While I’ve been drafting BEHIND THE BIT, I’ve been thinking about my freelancing and I’m feeling the seven year itch. 😉

Since I was fourteen, I’ve been writing for teen magazines. That’s fantastic and I absolutely love it, but I think I’m going through a new phase. I’ve been reading lots of GLAMOUR, REDBOOK, ALLURE and FAMILY CIRCLE. These were magazines that I used to look at and say, “Can’t write for them yet. I just don’t have the clips and I’m not in their target age range yet. (I think Redbook is for the 25+ age group, but I might be wrong. Pretty sure, though.)

But the more I read of adult mags, the more I realize they’re JUST like SEVENTEEN, TEEN VOGUE and COSMOGIRL (RIP, CG!! Thanks to Melissa Walker for bringing that to my attention. Melissa knows EVERYTHING about the mag biz!)

No, the magazines obviously don’t publish articles in the same tone, but the subjects and topics are often the same–men or boys, beauty, health, lifestyle, etc. Just with more of an adult tone.

I almost feel as if I’m starting over in the magazine field. Maybe I am! Teen magazine clips might mean NOTHING to adult mag editors, but I’m going to try.

Now, I’ve got to:

* read a zillion back issues
* figure out the mastheads
* find a topic
* write a query
* rewrite the query
* obsess over the query
* repeat!

I’m still going to keep freelancing for teen mags, but it feels like the right time to give adult mags a try.

Fingers crossed. 🙂

Anyone else go through something similar when shifting from the teen market to the adult publications?