SEASONAL MATERIAL

Most magazines, as well as some book publishers, are open to material related to the holidays or seasons. Some magazines have full issues devoted to specific holidays, while others may only have one or two pieces per issue that are holiday-related. Most writers tend to offer material for major holiday, such as Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day. However, editors indicate that they typically have a lot of material available for those major holidays, but are wide open for material geared to the lesser holidays. There are some periodicals that ignore all the holidays, so be sure to do your homework and submit only to those who indicate they are open to such material. Keep in mind that holiday or seasonal material must be submitted months ahead of time. The majority of publications are working 6-12 months ahead and are always anxious to get appropriate holiday submissions in time to be sure their needs are covered for that issue. Don't make the mistake of submitting a Christmas piece in October or November and indicating you're sending it for the December issue. 

If doing a holiday-related book, it should focus on one of the major holidays, or cover a variety of holidays. Often checking at a local bookstore will help you determine which publishers are open to holiday or seasonal books. Since books typically take 18-24 months to produce, your holiday book won't be out for a couple of Christmases to come. The Christian Writers' Market Guide includes a list of which publishers are interested in holiday or seasonal material.

For help on writing holiday material for children, go to: http://suite101.com/article/how-to-write-holiday-stories-for-children-a306523. For a partial list of publications open to freelance holiday submissions, go to: http://writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/000502_12042002.html.