There's another side to this: 

Not every expert is happy to see someone else's writing appear under his byline. If you have an authorial voice--a distinct way of expressing your ideas--that you've worked hard to establish, you probably don't want to submit ideas to magazines where people like Lou and me will rewrite your articles to sound more like everything else in the magazine. 

"Package" stories

An ab workout is never just an ab workout. It has to be the most exciting and new take on ab training to come down the pipe. So regardless of what information is being presented, or whether the workout contains exercises or set and rep schemes that have appeared thousands of times before, the piece needs to have a clear and marketable angle. It needs an exciting (we sometimes say "sexy") hook to it that makes readers want to stop on the page and think they'll get something special out of it. 

The packaging, or spin, or vajazzling, is often accomplished with the headline or subhead (the sentence or two of copy that appears under the headline; more on that in a moment). 

Sometimes packaging is easy to apply. If an editor is working with a coach like Pavel Tsatsouline, who's known for promoting the old Eastern Bloc training methods in America (most famously with kettlebells, which he almost singlehandedly popularized), he can easily turn the article into a "Russian Workout," "Drago Training," or "Secrets of the Soviet Supermen" type of piece. Play up the mysterious and imposing image of Soviet sports training, and you've suddenly packaged what could be a mundane workout into something very cool.

The editor and writer will usually agree on packaging when the story is assigned, but it can change at any time. If the editor realizes that the spin of your story contradicts that of another story (often the case in fitness magazines), one of the stories will need to be rethought. 

For example, if your feature on ab training says that crunches are bad for your back and shouldn't be done, but another article in the same issue includes crunches, something has to give. The magazine can't appear to contradict itself (not in the same issue, anyway). So the editor has three options: 

Maybe both articles are tweaked to acknowledge that crunches are good in one situation, or for one type of lifter, but not in another. 

Other times, the problem isn't contradiction but redundancy. Nowadays, every trainer I work with seems to want to write about how interval training is more efficient for fat loss than long-duration cardio. So it wouldn't be surprising for an editor like me to end up with two articles making the same points in the same issue. Again, something has to give. 

Since it's unfair to ask a writer to make substantial revisions because the magazine changed its mind about the story's angle, the editor will usually do this in-house.

Approve art and photography

Magazines have a separate department to assign and manage the photos and illustrations that accompany text, but editors usually weigh in. If you've written a fitness article that includes a workout, the editor may have to supervise the photo shoot for your exercises. Different magazines have different policies. He may choose the models, but he may not. And when it comes to the big photos that open the article and increasingly dominate magazine layouts, he may not have any input or control. 

You, the writer, will almost never have a voice in any of this. 

Now that you're familiar with what an editor does, let's look at how fitness stories are written.

Types of Fitness Articles

There are three kinds of story ideas: evergreen, one-off, and serial. 

An evergreen idea is one the publication can use any time, regardless of seasons or anything else that's going on in the world. It's something that will always satisfy the interests of its core readers.

For a fitness magazine aimed at men, examples would be steps to getting six-pack abs or big arms, fighting the aging process, getting the same results in less time, or losing the last 10 pounds. Different magazines have different evergreens. You can tell by looking at its cover lines each month. 

If you're pitching an evergreen, packaging is crucial. It has to be more than a bunch of exercises or collections of recipes. This is the magazine's specialty, and it's an area where the editor is not just alert for great new ideas, but especially harsh toward the things he's seen over and over. 

If you have a new, interesting idea underpinning your methods for achieving an evergreen goal, you have a great chance to get an editor's attention. If you don't, you're better off not pitching an evergreen at all. 

A one-off idea is usually a larger story that's unique, often seasonal, and possibly controversial. 

A feature about getting your beach body would obviously be most appealing for a summertime issue, so this is a one-off article that you won't see run in November. Note that the packaging is the main determinant. The training and diet information in the story could be similar to what appears in other issues, and the goal could be an evergreen concept for the magazine. But the seasonal specificity makes it a one-off.

Another example of a one-off story could be a controversial feature on dieting. John Kiefer wrote a story for me last year in which he recommended eating no carbs whatsoever to lose weight. This story could have been packaged many ways and run at many lengths, but I felt that it was such an outrageous and interesting concept that I ran it as a feature, knowing it would get more attention that way.

A serial idea is something that can be broken down into parts. You might find a three-part "see your abs by spring" series that runs in the January, February, and March issues of a magazine. Serials aren't very popular anymore because magazines can't rely on readers following them that closely, but you'll occasionally see series like the one I described. 

You don't want to pitch a multipart story to an editor unless you know him or her very well, and have a solid track record with the publication. It's typically a dead end for you. If a magazine wants a series, chances are close to 100 percent that it will come up with the idea in-house, and then search for the right experts to pull it off. 

Now that you understand the umbrella concepts that drive service publications, we can get into some of the approaches writers and editors use to make the stories more appealing to their readers.

Remember that the goal of service publications is to help readers achieve something they want to do, or improve the way they're doing it. 

Stories about how the body works aren't useful unless the article shows readers how to apply the information to make their lives better. So while it may be interesting to science buffs to know that lactic acid doesn't really exist in a meaningful amount inside the muscles, it's not a good service article until it shows readers how to achieve something with the information--to get bigger, leaner, stronger, or better at an activity the reader wants to pursue. 

"X Ways" 

Stories that offer a certain number of tips immediately jump out to readers as being useful. "Six Steps to a Six-Pack" or "10 Ways to Build Muscle" are good starting points for a story. Even better is "10 New Ways to Build Muscle." Stories like these are not just solid and popular on their own, they provide the best cover lines, and in the magazine world, covers are everything. Generally speaking, the bigger the number, the better.

Quizzes

These are more popular in women's magazines like Cosmopolitan, but they're a fun way to engage readers. And, let's face it, we all like to test our knowledge and feel smart. I've run quizzes in Men's Fitness--10 questions on squat form, for example, or five questions to see if you're recovering properly from workouts. 

Editors often come up with quizzes themselves because they're fun, easy, and quick. Why pay a writer to do something you'd rather do yourself? That doesn't mean you shouldn't propose one if you have a great idea. You'll need to come up with the questions, multiple-choice answers (at least some of which should be funny), and an answer key.

"This, Not That" 

The most famous example is Men's Health's "Eat This, Not That" series, which is not only popular in the magazine, it's been used for a series of bestselling books. But MH wasn't the first to use the construction of pitting two entities against one another, and they won't be the last when their series runs out of steam. I've done stories where I've called out machines like the cable crossover and offered flyes on a suspension trainer as a better alternative. 

