Script:
Hi, this is Casey Gamble of Professor Hernandez’s Intro to Journalism class. I’m interested in writing for magazines, but especially for fitness and health magazines.
Most writers for these magazines have to specialize in both journalism and physical health, which can be two completely separate jobs. Fitness-themed magazines are truly dedicated to motivating and inspiring. It is not their goal to make you want to look like the woman or man on the cover, but just to find the same drive for fitness as that person. They want you to do it the healthy way, and they try to live by their own advice.
First and foremost, aspiring freelancers should know of a few tips, provided by Farrah Storr. Storr is editor of Women’s Health Uk Magazine. She suggests writing something unique and crucial – something that the people don’t already know about their health. She also suggests backing up your writing with a reason why you think it should be published. Give the editors a reason to notice you. So while you don’t have to reach the level of editor to have your voice heard in a big-time magazine, you still have to make yourself look bigger and better than your contenders. Be competitive.
The most important aspect is that you have to really know what you are writing about, and second most important as it that you write it well. Joel Dowdell interviewed editor and writer of Men’s Fitness, Sean Hyson, who says:
“There’s a real craft to writing fitness stories. It’s easy to glance at a bodybuilding magazine and think it’s for meatheads and that there’s nothing to the writing. There are a lot of coaches out there who are good writers and they get surprised when they see that we’ve changed their story quite a bit from what they handed in. But it always makes it a better read for the mass audience.” So they care about the form of writing their readers get, not only the content.
If you want to make it past freelancing and become an editor, Jenna Autuori, editor for Fitness Magazine, tells us about the job. When interviewed by Fitness Magazine, she said everything about the job is glamorous, but hard work. “As a fitness editor we have to live what we preach and do the research to give readers the best information out there—which entails a lot of working out!” She goes on to talk about how she works out most mornings and evenings, testing out new methods to show to the readers. Editors get to train with celebrities, learn new healthy recipes, and are pretty much always in shape. While this may seem like a lot of work, if it’s something you as a writer are interested in, you’d be willing to put in the work. Whatever it is that you want to research and write about, even if it isn’t fitness and health, you must have a passionate for it. You must not only be willing to put in the work, but also desire to do it if you want to succeed.
Sources:
Casey Gamble 
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