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"Would you like to buy some really good honey?" he asked. "I've just got one jar left."

I was just about to say no when he walked up to my desk. "It's blue ribbon honey," he said, flashing a blue ribbon from the Minnesota State Fair. "Here, taste some."

I tasted a bit of the honey and found it exceptionally good. I handed a dollar to him and set the pint of honey on the desk until I went home.

A common everyday occurrence hardly worth mentioning? We agree. But that conversation was worth at least $5 to me and possibly more. You see, I sold a short article about this honey salesman to a trade journal specializing in bee keeping.

SELLING ARTICLES to trade journals—business publications specializing in news about some particular trade or industry—requires no great writing talent. An observant person who can write facts in a straightforward manner and who is persevering can cash checks from trade magazines and participate in a fascinating spare time hobby that makes the mailman's visit the most exciting event of the day.

In the case of the honey salesman I didn't think of an article until I was going home after work. I recalled that the salesman appeared to be about 70, that he had a good selling angle with the blue ribbon idea and that he was selling from office to office.

Maybe, I thought, there is a short article in this. When I called him, (his phone number was listed on the honey jar label) he modestly said he wasn't important enough for any article. But he did give me information about how long he had been in the honey business, how he operated and other interesting facts.

After locating a magazine devoted to bee keeping (Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio), I wrote about 500 words and sent it in. I wrote the story plainly, with this as the beginning:

"Armed with a blue ribbon from the Minnesota State Fair and a reputation for selling a superior product, 76-year-old S.E. Putnam of Minneapolis is deriving a steady source of income from house and office sales of premium honey this winter."

The rest of the article described how Mr. Putnam operated his honey business, what licenses he had to buy and other facts that would be of interest to those interested in bee keeping. In accepting the article, the editor of the bee keeping journal said, "This article may give bee keepers in towns and cities an urge to market some of their own honey locally, which would be worthwhile."

I STARTED to send articles to trade journals several years ago shortly after getting out of school. The first story I sold was accepted by an aviation publication when I was living on the West Coast. I received $11 for it.

Two young fliers were building a small airport on the outskirts of the town where I was employed. They were working under handicaps, since the ground was uneven and sandy, telephone wires crossed one end of their runway and the townspeople were not overly enthusiastic. Believing that there was a story in their struggle, I talked to them, asked them for photographs and wrote about 1,100 words on the troubles of two airport builders. An aviation magazine bought the story and later another magazine bought a new version of the fliers' efforts to provide the town with an airport.

Since then I have sold a wide variety of articles to trade magazines in the surgical, metal product, advertising, and photographic fields. Although still definitely a semi-professional, I have profited by hard experience and have learned to look extra long at anything new, different, ingenious or unusual.

Ideas for trade journal stories, I have found, are everywhere if a person keeps alert in his surroundings. In the case of the honey salesman, the article literally walked in on me. The airport story came through observation and recently I sold a $35 article that was a direct result of my work.

LAST YEAR, I was closely associated with the production of a 500-page catalog for a surgical supply house. We worked for almost a year on the job and after the book was finally finished, I considered my chances of selling an article on the big catalog.

It was a possibility, I knew, that some advertising publication might be interested in an article on this subject. I wrote to several magazines and one publication, Printers Ink, was interested.

I wrote the article in detail, describing how we had tried to simplify the book, how we had arranged the pages and illustrations so the printers would have an easier time to assemble it. I also described how we handled the index, what kind of paper made up the catalog and the methods we used in mailing the book out to the customers.

The article was duly accepted and printed. After giving the matter some thought, I decided to use the catalog as the basis of another article, this time devoted strictly to the needs of other surgical supply dealers who might be interested in making up a catalog. Using a different approach for the article, I wrote another story and this time sold it to a magazine in the surgical field for $21.

SELLING TRADE articles, however, should not be considered a quick and easy way to get rich. There are disappointments, abrupt rejections, slow reports and other difficulties. The pay is considered low by top-flight professional writers, the word rate ranging from one-half cent to one cent a word for most of the journals. Although there are writers who are making a living working full-time at trade journal work, it is risky to depend solely on business paper checks. For the person who has a literary bent, however, trade journal writing is an excellent hobby and can provide many an extra dollar.

