writing of articles for magazines

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How to Write a Magazine Article

Last Updated: October 11, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 932,382 times.

Magazine articles can be a big boost for seasoned freelance writers or writers who are trying to jump-start their writing careers. In fact, there are no clear qualifications required for writing magazine articles except for a strong writing voice, a passion for research, and the ability to target your article pitches to the right publications. Though it may seem like magazines may be fading in the digital age, national magazines continue to thrive and can pay their writers $1 a word. [1] X Research source To write a good magazine article, you should focus on generating strong article ideas and crafting and revising the article with high attention to detail.

Generating Article Ideas

• Check if the bylines match the names on the masthead. If the names on the bylines do not match the masthead names, this may be an indication that the publication hires freelance writers to contribute to its issues.
• Look for the names and contact information of editors for specific areas. If you’re interested in writing about pop culture, identify the name and contact information of the arts editor. If you’re more interested in writing about current events, look for the name and contact information of the managing editor or the features editor. You should avoid contacting the executive editor or the editor-in-chief as they are too high up the chain and you will likely not interact with them as a freelance writer.
• Note recent topics or issues covered in the publication and the angle or spin on the topics. Does the publication seem to go for more controversial takes on a topic or a more objective approach? Does the publication seem open to experimentation in form and content or are they more traditional?
• Look at the headlines used by the publication and how the articles begin. Note if the headlines are shocking or vague. Check if the articles start with a quote, a statistic, or an anecdote. This will give you a good sense of the writing style that gets published in that particular publication.
• Note the types of sources quoted in the articles. Are they academic or more laymen? Are there many sources quoted, or many different types of sources quoted?
• Pay attention to how writers wrap up their articles in the publication. Do they end on a poignant quote? An interesting image? Or do they have a bold, concluding thought?

• These inspiring conversations do not need to be about global problems or a large issue. Having conversations with your neighbors, your friends, and your peers can allow you to discuss local topics that could then turn into an article idea for a local magazine.

• You should also look through your local newspaper for human interest stories that may have national relevance. You could then take the local story and pitch it to a magazine. You may come across a local story that feels incomplete or full of unanswered questions. This could then act as a story idea for a magazine article.

• You can also set your Google alerts to notify you if keywords on topics of interest appear online. If you have Twitter or Instagram, you can use the hashtag option to search trending topics or issues that you can turn into article ideas.

• For example, rather than write about the psychological problems of social media on teenagers, which has been done many times in many different magazines, perhaps you can focus on a demographic that is not often discussed about social media: seniors and the elderly. This will give you a fresh approach to the topic and ensure your article is not just regurgitating a familiar angle.

Crafting the Article

• Look for content written by experts in the field that relates to your article idea. If you are doing a magazine article on dying bee populations in California, for example, you should try to read texts written by at least two bee experts and/or a beekeeper who studies bee populations in California.
• You should ensure any texts you use as part of your research are credible and accurate. Be wary of websites online that contain lots of advertisements or those that are not affiliated with a professionally recognized association or field of study. Make sure you check if any of the claims made by an author have been disputed by other experts in the field or have been challenged by other experts. Try to present a well-rounded approach to your research so you do not appear biased or slanted in your research.

• You can also do an online search for individuals who may serve as good expert sources based in your area. If you need a legal source, you may ask other freelance writers who they use or ask for a contact at a police station or in the legal system.

• Prepare a list of questions before the interview. Research the source’s background and level of expertise. Be specific in your questions, as interviewees usually like to see that you have done previous research and are aware of the source’s background.
• Ask open-ended questions, avoid yes or no questions. For example, rather than asking, "Did you witness the test trials of this drug?" You can present an open-ended question, "What can you tell me about the test trials of this drug?" Be an active listener and try to minimize the amount of talking you do during the interview. The interview should be about the subject, not about you.
• Make sure you end the interview with the question: “Is there anything I haven’t asked you about this topic that I should know about?” You can also ask for referrals to other sources by asking, “Who disagrees with you on your stance on this issue?” and “Who else should I talk to about this issue?”
• Don’t be afraid to contact the source with follow-up questions as your research continues. As well, if you have any controversial or possibly offensive questions to ask the subject, save them for last.

• The best way to transcribe your interviews is to sit down with headphones plugged into your tape recorder and set aside a few hours to type out the interviews. There is no short and quick way to transcribe unless you decide to use a transcription service, which will charge you a fee for transcribing your interviews.

• Your outline should include the main point or angle of the article in the introduction, followed by supporting points in the article body, and a restatement or further development of your main point or angle in your conclusion section.
• The structure of your article will depend on the type of article you are writing. If you are writing an article on an interview with a noteworthy individual, your outline may be more straightforward and begin with the start of the interview and move to the end of the interview. But if you are writing an investigative report, you may start with the most relevant statements or statements that relate to recent news and work backward to the least relevant or more big picture statements. [10] X Research source
• Keep in mind the word count of the article, as specified by your editor. You should keep the first draft within the word count or just above the word count so you do not lose track of your main point. Most editors will be clear about the required word count of the article and will expect you not to go over the word count, for example, 500 words for smaller articles and 2,000-3,000 words for a feature article. Most magazines prefer short and sweet over long and overly detailed, with a maximum of 12 pages, including graphics and images. [11] X Research source
• You should also decide if you are going to include images or graphics in the article and where these graphics are going to come from. You may contribute your own photography or the publication may provide a photographer. If you are using graphics, you may need to have a graphic designer re create existing graphics or get permission to use the existing graphics.

• Use an interesting or surprising example: This could be a personal experience that relates to the article topic or a key moment in an interview with a source that relates to the article topic. For example, you may start an article on beekeeping in California by using a discussion you had with a source: "Darryl Bernhardt never thought he would end up becoming the foremost expert on beekeeping in California."
• Try a provocative quotation: This could be from a source from your research that raises interesting questions or introduces your angle on the topic. For example, you may quote a source who has a surprising stance on bee populations: "'Bees are more confused than ever,' Darryl Bernhart, the foremost expert in bees in California, tells me."
• Use a vivid anecdote: An anecdote is a short story that carries moral or symbolic weight. Think of an anecdote that might be a poetic or powerful way to open your article. For example, you may relate a short story about coming across abandoned bee hives in California with one of your sources, an expert in bee populations in California.
• Come up with a thought provoking question: Think of a question that will get your reader thinking and engaged in your topic, or that may surprise them. For example, for an article on beekeeping you may start with the question: "What if all the bees in California disappeared one day?"

• You want to avoid leaning too much on quotations to write the article for you. A good rule of thumb is to expand on a quotation once you use it and only use quotations when they feel necessary and impactful. The quotations should support the main angle of your article and back up any claims being made in the article.

• You may want to lean on a strong quote from a source that feels like it points to future developments relating to the topic or the ongoing nature of the topic. Ending the article on a quote may also give the article more credibility, as you are allowing your sources to provide context for the reader.