These stories work best when they're counterintuitive. The more famous and widely accepted option A is, and the more surprising option B is, the more impact the piece will have.

Columns

You have to be a pretty big deal in the industry before you get a signature column in a publication, print or online. Traditionally a columnist wrote one piece per issue. Nowadays bloggers have blurred this distinction, offering one or more opinions and insights each day. A blogger on a magazine's website may or may not have a formal role at the publication itself. 

Either role--columnist or featured blogger--is an honor as well as an opportunity to let your personality come through in your writing. Most of us like to read a good rant on a topic, especially if it has a serviceable message.

Anatomy of a Magazine

Here's a quick look at how magazines are conceived and structured.

Front of book

I'll get into the peculiar nomenclature of magazines in a moment. For now, it's worth knowing that each issue of a magazine is referred to internally as the "book." Thus you have "front of book," or FOB, which includes the articles published in the opening sections. If there's an FOB there must be a BOB, and indeed there is.

Most service magazines start the FOB with their shortest sections, which are often a single page each, devoted to specific topics of interest to readers: "Fitness," "Nutrition," "Sex," etc. 

This is where you'll get your first opportunities to contribute, more often than not. Each page may include multiple items--sometimes five or more on a single page. These are sometimes called "briefs" (which is why you'll never hear an editor use that word in reference to underwear). The emphasis is on photos, illustrations, and charts and graphs, rather than text. A brief is rarely longer than 300 words. This is where you'll see five-minute workouts, 30-minute meals, quick tips for better triceps training, Q & A, quizzes, studies, and the like.

Typically the sections get longer as you get deeper into the magazine. Editors refer to these sections as "departments." The Health department, for example, might be two or three pages long, with sidebars and other peripheral elements. 

Whereas a brief is quick and to the point, a department will feature breezy, snappy writing that eases the reader into the content. The goal is for the reader to keep turning the pages. 

An editor may be able to pay you for briefs, but he may not. If you're a fitness personality, a byline in a national magazine is almost certainly more valuable to you than the $1 a word maximum you'd get for your contribution.

If you're assigned a department, which could be anywhere from 800 to 1,500 words, you'll probably get paid. How much depends on the magazine. Sometimes an editor is restricted to a set amount per word. Sometimes he or she can pay more for a tougher assignment ... or less for one that's simpler or easier. Very few magazines will pay more than $1 a word for service articles, especially from a first-time contributor.

Features

These are the lengthier, more complex stories, which go into an area called the feature well, or just "the well." 

Each magazine has its own system for mixing and matching features in the well. A celebrity article, for example, may go into one magazine's well, but appear in the FOB in another. One magazine's top workout feature may go in the well, while another magazine may avoid using that real estate for such a highly formatted element. You don't know unless you study the magazine.

As a contributor who's primarily a fitness professional, rather than a freelance writer, you won't get many feature assignments. And if you do, chances are good it's a less prestigious magazine that won't offer a freelance fee. Your "payment" is a chance to showcase your unique, branded fitness method in the middle of a publication.

If you do get paid, there's no scale. It could be a few hundred, it could be a thousand, or it could be even more. 

Back of book

Like the FOB, the BOB offers shorter items, but with more focus on the magazine's core mission. In Men's Fitness and Muscle & Fitness, you'll find specific body-part workouts, Q & A columns with experts or notable industry personalities, and maybe a parting shot of a sexy girl. These sections depend on experts more than journalists, so it's a good place to become a solid and valued contributor. 

Make Your Ideas Stand Out

Let's say you have an idea, and you're already in touch with an editor (we'll talk about how to make contact later). You know that losing fat and getting visible abs is always a winner for fitness magazines--the greenest of all evergreen concepts--so you're going to pitch a workout story about how to get ripped. 

The workout you've designed isn't fancy. It has conventional weight-training moves like squats, rows, and bench presses. But you're shrewd enough to market it in a way that sounds revolutionary.

You're going to superset lower-body exercises with upper-body moves, so a set of squats is followed by a set of rows. After three sets of those you're on to Romanian deadlifts paired with dumbbell bench presses. And then there are more paired sets that follow the same pattern. 

The workout isn't complicated to explain or illustrate. None of the exercises require a fitness model to stand one-legged on a Bosu ball while balancing a dumbbell on his nose. 

Effective? Sure looks like it would be. But what makes it "sexy"?

Well, you can argue that blood will continually rush back and forth from the lower to the upper body. This is going to make the heart work harder, burning more calories. Because you're allowing a fair amount of rest time before the same muscle group gets worked again (the chest recovers while you do Romanian deadlifts), the trainee is going to be able to lift heavier loads than he could if he were bombing each body part with one set after the next. Heavier weights mean more muscle stimulation.

Those in the know should see by now that I'm describing the premise behind Craig Ballantyne's wildly successful Turbulence Training programs. These have been popular with fitness magazines for the past decade. The workouts are easy to explain, the benefits are clear and abundant, they're simple for the magazine to illustrate, and it's not hard for an editor to believe that they'll be fun and challenging for the readers. Readers who enjoy them will want more, which is a big win for both the magazine and the expert. 

I'm not suggesting you plagiarize Ballantyne, but if you want to learn what packaging looks like when it's done well, he's the guy to study. 

No matter what your personal training philosophy or diet protocols may be, no matter how well they work for you and your clients, they won't be attractive to an editor until you find ways to package, spin, and sell them. 

The following are some tips for making seemingly mundane concepts sexier, based on my experience.

Ab workouts

"Don't do crunches." 

Focus on how the traditional ab-building exercises are flawed. You could argue that you don't need sit-ups and crunches; do stabilization exercises instead. (Lou and Alwyn Cosgrove wrote an entire book on this concept.)

"Train abs like a fighter." 

Work the abs' rotational movement patterns. Exercises like the landmine twist will develop your ability to punch and kick harder, and they help build more functional ab strength in a way most people have never tried. "Abs like a fighter" could be a killer cover line.

Chest workouts

"Build your chest without bench presses." 

You could focus on how the bench press may be the most dangerous, misunderstood, and overused lift you'll see in any gym, and how dumbbell or suspension exercises activate the pecs more completely.

Lose the last 10 pounds

"Recover without carbs." 

To lose fat, you need to cut carbs, but everyone thinks they need carbs right after training to recover. New research shows that branched-chain amino acids, especially leucine, might be able to provide enough of an insulin spike to drive nutrition into the muscle cells without the presence of carbohydrate. This allows you to take a low-carb diet even lower without affecting your ability to recover, and can lead to even more fat loss.

How to stay motivated

"Do nothing, get in shape." 

