Any Animal-Writing Successes Lately?

inkkognito · Feb 6, 2009

How's everyone doing? Any good successes at selling articles in the animal market lately? I've picked up three assignments from "Animal Wellness" (stuff they assigned me to, not queries), so I'm lovin' that! Nothing else exciting, although I'm hoping to do more for "Bird Talk" and my "I Love Cats" article has been scheduled for this year.

bonobo_jones · Feb 6, 2009

I pitched once to Animal Wellness....that is cool, how do you get assignments from them? They shot me down.

I haven't written for any big name magazines. I published one book in 2003, which is still doing really well because it's a hot niche market (raw diets) and have a contract for three rather slick dog books. The first is on Amazon already, which seems weird since it's not, yannow, actually done yet.

I really feel like a slacker for not trying harder for the magazine market, though. Congrats on your assignments!

inkkognito · Feb 7, 2009

The trick with Animal Wellness is to break in with a queried article. I sold them a piece on "Class Clown Cats," and after they bought it, they gave me an assignment for a piece on a dog who paints. They must have liked it, as I've gotten two more assignments since then. Think of another good topic and try another pitch. Be warned, they tend to be a rather slow payer, although it does come.

bonobo_jones · Feb 9, 2009

On my to do list! I was at Borders yesterday and planned to pick up the latest copy but they must be between issues.
Does anyone read the Bark magazine?

Reece10 · Apr 29, 2009

Hi All,

I got a YES from Animal Wellness on the topic of cats!!

:hooray:

Reece

inkkognito · Apr 30, 2009

Woo hoo, Reece, that's great! Hopefully it will lead to some assignments for you from AW too.

AngelicaRJackson · May 21, 2009

I have an article called "Wild Things Belong in the Wild" in the May/June issue of Bird Watcher's Digest, about a quail family that lived in our yard. It's in their "Backyard" department, one of the easier sections to break into for the magazine. Not my first-ever sale, but it was an honor to appear in a publication that has featured so many greats in the birding and writing circles.

awatkins · May 21, 2009

Way to go, everybody! :hooray:

Reece10 · May 22, 2009

Hi Everyone,

I'm in I Love Cats this month - though I haven't seen the edition yet!

Reece :hooray:

zaelyna · Jun 22, 2009

A question: when submitting articles to magazines, how do you decide what to write about? I'm interested in writing stuff for animal-related 'zines, but not really sure where to start (topic-wise).

Reece10 · Jun 22, 2009

Hi Zaelyna,

Good Question!

I browse the front covers of all current pet magazines to get an idea of "what's hot" and what's in their recent archive.

Then look at the magazine I am thinking of submitting to and send a query on something they haven't covered recently.

Reece

zaelyna · Jun 22, 2009

Nice. So you query your idea(s) before you write them, then?

the bunny hugger · Jun 22, 2009

The book I co-edited is available for pre-orders

inkkognito · Jun 23, 2009

Reece10 said:
I'm in I Love Cats this month - though I haven't seen the edition yet!

Cool! I may be in the same one...I got a contributor's copy a couple weeks ago but haven't had a chance to look through it yet. What is your article? I'll have to check it out.

And rattitude, big congrats on the book!

Dollywagon · Jun 26, 2009

I'm in the UK so obviously don't have access to Animal Wellness, so could somebody tell me what the Animal Passages and Tail End columns generally consist of?

Bushrat · Sep 7, 2009

I write in both English and German and just managed to get the life story of my old dog into a German dog magazine (Der Hund). They have a section about mutts and animal protection, and since he has a fairly colourful past, I thought it might be a good fit.
I've started always querying with photo samples attached, that seems to work really well. These guys responded the very next day and raved about the pictures.

terrylynn · Sep 13, 2009

Hey, great thread Barb. And congrats on the assignments! What did you mean AW assignments?

I've just heard Dogs in Canada are doing a contributors profile on me next month - so that's pretty exciting. I feel very honored to be in a dog magazine with so many great dog writers out there. So far, Dogs in Canada have accepted 3 of my articles!

Currently I'm trying to find a home for my MG novel, Dogsled Dreams.

Terry

inkkognito · Sep 15, 2009

Awesome on the profile!

By AW, I mean "Animal Wellness," and I just had an assignment for their sister pub, "Feline Wellness," too.

Dolly, I don't have a full copy as I tear 'em up to put in my notebook (my tearsheets are done literally). When I get my next contributors' copy, I will post about what is in those sections.

Reece10 · Oct 22, 2009

Hi All,

I'm going to be in the holiday issue of Feline Wellness - its the first time EVER I'm going to be in a bumper issue of a magazine so it's pretty exciting.

Oh and I get a photo of me and my cat on the contributors page!! Yipeeeeeee!!!

Reece :hooray:

Hedgetrimmer · Oct 22, 2009

Earlier this week I received a contract from Natural Life Magazine for one of the essays from my collection I'm writing. It's about how my backyard birding inspired me to go completely organic in the yard. It's scheduled for the March/April issue.

Susie · Oct 25, 2009

Hey, all, I had a story pubbed in an anthology published by LaChance Publishing and I found out about it from here. :hooray:

Many thanks, AW.

Ken · Oct 25, 2009

Congrats Susie!

Susie · Oct 27, 2009

Thx so much, Ken. :Hug2:

Reece10 · Jan 22, 2010

Hey All,

I have an idea pending at Feline Wellness - just waiting to hear when it will be scheduled for a 2010 edition.

Reece

timp67 · Jan 27, 2010

Anybody written about hummingbirds? I have grown completely in love with them.

Any Animal-Writing Successes Lately?

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