Revising the Article

• Having a conversation about the article with your editor can offer you a set of professional eyes who can make sure the article fits within the writing style of the publication and reaches its best possible draft. You should be open to editor feedback and work with your editor to improve the draft of the article.

• You should also get a copy of the publication’s style sheet or contributors guidelines and make sure the article follows these rules and guidelines. Your article should adhere to these guidelines to ensure it is ready for publication by your deadline.

• Most publications accept electronic submissions of articles. Talk with your editor to determine the best way to submit the revised article.

Sample Articles

Expert Q&A

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Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about writing an article, check out our in-depth interview with Gerald Posner .

• ↑ http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules-and-tips/tips-on-writing-a-good-feature-for-magazines.html
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/20-ways-to-generate-article-ideas-in-20-minutes-or-less
• ↑ http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jun03/eight-tips-for-getting-published-in-magazines-6036
• ↑ http://www.thepenmagazine.net/20-steps-to-write-a-good-article/
• ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R5f2VV58pw
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-nonfiction/how-many-different-kinds-of-articles-are-there
• ↑ http://libguides.unf.edu/c.php?g=177086&p=1163719

About This Article

To write a magazine article, start by researching your topic and interviewing experts in the field. Next, create an outline of the main points you want to cover so you don’t go off topic. Then, start the article with a hook that will grab the reader’s attention and keep them reading. As you write, incorporate quotes from your research, but be careful to stick to your editor’s word count, such as 500 words for a small article or 2,000 words for a feature. Finally, conclude with a statement that expands on your topic, but leaves the reader wanting to learn more. For tips on how to smoothly navigate the revision process with an editor, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Freelance Magazine Writing: 10 Tips For Beginner Journalists

Are you interested in freelance magazine writing? Here are 10 trade secrets to help you get your name in the byline.

By nichola meyer.

1. How do I submit my first magazine article?

As a beginner in the field of freelance magazine writing, you have two main options.

“On spec”: The first method is to write the article, and then e-mail the piece with a cover letter to the features editor of a magazine. You can find his or her details on the masthead page in a magazine where the staff members are listed.

When you send a completed article, it’s known as “submitting on speculation” (or “on spec”). This method works well if you’re a novice writer and need a foot in the door with a magazine.

The editor can immediately assess the quality of your writing and if it will fit with the style and tone of the magazine.

Remember, you will need to study the magazine carefully before you even start writing. Requesting the magazine style guide from the features editor is another way to tune in to the type of reader the magazine is targeting.

“Querying or pitching”: The other option is to pitch your idea straight to the features editor in a query letter, and see if the editor is interested in your proposed article.

If the features editor likes your idea and gives you the go-ahead to write the article, then you simply need to deliver the piece to deadline . This method works well if you’ve written for the magazine before, and the editor trusts that you will produce what you have promised in your query letter.

2. What makes for a good magazine journalist? 

Surprisingly, good journalism is not just about fine writing skills. Editors emphasise these five key habits of their star journalists:

1.    Their writing captures the unique tone, style and content of the magazine – and fits with the needs of the target reader. 2.    They can stick to deadlines. 3.    Their facts are accurate; their research is sound and thorough. 4.    Their work is not “shoddy” – meaning that spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct, and sentences are carefully crafted. 5.    They behave professionally, from their well-written cover letter to their invoice.

3. How much money can I make in freelance magazine writing?

Regardless of how many years you’ve worked in the industry, your income as a freelancer depends entirely on how hard you’re willing to work, how well you can write, the thoroughness of your research and your general professionalism when dealing with the publishing houses.

Rates vary depending on the country and the magazine’s circulation. Best is to find out the rate by phoning the magazine and speaking to the features editor. Here are some rough guidelines.

Most often you are paid per word. The recommended going rate for beginner journalists is 60 c per word in New Zealand and Australia (70 p per word in the UK, and R2.00 upwards per word in South Africa). Specialist writers can get double that amount per word. Per month:

Considering that most features are 1500 words in length (2200 words at most), do your sums to work out your income per article. And then, remember, you’d still need to pay up to 25 % tax on that income.

Seasoned journalists write about 13 pieces per month (this can include columns, advertorials and other business writing).

4. When do I get paid for articles?

Some publishing houses pay upon publication, i.e. the month-end following when your article appeared in the magazine. But what few know is that magazines work 6 to 12 months in advance, so the fee for the piece you sell today could only appear in your bank account a year later!

A few publishing houses pay upon acceptance of your piece, which means roughly one month after acceptance.

5. How do I get paid for articles?

As a freelance journalist, you are in charge of your own “small business”. You are responsible for invoicing the publishing houses.

The features editor will let you know when you need to e-mail your invoice – either upon acceptance, or upon publication of your article to the accounts department.  You are usually paid by electronic transfer directly into your bank account.

6. How much scope is there for work in freelance magazine writing?

There are hundreds of publications and speciality publications looking for freelance contributions. Apart from shelves loaded with consumer magazines, there are trade magazines and inflight magazines that offer outlets for freelancers, although they may pay slightly less per word.

Furthermore, we have thousands of reputable webzines and paying blogs online. Many of these publications don’t pay for writing, but for those that do, you generally get paid a flat fee for a 300- to 500-word article.

7. How do I get commissioned to write an article?

Once an editor knows you and likes your work, it won’t be long before you receive your first commission.

What is a commission? It’s when the editor asks you to write a piece on a particular topic, and gives you a brief to follow. You need to follow the specifications in the brief – and deliver to deadline. It’s easier to work this way, rather than go through the more work-intensive process of querying or writing on spec, but you first need to build a good relationship with the editor.

8. What skills are essential for success in freelance magazine writing?

Apart from the essential skills already mentioned under question 2 above, you will also need:

• Networking ability (just like in any business!). The more editors you know – the more commissions you’re likely to land.
• Integrity: plagiarism and faulty research are likely to spell the end of your career
• Determination: One magazine’s “No” can be another’s “Yes”. Keep trying, keep writing.

9. What happens if a magazine doesn’t want to publish one of my articles?

This can happen to the best of writers! The magazine may have recently published something on the topic you’ve covered, or the article simply doesn’t fit the style of the magazine. In those cases (and you can politely ask a features editor why they’ve declined to buy your piece), you can send it on to another magazine for possible publication.

However, sometimes articles are simply not up to standard. In that case, you need to rewrite and edit, before you can try selling it again.

10. What legal rights and support do I have as a writer?

As the writer, you retain copyright over your piece, as long as you don’t sign away “All Rights” in a contract with the publisher. This means that a magazine has no legal right to re-sell your piece in any form or format, without paying you again for the re-sale. Every country has writers’ guilds or groups of writers that can support you. All freelancers are highly advised to join one of these guilds, not just for invaluable advice, but also ongoing support from other journalists.

About the Author

Nichola Meyer has been the principal of The Writers College ( SA Writers College , NZ Writers College and UK Writers College ) for the past 15 years.

