Here are some magazines that may occasionally accept both writing and artwork/photography submissions. Some of these are very well known, while others are fairly small. You'll need above-average writing and photography skills to get your work accepted, and there might be a lot of waiting.
With this kind of work, you will spend a lot of time sending query letters to editors to see if they're even interested in an article before you write it, then more months to see if your article is up to their standards.
You'll also probably need a decent portfolio of previous work to prove your professionalism before they'll even take you seriously. But if you're willing to wade through all the upfront difficulty, the pay rates are fantastic, and getting articles published with these magazines can help your career in a big way.
Animals – Pets
- Animal Wellness Magazine – Welcoming unsolicited articles and story outlines. Articles may range in length from 500 to 1,500 words.
- Bird TALK magazine – Directed to the general population of parrot, canary, finch and dove owners and written for the adult audience. Requires 800 to 2,000 words. Pay is $100 to $400 per piece.
- Cat Fancy – We are open to working with new contributors and fresh voices in addition to drawing from a talented crop of established contributors. Length: 100-1,000 words. Query first.
- Dog Fancy – Most of the articles in DOG FANCY are written by freelancers. We welcome new contributors because they offer fresh ideas we might not otherwise consider. Also accepts photography submissions.
- EQUUS – A magazine for horse lovers. Requires 1600 to 3000 words, pay depends on quality, length, and complexity of the story.
- Ferrets Magazine – Publication is directed to the general population of ferret owners and written for the adult audience who is either a first-time or continuing ferret owner.
- Reptile Magazine – A monthly publication that caters to reptile and amphibian hobbyists. Pays about $500 for 2,000 to 2,500 words.
- The Bark – About life with dogs. Pays upon publication.
- The Horse – A monthly magazine devoted to horse care. They prefer “how to” and technical topics.
- Tropical Fish Hobbyist – They accept both articles and photos. Guidelines listed on site.
Related: FREE list of 200+ freelance writing niches to consider!
Business – Career
- Family Business Magazine – Family Business Magazine publishes only five times a year — thus, the opportunities we offer are few and far between. We accept very few of the dozens of writer queries we receive every day.
- Home Business Journal – Home Business Journal is looking for talented writers to help contribute to our online business publication. In exchange for your articles, we offer world wide exposure to you as an author, your products or your services.
- MyBusiness Magazine – We accept pitches for feature stories, which fall under one of three categories: Own, Operate and Grow. Story ideas should be small-business focused, with an emphasis on timely problems that small business owners face and real, workable solutions. Trend pieces are also of interest.
- Working Money – About investing. Flat rate payment made upon publication.
- Working Mother – They do accept freelance submissions. You have to submit a pitch for an article first.
Children – Young Adult
- American Girl – American Girl magazine publishes readers' work and is accepting non-fiction submissions by children for crafts, cooking, puzzles, profiles, drawings, jokes, letters, etc. Please check the current issue of American Girl for specific examples.
- Boy's Quest – BOYS' QUEST looks for articles, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that deal with timeless topics, such as pets, nature, hobbies, science, games, sports, careers, simple cooking, and anything else likely to interest a 10-year-old boy.
- ADDitude Magazine – This publication is for parents raisng children who suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. They pay up to $200.00 per article.
- Mothering – This publication promotes a more ecologically conscious and “back to roots” approach to parenting. They pay up to $500.00 per article.
- Fun for Kidz – We are looking for lively writing that involves an activity that is both wholesome and unusual. We are looking for articles around 500 words as well as puzzles, poems, cooking, carpentry projects, jokes, riddles, crafts, and other activities that complement the theme.
- Girl's Life – Girl's Life magazine will pay for your freelance articles, but pay amount is not listed.
- Highlights – Highlights for Children is a general-interest, advertising-free magazine for children up to age twelve. $25 to $150 per article.
- Pockets Magazine – For kids aged 6-12, Christian magazine offering fiction, scripture, puzzles, games, etc. Pays 25 cents a word for stories and $25 and up for other types of submissions.
- Cricket Magazine – Will pay between $10 and $210 dollars for your color or black and white original images.
Crafts
- American Craft Magazine – They work primarily with experienced arts journalists who are able to write with depth and nuance, and we value freelancers who can write for a general creative audience with clarity and insight.
- Bead & Button Magazine – Bead and Button is publication for crafters.
- Sew News – Articles should teach a specific technique, inspire the reader to try a project, introduce the reader to a new product or company related to sewing, or inform the reader about current fashion and sewing trends.
- Threads Magazine – Bi-monthly, how-to magazine. Interested in articles about construction and embellishment techniques, materials, tools, and design.
Education
- Teacher Magazine – Teacher magazine may take your commentary submissions, but amount of pay is not listed.
