Pick up a writer's guide and you'll see thousands of magazines, each looking for contributing writers.
You can be one of them, and even if you've never written a piece before, it's easy if you follow the basic guidelines: Know your main target audience: In this case, it's who the magazine readers are.
They will be your core audience and your article should always be written keeping them in mind.
Tell a story: All articles, even those written for trade and technical publications have a story to tell.
And a story includes at the very minimum a beginning, a middle and an end.
Start off with a bang: The first line is often the most important line.
If it doesn't grab the reader's attention, he may not bother to go further or may just skim through the article.
Make an impact by starting with a strong opening; a quote, comment or statistics are all great ways to begin.
Keep the content interesting: Facts are important, more so in an article that talks of trade, finance, business or health issues.
However, along with facts and figures, include some fun and interesting points to keep the readers interest going.
Comments from people are excellent and make for more interesting reading.
End it well: Your readers have to finish the article, satisfied they have either learnt something, or have some food for thought.
Don't leave them hanging or guessing, but instead, always end your articles with something that they can take away with them.