Five Tips For Creating Top-Notch Article Ideas From Individual Magazines

I have sold hundreds of articles by letting the magazine generate the article idea. The method works for every magazine but dont expect to create the same number of ideas with each publication. Sometimes when I thumb through a periodical I am lucky to turn up one possible idea whereas other times I come away with dozens. Here are some tips that will make this system work for you.

1. Practice practice practice. Most writers are so used to creating the idea first that many have difficulty starting with the magazine. The secret is to practice. Immerse yourself in the idea. Thumb through as many publications as possible.
2. Concentrate on your favorite subjects. In going through a particular magazine you will never be able to generate an article idea from every title. Instead concentrate only on the subjects that interest you.
3. Let yourself roll. Sometimes when thumbing through a magazine you discover that some word or phrase in a title will touch a creative chord and you will come up with an article idea almost effortlessly. On an airline flight I happened to glance at an article about a woman who retired to Mexico built her own adobe house and opened a now-famous cooking school. This article triggered my memory of older women who had made some unusual contribution. I was so excited that I worked on this until the plane landed. The result was six articles I wouldnt have written otherwise.
4. Ask yourself questions.  When you thumb through a magazine try asking yourself questions. For instance if one of the titles is "If Not Satisfied Get Your Money Back or more. You Dont Have to Put Up With Poorly Made Products." I might ask "How do I get satisfaction if my car is a lemon? What happens if a contractor does a poor job for me?  What if someone overcharges me at a store and I dont realize it until I get home? I can go on and on but with a little effort I can probably expand each one of these into a possible article.

Reworking A Magazines Idea

    Can you ever take a magazines idea rework the same concept and resell it? Of course you can but not to that magazine. If you think warehouse shopping is a good idea you might use the original article as a research source do more research on your own and write a warehouse shopping article you would sell to another magazine. If I found the idea in a womans magazine for instance I might try a short piece on the subject for a hunting and fishing magazine concentrating on how to shop for firearms fishing tackle and similar merchandise. Or I might sell the same general concept to an automotive magazine. Ideas cannot be copyright and you are welcome to use them all as long as you use only the facts and add your own angles and point of view.