Writing is a product. A basic marketing truism is that you can't sell a product if no one wants to buy it. Whether or not your writing is wonderful doesn't matter if you are writing about a subject no one wants to publish. The moral of the story? Never create your writing in a vacuum.

It's extremely easy to find out what topics are in demand by doing a little Internet surfing. In fact, the Internet is actually the best place to research hot topics. It's far better than the library, chain bookstores, print media, or television. Today's publishing trends will appear online first, long before they hit the bookstores.

Before you write anything, try to think like a publisher. Ask yourself, what do they want to buy?

Above all else, publishers want to print what is going to sell. For example, if you want to submit a book proposal to a publisher, go to the Web and find out what the hot topics are in your chosen field. As a writer, you are, by nature, a researcher. The Internet is a researcher's dream come true.

For example, if you are a computer nerd and want to write about technology topics, what is the latest "buzz" on the propeller-head discussion boards? What are people complaining about? What new techie toy is your average 14 year old dying to get his hands on?

Or let's say you want to break into a magazine. Every single magazine editor on the planet, without exception, will tell you to "read the magazine first" before you get in touch.
Many, many magazines put their writer's guidelines online. If they don't, you can usually read a few issues online to get a feel for the magazine's tone. You no longer have to waste postage begging for a copy of the magazine before you contact the editor or publisher. All you need to do is get online, go to your favorite search engine, and start digging.

If you're interested in a particular magazine or trade journal, simply to go your favorite search engine such as Google. Then type:

[the magazine name] +guidelines OR
[the magazine name] +"writer information"

For more general searches, try these phrases:
"editorial calendar"
"writer's guidelines"
"author's guidelines"
"contributor's guidelines"
"write for us"
"freelance writing markets"
"freelance markets"
"writing markets"

Yes, the quotation marks are important. They tell the search engine to find the entire phrase, as opposed to the individual words. You also might try derivatives of these searches, such as "writer guidelines" and "writers guidelines". Sometimes web sites or search engines aren't good at handling punctuation, such as apostrophes.

Armed with a little information, you can give publishers what they want. And in turn, they'll give you what you want: a byline!

Susan Daffron

Susan Daffron aka "The Content Queen" is the President of Logical Expressions, Inc., a company that helps small businesses create, manage, and distribute content. Logical Expressions specializes in fusing high-quality unique content with search-engine and human-friendly Web sites. In addition, Susan practices what she preaches, publishing three ezines on popular topics, including computers (Logical Tips), adopted pets (Pet Tails), and regional information (Sandpoint Insider).

A recognized expert on content, design, and editorial topics, Susan Daffron has written more than 70 articles that have appeared in national magazines, more than 200 newspaper articles, an online software training course, a software book, and book chapters.

In addition to her writing experience, Susan has been doing design and editorial work since 1989. She has created magazines, newsletters, books and other book-length documents such as users guides and manuals. She was awarded the Most Valuable Professional designation from Microsoft in 1996 for her expertise in working with long documents in Microsoft Word.

Since forming her company in 1994, Susan has worked with businesses ranging from small service firms to large corporate entities. Some of her most well-known clients include Macmillan Computer Publishing, Bedford Communications, and Penton Media (formerly Duke Communications).

Many samples of Susan's writing are online. In addition to her ezines, for two years, Susan also published a free (print) computer ?how to? magazine called Computor Companion. The magazine has evolved into a quarterly online publication and continues to receive rave reviews from computer users on the Web.