We've all read stories on motivation that are filled with banal mantras and hackneyed advice, like posting your goals on your bathroom mirror or refrigerator door. 

Here's a different approach, courtesy of Brian Grasso, a life coach in Montreal: 

Get in the habit of making and keeping appointments with yourself. Plan to go to the gym at the same time a couple days a week, and make sure you get there. Once you arrive, change into your gym clothes. Don't feel like working out? Don't. Change back to your street clothes and leave. After a few weeks, this practice will become habit and you'll be much more apt to get that workout in once you're in the gym.

As with so many things in life, finding new and provocative ways to spin otherwise ordinary story ideas is difficult at first, but gets easier the more times you do it. 

And just to be clear, I'm not necessarily endorsing any of these strategies. Nor am I suggesting that you pitch these specific ideas; they've all been used, and some have been copied so many times it's hard to remember where they originated. You don't have to agree with them. As Lou pointed out in Part 1, sometimes we get so hooked on new information that what used to be conventional wisdom starts looking like cutting-edge stuff. 

No, my goal is to celebrate the way these ideas were packaged. They show that any concept can be made fresh and interesting with the right twist. 

How to Write a Hed and Dek

"Hed" is industry jargon for a headline. The "dek" is the subhead, or deck. It's a sentence or two of copy to explain what you'll be reading. 

Before I get into their purpose, what they mean to you, and how to write them, Lou wants me to include a quick aside:

To an outsider, it's very strange to see newspapers and magazines use deliberately misspelled words like hed, dek, and lede (the opening sentences or paragraphs of a story). It's an old tradition, going back to the days when professional typesetters constructed articles one letter at a time, using blocks of lead type that were later coated with ink. When they saw one of these misspelled words, they knew not to put it into the article. 

And here's a fun fact: The word "okay" has several origins, one of which comes from publishing. At least one 19th-century editor would approve copy by writing "oll klear," which was eventually shortened to "OK." 

Okay, back to live action.

Most of the time, editors will write their own heds and deks, especially if the magazine has a distinctive style. Some like cheesy alliteration ("Pec Punishment" for a chest workout), others like puns ("King of the Juice" for a brief on tomato juice; "Great Bowls of Fire" for a department on chili recipes). Nowadays, almost everyone, including print magazines, uses simple and straightforward heds for search-engine optimization. 

But you still should write a hed and dek of your own, both for your pitch and on the actual articles you submit. For one thing, it's the best sales tool you have for your basic idea. For another, a hed that matches the style of the magazine you're pitching to or writing for shows you understand the product, and gives your editor confidence that you know how to play the game.

A hed is rarely longer than four or five words, unless it's a feature story. 

Deks are a little trickier. I was taught to always begin a dek with a strong verb: "See your abs," "Build your biceps," "Lose 10 pounds." This is classic service journalism; it shows right away what the benefit of the story will be. The perfect dek includes both a biological benefit and some type of process benefit: "See your abs in just 4 weeks," "Build your biceps with these 2 moves," "Lose 10 pounds with 1 simple trick."

But that's just me. Depending on the publication, a dek can be conversational ("You've got 10 minutes and a pair of dumbbells, here's what to do"), or merely interesting ("Cancer couldn't stop Joe Smith from running a marathon and bench pressing 500 pounds ... on the same day!").

More important than writing a flawless hed and dek is that you simply write them. Remember that editors work on multiple pieces for each issue, and at any given time they're juggling multiple issues--editing articles for one while assigning stories for others. They won't always remember what they asked you to write. 

So when the editor opens up your document, you don't want him to have to read to the middle of it before he remembers what it's supposed to be about. The hed and dek give him an immediate context. Providing them shows professionalism and attention to detail. He'll probably change them, but that doesn't mean he won't appreciate your effort.

While you're at it, remember to put your name right under the hed and dek. You'd be surprised how many writers don't know or don't remember to take credit for their work.

How to Write a Lede

As with heds and deks, there's no precise formula for a story's opening sentences or paragraphs. We've all seen introductions to stories that are funny, set a scene, start with a quote, or get to the point so fast they're barely an introduction at all. These days, I'd recommend you do most of your writing with the latter approach in mind, especially if you're writing shorter articles for fitness publications. Readers don't have the attention span to read a long-winded lede, even if it's funny, so try to get to the point within one sentence. If you don't, there's a good chance your editor will do it for you.

In men's magazines, whether it's a more upscale publication like Esquire, a "laddie" mag like Maxim that targets young, testosterone-addled men, or a serious bodybuilding title like Muscle & Fitness, you'll see frequent use of the "shaming" concept. I learned this in my first few months on the job and I don't think it ever gets old. 

The tone of this kind of lede is always something along the lines of, "Hey, Numbnuts. You don't want to be thought of as less of a man, so read this to find out what it takes to get hot girls and intimidate your enemies." 

The fact is, guys respond to ledes that get right to the point and make them feel self-conscious about what they can't do. If you can make them laugh and sound like their buddy who's always ribbing them, you've nailed it.

I remember writing a lede to a story about strongman training that went something like this: "If you can't twist the lid off a pickle jar for your girlfriend, she's not going to give a damn what you can bench press." I went on to explain, in another sentence or two, that training like those guys you see dragging anchors and lifting stones on ESPN builds tremendous grip strength and functional muscles that might otherwise elude you if you rely on standard body-part splits and machine exercises (which, alas, most gym-goers still do).

So I've called out the reader, gotten him to worry (or at least think a little bit) about what he should be able to do with his training, and established the importance of the story. Of course, this approach would be just a tad harsh for a women's publication. Women, by contrast, seem to respond better to more positive or humorous ledes. When I worked for Muscle & Fitness Hers, we used a lede that went something like this: "Body-part training is so 1982! You don't wear leg warmers or a perm anymore, so why are you divvying up your workouts into 'arm' and 'leg' days?"

Still, as you can see, the voice of the lede should be a familiar one to the reader's ear. You want to sound like a buddy, a girlfriend, or an authority figure (but not a stern, cold one).

Another type of lede that's been worked hundreds of different ways in men's magazines is the "girlfriend" angle. For instance: "Your arms aren't like your girlfriend. They don't need constant attention, and in fact respond better when you lay off them a while." Lou and I and other editors at Men's Health and Men's Fitness have used ledes like this for years (I won't speculate on what this says about our relationship with the fairer sex) because they're always good for a chuckle and, when you think about it, almost any point you want to make can be related to a significant other if you try. And yes, ladies, I'm sure you could get the same effect turning the tables and using "boyfriend" ledes.

