Focus is simply the way the magazine looks at the world. Some say they are the magazine of the newest and the latest. Others boast that they are the magazine for the jugglers: women who expect to have it all. Deciding what each magazines focus is helps us tailor our article just for that magazine.

A look at the magazine field:

Most of us are familiar with the magazines we see on the stands.  But there are thousands on the market today, most of them take some freelance material.  Major categories are:  Consumer publications, company publications and trade, technical and professional journals.

1.      Consumer publications.  Most of the magazines we’re familiar with are in this category.  Women’s, men’s, sports, juveniles, religious, specialty fields such as travel, RV and retirement magazines.

2.      Company publications.  These are put out by companies for customers or employees.  Ford Truck Times, in-flight magazines and others.

3.      Trade, Technical and Professional journals.  This is by far the largest group of publications.  They are geared for a certain profession or type of work. Examples are Nursery Retailer,

Each of these groups is narrowed down to different categories, which are narrowed down even more to a particular readership.  Each magazine has its own theme responding to its particular readership.  An editor’s aim is to give his/her reader what he is looking for:  a reader of a travel magazine wants to know places to go, a woman buying a House and Garden magazine wants ideas to beautify her home.

Here is the way some magazines look at the world:

            Cosmopolitan—How to get your man

            Good Housekeeping—The magazine America lives by

            Bon Appetit--Says they are America's Food and Entertainment Magazine

            Costal Living--The Magazine for People Who Love The Coast

            Conde Nast Traveler-- The Truth About Upscale Travel All Over the World

How to analyze a magazine

To learn to know the magazine and the readership you want to write for you must study the magazine inside-out.  Here’s how:

1.      Look at the cover. In many cases the cover will let you know who the magazine thinks the reader is.

2.      Read the ads. In Backpacker magazine. I see ads for an automobile rugged enough to cross a mountain stream without a road, trail food, motivational lecture for hitting the trail,  hiking boots,  sleeping bags….                                                                   

3.      Read the editorial.

4.      Go over the columns.

5.      Read the letters to the editors.

6.      Finally, look at the articles (mainly the pictures, titles and subs)

These will tell you who the reader is—what the reader’s interest is, and how the editor is trying to approach that reader.

You have found the theme of the magazine, now how does the magazine want the article put together?

            Mechanical Slant 

For this exercise we will use two magazines. AARP, The Magazine, the retirement magazine, and Costal Living. The Magazine for People Who Love the Coast.

1.      How many articles in each issue?  Average each issue of Coastal Living, 7 articles about homes, 6 travel articles, 4 about costal lifestyles. AARP, The Magazine, about 7 feature stories each issue.

2.      Do they use any fiction? Coastal Living doesn't use any fiction, ever. I haven't seen any in AARP, The Magazine.

3.      Do they want first, second or third person?  Does it vary? Coastal Living can use all three. AARP, The Magazine uses all three but each voice must be appropriate for the article. Celebrity articles, for instance use 1^st person.

4.      Do they use quotes from authorities? Costal Living uses quotes from authorities this way: "Weather vanes have become so valuable that you treat them as sculpture" says antiques dealer Nina Hellman. "How you display them inside depends on the architecture of the home."  Here is an example from AARP, The Magazine. "Guardianship is a godsend and a gulag," says Erica Wood, associate staf director of the American Bar Association's Commission on Law and aging. "It's a lifesaver and a life stopper. It's and a fife stopper. It/s an institution that we as a society need. But we need to make it better."

5.      What about statistics? Both Magazines use statistics. Here's an example from AARP, The Magazine. In an eight-week study, nursing home residents, ages 86 to 96 increased their muscle strength by 174 percent and increased their-walking speed by 48 percent.  Costal Living:The Conservancy's deep involvement with the Vriginia seaside began some 30 years ago with purchases of 14 barrier islands stretching more thant 60 miles--19,,500 acres of undeveloped Atlantic Beach.

6.      Do they use lots of anecdotes (examples in action)?  Coastal Living: Wearing a sundress the color of lemon dorps, Lynn Ham Young waks barefoot onto the beach at Kauai's North Shore. With arms frull of dried halia leaves, she leads her three weaving partners to a cool custion of sand. Here, a sunshade of palm fronds intercepts the bring light of the afternoon. Each woman grabs a corner of a monarch-orange sarong and places it on the velvety sand where, for the next few hours, they'll sit with limber leaves and humble tools, weaving masterpieces with their calloused hands.