With a background in lecturing at secondary and tertiary colleges, she taught magazine journalism for several years. She was also a journalist specialising in parenting and women’s issues for several magazines, including O, The Oprah Magazine , Femina, Child Magazine and Baby & Me .

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FREELANCE COMMUNITY

• Write for Magazines: 21 Publications That Pay $500+ Per Assignment

Evan Jensen

1. AARP, The Magazine

2. alaska beyond, 3. the atlantic, 4. chatelaine magazine, 5. delta sky, 6. discover magazine, 7. early american life, 8. earth island journal, 9. eating well, 10. enroute, 11. family circle, 13. green entrepreneur, 14. hakai magazine, 15. hemispheres, 16. kitplanes, 17. liisbeth, 18. popular science, 20. smithsonian, 21. the sun, get paid to write for magazines.

It’s a great way to make a living writing if you pitch the right publications. How about $500 or more per assignment?

If you’ve been cranking out magazine stories for $50 to $150 a pop, you may be wondering if that’s really even possible. That’s often the going rate for local, regional, or small-circulation magazines.

If you want to write for magazines, and have limited experience, these are great places to get some clips, and earn some money, but it shouldn’t be your last stop.

Many consumer and trade magazines pay $500 or more per assignment. And the pitching process is pretty much the same as smaller pubs:

• Identify a magazine you want to write for
• Study the submission guidelines
• Develop a solid story idea
• Do a little research and interview a source
• Write a killer query letter, and pitch your story idea to an editor

If you can do that, you’ve got the chops to get paid well to write for any magazine on the market . But you need to know where to look for those $500-plus assignments. Check out these 21 magazines to find freelance writing jobs .

Here’s an interesting fact about the magazine published for readers over age 50. AARP has the highest circulation of any magazine in the United States, with more than 35 million subscribers.

That also means it pays well, on average $1/word or $1,500 per assignment. Publishes news, features, how-tos, and essays about money, health and fitness, food, travel, relationships, and more for over-50 readers.

AARP  may be a tough magazine to crack for newbies, but it’s not impossible. Smart networking efforts and a solid story idea helped Freelance Writers Den member Willi Morris land an assignment with AARP , one of her dream clients.

Contact: Senior Editor George Mannes or Features Editor George Blooston

Not all in-flight magazines openly publish writer’s guidelines, but  Alaska Beyond is one that does. About 75 percent of this magazine is written by freelancers. Best way to break in: Pitch a short piece for “The Feed” department. Then you’re a lot more likely to land higher paying assignments (up to $700) for travel, news, and feature stories.

Contact: Editor Paul Frichtl

If you want to write for The Atlantic , a magazine that covers news and analysis on politics, business, culture, technology, national, international and political life, read this by former Atlantic staffer Garance Franke-Ruta: “ How (not) to pitch: A guide for freelance writers .”

FYI –  The Atlantic is also open to working with new freelancers. It’s where Freelance Writers Den member Douglas Fitzpatrick landed his first magazine assignment as a newbie for a piece about the career trajectory of Donald Trump.

Want to write for  The Atlantic?  Study the magazine and  pitch an idea with a query first . Pays $150 to $1,600 depending on assignment.

Contact: See department staff info here

Chatelaine is a popular monthly women’s magazine in Canada that covers health and fitness, finance, social issues, fashion, beauty, food, and home decor. It’s target audience is active women ages 25 to 54.

“The Health section covers the latest news and studies, gives fitness and workout tips and explores hot-button issues,” says Managing Editor Laura Brown. Query with a story idea first. Pays an average of $1/word or $1,500 per assignment.

Contact:  Managing Editor Laura Brown

If you’re interested in writing for custom pubs for airlines, pitch the in-flight magazine Delta Sky . Carol Tice happens to be a regular contributor, including a  story in the November 2018 issue.

Pitch story ideas about food, sports, lifestyle, business, and travel (including international destinations). The current issue includes stories about destinations around the world like Seoul, Korea, Beijing, China, Grenada, and must-see places across the U.S.

Contact: Editor Sarah Elbert

If you customized your search in  Writer’s Market to find magazines that pay the highest rate, this is one that would rise to the top of the list. How about $2/word or $3,000 for a 1,500-word feature story.

This science-based magazines features stories about medical research, scientific breakthroughs, technology, physics, space travel, and even paleontology. Keep in mind it’s written for a lay audience, so academic language won’t get you an assignment.

Want to write for Discover? Here’s some advice from freelancer  Susan Etchey : “The only way a new writer has a chance to get the attention of its editors is to have an explosive, compelling untold science story to tell.”

Contact: Senior Editor  Gemma Tarlach  or another member of the  editorial team .

From colonization to life in the mid-1800s, this magazine features stories about history, architecture, antiques, crafts, and travel destinations for people interested in early American life.

In the most recent issue, you’ll learn about rolling pins from the Colonial era, the evolution of the bald eagle as America’s mascot, brewing in the 1700s, and more.

Know how to dig up the bones to pitch a story about early American life? It’s worth the effort. This pub pays an average of $500 to $2,000 per assignment.

Contact: Executive Editor Jenmarie Andrews

If you want to write for  Earth Island Journal , follow the first rule of writing for any magazine. Read it. Study back issues.

In the current issue, you’ll learn about Donald Trumps rhetoric about the environment, the trouble with hydroponic growing and our food supply, bee conservation, a curious new way to clean up trash, and more.

Pays an average of $1,000 per assignment for stories about science, technology, the environment, and people making a difference.

Contact: Editor Maureen Nandini Mitra

Get in line at the grocery story, and you might see this magazine on the news stand. But it’s not just a magazine filled with recipes, photos of tasty food, and tips for healthy eating.

There’s a lot more “meat” in the pages of Eating Well that explains the science behind the taste, textures, and flavors that make food delicious. If you can combine smart storytelling with science and food, write a query letter and pitch an idea.  Eating Well pays an average of $1/word.

Contact :  Associate Nutrition Editor Julia Westbrook  or another member of the editorial team.

Glamping, conservation efforts, fishing for a record-setting marlin, and a Canadian’s guide to the Louvre. Those are just a few of the the types of stories featured in Air Canad’s in-flight magazine enRoute.

“We engage our audience through intelligent writing, insight, humour and spot-on service journalism,” says Editor-in-chief Jean-François Légaré. Study the guidelines, back issues, and  media kit  before pitching a story idea.

Contact: Editor Caitlin Walsh Miller

How do you run a house, pursue a career, take care of kids, eat healthy, look good, and feel good? It’s the kind of answers you’ll find in the articles published in Family Circle magazine. It’s a national women’s magazine with a circulation of around 4.2 million readers, and a healthy budget to pay freelancers $1/word.

Need some story ideas? In the current issue, you’ll find stories about raising teenagers, the struggle to lose weight and keep it off, popular vacation spots for kids, and more

Contact:  Associate Editor Caroline Mullen or another member of the editorial staff .

Carol Tice spend over a decade writing about business, commerce, entrepreneurship, finance, and big businesses like Amazon and Microsoft. And it was the perfect proving ground for her to land a long-term gig writing for Forbes.