Anyway, the point is that humor is a useful tool for grabbing attention, as long as it's a simple, relatable premise and, more important, that it's actually funny. It's not the only one, however.

Right to the point

The reason your arms aren't growing isn't because you're not doing enough curls, but that you're doing too many. Try cutting back to TK* sets a week and focus your workouts around compound exercises. TK trainer from TK has this program ..."

Analogy

The "girlfriend" lede goes under this umbrella. Something about fitness is just like something else that seems unrelated. The second sentence humorously explains why the two are similar.

Ask a question

"Do you have what it takes to train like a Navy SEAL? Find out with this program program, brought to you straight from America's most elite fighting men."

Announce

"The problem: you only have 30 minutes to train. The solution: Circuit training, as brought to you by TK trainer."

*TK is a magazine term meaning "tu kum," another of those quirky misspellings (of "to come," obviously) from publishing's distant past. It's used as a placeholder when information is forthcoming but not currently available. 

The above are just crude examples; there are many ways to set up a story. Just remember to keep it short and simple. If you're writing a short FOB or BOB item, your editor may not need you to write a lede at all. He'll set up the story in the hed and dek and then go straight into your first point of information.

Push the envelope

A raunchy lede can sometimes work perfectly, as long as you don't step over the line into vulgarity. Each magazine has a different line, and from the outside you never really know where it is. (Even on the inside it's sometimes debatable.) 

Two keys: 

Remember that a service magazine, no matter how irreverent its tone, aspires to be recognized as a serious authority on the areas it covers.

Here's an ab-workout lede that cracked me up but was clearly too far out for the magazine:

"If you want your abs to pop like a pair of 36DD boobs, you've got to train with weighted exercises."

The workout was fine and his message was clear--adding weight to ab work will build muscle size and make the six-pack appear more prominently. But the metaphor was way over the top.

Just for fun, I'll share with you a lede I wrote in my early days that didn't make it. The premise was that we stopped a man on the street and asked him to take a bench-press challenge. The "man" in question was actually a guy who worked in my office's IT department, and the quotes were completely fabricated. (Yes, magazines occasionally stretch the truth for entertainment value.)

"I was banging out sets before you guys were banging Mary Five Fingers," said 35-year-old TK from TK. "Slide a deuce on this bad boy, I'm going for 245."

While the reference to the gentleman's hand was cut, for obvious reasons, I'm proud to say that the rest of the story remained intact.

Technical Writing

Nobody likes to read instruction manuals that tell you how to set up your home theater or build a bookcase--especially when they're written in Swedish. Still, technical writing, or the ability to clearly explain step-by-step directions, is an important skill, and difficult to master. While it's fun to write a jokey lede or a catchy dek, technical descriptions are pure labor.

But because they're the real meat and potatoes of fitness magazines, they're a great way to learn how to keep things simple when you write.

All the exercise descriptions you read in a fitness story are examples of technical writing. So are the directions to a recipe, and the steps to following a diet. Without fail, when I get a story back from a writer, it's the technical aspects that need the most work.

In fact, I rarely bother even talking to trainers who write for me about them anymore. When I assign workout stories, I simply ask for some intro text that explains the value of the routine (the packaging) and the workout itself, along with any special instructions on how it should be done. Then I take on the arduous task of explaining how to do the exercises and go through the workout.

However, with the knowledge I hope you'll glean from this book, you'll be able to do your own technical writing going forward, and possibly make my job a lot easier. So thanks in advance!

Exercise descriptions

Whether you're writing for a publication or your own ebook or blog, you need to be able to describe succinctly how to do complex exercises. 

Trainers typically think of a squat or bench press as "basic" exercises, because they're moves you learn to do and teach very early in your training career. But when you break them down verbally, you realize there are quite a few steps involved. 

Also, keep in mind that your audience, even if it includes other trainers and coaches, isn't necessarily as sophisticated as you are. You can't assume that people know what you mean when you use technical jargon, or that they'll be able to read between the lines when you take shortcuts. Keep these two points in mind and your technical writing will improve.

Here's how I describe the barbell back squat to readers in a workout story. It's by no means a complete or definitive description, but I think it gets the point across with reasonable word economy:

"Grab the bar outside shoulder width and squeeze tightly. Step under it and pull your shoulder blades together. Arch your back to take the bar off the rack--it should rest on your traps or rear delts. Step back and set your feet shoulder-width apart. Take a deep breath and sit back, lowering yourself as far as you while keeping your lower back in its natural arch."

Short, tight sentences that give you the bare essentials. 

I'm sure Dave Tate or Mark Rippetoe would have a lot to add to this. Given the space, I'd want to expand on it as well. So let's talk for a moment about what I chose to leave out.

Note that I didn't remind readers to brace their abs before the lift. I feel that tightening the core comes somewhat naturally to most of us when we have a heavy bar on our backs. I also didn't mention to "spread the floor" with the feet to ensure that the knees track properly. Another editor might choose to add a sentence on that, and maybe cut the part about taking a deep breath before sitting back. That, arguably, happens somewhat naturally as well.

What you don't want to do is leave out key points of instruction. Telling people just to get under the bar and bend their knees until parallel leaves a lot open to interpretation. Worse, it could flat-out read wrong. Saying to bend the knees without making mention of the hips could be interpreted as "just bend at the knees." I don't have to tell any trainers reading this what would happen if a reader thought he was supposed to begin the movement with a knee bend. That's a formula for bad squatting.

With lower-body exercises like the squat, deadlift, good morning, and Romanian deadlift, I hit on these points in every description.

Assuming the worst--that the lifter's grip is off, his belly's loose, etc.--he should at least be able to perform the lift safely and derive some benefits if he adheres to the recommendations on those points. 

Remember, too, that when you're writing for the mainstream, you assume your reader is an average man or woman with little to no athletic background and minimal training experience. People like this are rarely able to dissociate their hips from their lower backs, so they need to be told to push their hips back on a squat or RDL. Since this isn't enough to ensure that they don't round their lower backs and crush intervertebral discs, we have to drive home the point that the lower back needs to stay in its natural arch, which from the outside will appear flat.

If you're working with a client in person, it's easier. You can adjust the stance on the spot, or modify his or her form in any number of ways, to make it work for that client. With magazines, however, you're always assuming the most typical of clients.

Here's how I describe a bench press:

"Lie on the bench and grab the bar with hands outside shoulder width. Arch your back and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Lower the bar to your sternum, tucking your elbows about 45 degrees to your sides. Drive your feet into the floor as you press the bar back up."

