Who We Are: Self Employed Professional is the business owner’s partner. We provide advice on how to meet the unique challenges of running a small company more efficiently and profitably, whether it’s a firm of one or a company of 100. Our articles provide strategies and information in three main areas—finance, technology, and marketing. Though our readers come from varying backgrounds, they share a passion for being self-employed, a passion which SEP strives to capture in each issue.

Our Editorial Focus: Articles in Self Employed Professional should: · Have a small business focus. You should interpret your material for the owner of a business, be it a sole proprietorship or a firm of 100. For instance, a marketing story could describe how to scale down effective big-company marketing ideas to a small-company budget. A story on investing in mutual funds would not only describe the funds but could suggest investment strategies for the small business owner who is likely to have an uneven cash flow and difficulty committing chunks of money for long periods of time.

· Provide insider’s information from small-business owners, for instance, guerrilla marketing ideas or ways to keep creditors at bay. You should provide “tricks from the trenches.” Give your material an edge. At least some of your information should be new or recast. Otherwise reading your story will be like watching the TV reruns!

· Include meat. We need examples from actual small businesses around the country to illustrate all major points of your story. Whenever possible include dollars, percentages, and statistics.

· Include negatives as well as positives. You can often learn more from failures than from successes. Be sure to include some negative examples—some small-business failures and what they illustrate. When discussing strategies, always mention risks as well as benefits. Self Employed Professional is not the magazine of success but rather, the magazine of success in the making!

· Provide hands-on, problem-solving information whenever appropriate. A story on accounting, for example, could provide information that would help a small business owner decide whether to do his accounting in-house or to outsource some or all of it.

The Types of Articles We Publish: Features (1,500-2,000 words): Feature articles are the showcase pieces of each issue and cover all themes pertinent to being self-employed. Feature writers use their expertise to explore topics in greater depth and to present them in a lively and informative manner. These stories may provide problem-solving tools (for instance, strategies for raising capital), give instructions (how to produce effective direct mail), provide inspiration (a profile of a successful small-business owner and how he or she reached the top) or provide comparative information (the pros and cons of venture capital vs. private investors). Technology Articles (700-1,200 words): Our technology articles run under a separate banner and feature the latest hardware and software for small businesses. While the main purpose of these stories is to inform our readers of new products and their features, we avoid straight product descriptions. Instead, we prefer technology articles to be application driven. Financial Articles (700-1,200 words): These articles also run under a separate banner and cover topics such as business cash flow (for instance, collection and cash management strategies) personal investing, retirement options and banking options. Many financial topics apply to businesses of any size. Be sure to explain the implications and risks for a self-employed professional. Departments (700-1,200 words): Departments are short, meaty, informational or how-to articles on a variety of topics, again, interpreted for smaller businesses. Departments such as “Boss” (management), “Client Relations,” “Marketing,” “Marketing Mix,” “Cost Cutter,” “Employee Relations,” “Insurance,” “Lawyer,” “Taxes,” “Managing Technology,” and “Up at Night” (last page) run on a rotating basis. Please read some departments in Self Employed Professional before you send us ideas.

Query Us: We work on an assignment basis, so please don’t send finished articles. Query us with a succinct outline or description of the proposed story contents and explain why the subject matter is particularly important to a business owner. It helps to include your resume, description of your background and a small number of clips pertinent to your query and our content. Query us by letter, fax (978-887-6117), or e-mail sepedit@aol.com. We suggest you follow up an electronic query with a hard copy via regular mail. We try to respond to queries within 60 days.

Rights and Payment: We buy worldwide rights (print and electronic). We will not consider articles or article ideas submitted simultaneously to more than one publication. We publish original material although occasionally we will consider stories or rewrites of stories previously published in small regional publications. We will also consider book chapters on a selective basis if the content is particularly appropriate. We pay by the word; the rate varies depending on the qualifications of the writer and type of article. When we assign an article, we provide you with a brief that describes the article’s content, and we ask you to sign a writer’s agreement, which specifies payment and terms. You will receive payment approximately 45 days after we accept your finished article.

Self Employed Professional
462 Boston St.
Topsfield, MA 01983
P(978)887-7900
F(978)887-6117
E-mail sepedit@aol.com
Website http://www.selfemployed.com
Carole Matthews, Editorial Director