Family
- Georgia Family – Georgia Family Magazine is a regional parenting publication with a circulation of 17,000 monthly copies in Central Georgia.
- Family Fun – This publication is looking for articles about games and fun outdoor activities that families can enjoy. According to reports they pay $2.00 per word.
General Interest
- Beautiful Savage – This is an online art, design, music, and fashion magazine that will pay for freelance submissions.
- Early American Life – This magazine is focused on history. They're also interested in articles that delve into other subjects, such as travel, and architecture, but always with an historical slant. The starting rates are generally in the $500.00 per article range, but if you have a publishing history with them, you can earn more.
- Reader's Digest – You can submit jokes to Reader's Digest. If yours is selected, you'll receive $100.
- Boston Globe Magazine – This publication is looking for essays related to topics that are locally relevant to the Boston area. According to the latest information I could find, they pay approximately $1.00 per word.
- Cosmopolitan – This is one of the big-time women's magazines, with a long and prestigious history. You can submit articles through email, and will usually hear back from them within a month. Submitted articles for the print version earn $200.00 to $400.00. They also accept submissions for their online magazine, but they only pay $100.00 per article.
- Eating Well – This publication is looking for articles about healthy eating. They suggest you read the magazine first before pitching your article ideas to get a sense for what will fit and what won't. They pay up to $1.00 per word.
- Good Housekeeping – This well known publication allows for unsolicited submissions, but they're only looking for articles in certain very limited categories. Check their submissions page to see what they're accepting at any given time. The pay rate is reportedly around $1.50 per word.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
- Analog Science-Fiction – Analog will consider material submitted by any writer, and consider it solely on the basis of merit. We are definitely eager to find and develop new, capable writers.
- Futurismic – Futurismic seeks contemporary, near future science fiction for online publication. We’re looking for innovative, exciting stories that use the tools of speculative fiction to examine contemporary issues and take a look at what’s just around the corner.
- Heliotrope – Heliotrope accepts fiction, non-fiction, and also poetry. They are not always open to submissions.
Literary Fiction
- VQR– This is a high end literary journal. They publish poetry, short fiction, and certain kinds of non-fiction, including book reviews. They pay $200.00 each for poems. Over $1000.00 for short fiction, and around $500.00 for reviews.
- One Story – They publish short stories, strictly literary fiction. They won't accept anything that's been published elsewhere, and stories need to be between 3000 and 8000 words. Other than that, their only guideline is that the story must be very good. They pay $500.00 per story.
Rural Life/Homesteading
- GRIT Magazine – DO NOT try to write for GRIT if you know nothing about rural life, gardening or urban farming. We intend to be an authoritative and sometimes playful voice for rural lifestyle farmers and country or small-town dwellers.
Outdoors
- Backpacker – A magazine with an ecological slant, devoted to hiking and other outdoors activities. They want stories with a real authentic flavor, and everything must focus entirely on foot-based travel. They pay anywhere from $0.40 to $1.00 per word for stories.
- American Forests – They're looking for environmentally conscious articles on outdoor subjects. The pay-rate isn't listed, but it's reported to be at least $1.00 per word.
- AMC Outdoors Magazine – They're looking for articles that stimulate readers' passion for the outdoors, specifically related to the northeastern United States. They pay as much as $750.00 for articles.
- Earth Island Journal – This is a magazine devoted to environmental issues. They cover everything from global warming, to pollution, and endangered species. You can earn $0.25 cents a word, which means a 4000 word feature article can earn you up to a thousand bucks.
Tech – Computers
- HOW Magazine – HOW Magazine is for graphic designers.Pays up to $800 per article.
Travel – Regional
- Budget Travel – Pays .50 to $1 per word.
- Mountain Gazette – Mountain Gazette pays between $50 and $500 for your published submissions, and they accept unsolicited submissions.
If you have an interest in jumping into the higher end freelance writing market, the above links should give you a good set of starting points. Some of you may already have experience working with these publications, or you may have questions about magazine writing gigs. If so, we'd love to hear from you in the comments section below.
Want to Go Into Business For Yourself?
This is the most profitable route to take as a freelance writer. You can get your own clients and set your own rates, which you cannot really do with magazines or content sites. A six-figure income is not outside the realm of possibility when you're running your own business.
Not sure what sort of writing you'd specialize in if you worked for yourself? I recommend grabbing a copy of Gina Horkey's FREE list of 200+ writing niches to consider!
She's also written an incredibly detailed guide on working for yourself as a freelance writer if you're interested in getting a lot more information on how to go about starting your own freelance writing business.
This post originally published June 11, 2012. Updated and re-published March 12, 2018.