Again, someone like bench press record-holder Vincent Dizenzo would probably have a lot to say here. In the interest of brevity and concision, I leave it at that. With upper-body exercises like the bench press, overhead press, and any type of row, I like to address the following.

Most people who have never had a qualified coach show them how to bench press do the same things: 

They flop down on the bench with backs flat as a board, grab the bar, lower it to the middle of their pecs with elbows flared, and push it up with no thought whatsoever about leg drive or total-body tightness. Good fitness writers will tell readers how to arch the back, tuck the elbows, and use the entire body to power the bar up. The different rituals that people use to get set up or to feel tighter aren't nearly as important.

Workout directions

Before you can send people off to follow your workouts, you have to explain how the workout will be done. It's not enough to simply number the exercises or assign an "A1" and "A2" to lifts and assume that readers will know what this means.

First, I like to give an idea of what the training schedule is like so they can visualize the first week. Ask yourself some of these questions:

So your first few lines of directions might read something like this:

Schedule: Perform each workout (Day I, II, and III) once per week. Allow at least one day in between workouts. If you like, you can do 45 minutes of moderate cardio on rest days. Repeat the workouts for up to six weeks.

An explanation of what constitutes "moderate cardio" would probably need to appear elsewhere in the piece, but you get the idea. I specify that they are to do each workout just once per week. Otherwise, some newbie or numbskull might pick up the cycle again too soon and bang out six workouts in one week. We cannot assume he has the common sense to rest on the days between workouts and pick up the cycle the following week, so this is laid out for him.

Next, you need to explain how the exercises in each workout will be done. This is trickier if you have a complicated workout where each day has a different routine. But most publications like to keep things simple, with instructions will carry over (for the most part) from one workout to the next. Supersets, giant sets, rest-pause, pre-exhaust, or any other high-intensity techniques must be clearly spelled out:

How To Do It: Perform exercise pairs (marked "A" and "B") as alternating sets. Complete one set of A, rest as directed, then one set of B, rest, and repeat until all sets are completed. Then move on to the next pair. Exercises that are not marked with a letter are done as straight sets. Complete one set, rest, and continue for all the prescribed sets.

As you can see, I use a simple device to designate the alternating sets so I don't have to go into a lengthy explanation in the workout chart that will follow. Even if readers completely skip my directions and go right to the workouts, they'll see the letters and realize those lifts must be done differently from the other ones. Then they'll backtrack to the directions. 

At the same time, I'm spoon-feeding a bit of fitness jargon to readers ("alternating sets," "straight sets") so they feel like they're learning the lingo. Another bonus: If I need to use the terms again in the article, I won't have to explain them a second time.

Note also that I say "rest as directed," which implies that the specific rest periods will appear in the workout chart.

Any additional technical writing you do on a workout story will probably be specific to that story. You may feel you need to specify how long to hold a peak contraction during an exercise, or what percentage of his one-rep max the reader should use. Notes like this can be bulleted at the end of the directions, or you can use an asterisk within the description, if you think that works better. 

Another option is to include information in photo captions or in a sidebar or box. (These are panels of text that provide information related to the main article. Editors and designers like to use sidebars primarily as a visual element to break up text, as Lou described in Part 1.) Honestly, this is minutiae, and best left to the magazine's employees. Include it in your manuscript if you think it's important, but don't be surprised if it's cut before publication. 

Breaking Into the Business

If you've digested everything I've discussed so far, you're probably getting a pretty good idea of what you have to do to become a successful fitness or nutrition writer. Of course, none of it matters if you can't get your worked published. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Here is how YOU get involved) 

Making contact

"It's not what you know but who you know" applies to every endeavor in life, and I'm sure you don't need a lecture on its importance. (Nor do you need to be told that it should really be "whom you know." Magazines don't expect perfect grammar from their subject-area experts.) 

If you know an editor, that's your starting point.

If you don't, but you know someone who's been published or even quoted in a place where you'd like to see your own name, ask how he/she did it. Learn the name of the editor the person worked with, how the story was pitched or assigned, and how he/she felt about the whole experience. If you know the person well enough, you can also ask how much money changed hands (if any). 

But money is the least of your concerns until you have a contact at the magazine or website who's interested in your work.

I know many trainers who are frequent magazine contributors. They tend to be personable, down-to-earth guys. They are typically happy to help an up-and-coming coach, provided he's respectful, sincere, and doesn't pester them too much with annoying questions. Try to reach out to these people if you can. 

I've met some of my most reliable sources--including Jason Ferruggia, Jim Smith, and Rachel Cosgrove--through referrals. In fact, I rarely take a chance on trainers I'm not familiar with unless they come to me pre-approved by somebody I've done business with. It's a risk for me to work with someone new and unproven. More than once a fitness pro has simply disappeared on me, leaving me with a big hole in my editorial lineup. 

But let's assume you're a good trainer with a lot of time both under the bar and in the gym with clients. You're not some self-promoting yokel with a certification you pulled from a Cracker Jack box who wants the money and fame without putting in the work. But because you've been working, rather than networking, you don't know any of the players well enough to ask them for an intro to someone like me. 

Here's what you need to do:

1. Learn everything you can about the publication you want your work to appear in. 

Buy it, read it cover to cover, or scan through every page of the website. (This also applies to magazine websites. You should have an idea of what they're doing online even if your goal is to be in the print version.) Make sure you understand what kinds of stories the publication prints, how long they are, what angles they take, the language they use, and the audience they target.

Nothing is more offensive to an editor than a writer wasting his time by pitching him ideas that are completely wrong for his publication. Amazingly, I still get pitches for maternity wear and women's dance classes all the time, which makes me beg the question, "What about the title Men's Fitness do you not understand?"

2. Target an editor. 

Look at the masthead of the magazine (the list of its staff, usually appearing in the first few pages). In most cases, the fitness/training/exercise editor, or nutrition/food editor if you're a nutritionist, is going to be your best bet. 

Editors' titles vary a bit by publication, but you can often read between the lines. Some magazines won't tell you in the masthead who does what--the staffers will have generic titles like "associate editor"--but their names will appear on the stories they write or the sections they edit. 

If in doubt, try one of the aforementioned associate editors. This title usually goes to editors who work on the FOB, home of short fitness and nutrition pieces. There's no penalty for reaching out to the wrong editor. The right editor might be in the next cubicle, or the office next door. 

A good pitch--and probably a bad one as well--will typically get forwarded to the appropriate person. Or, worst case, you'll get a reply telling you who the correct contact is.

Then again, you may not. Editors are busy and impatient. I'm just being honest.

Some magazines, to encourage reader participation, will list email addresses or Twitter accounts for their editors on the masthead. 