This business magazine is among the most recognized for publishing stories about the people, businesses, and trends in entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, and more. And it’s good for freelancers. Forbes pays an average of $1/word and up.

In the most current issue, you’ll learn about tennis phenom Serena Williams smart investing strategies. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the deal to build Trump Tower. You’ll be exposed to a new perspective on climate change truths that may impact everyone’s bottom line, and more.

Contact: Senior Editor Susan Adams or another member of the editorial staff.

Last year, Entrepreneur  magazine launched  GreenEntrepreneur.com , to give readers that latest news about entrepreneurship, business, technology and lifestyle aspects of the cannabis industry.

“Rarely does a new industry explode with the exponential success that the legal marijuana trade has experienced,” Entrepreneur Media President Bill Shaw, said in a press release.

If you want to write for  Green Entrepreneur , study the guidelines and pitch a story idea about the cannabis industry. Pays up to $1.50/word.

Looking for story ideas? The latest buzz in Green Entrepreneur includes stories about a new weed vaporizor that may popularize smoking marijuana, a $400 million shopping spree spent on cannabis, the latest news about legalization, and more.

Contact:  Executive Editor Jonathan Small

If you want to write about archaeology, ecology, biology, geology, and oceanography of marine coastal environments, take a closer look at Hakai magazine.

You’ve got the chops to write for this magazine that pays up to $1/word if you have solid journalism experience, research skills, and the ability to interview sources.

“We are interested in great stories and strong voices,” says Editor Jude Isabella. “We tilt toward science and environmental stories, but we’re also interested in people and communities and how they interact with coastal ecosystems.”

Pitch short news stories about coastal environmental topics (500 to 800 words), or an in-depth feature (1,000 to 5,000 words).

If you can provide video (five minutes or less) or content for an infographic, to go with your story, your chances of acceptance go up.

Contact:   Editor Jude Isabella

The United Airlines in-flight magazine,  Hemispheres , happens to be one of two in-flight magazines listed in  Writer’s Market  listed with a $$$ pay rate.

Translation: This magazine pays freelancers an average of $750 to $1,500 per assignment. Publishes stories about global culture, adventure, business, entertainment, and sports .

Inside the current issue, you’ll find stories about must-see-and-do activities in Chicago, insights on life, career and relationships from actress Kristen Bell, moon-landing anniversary celebration tips, and more.

Contact: Editor Ellen Carpenter

This is what the Wright Brothers inspired more than 100 years ago:  build a plane from a kit, and fly it.

You might not think a highly-niche magazine with a small circulation (about 72,000 readers). But Kitplanes pays well enough to be included in this list, up to $1,000 per assignment.

Pitch story ideas about building and design, flight testing, construction techniques, personal experience, and features on the people and businesses who are involved in building personal aircraft.

Contact: Editor Paul Dye

Before you pitch a story idea to this feminist-focused magazine that covers entrepreneurship, innovation, social issues, and the politics and policies of business, be sure to read the LiisBeth Manifesto .

If you can pitch a story idea that jives with that about people and businesses making a difference, you’re on your way landing an assignment that pays up to $1,500 U.S. You best bet for a well-paid assignment…pitch a story idea for a profile, how-to, or investigative feature.

Contact:  Editor Margaret Webb — This email no longer works. Per the publication guidelines, you can send queries to [email protected] – or do some sleuthing and find another editor contact!

If science and technology writing for an educated lay audience is your niche, don’t waste another minute waiting to pitch Popular Science. It’s one of the oldest magazines still in existence with roots dating back to the late 1800s.

It’s got a circulation of about 1.5 million readers, and a healthy budget to pay freelancers. How about $2/word or $1,000-plus per assignment?

Need story ideas? In the current issue, you’ll read about new threats posed by the Zika virus, rapidly-evolving drone technology, a cookie-test kitchen in outer space, and more.

Contact: Senior Editor Rachel Feltman

When Sierra magazine editor Jason Mark stepped into his new role a few years ago, he had just walked through Nevada’s Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, surrounded by massive wildfires. That solo experience shaped his mission to lead this magazine dedicated to causes to protect the planet, natural spaces, and outdoor recreation.

“I keep thinking about that trip to the Sierra, which seems emblematic of the challenges facing the environmental movement today,” says Mark. “We want to celebrate and enjoy the big, open spaces we love. At the same time, we have to be always on guard to protect those places. ”

This is the magazine for Sierra Club members. Pitch story ideas about outdoor adventure, environmental issues, and people on a mission to “explore, enjoy, and protect the planet.” Pays $1/word and up per assignment.

Contact: Editor Jason Mark

Did you know the Smithsonian Institute includes 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and 2.7 million square feet of indoor space? There’s a lot to know and a lot to learn about the past, present and future of science, technology, the environment, and even the universe.

And you can write about it for the  Smithsonian  magazine and get paid well. The  Smithsonian  pays freelancers $1-$3/per word, which means a $500 assignment is more than realistic. So how do you break into this magazine?

“There has to be something surprising and narratively interesting there,” says  Senior Editor Jenny Rothenberg Gritz . “If the story is about the natural world, either the person you’re writing about has to be super charismatic and interesting, or something done about the issue has to be amazing.”

Contact: Associate Editor Thomas Stackpole or another member of the editorial staff.

Here’s an interesting way to differentiate yourself as a news and literary magazine…no advertising. That’s the Sun’s approach to focus on great writing.

This magazine has been around for 40-plus years, and is looking for essays, interviews, and story ideas about political and cultural issues. The Sun  pays up to $2,000 per assignment.

“We’ve been described in many ways,” says Editor and Publisher Sy Safransky. “Celebratory, fierce, unflinching, thoughtful, truthful, dark, darkly funny, tender.”

And it shows in recent articles on food inequalities in the U.S., an outsider’s view from inside the commercial fishing industry, the uncanny sense for home that dog’s have, and more.

Contact: Senior Editor Andrew Snee or another member of the editorial staff .

If you’re looking for magazines that pay $500 or more per assignment, this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. Lots of magazines pay pro rates.

• Check Writer’s Market (print or online) for more. Skip over the magazines that pay low rates, and focus those that pay $1/word or more.
• Get in touch with the editors at custom pubs and trade magazines . These mags frequently work with freelance writers and pay pro rates, but aren’t as easy to find as consumer pubs in Writer’s Market .
• Keep on pitching. Then work through the process to study the magazine, develop a story idea, and write a killer query letter. If you can do this for magazines that pay lower-rates, you can do it for bigger magazines that pay top dollar.

What well-paying magazines do you write for? Tell us in the comments below.

Evan Jensen is a contributing writer for Make a Living Writing. When he’s not on a writing deadline or catching up on emails, he’s training to run another 100-mile ultra-marathon.

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15 Magazines That Accept Freelance Writing Submissions

Author: Kara Wilson

March 31, 2021 6 Comments

Do you love to write but don’t know where to find work as a freelancer ? Whether you’re a beginner, a college student wanting to earn a little extra spending money, a stay-at-home mom who needs a creative outlet, or someone who is looking for a career change, you could be writing for magazines. 

