Building a Mediation Practice: Where to Publish
I once knew a writer who despaired of ever being published. The publications to which he submitted his material?
The New Yorker; The Atlantic Monthly; Harpers, and the Sunday New York Times Magazine.
Discouraged, the writer would say to me, I'm just not going to write peppy feel-good articles for Dog World!!!"
Patience. Balance. In between Dog World and the New York Times you will find a place to publish your articles.
Keep your dreams big and your steps small.
Ask yourself these questions:
- who is my market?
- what do I know that people in my market need or want to know?
- what publications do the people in my market read?
Pick a topic. Write 1,000 words. Send it off. It really is that easy.
Here are some publications with low barriers to entry, i.e., you do not need to be Hemingway to publish here.
The Southern California Mediation Association Newsletter. I'm now co-editor of this newsletter. The SCMA has a blog too! We will publish your short mediation pieces there. Even though it's local, it is on the internet and therefore reaches the entire world.
mediate.com. You already know it. They are hungry for content. Write and publish.
The National Institute for Advanced Conflict Resolution. They have a monthly newsletter and web site you can submit your articles to.
Local and national bar association newsletters and journals in your market, i.e., the Los Angeles County, Beverly Hills, San Fernando Valley, etc. Bar Association newsletters and specialty bar associations like the several local newsletters published by the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and Federal Bar Association ADR section newsletter and blog.
The Daily Journal and other non-bar legal publications.
If you're academically minded, Dispute Resolution Journals such as the one published by Pepperdine University School of Law.
A chronic self-publisher, I also have my own quasi-academic Dispute Resolution Journal for which I'm always seeking articles!
And have I said "create your own blog" lately? See Blogging for Mediators 101!
There are many other journals and newsletters with low barriers to entry. I ask my readers to please leave comments identifying them.
Comments (1)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endDiana L. Skaggs - February 24, 2007 4:54 PM
Vickie, Nice topic. I am no writer, but I have a message and local newspapers are happy to publish articles I submit to them. Opinion pieces that are longer than the usual "letters to the editor" are also published. The secret is to identify the correct person to whom to submit the writing, find out what length they prefer, then to follow up in a couple of weeks. If I have good luck with this, the sky has to be the limit for a talented writer. Diana