Although Kendall Hanson has published more than one million words in trade magazines, including more than 900 features, he feels that he is actually beginning his fourth career.

A 1976 graduate of the University of New Mexico, he held a double major in English Literature, minoring in Film, Speech, and History, and was a regular contributor to the student newspaper. During graduate school, he taught both remedial and regular undergraduate writing courses. He was also the Graduate Representative to the university's Publications Committee--chaired by Tony Hillerman, then Chairman of UNM's Dept. of Journalism--which oversaw the $500,000 budget for the student newspaper and various university-funded publications. During graduate school, he also studied publishing under the late Jack Rittenhouse, a well-known pioneer in independent book publishing.

After a 10-year career in retail management with a Dayton-Hudson department store chain, he decided it was time to reconnect with the world of the written word. He joined McGraw-Hill's Construction Information Group, as an Architectural Reporter, and quickly obtained a position on a 40-year-old regional trade magazine McGraw-Hill had just acquired. During the next nine years, he was editor simultaneously of Intermountain Contractor, a monthly four-color "slick"; Intermountain Contractor News Weekly, a weekly 80-page tabloid; Intermountain Architecture, a quarterly four-color magazine covering design; and the now defunct Utah Building, a monthly residential trade magazine.

In August 1998 Hanson decided it was time to begin a fourth career as an independent writer, editor, and publisher. Since then he has continued to write trade magazine articles for both regional and national publications while he carved out his first book, Writing for Trade Magazines, and built The Trade Writer's Resource Center at http://tradewriter.freeservers.com.

"Trade journalism has opened so many doors for me, not just in terms of financial stability but also in terms of contacts who became interviewees who became acquaintances who became friends," he says. "It has truly been the 'road less traveled,' and has had such a positive influence on my life that I wanted to share what I have learned with others. During my years in retail, I suffered the rejection slips and the struggling writer's depression caused by trying to balance making a living with starting a career.

"If I had known then about the doors that trade journalism could open--not just in the business press, but elsewhere--my writing career would have begun sooner and on much surer footing. Trade journalism can help young writers gain experience and build contacts while they earn, and it can open new doors for experienced writers who want to supplement their income. I believe it is a first step every nonfiction writer should consider."