ARRPA The Magazine; On a crisp June morning in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, Genevieve Summers tips her head back and squints up at the 250-foot giant sequoia towering above her. She adjusts her harness, grips the rope and begins ascending the massive column of wood , savoring the freeze and sweeping parnarama opening up below. "I've found my passion, says Summers, who used to run a chimney-sweep business. "When I'm in the trees, I'm home."

7.      How is the article organized? 

8.      What kind of leads?

A lead is a device to hook a reader into a manuscript by starting with a general statement that unveils the problem and finishes with a sentence that makes the reader have to read on.

"Thousands of older Americans are being robbed of their freedom, dignity, and life savings by a legal system created for their protection. * How can this happen?" (Now you have to read on to find out how this can happen). That's called hooking your reader.

Rember when you were 15 and thought summer would last forever? When warm days stretched lazily into nighttime and responsibilities amounted to no more than showing up on time fro dinner? Remember your first true summer love, and wishing it would never end?

            Such are the poignant memories evoked by the classic coming-of-age movie Summer of '42--the 1971 film that inspired interior designer Tobby West to re-create that nostalgic feeling in this Seaside, Florida home.  Now you have to read on to find out how he created a nostalgic feeling.

" You're in good company if you struggle with writer's block; it strikes writers of all disciplines, experience, and skill levels. Even the very best. Many--actually, most top writers still face the ominous glow of the blank screen from time to time. *But they've learned how to sharpen the tools necessary to break through and finish what they start (Again you have to read on to find out how they break through.

9.      The vocabulary.  The vocabulary varies from formal to informal. I look at the magazine and give the vocabulary a rating of from one to three. Decide what the magazine you want to write for uses. Then that's what you use. Let's try an example: (1) The John Muir Trail has blistered more than a few happy feet. "Once you get hooked on the sweeping grantic domes, gin-clear streams, and putting-green meadows, you're not going to stop to treat a measly hot spot." (this is informal) 2. "The Museum of Fine Arts has a brand-new restaurant called Bravo that features dishes made with locally grown ingredients."

10.  The overall approach.  Does the magazine tell the story with an interview approach. Do they tell you how to do something?

11.  What type of pictures and captions? Does the magazine use pictures of people up close in action? Do they use static scenery? Static pictures without people? What? Try to give the magazine the type of pictures they use. Generally you will find two types. One sentence: Michele savors the moment  Neighbor and chef Betsy McNair at the grill.  Two sentence. John Markus looking out over the Markoff Valley. He is determined to make this area a wilderness area.

12.  Length of articles? Lengths for some magazines runs from 1,000 to 1500 words, others to 2500. Many major magazines also run 3000 plus. Look at the magazine and give them what they are running.

13.  How many concern people or are they more about places and things?

Some travel magazines concentrate on places, not people. Others have a combination of both.

14.  If the mechanics differ in the various articles, make a checklist of how many are used for each style. You will need to do this by studying the magazine.

Assignment:

In the last exercise you looked for ideas.  Now let’s find a market for those ideas.  Often the same idea can be used for different markets by changing the slant.  As an example, here is a short news item that appeared in a newspaper.  Let’s see where we could use this by changing the slant.

            Water Roundup Puts Bands on Nearly 3,000 Wild Geese

            3,000 Great Basin Canada geese are wearing new bands that will help biologists of California Department of Fish and Game keep tabs on their status.  Banded by Nevada Fish and Game Department and U.S. Bureau of Sport fisheries and Wildlife, airboats and motorboats were used on five lakes and reservoirs for roundup.  Geese were herded into traps with operations directed by radio.

            Men’s magazine—What to do if the goose you’re hunting is banded.

            Juvenile—How we count wild geese.

            Trade—Use of radio herds geese.

            Boating—Western roundup on the water.

1.      Analyze three different magazines.  What is the overall theme of the magazine?  What is the breakdown for the different mechanical slant of the articles?  How many use first person, how many use anecdotal leads, etc.

2.      Slant your idea to the different magazines.