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Flip-Flopping From Reader to Writer Makes Your Retirement Far More Fulfilling

It’s been more than half a year since you retired. The novelty of free time is wearing off and you find yourself lonely for your old work buddies. You miss those lively conversations over lunch or a business dinner, and feel your mind getting a bit sluggish. For the first three months or so of your retirement you enjoyed reading the trade journals in your specialty. But now they just make you nostalgic for those happier days when you had a purpose in life and the stimulation of a working environment.

The Age of Specialization

If you look at the state of the periodical field today, you will see that widely circulated consumer magazines with a potpourri of content, the ones you saw on every newsstand have been losing ground for several years. Many were forced to close their doors before the Internet began stealing away readers. The boom has fallen even harder during the current economic crunch.

However, niche magazines and trade journals seem to be surviving the onslaught quite well, and that should tell you something about the new age of specialization. The Internet has become a major source for information seekers because it is specialized. You select the topic that interests you, click on the search engine, and there you will find page after page of articles as well as references to web pages on the subject.

Head to the library and thumb through a periodical directory like Writer’s Market. Better yet, if you are serious about writing, buy a copy for your desk. There are 60 categories of trade journals detailed in the book with anywhere from four to 26 publications listed under each category. Each listing contains all of the information you need to contact the magazine and submit an article. If you visit the library you will find several other extensive directories to research.

Actually you don’t have to be limited just to trades. Thumb through the lists of
consumer periodicals in these directories, and you will find a number of publications that deal with the subject of your expertise. There’s no reason why you can’t use your knowledge to publish consumer-oriented articles as well.

Targeting Trade Journals

. You probably have no desire to work full-time again, but it would be rewarding to maintain some sort of contact with the arena in which you played for so many of your adult working years. Instead of reading those trade journals, start writing for them!

It’s not all that difficult to do. With 30 years of hands-on experience in the field and lots of contacts still available to you, all you need is a quick refresher to bring you up to date on any new directions your field has taken since your departure. Who knows? Possibly after six months or a year turning out trade articles, you may just be ready to write a book on the subject. Not a bad way to enjoy your retirement and maintain a working relationship with your specialty.

Whether you were a neurosurgeon or a plumber, a pilot or a bridge designer matters little. There are publications servicing every field, and their editors have to keep a steady flow of new informative articles coming every month to fill their pages. These editors are hungry for content. Neither they nor their readers are looking for highly polished prose. They want facts and figures. New ideas, fresh approaches to solving problems, new vision. Now in your retirement, you have the time and the background to work through those needs and come up with innovative articles.

Most publications ask that your send a query first. This document, sent in letter form, should state the subject of your article, the specialized angle you are incorporating and your qualifications to write it. If at all possible, the query should be only a single spaced page in length. The editor will then contact you by phone, e-mail or possibly even postal mail and make the assignment with whatever changes he/she might want.

Magazines buy specific rights when they contract with you. Most common is First North American Rights. This means that once you enter a contract with the publication, you cannot publish that piece anywhere else in North America until it has been produced first by the contracting magazine. World English Rights increase the area to any English-speaking nation and World Rights limits you totally.

Branding Yourself as an Expert

Content is king in the trade journal world, so it is essential that you establish your credentials as rapidly as possible. The best way to do that is to write and publish frequently. It would also help to create either a web site or a blog or even both if you have the time and inclination. Web sites of course are more static than blogs and require a great deal less updating. Writing a blog is lots of fun, but it will keep you busy, for its success depends upon a steady flow of new information.

Since you are no longer in the everyday world of active work, you must be sure to keep yourself abreast of progress and changes by reading related blogs and journals. Research is essential. Regardless of the subject you write about, your success or failure will be determined by your willingness to complete the research required by a quality article or book.

The Bio Box

The key to developing recognition is the bio box at the end of the article. While the article itself is a straight-forward narration, the bio box is your “advertisement.” In it you can outline your qualifications, direct readers to your web site or blog and if you have graduated to books you can send readers to your sales page.

Bio boxes vary greatly. Some are designed simply to list the way the reader can contact you, referring the reader to your web site, blog and/or telephone number. Others attempt to sell either you or the products and services you offer (books, coaching, editing etc). Of course, in many cases the author combines both in the box.

Take advantage of this marvelous way to maintain contact with your former career and enjoy the fulfillment of seeing your name in print in some of the publications you once only read. This is one “flip-flop” that will serve you well.