601 E. Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20049; Phone: 202/434-6880
Editor's Note: You would think that when it comes to the American Association of Retired Persons' 22-million-plus-circulation magazine, Modern Maturity, that it's not hard to make inroads because of the vast amount of attention that's being paid to senior-related issues. But that couldn't be further from the truth. These veterans are adept at spotting promotional hype and some of them welcome your attempts the way Bill Gates welcomes competition.
Sections |
Editors |
Days To Contact/ Days To Avoid |
Methods |
Hot Button |
Food/ Health/ Nutrition The focus is "quality-of-life" issues. The magazine steers away from publicizing company-specific breakthroughs and drugs and new products. For instance, what the editor looks for is how to prevent illnesses - a lot is tied to heart disease, breast, colon and prostate cancer and Alzheimer's Disease. |
Health/ Food/ Nutrition Editor:Joyce Winslow, Phone: 202/434-6880 (extensions weren't disclosed) |
You're not bound to certain days and times because this news organization doesn't have to deal with the rigors of daily deadlines. However, it's also an operation that's driven by planning and scheduling so you have to think ahead. Winslow told us she's assigning pieces four to six months before the issue hits the streets. |
Send info. by snail mail. We assure you - and we stand by this advice - if you call these editors without just cause, you're sure to burn bridges. On three separate occasions, we had to go through a gatekeeper who wouldn't even transfer us to the editors' individual extensions without details on why we needed to speak to them. Winslow does accept info. on an embargoed basis. |
Winslow pores through about 50 pitches, backgrounders and story ideas a week and finds that only a sliver of what comes her way can be used for an article; nonetheless, she's in the habit of reading everything because she never knows what might be buried in the pile. "I rely heavily on PR people but late-breaking news does me no good since I'm working on things so far in advance," she adds. (Modern Maturity's also one of those pubs that still fact checks, so they need plenty of time to verify what's going to be printed!) |
General News If you pitch an idea that can be covered by mainstream publications and niche outlets, you'll be on the bottom of their priority lists. Modern Maturity excels at putting a personal spin on how seniors manage their health and their lives. We were told that if something has a "promotional" angle, it's sure to end up in the circular file. |
Articles Editor: John Wood, Phone: 202/434-6880 |
Wood works a minimum of seven to eight months with freelancers and other writers to gel ideas. |
Don't fax, don't call, don't e-mail. And before you traipse into pitch territory, Wood's advice is that you must spend "an enormous amount of time studying the magazine so you can pitch something with an extremely narrow focus." |
Even though he throws away pitches, we included John Wood in this list because we think it's critical that you have a realistic sense of how some editors perceive you and your jobs. "I hate PR stuff and I don't even open my mail," Wood says. "People send us mass mailings but none of them are getting it right." This is the same fellow who authored "How to Write Attention-Grabbing Query and Cover Letters," a book published by Writer's Digest. |