It is rewarding, I found, to study market lists thoroughly. This enables each manuscript to be sent to proper publications. Haphazard mailing of articles is a sure path to rejections and wasted postage. A strong believer in writer's magazines, I read and save most of the leading writer's publications each month. Thus, I have built up a valuable file of up-to-date information on trade journal markets and their requirements.

The Author and Journalist, 637 Pine Street, Boulder, Colorado, publishes excellent lists of trade journals from time to time and other writer's magazines include trade journal markets also. Books listing trade journal markets can also be purchased and are often listed in writer's magazines.

A supplementary market list that I have found useful is the business paper section of Standard Rate and Data Service. This catalog type publication is an index of advertising requirements used in advertising agencies and lists hundreds of trade journals alphabetically. It is truly a find for the trade journal writer. Old copies of SRDS can very likely be obtained from a friendly advertising agency by the earnest trade journal writer.

MANY OF the manuscripts sent to trade journals by beginning writers are not properly prepared. Trade journal editors appreciate neatness. Many of the manuscripts coming into the editor's office are badly typed, contain misspelled words and generally create a bad impression. This, of course, lowers the chance for a check. A stamped, self-addressed envelope with the article is an absolute must. Editors with hundreds of manuscripts coming into their offices cannot afford to foot the postage bill for contributors.

Since manuscripts are usually bought on a rate per word basis there is a strong tendency on the part of many trade journal writers to "pad" their articles. In other words, a story that is worth 500 words may be stretched out to 1,000 words by vague statements and repetition. It is far better to write simply, give the information available and then stop. The editors will have a much better opinion of the story if it is full of facts and compact.

Good pictures are the same as money in the bank when they are enclosed with a timely, interesting trade journal article. Clear snapshots are sometimes accepted but it is better to obtain 5-by-7 or 8-by-10 glossy prints if possible. Many trade journal writers carry their own cameras to take pictures as they need them. I have taken photographs frequently myself but I have also discovered that many times pictures are already available.

Most persons interviewed for trade journal information are greatly flattered to think that they are getting into print and they will often go to great lengths to get photographs for the writer. Then, too, advertising departments often have photographs for publicity purposes. Suitable photographs bring up to $5 and even more in addition to the regular word rate of the article.

SHOULD THE writer write and ask if a certain magazine is interested in his article? In my own case, I write inquiry letters if a story is going to be lengthy or if it will require an extra amount of digging to get the information. I outline what the article is going to be about, ask what length the editor prefers and stress that I know they cannot accept an article until they actually read it. When I get a favorable letter, I go ahead with the story.

However, if the story is 1,000 words or shorter, I write it and mail it in without an inquiry. It takes just about as long to write the short article as it would to outline it in a letter. And it takes the same postage.

Although selling a trade journal article perhaps does not have the glamour of selling a fiction story, trade paper work has one advantage: fact articles can often be sold several times. Business papers in different fields may be interested in the same topic "slanted" differently for each group of readers.

For example: a new shoe store, let us say, is being built on the corner of Seventh and Oak street and the curious trade journal writer strolls by with his notebook in his hand. He talks with the manager and asks lots of questions. When he gets back home and looks at his notes, he finds, among other things, that an entirely new system of indirect lighting is being used in the store. Continuous movies showing how shoes developed through the ages will be exhibited. A display of footwear from the dawn of history to the present day will be shown in one display window. All shoes sold will be wrapped in a special type of package, a miniature of the shoe store itself.

The alert writer would consider these possibilities: One general story to a leading shoe trade journal on the building of the store. Another article on the new indirect lighting to a magazine in the lighting field. A story, perhaps, to a movie trade journal showing how movies are helping sell shoes. A short article to a magazine interested in antiques on the old types of shoes displayed. And an article on the special shoe package to a paper in the packaging trade. There likely would be other articles, too, that could be written—all from one new shoe store.

This "repeat" business is standard practice among trade journal writers. However, ethical trade journalists submit only one story to one field of trade papers at any given time. No editor is pleased to find that he has bought a story that is an exact duplicate of one used by a rival trade paper in his field. Where the papers go to different types of trades, however, it is perfectly legal and ethical to sell your facts more than once.

I FIND that my greatest source of ideas for trade stories is the daily newspaper with its business notes, interesting advertising ideas, and short articles that have business paper possibilities. I maintain a file of items that interest me and usually have more stories ahead of me than I can conveniently handle.