Ten Ways to Get Cheap (and Free) Magazine Samples
Ten Ways to Get Cheap (and Free) Magazine Samples
1 - Join a reading or writing group. Ask members to bring in their
already-read magazines and have an exchange. Do the same with interest
groups you belong to or know about - playgroups (parenting, home, cooking, family mags), business networking groups (entrepreneurs, home business, finances magazines), church (religious, devotional periodicals).2 - Offer to take a friend to the doctor's office. Okay, that sounds goofy but I love taking my children to the orthodontist, pediatrician, and dentist offices so I can scan the table of contents and skim the articles in the parenting, children's, family, travel and money magazines. I bring a notepad and take plenty of notes. Find an article in an old magazine that would help your research? Ask the office to make a copy of it; offer to pay.3 - Subscribe. Remember if you subscribe to a magazine that is for business purposes, you can deduct the cost of the subscriptions if you itemize your taxes. I am a food writer so I keep all receipts for food and writing magazines, and food and writing books to deduct as business expenses.4 - Take up publishers on their free copy offers. It used to be that all magazines would let your send in a postcard and check the "bill me" square and you will end up with two or three issues before they cut you off for not paying. These days, we cannot even be inadvertently dishonest. I get mailings from magazines offering me one free issue. I will send in the postcard and usually have a bill to pay before I have read the free issue. I then can decide to subscribe or put the bill in the postage paid envelope and decline to pay.5 - Look for the online issues of particular magazines. It is true that many use original content online (another good market to explore) but even the different content will show you what type of material the magazine is looking for.6 - Read newspapers online. Do you want to write travel articles? Visit the major newspapers online. Most hire freelancers to cover a great deal of their special interest articles. Contact information for, in this example, the travel section editor will likely be available on the website.7 ? Send for the writer guidelines. Look in The Writer's Market. If you are looking for parenting magazines and find one that sounds about right to you but you have never seen, send for the writer guidelines and request a sample issue. Double check the listing of the magazine to see if there is a reduced price or you have to send a stamped envelope to receive a free copy.8 - Go to the library. This is so obvious! Make a bi-weekly appointment to go to the library and review the magazines you want to write for. Make notes. Use the library's copier to photocopy the table of contents, or an article or two to review at home.9 - If your public library does not carry the magazines you want to know about, travel to a college library. They are set up for your kind of research. While most require student identification to use the reference materials, you can read the periodicals unimpeded.10 - Bookstores! Grab a pile of magazines, buy that over-priced latte and carefully review the magazines you have found to study (remember, if you spill on it, you buy it!)Terms of use ? This article may be used freely in online and print, newsletters and websites that do not charge a fee to readers. The resource box at the end must be included. The article may not be substantially edited but grammatical or typos can certainly be corrected. Thank you.Pamela White is the publisher of Food Writing, an online newsletter and author of FabJob's guide to Become a Food Writer. Her newest book, Freelance Writing: Begin the Adventure is available at
http://www.food-writing.com/pages/3/index.htm
Really Cheap Plane Tickets
Really Cheap Plane Tickets
To begin with, the best place to buy really cheap plane tickets is online. Travel agencies can't compete with discount ticket sites. Search Google ("cheap airfare south america", for example), or try the well-known sites, like Expedia, Travelocity, Cheap Tickets, Hotwire or Priceline.Just now I checked fares from Tucson, Arizona to Traverse City, Michigan on the five sites mentioned above. The cheapest quotes ranged from $704 to $432. Nevermind which was cheapest (oh, okay, it was Expedia), because you never know from day to day which sites will find the cheapest flights.Check at least three places. In this case, it would mean a savings of $272. The flight durations are within minutes of each other, by the way, and the food is probably equally bad on all the flights.Flexibility For Even Cheaper AirfareThe more flexible you are, the better your chance of getting a really cheap plane tickets. Try different departure and return dates if you can. Check the box "2 or more connecting flights". Mark the "anytime" departure, even if you don't want to leave at midnight - the savings might change your mind. Try all the options. If the savings aren't enough, you can always book first class, direct flights, or whatever you prefer.Really Cheap Plane Tickets - More WaysYou can buy two tickets. The cheapest airfare from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Tucson, Arizona costs $451 roundtrip right now. Las Vegas to Tucson is only $161, however, and there are regular $199 specials to Vegas from Grand Rapids. It's up to you whether saving $91 is worth booking two flights. (It saved us over $1000 when we went to South America.) There is the problem of whether you'll get a refund if your timing is off on the connections (you probably won't).Check for package deals, where you pay for plane tickets and your hotel room. I haven't had much luck with these deals, but it can't hurt to look at them.Buying ahead of time gets you cheaper plane tickets. Any thing less than a week away tends to be expensive, although you never can tell in the mysterious realm of airfare pricing. Sometimes the "last minute specials" are the best thing going.Priceline still has their "Name Your Own Price" feature. Make your bid, and the airlines say yes or no, depending on whether they have empty seats to fill. First search for the cheapest tickets you can find, then bid lower than that. If your bid is rejected, you can return to the website where you found the best deal and book it.If You're Really CheapMy wife and I once took a bus from Michigan to Miami, and flew from there to Ecuador. For us at that time, saving a couple hundred dollars was worth 38 hours on a bus. This won't save you much on domestic flights. Right now, for example, taking a bus from Traverse City to Detroit, then flying to Los Angeles, would only save about $70 (allowing for cab fare to the airport) over flying directly.There are other options beyond the scope of this article. Courier flights, for example, can be a great deal if you don't mind letting a company use your baggage allowance (you get carry-on only). There are also stand-by deals and last minute deals and other ways to get really cheap plane tickets. Good luck!Steve Gillman hit the road at sixteen, and traveled the U.S. and Mexico alone at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife Ana, whom he met in Ecuador. For more on cheap plane tickets, and to read their stories, tips and travel information, visit: http://www.EverythingAboutTravel.com