Magazine name: Writers
Digest
Website: www.writersdigest.com
Country: USA
Circulation: This is an eight-times-a-year
publication founded in 1920 with a circulation of 110,000. Their readers
include men and women of all ages and varying levels of writing skill and
success. The majority of their readers live in the U.S. and Canada.
Page length and payment: For manuscripts, they pay 30–50
cents per word, on acceptance, for first world rights for one-time print use
and perpetual electronic use. Should they want to reprint anything they have purchased
from you in anything other than electronic format, they will pay you 25% of the
original purchase price per use. Contributor copies are sent to writers and
artists whose work appears in that issue.
For lengths, see below.
What I like: An index of each year’s issue contents
is available at www.writersdigest.com
so you can see what topics have already been contracted or done to death.
You can purchase copies via the
newsstand or www.writersdigestshop.com.
On-spec submissions are preferred. I don’t like to have to query. I like to send the story off and be done with
it.
What I don’t like: Can’t find anything.
Submission guidelines: Each submission must include your name, address, daytime telephone number
and email address.
Response time: 2–4 months response time.
How to submit: wdsubmissions@fwmedia.com
Types of stories wanted:
Inkwell
This upfront section of the magazine is the best place for new writers to
break in. Each Inkwell features an 800-900–word lead story that kicks off the
magazine. The article ranges in style and tone every issue, but often takes the
form of an opinion-based piece, weaving a narrative and drawing out tips for
readers. It can be a great place to discuss theoretical or timely concepts.
Inkwell also features short pieces of 300–600 words (how-tos, trends,
humor, insight on news that will still be relevant when our next issue hits
stores, weird and intriguing tidbits about the writing world). Traditional
queries are accepted for Inkwell, but on-spec submissions are preferred.
Include “Inkwell:” and the name of your piece in the subject line of your
query.
5-Minute
Memoir
Secretly my favorite section of the magazine, 5-Minute Memoir is their new venue for 600-word essay reflections on the writing life.
Secretly my favorite section of the magazine, 5-Minute Memoir is their new venue for 600-word essay reflections on the writing life.
While
5-Minute Memoir is a diverse spot in which they want a writer’s individual
style and voice to come through, the essays they love most are those with a
strong narrative element, relaying an experience and its subsequent wisdoms and
takeaways for writers. Submit on spec to wdsubmissions@fwmedia.com, with
“5-Minute Memoir” in the subject line.
Reject a
Hit
They claim
they need more of these 300-word, short-sighted rejection letters!
This back-page feature is a humorous fake rejection letter, of 300 words
or fewer, spoof-rejecting a classic or beloved book. As the intro to the
feature goes, “Let’s step once again into the role of the unconvinced, perhaps
even curmudgeonly or fool-hearted editor: What harsh rejection letters might
the authors of some or our favorite hit books have had to endure?” Winning
submissions generally focus on books in which a broad base of readers would be
familiar with, and poke fun at a short-sighted or absurd editor—not the
original author of the featured book.
For Reject
a Hit, they accept on-spec submissions only. Submit your letter via email (no
attachments, please) to wdsubmissions@fwmedia.com with Reject a Hit: [Book
Title]” in the subject line.
Reject a Hit
is humorous, but not mean-spirited. It is not the place to list all the reasons
you hate a particular book. To help you understand the spirit of Reject a Hit, browse through the archives of published rejections
Please do
not send submissions pertaining to any of the following, as they have already
been soundly rejected:
Frankenstein Stoker
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Elements of Style by EB White
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Fun With Dick & Jane by Gray and Sharp
Marley & Me by John Grogan
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Crime & Punishment by Dostoyevsky
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
The Odyssey by Homer
Charlotte’s Web by EB White
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
My Life at The New York Times by Jayson Blair
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Old Man & The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Tulips & Chimneys by e. e. cummings
The Shining by Stephen King
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Runny Babbit (A Billy Sook) by Shel
Silverstein
Webster’s Dictionary by Noah Webster
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Middlemarch by George Eliot
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The
Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett
14 comments:
Hope you had fun, Jody. I'm glad to see this information about Writer's Digest. I didn't realize they had these possibilities for writers. I'm thinking they've added them recently. I'll take a look at a current copy.
@ Tamara. Thanks, gurl. 30 cents is not a bad per word payment. I'm trying to come up with a Reject a Hit... maybe 40 Shades of Gray? Of course it might help if I read the book...
Yes, you might have to do that. :) With your sense of humor, you'd most likely be good at that type of essay.
You'll have fun coming up with a rejection letter for that one, Jody. I understand that there are some (and I say this as someone has hasn't read it, so in no position to judge) who wish the publisher had done exactly that. Aren't there ten shades missing from your title, by the way, or was that deliberate?
Thanks for posting the details of the mag. Maybe someone should do an article on writing for WW... the dos and don'ts of romances and mysteries. Sadly, it won't be me as I had yet another rejection from them last week.
Do any of you remember that WW briefly featured a "What It's Really Like To ...."? I wrote one about what it was really like to be a published writer, using my success at WW as the pinnacle. I received no response at all, and the feature soon disappeared. I wondered why it was so short-lived.
@ Chirs. Yes, there are 10 shades missing... interesting. I didn't even catch that. There's some explanation, I'm sure. Like my love life isn't a 50. Or I'm so used to shaving off ten years of my age...now I'm starting to do it with everything. lol
@ Tamara. I don't remember that "What It's Really Like" column. I guess it wasn't a success so they went on to add "Starting Over" and "Everyday Hero" and "Circle of Kindness" and "My Guardian Angel"...which pay between $25 and $100 dollars. Maybe we should be thinking of subbing something to one of those columns.
@ Chris. Sorry about the Big R. I guess the mail is making it across the pond though. Keep trying. John Floyd has over 70 rejects under his belt. You've got a long way to go to beat that...
When they began the Circle of Kindness they actually sent me an email to let me know they were looking for submissions. I sent one right away about buying what looked like a homeless woman some cheese she couldn't pay for in the checkout line. I never heard a thing from WW about that submission.
I don't think they reply to those short items, Tamara. I have sent them only one. It was something that I have never read there before or since, and I thought most women would appreciate it. Evidently the editors did not agree. Wouldn't you agree that most of the C of K's are remarkably similar?
Thanks, Jody! I just hit Send on a Reject a Hit piece about Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls. It was fun to write...and one of the few blockbusters I've read. I can probably have fun with The Color Purple if I can remember the story 30 years after reading the book...
Just remembered another classic book I remember vividly. Gonna give that one a try, too.
@ Bettye. Good for you! I love hearing positive feedback as a result of this blog. Crossing fingers for you.
Update: Emailed it yesterday afternoon...got a rejection within 24 hours. But it was still fun to write.
@Bettye. Wow, that was fast. At least you don't have to wait around wondering I guess. Was it a standard reject? Did they say anything?
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