But I'll tell you a secret: The email addresses you see aren't the ones the editors actually use. They're set up for them to wade through when they have extra time on their hands, which is rare. You'll often have better results contacting the editor through Twitter or Facebook, although that can also backfire if the editor considers those to be personal accounts and doesn't appreciate a stranger using them to solicit work. 

A more sophisticated approach is to learn the corporate style for assigning email addresses. It might be joe.smith@magazinename.com, or jsmith@corporatebehemoth.com, or any number of variations on those themes. 

Sometimes the system is impenetrable (especially if the corporate overlords assign Joe an email address that identifies him as "Joseph"), but every company has one, and you're always better off with the most direct way of contacting the editor while he's at work. 

3. Send your pitch. 

Decades ago, when the pace of information was much slower, writers solicited editors with formal letters. This evolved into more informal emails. I still get letters occasionally, but to be honest, a printed pitch doesn't interest me any more than a random pitch by email or through Facebook. It's just one more piece of mail on my desk (most of which is junk) that I can't keep up with.

Frankly, introducing yourself to an editor "cold" is a low-percentage move. There's not much chance of a short and final rejection, much less a response that helps you understand why the pitch didn't work for the editor. But it's not impossible.

About a year ago, a writer contacted me through my personal website asking to write for the magazines. A disclaimer on my site tells people not to do that, but his email was polite and well written. Best of all, he wasn't pitching a specific idea. He just wanted to write. He would take anything I wanted to give him.

He was a college student in Wisconsin with a personal training background, and he had attached some writing samples--articles he'd done for his local paper, and maybe even his high school paper. His writing looked okay, and while I was somewhat impressed with him, the truth is I was in a bind.

I had pitched a story to my editor in chief at Muscle & Fitness about the Monkey Bar Gym franchise--Jon Hinds' growing gym chain in which trainees swing from bars, walk on their hands, and follow vegan diets to build muscle. We all knew it had the makings of a cool story, and I got the go-ahead. Unfortunately, the magazine didn't have the budget to hire a writer. I was going to have to find someone to write a major feature "on spec"--that is, for free.

I didn't have the time or budget to travel to Wisconsin, where Hinds and his gym happened to be. But suddenly I had this eager and promising writer who was in the neighborhood. Even better, he'd already heard of Hinds and Monkey Bar, and was interested in working out there anyway. So I took a chance and assigned it to the 19-year-old student. I was completely honest when I told him we couldn't pay, but if he did a good job, he'd have his name on a five-page feature story in a national magazine. 

That was good enough for him, as it would be for many entry-level writers, and he went to work.

To make a long story short, he did a great job. He turned the piece in on time, and it required surprisingly little editing. I wouldn't hesitate to give him more work or recommend him to other editors I know.

You could argue that this kid was in the right place at the right time, and took advantage of a magazine's desperation. But if he hadn't shown genuine promise, I wouldn't have let him go into the field as a representative of my magazine. 

We all need luck, and we're all the beneficiaries or victims of good or bad timing in our careers. If you have real writing chops, a modicum of experience, a good attitude, and are willing to take a risk, there's no reason why lightning can't strike twice. Lou can tell you a similar story about Nate Green, who transitioned from a trainer to a successful full-time writer (see below).

There's another lesson here, too. If your goal is to write, make it clear you're willing to write about anything. That's different from a desire to write about specific topics from a position of expertise. They're both valid starting points, but you have to know which one applies to you. 

Had the student come to me with some bizarre or hackneyed pitch, I might not have had the confidence to give him the Monkey Bar Gym story. In his case, it was better to say he was ready to take on anything. 

But even if you're a trainer who comes to the editor with specific ideas based on your own methods, it's still good to leave the door open for an assignment of the editor's choosing. You can never guess exactly what an editor will need at any moment. The more flexible you are, the better your chances.

The Audacity of Hope: A Case Study

On September 23, 2004, a 19-year-old college freshman named Nate Green sent me an email describing himself as "the most dedicated and ambitious young punk you'll ever come across." He addressed me as "Mr. Schuler," and said, "I want your job." 

I hit reply and explained that I didn't actually have a job at that time. I had left my job at Men's Health back in April, and although I had lots of work and a book proposal my agent was about to send out, I spent as much time blogging as I did writing for pay.

I also offered him some advice, even though he didn't ask for it in so many words. Since he was in college, and seemed equally interested in training and writing, I offered some thoughts on the pros and cons of each. 

That was the beginning of an ongoing professional friendship, highlighted by our collaboration on a book called Built for Show, which came out in 2008. We also worked together briefly at T-nation. He's often, and generously, given me credit for encouraging him to pursue a writing career at the exact moment when that encouragement was most helpful. I'm flattered, but I'm pretty sure Nate would've done everything he's done with or without my help.

Still, there's a lesson here for aspiring writers and ambitious fitness and nutrition pros. Three lessons, I think:

L.S.

How to Write a Pitch

Unlike drafting a formal letter or college term paper, there's no precise formula for a pitch to an editor. It really boils down to common sense and common courtesy. This is how I would suggest structuring an email or private message to an editor. Even if you do everything right there's no guarantee you'll get a response. But some approaches work better than others.

Hook 'em

Just dive right in and say what the hell it is you want to write about. Say "Hi Sean," and get to the point: "I'd like to write an article about the five so-called healthy foods that may actually be killing you."

Of course, you could also be a little more stylish and build up the tension with a few questions: "Is your diet healthy? Do you think lean protein and vegetables are the best way to eat at every meal? The truth is, your current eating plan could be poisoning you."

It might work, but there's a risk of sounding too much like sales copy, which editors see every hour of every working day. If an editor can't see daylight between a PR pitch and a story pitch, it's game over. 

One way to separate yourself from the PR time-wasters is to pitch multiple ideas in one email. Use a short paragraph (a sentence or two) to describe each. But this strategy only works if each idea has a genuine hook, following the rules Lou and I have described throughout How to Get Published. 

Hit the editor with the main point you want your story to make, and make that point interesting, surprising, and possibly controversial. One word that comes up again and again in editorial meetings is "counterintuitive." Some of the best ideas are things you wouldn't think of trying or would never consider to be true.

Hence my "5 healthy foods that are killing you" example--a bold statement with a lot of strong words. 

We start with a number, which implies value. You're giving readers a lot of something. Then we use "healthy" and "kill." An editor like me sees the headline right there in your pitch. Even more important, I think you're going to tell me something I don't already know. The information in the article may even save my life by showing that something I consider healthy--like my trustworthy breakfast of eggs and oatmeal, which I've depended on for years--is hurting me. 

