I'm currently away from home (please excuse a holiday picture with only a tenuos link to the subject!). As I believe I have a story in Woman's Weekly Fiction Special, I've been looking in newsagent's and shops in the hope of seeing a copy. No luck - nor for Take A Break's Fiction Feast.The problem of getting hold of the magazine is what prompted me to subscribe, but I travel a lot, so often don't see them until weeks after publication date. It seems it's that, or not see them at all.
Are these magazines not popular enough for shops to stock them, or are the general public unaware that the magazines offer monthly fiction specials?
If you read any magazines containing fiction, how do you get hold of your copies?
10 comments:
I could email you a copy of Tuesday Blip if you really, really can't wait...
I usually see People's Friend, Woman's Weekly, Take A Break etc fictions specials in my local Sainsbury's (as well as the regular weekly editions.) Often see the weeklies in newsagents but not always the fiction specials there.
Thanks, Bea - I'll be patient a little longer!
Lindsay, I didn't try a Sainsbury's but did look in other big supermarkets. Plenty of weeklies, but no fiction specials. I suspect that many magazine readers don't even realise these exist.
Woman's Weekly sent me a copy with my story (and yours), Patsy, so it's probably waiting for you when you get home! They were a bit later than usual.
Thanks, Frances. Yes, there will be a copy for me at home. My concern is that people who don't write for the magazine or subscribe are unlikely to ever see it and therefore can't buy it. I wonder if this is a contributing factor to falling sales.
Our local Morrisons sell TABFF, People's Friend (including the specials), WW and WWFS. Often plenty of copies on the shelves. But I once went to several newsagents in London to try and buy TABFF and no-one stocked it at all! I expect there's more than one factor at play...crowded market, evolving market, different purchasing and reading habits and so on... which don't only affect women's and fiction magazines. What will the future hold? I'm sure people still like stories, so it certainly won't be the end for story writers.
I remember a time when there were about seven or eight women's mags that published stories, but sadly no more. And apparently fewer and fewer people are buying women's magazines now. I heard it on the news. Especially hard for those starting out and trying to find a market.
I can get the weekly issue of Woman's Weekly easily but the Fiction Special takes a bit of hunting for - usually end up getting it in train/bus station WH Smith.
Living not far from a large city means it's fairly easy to find all the magazines in the main newsagents like WH Smith; but getting them all isn't always possible in the smaller newsagents in more local shopping places.
One newsagents in a nearby shopping area does stock the weekly WW, but not the fiction special, though they do have the PF version...
I'm afraid I often have to resort to supermarkets. We don't have a WHSmith, just a few tiny newsagents who only stock mainstream stuff. It's a pain.
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