There are publications in every niche all over the world that pay freelance writers for their work.

Check out this list of 15 online and print magazines, and start pitching today from the comfort of your home.  

Popular Parenting Magazines That Pay Freelance Writers

1. Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family has an ongoing list of submission topics that they are currently accepting. At this time of writing, topics included topics like Back to School with a Twist and Adjusting to No Schedule Days. Check out this page for submission calls.

• Article length:  50-300 words, 400-500 words, and 800-1,200 words
• Pay:  $50, $125, and $375 respectively upon acceptance

2. Her View From Home

Her View From Home is an online magazine that has over 1,000 contributors on its site but welcomes new writers. Articles are personal and written from the heart, with topics focusing on motherhood, marriage, kids, faith, grief, and living. Read their  submission guidelines .

• Article length:  600-800 words or less
• Pay:  Based on the number of unique page views your article receives within 30 days of publication

3. Mother.ly

Motherly stories are first-person insights into motherhood to inspire other moms, provide hope, and reassure them that many others share their experiences. It’s a non-judgemental, inclusive space. They are also looking for expert columnists if you are one of their listed experts. See their  submission guidelines .

• Article length:  700-900 words 
• Pay:  Writers earn $50 per article after publishing two posts ‘to ensure the writer’s voice and style aligns with Motherly’s voice and style’

Top Business and Finance Magazines That Pay Freelance Writers

4. incomediary.

If you’re an expert at creating awesome websites, social media, driving traffic, or making money online, IncomeDiary would love to hear from you. Your article needs to be engaging and of the highest standard to be published. You can subscribe for paid writing jobs so that you’re notified when opportunities arise.  Submit your article here .

• Article length:  Minimum of 1,500 words
• Pay:  Up to $200

5. BC Business Magazine

Focusing on business in British Columbia, BC Business Magazine is looking out for stories on the issues, trends, and people shaping BC companies. If you have an engaging writing style and would like to get an article in front of their 6 million readers, see their  writer’s guidelines  for more information. 

• Article length:  Features vary from 2,000-3,500 words
• Pay:  Rates vary depending on standard and writer’s experience

6. Success Magazine

Offering advice on best business practices and helping people (in particular, entrepreneurs) gain more control over their personal and financial situation, this magazine is seeking pieces on admirable self-made business owners. For your first pitch, send them a 300-word article following their  submission guidelines .

• Article length:  300 words initially
• Pay:  $0.50 per word

Great Food and Drink Magazines That Pay Freelance Writers

7. eating well.

For those of you who enjoy cooking delicious and nutritious food, why not write for a popular publication with over 1 million readers. If you can write about nutrition or recipes in a journalistic and authoritative voice, Eating Well would love to hear from you. Familiarize yourself with their  writers’ guidelines .

• Article length:  Unspecified
• Pay:  Up to $1 per word

8. Extra Crispy

A site more than a magazine, Extra Crispy is big on breakfast and looking for “opinion pieces, reported stories, personal essays, works of humor, illustrated narratives, breakfast-y profiles of people, original recipes, how-tos, and unusual points of view on the beloved morning meal we all love.”  Here’s how to pitch Extra Crispy .

• Article length:  800-1,000 words
• Pay:  Approximately $0.47 per word

Do you have some amazing stories about food and travel you’d like to share with the world? This loved and well-known magazine is the global guide to cooking, entertaining, and food travel. Follow its  guidelines for submitting stories , with links to your past work if possible. 

• Article length:  Unspecified
• Pay:  Up to $1 per word, varies whether published in print or on the website

Top Health and Fitness Magazines That Pay Freelance Writers

10. healthy living magazine.

Covering a full spectrum of health, wellness, beauty, and parenting content, this popular magazine usually has a quick turnaround time. You can expect to hear back from the editors within six days of submitting your full article. Check out their  submission guidelines .

• Article length:  Ranging from 450-3,000 words
• Pay:  $150 per article

11. Vibrant Life

Vibrant Life is a bimonthly lifestyle publication that focuses on physical and mental wellbeing and spiritual balance from a practical, Christian perspective. The tone should be informal, easy-to-read, and engaging with a person-centered approach. Submit your completed articles ready for publication, following their  submission guidelines .

• Article length:  Short articles of 450-650 words are always in demand
• Pay:  Ranging between $100-$300 based on quality, accuracy, and relevance

12. Whole Life Times

This publication is always searching for writers and is open to stories on “holistic and integrative health, alternative healing, green living, sustainability and organic food, yoga, spirituality and personal growth, social responsibility, conscious business, and the environment.” The magazine is local to Southern California, but if your topic is broad, include local sources or angles. See their  writer guidelines .

• Pay:  Ranges from $75-$150 

Best Magazines That Pay Personal Essay Freelance Writers

13. buzzfeed.

Buzzfeed READER is Buzzfeed News’ home for cultural criticism, personal essays, fiction, and poetry. Their editors welcome personal or critical essays with a strong voice on any topic that’s fresh and meaningful. See if you’re a good fit and find out  how to pitch your piece .

• Article length:  1,500-2,500 words for personal essays
• Pay:  Competitive rates

14. New York Times

New York Times accepts opinion essays on any topic for their daily print and online page, the Sunday Review, the International edition, and other themed series. All submissions must be original, well-written, with a fact-based viewpoint. Read  how to submit an op-ed essay .

• Article length:  400-1,200 words
• Pay:  Up to $300 per published article

This magazine is looking for submissions for short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from writers with a fresh voice and compelling story to share. The great thing about Slice is that they use the space to publish emerging and established writers side-by-side. Each issue has a theme, so they look for work that plays off that theme. Find out more from their  submission guidelines . 

• Article length:  5,000 words maximum
• Pay:  $400 for stories and essays

There you have it – 15 magazines in five writing niches that pay freelance writers (and pay them well!), but there are so many more to be found globally. Any topic you can think of most likely publishes a print or digital magazine, so just keep searching.

Need help writing your pitch? Check out this blog post for some helpful tips.

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About the Author

Kara Wilson

Kara Wilson has been an enthusiastic freelance writer for over 8 years. She is also a web content editor, infant sleep educator, and mama to two young children. When she isn't building forts with her kids, or hiding in her office to write, she loves to cook, read, and fantasize about traveling. If you're looking for a professional writer for your parenting website or blog, you can contact her at [email protected] .

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Reader Interactions

March 14, 2023 at 1:46 pm

My name is Kathy Pierce. I’m a freelance writer; I write about my kids and me and what we had to endure. I want to thank you for this article about who hires freelance writers.

March 15, 2023 at 7:12 am

You’re welcome, Kathy!

March 1, 2022 at 10:14 am

Just wanted to let you know – Slice is no longer accepting submissions. Their final issue was published last year’s fall.

March 1, 2022 at 1:44 pm

Thanks for letting me know.

