5 Benefits to Getting Published in Large Publications
It’s a thrilling experience to see your name on a large publication for the first time. As your article goes live, you anticipate all the good things that come with being published by a large media outlet. Your hard work has finally paid off.
Then again, you might not be at that stage yet. You might wonder whether it’s worth aiming for those big publications. Once you get accepted, what happens next?
Here are five benefits to getting featured in a large publication:
1. You get more readers, which means more clients.
A large publication, by nature, has a lot of readers. When your work is more visible, more readers can learn about what you do. Some become dedicated followers and eventually some become clients. The results of posting an article on a large publication are ten to a hundred times greater than posting on a small, niche site.
There are a couple caveats though. First, the publication should be a fit with the topic you write about. For instance, a publication targeting fitness-oriented readers is going to respond more positively to an article about food and exercise, while a business publication is more likely to talk about startup life and entrepreneurship.
Second, a larger publication does not always correlate with better results. A piece you contribute may not be heavily promoted, so it gets fewer views than a site with a smaller readership. For this reason, you should aim to contribute to a site at least a few times to see results.
Generally speaking though, publications with high viewership lead to more email subscribers. (If you haven’t done so, it’s important to start a mailing list so you can start collecting subscribers as soon as possible. Aweber is a great email marketing service for beginners — the first 30 days are free.)
2. You establish instant credibility.
Trust is difficult to acquire, especially in the Internet age. So how do you develop instant credibility? By letting others know who or what you associate with.
Think about it: Who would you warm up to, a stranger or a stranger who’s associated with something familiar? Of course the second one would win. It’s similar to how you feel when you learn someone went to the same school or is a member of the same organization.
Contributing to large publications means that your work has been vetted by authority sources. When people look up your name or your company, what do they see? If recognizable sites such as Entrepreneur or Forbes show up, your work is taken much more seriously.
You can also mention on your site and profiles where you’ve been featured to provide credibility.
3. You can connect with other entrepreneurs.
After being featured on a high visibility site, organizations are more likely to find and connect with you. Companies that see a fit between their services and your audience reach out to form partnerships. You might get offers for paid opportunities such as consulting, writing, or a collaborative project.
After contributing to a few large publications, I started to get contacted by various companies. While many offers weren’t enticing, there were a couple gems that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. For instance, Focuster reached out to collaborate after seeing my work on large publications. (Focuster is a focus management tool that helps entrepreneurs and freelancers stay on top of their work. I explain how it works here).
Other times, entrepreneurs, content creators, and freelancers reach out to expand their network. They want to exchange ideas on growth, overcoming obstacles, and possible ways to work together. While these aren’t always paid opportunities, it’s valuable to share knowledge and support with others.
4. You gain valuable experience from the publication process.
When you contribute to a large publication, you often get to work with professional editors who provide valuable feedback. For example, Inc. Magazine has an editorial staff that helps contributors get their work ready for publication.
While every publication has their own system, there are certain skills and experiences that are useful no matter what platform you contribute to. You learn to figure out what type of topics and articles resonate so that you can cater to readers. You’re also able to test out your ideas on a large scale and see how the audience responds.
In the process, you learn more about editing, writing, and publishing on a large publication than you would elsewhere. These learning experiences can be applied anywhere.
5. You get featured on other publications more easily.
Once you get featured on a large publication, it becomes easier to get featured on other large publications. Why?
Because when one publication accepts your work, you can show your past articles to another large publication. The second publication sees that someone has vetted your work, you know how to write for large sites, and you can comfortably work with editors. Basically, you’re a safer bet than someone who hasn’t been featured on large outlets before.
You might also benefit from something called syndication. Large publication form partnerships with other sites so they can pick up articles originally posted somewhere else. For example, I posted an article on Entrepreneur that got thousands of shares. A couple weeks later, the same article was syndicated on Business Insider. Zero effort required.
No matter what stage of the writing process you’re in, these are some reasons why it’s worth getting featured on a large publication. You might not get experience these results right away. But when you do, the journey is worth it.
Resources mentioned:
Aweber — Start collecting email subscribers
Focuster — Automate your schedule and never forget a task again
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Want to start doing what you love? Then check out my guide How to Get Anything You Want.
