I’m currently helping a friend get more bylines. He’s already written for a variety of international magazines and has a good amount of his writing published online. However, he’s written a book that he’s about ready to shop around, and there’s more juice in his brain where that one came from.
Getting more bylines are a good way to help build your standing as an author. Especially if you want to sell your book. If you can get attention for the subject of your book through magazine articles, or excerpts, that’ll be even better.
So, as we’re going over which publications and web sites he likes, and would like to see himself in, my advice was to go for both, online and print. Print especially as I think those bylines will be better served in selling future writing. At the same time, he’s got such a stockpile of travel writing already, that there’s no reason why he can’t resubmit it to travel websites, and small print pubs to build the byline list.
If you want to get more bylines, ask yourself this…
1. What are my favorite magazines, newspapers, and web sites?
2. Where would I like to see my writing?
3. Which section of their magazine or web site would my writing fit into?
Then, study those markets. Don’t just submit blindly to a publication you like. Get to know them first and shape your submission to fit their style, the department you’re sending it to, and tell them in the cover letter where you think it would go and why.
Whether or not you should get paid for your byline is a whole different topic, but here are some articles if you want to read more on the subject.
Should I Write For Free? (About.com), or
Byline/Exposure/Bio in Lieu of Cash—The Ultimate Insult (from WritersWeekly.com)