October 15, 2021 at 8:22 pm

FamilyFun is no longer publishing. You’re giving 2013 info.

October 16, 2021 at 6:54 am

Thanks for letting me know. I’ve replaced that one with a different paid writing opportunity.

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Writing for Magazine: Types, Characteristics, Difference, Writing Styles

• Post author: Anuj Kumar
• Post published: 10 August 2021
• Post category: Journalism
• Post comments: 0 Comments

Table of Contents

• 1 What is Magazine?
• 2 Characteristics of Magazines
• 3.1 Size and Appearance
• 3.2 Content
• 3.4 Design and Layout
• 3.5 Target Audience
• 3.6 Readability
• 3.7 Display Ads
• 3.8 Visual Strength
• 3.9 Shelf Life
• 4 Basics of Magazine Writing
• 5.1 Tell a Story
• 5.2 The Beginning
• 5.3 The Middle
• 5.4 The Ending
• 5.5 Extra Credit
• 6.1 Narrative Writing
• 6.2 Serialised Narrative Writing
• 6.3 Descriptive Writing
• 6.4 Persuasive Writing
• 6.5 Imaginative Writing
• 6.6 Visual Writing
• 6.7 Multiple Inverted Pyramid
• 7.1 General Interest Magazines
• 7.2 Special Interest Magazines
• 7.3 Farm Magazines
• 7.4 Sports Magazines
• 7.5 Business Magazines
• 7.6 Environmental Magazines
• 7.7 Entertainment Magazines
• 7.8 Automobile Magazines
• 7.9 Children’s Magazines
• 7.10 Women’s Magazines
• 7.11 Men’s Magazines
• 7.12 Literary Magazines
• 8.1 What is the difference between newspaper and magazine?
• 8.2 What are the basics of magazine writing?
• 8.3 What are the types of magazines?

What is Magazine?

A magazine is a publication that is issued periodically. It generally contains essays, stories, poems, articles, fiction, recipes, images, etc. Magazines are directed at a general and special audience, often published on a weekly or monthly basis.

A magazine can also be considered as a cabinet of curiosities; i.e. a display case in which interesting, unusual, and occasionally ‘eccentric’ objects are collected and displayed as a conversation piece or an expression of the writer’s wide-ranging interests or tastes.

The readers are treated with a fascinating, mind-expanding, and unique set of wonders they had never dreamt of.

Characteristics of Magazines

Characteristics of magazines While popular magazines provide broad overviews of topics, scholarly journals provide in-depth analysis of topics and report the findings of the research, and trade magazines report on industry trends, new products, or techniques.

A popular magazine that caters to the general public uses non-technical language. The contents of these magazines include interviews, general interest articles, and various types of features. They usually cover a wide range of topics based on research, source comments, and generalizations.

Articles are usually written by a staff writer or a journalist; in some cases, interesting articles of freelancers are also encouraged. They generally contain many interesting and sometimes sensuous photographs to attract readers.

In general, magazine articles are easy to read, fairly brief in length, and may include illustrations or photographs. Magazines don’t necessarily follow a specific format or structure in writing the articles.

Its attractive appearance, eye-catching cover pictures, and illustrations on quality paper make it more appealing to the reading public. Magazines also contain many colorful and impressive advertisements.

Difference between Newspaper and Magazine

Newspapers and magazines are two important forms of print media that are read by millions of people around the world. Some of the most common differences between newspapers and magazines can be seen through their size and appearance, content, style, target audience, design and layout, readability, and advertisements.

Let’s discuss the difference between newspapers and magazines :

Size and Appearance

Design and layout, target audience, readability, display ads, visual strength.

Newspapers are bigger in size and they can be folded. A story above the middle fold on the front page of a newspaper is considered the most important story and one that appears just below the fold is generally the second most important story.

If there are many important stories on a newspaper page, then the treatment given to a story will decide its importance: such as photos/graphics with a more important story and with no visual elements in other stories. The eyes of a reader can scan an entire page without a fold.

A magazine tends to have a “book-type” size while the newspaper is really meant to be spread at arm’s length for the reader to grasp its contents.

Newspapers deal with reports clearly, briefly, and objectively. A magazine writer focuses on specialized topics and current issues of public interest. Newspapers remain the primary source of authentic, reliable, and latest information about what is happening around the world and even in one’s own locality.

But magazines are not sources of fresh content to the extent of publishing the breaking news. However, its content is specialized and recent in nature. Thus, we have various magazines such as entertainment, science, share markets, sports, glamour, and movies.

Newspapers are more versatile in content and hence they never fall short of content as there is always something happening in different parts of the world. On the other hand, magazine content is always based on the liking of readers of diverse backgrounds.

Newspapers focus on catchy headlines to create interest in the reader. Many reporters and editors are employed in newspapers to prepare specialized reports and interpretative articles. But magazines have lesser staff. A magazine writer has more freedom to express or has more room for subjectivity.

She/he has the tenacity and freedom to express things in a creative manner. It further enhances the writer’s mastery of the expression by imploring these seemingly circular methods of self-expression.

The newspaper writer on the other hand is compounded to a somewhat strict, strong, and straight writing mostly based on facts and figures.

Newspapers are known for their simple layout and design . While the content is usually in black and white, the style and font are fairly consistent throughout. Magazines have much more visual expression than newspapers because magazines are not subject to one consistent layout.

Magazines use lots of colors, and different types and sizes of fonts, and break up their articles with images and colors.

The main difference between a newspaper and a magazine is that newspapers are written for a general audience , while magazines are for specific types of audiences. A magazine attracts varied target audiences . A newspaper’s target audience is determined by its geography and its focus is broad.

Here, the editor determines what the people should read, what they want and desire. In contrast, a magazine’s target audience is determined by demographics and interests. (‘Demographics’ means the physical characteristics of the individual such as race, gender, interest, education level, etc.).

News stories are usually written in a matter-of-fact style. But magazines employ colorful language so as to make the content enjoyable.

The newspaper readability level corresponds to a difficult classification built around tight grammatical and syntactical rules. Linguistic subjectivity which relies on expressive adjectives enhances the readability of magazines.

Though magazines and newspapers both provide readers with information, their format and appeal differ considerably. Magazines are more advertiser-driven than newspapers. Newspapers are slightly different in this regard. Newspapers are driven more by readership than by advertisers.

They focus more on catchy headlines in an effort to capture the reader’s interest and get him to read the entire story. Part of the reason for this is that people often associate what they read with an ad they see near the piece. Our minds just naturally attach and group objects and associations together.

Advertising giants know this and place their ads exactly in proper alignment with stories and articles they want to associate with their products on those specialized magazines.

The visual strength of magazines is enhanced with the effective use of color in magazines. In magazines, we can also use a color background whereas newspapers normally have only a white background. This means you can present more attractive color contrasts in your magazine visuals.

Another strength of magazines is a longer life . Newspapers are read only once and then discarded. In contrast, magazines are commonly kept for several days, weeks, or months in magazine racks which provides for possible repeat reading.

