You can study back issues of magazines and trade journals (like all good freelance writers are told to) but that exercise doesn’t help you craft a query letter to attract an editor’s attention for a future issue of the publication. So how do you figure out what they want? Here’s a quick and easy way to see into the future: ask for a media kit.

Publications use media kits to attract advertisers for the upcoming year. In order to attract those advertisers, an editorial calendar is included in the media kit to show potential advertisers that content will be relevant to whatever they sell. That editorial calendar becomes your crystal ball to see into the editor’s mind.

To make things even easier, many publications post a link to their media kits online. Simply choose the publications you’re interested in writing for and visit the website. As an example, I just Googled Prevention magazine to get to www.prevention.com – when I scroll to the bottom of the page, I see links to different business areas. Next to “Corporate,” I see a link for Media Kit. Click it, and I find a link for “2010 Edit Calendar” on the right side of the page. Voila! It took me all of two minutes to get my hands on the roadmap for this year’s editorial topics.

Some publications’ calendars are more detailed than others but even if descriptions are scant, the editorial calendar gives you an idea of each upcoming issue’s main focus. Perhaps you have a sidebar you could propose or a relevant filler article to send that will get your foot in the door.

And, as a bonus, many sites will archive digital versions of past issues. Researching publications for freelance writing can’t get any easier than that!

NOTE: The researching tip I outlined above is extracted from my contribution to Writer Profits: How I Got the Gig, and is just one of many tips and tactics included in the book. If you are serious about being a writer, why not shorten the road to success by learning from people who have already traveled its path? For more information, click here.