Finding A Home

I finally found a home for my article, Potty Mouth. It was my assignment for the class I took with the Institute of children's Literature (ICL). I'm learning that it is easier to find a home for a story or an article when a publishing house works with a theme.

My article is a nonfiction piece on bad breath. I submitted my article to two magazines that published health articles. They rejected my article because it was not what they were looking for. Health is such a broad term so it is difficult to pinpoint what it is they want. Although I was hopeful, I wasn't discouraged by the rejection.

A few days later, I read a newsletter offered by ICL. I noticed that many students were being published by Stories for Children Magazine (SFC). So, I looked into it. SFC is not a themed magazine, but they have an idea calender that lists topics they'd like to publish. It was my luck to discover that SFC was looking for tooth fairy stories for their August 2009 issue in honor of National Smile Week. Even if my article wasn't a tooth fairy story, I thought that my dental health article would still tie in to the "idea." Apparently, they thought so too.

All my articles have been accepted by "themed" magazines. So, if you want to increase your chances of getting published, try looking into publishers working with a theme and write about that topic. Instead of finding a home, let the home find you.

Please check out my article titled, Potty Mouth, on their online magazine!