Magazines use some of the highest-quality paper and ink to produce a visually appealing product meant to be kept and read longer than a newspaper. Magazines tend to focus on entertainment pieces, and provide how-to-do articles and features about certain subjects within their chosen marketing niche.

Magazines also have advertisements taking up large amounts of page space to balance the cost of production.

Basics of Magazine Writing

The joy of magazine writing lies in its variety. Anything from a celebrity interview to a food recipe can be the topic for magazine articles and this variety demands versatility. Coverage of events for magazines offers challenges as well as opportunities to journalists.

A creative flair and innovative skill may help in producing masterpieces and also in creating an everlasting impression on the reader’s mind. The language used depends, to a certain extent, on the objective of the magazine.

Literary style is generally preferred by the magazine press. Thus magazine writing requires a different way of thinking, writing, and structuring. Effective magazine writing is accessible, interesting, lively, colorful, grabbing, and relevant.

Whatever be the type of publication a journalist writes for, the basic approach is the same: write for your readers. However, good writing for magazines depends on the adherence to some well-known guidelines.

Though there are not many lengthy rules, there are guidelines a magazine writer should follow to produce a stylish copy. The most important among them can be summarized as follows:

• Know whom you are writing for, their interests and concerns.
• Know what you want to say and achieve.
• Always prefer the concrete to the abstract.
• Be accurate and readable.
• Have an attention grabbing intro.
• Spend considerable time thinking about fresh ways to ap-proach the subject.
• Keep materials and sentences short.
• Promote a vibrant style.
• Know the publication’s editorial policy to achieve your di-rection.

Magazine writers often develop a strong personal style that is opinionated, anecdotal, and gossipy while developing the content. The quality of the content and style are equally important. The wordplay and tricks of style make the piece entertaining to read.

How to Structure Magazine Article

As soon as you’re ready to write a magazine article, you need to think about structure. With magazine articles, you can move beyond the inverted pyramid style of news by scattering important points throughout the article .

Tell a Story

The beginning, extra credit.

The important thing to remember is that you’re telling a story to your readers. That means you need a beginning, a middle, and an end. It also means you need to think about where you’re taking your reader and create a logical path to that endpoint.

To get people to read your article, you need to find a way to grab them. For example, you can begin an article with a quote or an anecdote from a person’s life. However, you can also set the scene or use anything that will attract the reader’s attention.

With most magazine articles, you talk to a person or people. People like reading about other people, so if your interviewee says something good, use a quote rather than the reported speech. This makes your magazine article more interesting.

Finally, end with a bang. This could be in the form of an important point, a revelation, or another anecdote or quote. The idea is to satisfy your reader and to get that reader interested in your other writings as well.

When you do research for an article, you often have information left over that didn’t make it into the main piece. Don’t get rid of this. Use it to create a sidebar or table (editors will love this), or as the starting point for another article.

Magazine Writing Styles

Let us now discuss some of the common styles used by the magazines in their presentation of articles:

Narrative Writing

Serialised narrative writing, descriptive writing, persuasive writing, imaginative writing, visual writing, multiple inverted pyramid.

Narratives are works that provide an account of connected events. In a narrative style, you’ll need to tell a story in such a way that the audience learns a lesson or gains insight. Narrative writing is a type of writing in which the author places himself as the character and leads you to the story.

Here, is a narrative, a story or event is told through characters and dialogues. Narrative writing has definite and logical beginnings, intervals, and endings. Narrative writing uses many literary techniques to provide deeper meaning for the reader and it also helps the reader use his / her imagination to visualize situations.

Literary techniques include metaphors, similes, personification, imagery, hyperbole, alliteration, back story, flashback, flash-forward, foreshadowing, and narrative perspective or point of view.

In this style, you cannot find out what’s going to happen next. You have to wait. Here the writer really understands how to hold a reader by his/her side and make them stick on with the piece till the end. That’s the skill absolutely essential for this style of writing.

The first and most essential quality of a serial narrative is that it has to be immensely, intensely, and inescapably readable. They should have a powerful pull on all readers with the power of a delicious sense of enforced writing.

Descriptive writing focuses on describing a character, an event, or a place in great detail. It is sometimes poetic in nature in which the author specifies the details of the event rather than just the information of that event.

In a descriptive style, the writer needs to describe a person, object, or event so vividly that the reader feels like s/he could reach out and touch it. The writer attempts to convey as many of the senses related to the subject as possible for a clearer understanding of what is being described.

Descriptive writing has a unique power and appeal, as it evokes sensory description through sights, smells, sounds, textures, and tastes through the text to your reader.

This writing revolves around convincing someone. Persuasion requires great skill and effort to convince your readers to endorse your opinion or viewpoint. You write with the sole objective of persuading your readers. Persuasive writing utilizes the power of words to confidently and passionately convey a very important matter.

Such writings are usually written with precision and authority. Persuasive texts are set out to argue and prove a case by presenting ideas that follow a logical progression. It aims to convince a targeted audience of the validity of a viewpoint on an issue by presenting logical arguments.

Imaginative writings present ideas, issues, and arguments in an imaginative and credible way through the description, characters, settings, figurative language, the five senses, etc. Imaginative writing assumes the form of fiction, specifically short stories.

Depending on the idea, the imaginative article can discuss anything from space travel to civil rights. Because of this wide variation, some imaginative pieces require a very serious response, while others invite a much more light-hearted, fantastic one.

Usually, imaginative write-ups start with a hypothetical situation and ask how you would respond to it. It should be credible and plausible and must convey information through description and figurative language. Add sensory details and realistic conversation.

Also include imaginary interactions with the characters. The characters should be dynamic in nature and they should see things differently or act differently by the end of the story. Narrate and describe events, characters, and situations.

Visual writing is a good language for storytelling in any medium. It focuses on the mind, and distinctive details from the intricately interconnected experiences of the individual. Visual writing creates depth, quality, and pacing.

The visual style isn’t an extension of the writing, but it has to be embedded into the writing in a way that the reader may not even be aware of its presence. This means the visual style is not about adding more but enriching an already existing text.

Visual communication engages meaningful experiences and feelings within individuals through richly embedded image symbols which are conveyed either directly through text or indirectly through other senses.

In the field of magazine journalism , the term ‘multiple inverted pyramid approach’ refers to a style of writing which informs and entertains the readers through self-sufficiently built plots of information, each of which may be arranged in the form of an inverted pyramid.

The fact is that the idea of the whole story is spilled in the first paragraph itself. The reader can decide whether to continue reading the details or to go into something else. But even if the reader stops at a certain point, this form of writing may provide some essential facts to the readers.

Types of Magazines

Today, there are thousands of magazines worldwide. They inspire, inform, educate and entertain audiences across the globe. Nearly 600 years after the advent of the printing press, magazines continue to change the nature of things throughout the world.

The major types of magazines are briefly explained below:

General Interest Magazines

Special interest magazines, farm magazines, sports magazines, business magazines, environmental magazines, entertainment magazines, automobile magazines, children’s magazines, women’s magazines, men’s magazines, literary magazines.