You can see that spin influences everything you do as a writer, even a relatively informal email to an editor. A controversial, possibly shocking hook will always get attention. 

But, as with everything, you can easily take a controversial idea too far. I won't ignore a pitch that's utterly and obviously preposterous, but the attention I pay isn't the kind you want. I'll remember you as someone who wants to build your name on shock value, rather than substance. 

On the other hand, a pitch that promises "5 ways to get better abs" might seem perfect for a fitness mag. But it doesn't promise to tell me anything I don't know, or that I haven't seen dozens of times already. 

The hook should instantly highlight the information that's going to make your story memorable and marketable.

It should also go in the subject line of your email.

Introduce yourself

Sometimes I'll get a pitch where the subject line just says, "Hi, I'm [insert name of trainer]". Or, "I was referred by [insert name]." The hook doesn't come until much further down, if at all, and only after the writer has given me a small biography. 

This has never bothered me and I think it's perfectly fine. In this situation, the hook is your name, or your connection to someone I value. Even if I don't recognize your name, your bio may be your best selling point, as long as it gets my attention with 50 words or less. 

Different magazines look for different credentials to imply instant legitimacy. Maybe you've interned with Mike Boyle; that alone suggests you've seen exercises and methods that would be new to our readers. Maybe you just won a state bodybuilding title, or you work with a celebrity or star athlete, or you've trained special-forces operators or SWAT teams for the past 10 years. All those will get my attention by signaling to me that you have information I haven't seen before. 

(Just make sure your claims are the unembellished truth. Please don't lie. Editors will check.)

Even if you're not a big name yet, you should still give me an idea of your background, credentials (such as certifications from the NSCA, NASM, and/or ACSM), and experience. 

Jason Ferruggia, a trainer who started writing for me at Men's Fitness years ago and has since made his way into pretty much every fitness publication, told me something I'll never forget. He thought a trainer should work with clients for at least five years before he writes an article, and at least 10 years before he writes a book. 

I tend to agree. I've gotten pitches from trainers who clearly weren't very experienced. At best, they were hawking old ideas or building on themes that bigger-name trainers had already made famous. 

Interestingly, I've found that trainers who have the most experience and the best track record with their clients tend to be the least excited about writing. They're so into training people that they just don't have the time or motivation to promote themselves with writing.

Don't forget the details

Sign off politely and remember to include your email address (if it's different from the one you used to contact me), your phone number, and a link to your website. If you have links to articles you want me to check out, include those as well, with the understanding I may not have time to read them.

Don't use wacky fonts, strange colors, or enormous type. Proofread before you hit "send," and for the love of God use the spellchecker! Few things will turn off an editor faster than typos and terrible grammar. 

It's ok to follow up with an email in a week or two if you don't hear back from the editor. But persistence doesn't always pay off. A constant barrage of pitches isn't just annoying. It sends a clear signal that you don't really train anyone, which is why you have all day to sit at your computer wondering why I haven't responded.

Tips For Breaking In

Be willing to contribute for free

These are hard times for the publishing industry. Staffs are shrinking, along with freelance budgets. But the magazine still has pages to fill.

You have to decide the value of your work, and how much you're willing to do for free. Lou was appalled when he read the story of the freelancer in Wisconsin. He believes that if your name appears on the article, you should at least get a token payment, if for no other reason because a promised payment gives the writer an incentive to act like a professional--to follow instructions, turn the story in on time, and revise it if necessary, and within reason. 

But he's never been in my position, where I'm telling writers the truth when I say I can't pay them for their work. To me, it's like offering a scholarship to a Division I football or basketball player. Yes, the coach and the university are going to make money off his talent. But in exchange he gets an expensive and valuable education, along with the training he'll need to pursue his sport at the professional level.

I help writers break in, and a published article is free publicity for their business. (For the record, Lou often writes free articles to promote his books.)

Not every type of contribution needs to be compensated. You should never expect payment for a quote or a few workout tips within an article being written by someone else. If you're asked to supply an entire workout program within that article, you're in a gray area. Lou says he would typically pay trainers for those contributions, but not every magazine can afford to.

Incidentally, I've always believed in paying contributors whenever possible. I think it helps build loyalty to the magazine (and to me), and, as Lou said, it seems to ensure that assignments get done faster and better. (Funny how that works, huh?) If you've never written for me before, I'll probably give you a small assignment that doesn't pay just to test the waters, but then I'll pay you going forward. 

My hope, ultimately, is that after I've paid you for a few smaller assignments, you'll be willing to handle bigger ones down the road when I really need you to.

Think small

As I've mentioned, the assignments you're likely to get at first are small FOB pieces. But departments and even feature stories are shorter these days. So when you pitch, think of compact, single-purpose ideas. Save your big ideas for another time. 

Let the magazine do the branding

It seems like every trainer and nutritionist who pitches me has a trademarked system--a unique workout or diet plan. This won't work in magazines. Men's Health wants readers to give credit to Men's Health, not to you. It doesn't want to promote your brand. 

There are exceptions. Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training programs are referred to as such in magazine articles. And of course household-name brands like The Zone or Atkins will be described by name. But the odds are close to zero that a magazine will hire you to promote the Joe Smith Revolution within its pages. You have to do that on your own, as Lou explains in Part 4. 

Be wary of supplements

Publications don't make money on subscriptions or newsstand sales. They typically lose money on printing, postage, and distribution, and end up shredding as many as half the magazines they print. It's expensive and inefficient. They make it up with advertising. 

In fitness magazines, ads for nutritional supplements are integral to the bottom line. As a result, supplements are often recommended in workout articles, even when they seem unnecessary or off-topic. A responsible editor will tell you if there are plans to mention a specific brand in your article, but this isn't always made clear.

My suggestion: Get used to the idea of your work being attached to supplements. Suggest some products for your stories--name brands if you like, or generic products like whey protein and creatine--and don't be offended if you're asked to make suggestions. This can be an ethical dilemma for everyone involved, but it's an issue that won't go away.

Be tech-savvy

More and more, magazines rely on their websites to keep their brands alive and relevant to younger readers. That means they need more and more content. If you're a natural in front of the camera and know how to produce quality video, you can be a valuable contributor to a magazine before you write a single word for the actual publication. Just make sure you look professional and speak clearly in your clips. From there, you'll probably be able to segue into writing for the print edition.

What Can a Magazine Do for You?

To this point, most of my advice has applied to both print and online magazines. This part pertains to print alone.

