Nomi Leasure… On How To Get A Job Writing For A Magazine

My dream since I was a little girl was to have my own advice column in a magazine. I’m a writer, I plan on publishing a poetry book and I have started writing a novel. I have a blog with my poetry, I want to major in psychology and English, but I wanted to ask how I would go about working for a magazine? Anything like what courses I should take in college to what majors would get me noticed would help. I guess I just need some direction. Thank you! – (Anonymous)

Dear Woman After My Own Heart,

I’m still figuring this one out. Sounds like you’re pretty much on the right track though, what with your blog and all. Honestly, I never considered writing as something I wanted to do professionally until discovering my celebrity crush (who literally just writes for magazines) Cord Jefferson. I think what most writers will tell you, though, is that if you want to be a writer the first thing to do is…write (see, this insightful shit is why I get paid the big bucks).

I got in at GOOD Magazine by applying for an editorial internship position. The shitty thing about a writing career/magazine career is you’ll most likely have to do a lot of free labor at first. People will tell you the publishing industry is dead. I will, of course, retort that. But it is true that not a lot of magazines are hiring. So, if you really want to work for a magazine I suggest starting your own.

What I can say about coursework and majors is that what will make you most appealing to a publication is your experience/knowledge about topics other than writing. Of course you need to be a good writer first and foremost, but after you polish that skill you’ll need to actually write about something. The most attractive writing candidates have backgrounds or experience in something other than writing… politics, international affairs, travel, health care, animal training, whatever. Start writing for your campus newspaper or magazine, stack up some writing samples, offer to work for free, keep up with your blog, and eventually take over the world.

Links:

“Flawless”

“We Should All Be Feminist”

“The Next Greatest Generation”

Cord Jefferson Twitter

GOOD Twitter