Favorite Writing Magazines

Good morning, everyone!

I hope that your weekend was restful. I spent some time outside lying down and gazing at the clouds and trees. I’m hoping it will help me dive back into one of my stories, because lately I’ve been so tired from work (office job), I haven’t had the brainpower to do much writing. It’s been a bit of a downer for me, honestly.

So in the name of finding more inspiration and mentorship, I’d like to share some of my, and others’, favorite writing magazines. This might be a good post for those of you who are young and/or new to writing, or for someone who hasn’t subscribed to a writing magazine yet before. The rest of you, we’d love to hear which magazine is your favorite in the comments!

Writing Magazines

Writer’s Digest
I would be remiss in this blog post if I didn’t share about one of the most well-known writing magazines, Writer’s Digest. This is an American magazine that has been around since 1920! Its full of tips for new writers, author interviews, writing contests, and more. One of my favorite parts of this magazine is the section where they have excerpts from authors’ works, or poetry. I’m always excited to discover a new writer! I also like the oldschool feeling of this magazine; when you open it up, you feel transported into a time pre-2000s, which appeals to me, as a 90s kid. Also, they have some really great online courses! It costs about $22 for a year’s worth of issues, which is 8, for Writer’s Digest.

2. Poets and Writers Magazine

Poets and Writers is a magazine subscription that I personally subscribed to for a couple years, some time ago. I enjoyed the informal sortof style that they take for their interviews, and the delving question they asked. It helped me to find more encouragement and practical methods from their author interviews than I have with some other writing magazines. They also have quite a range of contests, where you can truly find something for every kind of writer, every genre or story length, and including free-to-enter contests. I also really like their pictures. Check it out! They have a Kindle version for $15.95/year, or print for $19.95 (6 issues).

3. The Writer

I haven’t personally gotten to check this one out yet, but the first thing that stood out to me is their quirky style. Just see the cover below, which is a pandemic-relevant issue – quite refreshing! Their magazine as well as their website has a sprite circus-tent of writing prompts, tips, and contests, including a lot of information on getting published. They also have a neat tier of payments depending on how much you can afford and what kind of content you want, here.

4. The Paris Review

This one is quite the doozy! Founded in 1953, it covers the literary scene in New York, and is based on the Parisian independent literary magazines established in the 1920s (“little magazines”). It is famous for its Writers at Work series, wherein many, many famous authors have been interviewed, and their ideas are now preserved in the Review. Think Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Toni Morrison, Kurt Vonnegut, Maya Angelou, Haruki Murakami – you get the idea. This is one you just have to at least page through! You can get 1 issue for $10, or 4 for $30; it is a quarterly-only magazine.

5. Typishly

It was difficult for me to pick a 5th and final magazine to discuss for this post, but I finally picked this one. Typishly is a literary magazine aimed at new writers, and focusing on shorts and poetry. They have received international rewards and are known for being outside-of-the-box. I have not read them as of yet, but I like how they say, they put emphasis on “creativity, quality and diversity”. They are open for submissions M-Th and you can submit free via Submittable!

Your favorites

What are some of your favorite magazines for writers and/or readers? I know there were quite a lot that I could not include in this blog post, so please, share with us! Even if it’s an indignant, “How could you not share..?!” I would love to hear about it in the comments. In fact, a comment like that would delight and intrigue me! And if you are new to writer magazines or writing and have any questioins, that is definitely welcome as well.

Until next time,

Chaitanya