Visibility

When you write for a magazine, you'll probably wonder how many people will see it. The magazine's circulation offers some clues. Magazines that are audited by a company called ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation) keep track, and you can find the numbers with a quick Google search. Or you can look at a magazine's legally mandated annual disclosure, which will appear in fine print in the December or January issue. Men's Fitness has a circulation of more than 600,000 copies per issue.

That's only part of the audience, however. Magazines also have something called "pass-along circulation," which is the estimated number of people who see each issue. Magazines that are frequently found on coffee tables in doctors' offices or on racks at gyms will tend to have a high pass-along circ. This is a multiplier of the magazine's circulation, giving your work much wider exposure. 

Men's Fitness has always been known for its high pass-along circ, going back to the early '90s when Lou worked here. (They used to joke that it was because the magazine was so popular among prison inmates.) According to a company called Affinity Research, which tracks the magazine industry, each issue of MF is seen by an average of 12 people. The total brand audience is estimated at 7 million people per month--more than 10 times the print circulation. That includes 1.8 million in our online and digital audience (some of whom overlap with print readers).  

See how important it is to be willing to work with editors?

I won't deny that print is dying fast. But thanks to websites and digital versions, our brands are growing, even among people who may never actually go to a newsstand to buy it. 

Credibility

Probably the greatest value of being in a magazine is the "thud factor." Click on a website, or read a magazine's digital edition, and there's no sound. Toss a magazine onto the table, and it makes noise. It has a physical substance. It reminds you of a time when all the knowledge in the world was contained in old-fashioned print media--books, newspapers, and magazines. 

Though it's often far from accurate, most of us perceive printed information as more trustworthy than information we find online. It's assumed that magazines, journals, and books are reviewed and fact-checked more carefully than digital content. One person can write anything off the top of his head, click "send," and have it look no less credible than anything else on the Internet. 

The truth is that many magazines are put together hastily, with sources who're dubious at best. But if the magazine is carefully edited and professionally designed, it looks respectable. It also carries the weight of its history. The older and more widely known the magazine is, the more credibility we assign to its content.  

Writing for print magazines is a bigger commitment than writing for your own site, or for an online magazine where the articles are barely edited, if they're edited at all. You'll get more calls and emails from editors and fact checkers throughout the process. 

But when it appears in print, your presence on its pages gives you something you didn't have before. 

Getting quoted in a magazine, or authoring a story in one, will set you up for more magazine work--bigger assignments, better pay, more visibility. What can that lead to? I'll leave it to Lou to explain that in Part 4. 

Special Topic: How a Story Is Edited

Let's look at how an editor "cleans up" a mediocre story, making it fit to print in his publication. Below is a real example of a story we published in Men's Fitness (though I've changed some of the words to avoid violating any rights and permissions laws).

First, some background: The piece introduces a new exercise. The move is a front squat, but not the way most guys do it in the gym. The bar is going to be held Olympic style, in front of the shoulders on the fingertips. Why not describe the arms-crossed version? No real reason, other than to introduce readers to something they probably haven't seen elsewhere, or to help them derive more performance-enhancing benefits. 

We could package it a number of ways--as an introduction to Olympic lifting, a way to target the quads more directly, or as a strategy for squatting at home without a power rack. Instead, the writer and I decided to focus on the safety aspect of the front squat as an advantage over the more popular back squat, and its equal effectiveness as a muscle builder.

The original draft appears in bold below. My notes are indented and in plain text, and the rewrites are in italics.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Example article) 

Hed: Exercise of the Month--Front Squat

Dek: Squat safer

By The Writer, C.S.C.S.

The headline is fine. It's direct and clear. The dek, however, is incomplete. It's really a second headline, rather than a subhead that tells the reader the benefits he'll get when he reads the piece. It also repeats the word "squat," which is almost always a bad idea. 

We can try this: "Blast your legs safely with this easy-to-learn alternative." 

Or this: "Build your legs, save your back." 

Whichever one I choose, my goal is to promise two benefits: safety and muscle growth.

The squat is the king of all exercises, but doing it wrong can put pressure on the intervertebral discs of the lumbar spine if your back goes out of lordosis on the descent.

You have to be careful with a phrase like "the king of all exercises." Back in Lou's day, this phrase was used so often in Muscle & Fitness and Flex that he and his colleagues would never allow it in Men's Fitness. They used to keep a document they called the Banned Phrases List just to keep this kind of meathead language out of the magazine. To my ears, though, it sounds kind of cool, in a retro way. I'm going to use it, even knowing Lou wouldn't approve.

On the other hand, references to "intervertebral discs" and "lordosis" are nonstarters. Not only are they jargon that's unfamiliar to most readers, they risk making the story too long for the space I have to work with. I need to use everyday language to get the same idea across:  

The squat is the king of all exercises, but performing it with less than perfect form can get you hurt. If you lose the natural arch in your lower back on the way down, you can strain the muscles that support the spine or, worse, injure a spinal disc.

Instead, use the front squat, which makes it easier to keep thoracic and lumbar extension. Maintaining extension means your lower back will be stable, too. Another plus: it keeps tension on your quadriceps more than your gluteals and hamstrings, which makes it better for developing the teardrop on the front of your thighs.

Again, the jargon must go, but I still need to explain why the front squat is safer than the more popular back squat. To save space, I also want to abbreviate the names of the muscle groups. Finally, because this is MF and not a bodybuilding magazine, I don't want references to the "teardrop," otherwise known as the vastus medialis. It's probably not important enough to this audience to mention. So here's how I'll rework it:

Instead, use the front squat. Holding the bar in front of your torso forces you to keep it upright--if you bend forward too far, you'll drop the bar. Maintaining an upright position means your lower back will be stable, too. Another plus: the load is supported more by your quads than your glutes and hamstrings, as is the case with a traditional squat, making the front squat effective for giving your quads the royal treatment.

We then went into the description of the exercise--the technical writing--and, of course, we showed a photo of the front squat in the start and finish positions.

This writing sample is by no means Shakespearean, but it illustrates the nuts and bolts of story construction. You want to get to the point fast, minimize technical terminology, support surprising or complex ideas with a sentence or so of explanation, and wrap it up fast. 

Notice how the "king of all exercises" idea comes back at the end with "the royal treatment." I don't think the writers at The Daily Show are worried about their jobs, but in a fitness magazine, you never pass up an opportunity to lighten an otherwise dry piece of copy.

Some publications would do more to clarify the difference between the back and front squat. That's a little tricky for us, since we don't use the term "back squat." We just call it a squat. But now that we're featuring a variation on it, I refer to it as the "traditional squat" in the last sentence, and trust that readers will understand the distinction. 

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