5. Understanding core audience of magazine If you’re writing for a magazine for home PC users, your editor’s not going to appreciate ideas on network security, however wonderful they may be. Similarly, when writing for a small business owner, you’d want to treat that person as a little smarter, even if he might have same knowledge base as that of a home user. His computing decisions are more important. That’s why you should always be familiar with reader’s knowledge level. That’ll help you make distinction between good ideas, and great ones.

6. Making boring subjects come alive Editors love writers with a dash of style, attitude and chutzpah. If you can give even a serious subject a touch of humor, you’ll soon be a hot favorite. This is especially true with technical, business and trade magazines. Their subject matter tends to be boring. It’s your job to not only inform reader, but also to entertain him.

7. Having whole package If you can write great prose, but not meet deadlines, you’re replaceable. If you can get great interviews and dig up little-known statistics, but make fact-checker’s life hell, you might not be seen as a great catch. If you come up with best ideas, but can’t provide equally interesting sidebars, there’s probably someone who can. But if you give editor all those things and more, she has no reason to look beyond you.

8. Knowing magazine I wouldn’t go as far as to say that will never sell something to a magazine you haven’t read (I have), but I will say that you’re not going to get rich doing it. If you don’t want to go broke buying all prospective magazines, get yourself a reliable Internet connection and visit magazine’s Website. No editor will stand a query that looks like it’s been sent to a million others.

Editors often like to work with a select group of freelance writers, who’ve earned editor’s trust over time. By following tips above, you’ll soon ensure an impressed editor and many lucrative assignments as well.

6.Don’t rely too much on your word processor’s grammar checking features. They can be quite impressive, but their capabilities are still quite limited. Spelling checkers are also limited in their capabilities, since they cannot recognize a lot of proper names and technical terms. In addition, spell checkers cannot detect situations wherein user has entered wrong word in place of proper one.

7.Proofread, proofread and proofread… over and over. When you’re done, have a friend proofread your work as well.

8.Remember your target audience. Ask yourself, “What information will my audience require in order to understand what I’m saying?”

9.Avoid clever wordplay unless you’re sure that it will work. In most cases, it is best to gain more writing experience before trying something witty.

10. Remember artists adage, “Practice, practice, practice”? If you want to become good at writing, then write, write and write!