Why Magazines Disappear

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

The headline of this online article was startling to me. Christianity Today faces $3 million deficit as financial troubles threaten magazine’s future. Over 70 years ago, Billy Graham started Christianity Today and the magazine (and company) have a rich history of publication. It’s not just the Christianity Today magazine. They launched a series of other publications including Today’s Christian Woman, The Christian Reader, Marriage Partnership, and Christian Computing. 

Through the years, I’ve written for each of these publications. For Christian Computing, I wrote a cover story about my 30-second commute from my bedroom to my office at a time when few people worked at home. The cover included an image of a bearded man in a bathrobe with bunny slippers. It was not me but some of my friends teased me about the photo and that it was an image of me. My article was written in 2000.

I love the world of print magazines and I’ve been a magazine editor. As I often tell book authors, you can reach more people with a magazine article than a typical book. Depending on the magazine circulation, it is easy to reach 100,000 or even 500,000 people with your words and story. At the bottom of the article, you normally include a sentence bio like “W. Terry Whalin is the author of Ten Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed and lives in Southern California.” I encourage you to read this article to learn the basics of writing for magazines.

We live in a noisy and busy world. Someone has to hear about your book at least a dozen times before they buy your book. A magazine article can be a great vehicle to touch your readers. Also if you write for magazines, you learn about publishing and build credibility with editors and others. Then you can have further opportunities to publish or build your “platform.” Book editors read magazines looking for authors and especially experienced authors who have been published. 

Behind the scenes in producing magazines, there is a business side to the work. Most consumers never think about these aspects because they are a subscriber and reader of the publication. Subscriptions do not pay for the production costs to create the magazine and mail it to you. The full color advertising pays for the publication. Anyone can learn about these rates when you ask for their media kit. As you can see from this link, Christianity Today wants you to request it and start a sales conversation. This practice makes sense to work with people who want to reach their subscribers. 

Full color advertising in these publications is costly. For example, I found this 2016 rate card for People magazine. A company can pay nearly $500,000 for one ad. Admittedly People has a large circulation of 39 million. Check out these statistics. These ads pay for the publication.

With this understanding, it’s why consumer magazines include ads with celebrities to draw readers. The company creating the ads pays these celebrities. These business details are what drives the profitability or the demise of magazines.

Because I understand the large expense of these ads, I’ve often spoken with new authors who believe their book should be advertised in (name the publication). Their ideas are not practical for most authors. Also this explains why you only see books from bestselling authors in magazines.

The business side of magazine production is important and explains why magazines disappear and stop circulation.

Writer Actions

Every magazine editor starts the issue with blank pages which need to be filled with interesting stories and articles. As a writer, you can read their editorial guidelines. These instructions tell you their readers and specifically what the editor needs for content and even the length or word count. It’s pretty simple. If you pitch something to an editor that they need, then you have a higher chance of getting published in that publication.

I encourage you to build your connection and relationship with magazine editors. Some of my writer friends make a point to attend the annual convention of the Evangelical Press Association. The 2027 convention is in Chicago and any writer could attend. If you go, you can meet these editors, listen to what they need and their publications. As you form a relationship and exchange business cards, you can get their attention and publishing opportunities. 

Several of my published writer friends attend this convention with the intention of meeting and building relationships with magazine editors.

As you increase your connections and relationships with editors, you will have more opportunities. When a magazine closes, these editors find other places to work. Some of them go into book publishing while others work at a different publication. Our world is full of opportunity for writers to seize and get published. I’ve written this article to increase your understanding and also to encourage you to keep pitching and building relationships with editors and others in the publishing world. 

What actions are you going to take with these insights? Let me know in the comments.

Tweetable:

Your favorite magazine is ending publication. Why do magazines disappear? This prolific author and editor gives the behind-the-scenes details and encouragement for writers. Get the details here.  (ClickToTweet)

As I’ve worked in the publishing world for years, I’ve spoken with many authors about their expectations and dreams for their books. I’ve found many of these authors have  unrealistic expectations about what will happen with their published book. Many aspects of the publishing process are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help and take actions no matter what the publisher does for your book. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.

Subscribe to Terry’s Newsletter:

During the last year, once a week I’ve been sending a short free newsletter. Just follow this link to subscribe. When you are added to the newsletter, you will receive a FREE 87-page Ebook which is packed with insights for every writer.

Get these articles on your email: 

Since 2004, I have blogged about The Writing Life over 1,800 entries and one of the top 27 content writers. With this simple form, each week you can get my new articles, encouragement and insights at: https://t.co/W6uU64u6aA