This type of magazine is published for a wider audience to provide information, in a general manner and the focus is on many different subjects. The main purpose of a general interest magazine is to provide information for the general audience. No background knowledge or expertise is assumed.

Articles usually provide broad coverage of topics of current interest. They are written by journalists, freelance writers, or staff correspondents of the magazine. These periodicals may be quite attractive in appearance, with articles often heavily illustrated with photographs.

The language of these publications is geared to any educated audience. There is no especially assumed target audience. Mere interest and a certain level of intelligence are only required to read and enjoy such magazines.

These are usually published by commercial enterprises, though some are published by professional organizations. Examples of general-interest periodicals are Time, Newsweek, Outlook, India Today, and The Week.

Special interest publications are magazines directed at specific groups of readers with common interests. Most special interest magazines cater to any specific interests or pursuits. For instance, there are magazines that cover sports, news, fashion, business, music, and so on.

While some attempt to cover all aspects of a broad subject, others are concerned only with a particular element of the general subject. Sports Illustrated, for example, contains stories on practically any sport, but Golf Digest carries only stories related to golf.

Other special interest publications find their audiences through different demographic segmentation. There are magazines published primarily for men (Field and Stream, Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ), etc.), women (Woman’s World, Grihalekshmi, Vanitha, etc.), boys (Boys’ Life) and girls (Teen Vogue). Specialized periodicals also serve most professions, industries, and organizations.

These are magazines featuring news and information pertaining to the agricultural sector. It is a resource for farmers and vendors of farmers’ markets.

There are various farm magazines that contain information about various farming equipment, farming practices, ideas and technology suitable to small and big farms, raising unusual livestock, growing high-value crops, direct marketing of their products to bring in more income, the latest techniques for growing bountiful, nutritious crops and many more articles that could provide information to the farmers who are their target audience.

They also share the success stories of artisans and farmers, on government policies and programs, and also about how to promote their business by reaching new customers and develop value-added products.

A sports magazine usually features articles or segments on sports comprising of many photographic images and illustrations. Some magazines concentrate on all general sports news and related issues while others concentrate on specific sports or games such as football, baseball, athletics, etc.

But the common aim of any sports magazine is to take fans inside the game and provide a mix of columns, features, profiles of their favorite players, scores, statistics, and analysis of the game.

News and information about sports, reviews, interviews, expert advice, player profiles, season previews, predictions, and pre-game analysis as well as quality photos are some of the main ingredients in a sports magazine.

Most of these magazines are dedicated to the dissemination of information related to particular business areas like accounting, banking, finance, international business, management , marketing and sales, real estate, small business, etc.

They explore the latest news and reviews on current trends in the world of business. Business magazines offer readers an unparalleled look at business and economic news, with incomparable access to business drivers around the globe.

It also provides the most recent news about trends and developments in global business, financial markets, and personal finance.

The aim of this type of magazine is to provide information about environmental issues and to share ideas about our very diverse and dynamic environment so that readers can live more sustainable lives and connect themselves to ideas and ongoing efforts for change, as well as for building a more just and sustainable future.

They cover everything environmental – from the big issues like climate change, renewable energy, toxins, and health to the topics that directly impact the readers’ daily lives: population, poverty, consumption, and the environment in general.

In-depth reviews of major policy reports, conferences, environmental education initiatives, environmental reports, and photos from around the world with an emphasis on human involvement in an environmentally changed scenario are some of the highlighted features of environmental magazines .

Entertainment magazines are usually glossy in nature and provide entertainment. They usually carry news, original stories, scandals, gossips, and exclusives about celebrities in various entertainment fields such as film, music, TV, fashion, and related similar areas of the industry.

Cultural criticism, beauty, lifestyle trends, and shopping guides also find expression in such magazines. As its main focus is on celebrity fashion or lifestyle, it is graphically rich in nature, featuring many photographs or other images.

Automobile magazines offer a rich and varied examination of the automotive universe in all its forms, illustrated with vibrant photography. They present interesting automotive news in the industry and celebrate the automotive lifestyle and its personalities, past and present.

It also offers insights into emerging trends in the industry and also creates images of whatever comes next in the written and visual form.

Updates in the motor vehicle arena such as newly arrived cars and bikes, contemporary style of vehicles, recommendations to buyers, reviews of newly launched vehicles are some of the attractive elements in these magazines.

The main aim of children’s magazines is to engage children to learn new things through entertainment and to provide memories that last a lifetime. The content is delivered through colorful images, read-aloud stories, and various fun activities that both the parent as well as the child can enjoy together.

Children’s magazines are designed to set young children on the path to becoming curious, creative, caring, confident individuals through reading, thinking, and learning with a wide variety of stories, puzzles, crafts, games, and activities. 3D children’s magazines are now on sale in Kerala.

Women’s magazines play a variety of roles as educators, family counselors, beauty specialists,s and lifestyle experts. Women’s magazines, on many occasions, have become an arena for debate and promotion of education for women.

The personal nature of the content also makes it a unique material specifically for women. The gorgeous photographs, engaging designs, and innovative styles make them attractive.

The outlook of a women’s magazine is an intelligent perspective that is focused on personal style – the way women actually look, think and dress. They reflect the spirit of today’s woman – changing with the times, moving with trends, styles, and fashion.

Men’s magazines bring the latest style tips, travel guides, lifestyle improvement, offering advice and information useful to men on a variety of topics including money , health, sports, cars, adventure, politics, and so on. Men’s magazines use masculinity as a marketing tool.

A literary magazine devoted to literature, usually publishes short stories, poetry, essays, literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews, and any content related to literature.

Its aim is to promote literature, encompass an overall sense of the word, preserve indigenous literature and provide a platform for creative writers through its articles.

FAQs About Writing for Magazine

What is the difference between newspaper and magazine.

These are the following points of difference between newspapers and magazines: 1. Size and Appearance 2. Content 3. Style 4. Design and Layout 5. Target Audience 6. Readability 7. Display Ads 8. Visual Strength 9. Shelf Life.

What are the basics of magazine writing?

The following are the magazine writing styles: 1. Narrative Writing 2. Serialized Narrative Writing 3. Descriptive Writing 4. Persuasive Writing 5. Imaginative Writing 6. Visual Writing 7. Multiple Inverted Pyramid.

What are the types of magazines?

The following are the types of magazines: 1. General Interest Magazines 2. Special Interest Magazines 3. Farm Magazines 4. Sports Magazines 5. Business Magazines 6. Environmental Magazines 7. Entertainment Magazines 8. Automobile Magazines 9. Children’s Magazines 10. Women’s Magazines 11. Men’s Magazines 12. Literary Magazines.

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Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning

Jonathan Lambert

If you're like many digitally savvy Americans, it has likely been a while since you've spent much time writing by hand.

The laborious process of tracing out our thoughts, letter by letter, on the page is becoming a relic of the past in our screen-dominated world, where text messages and thumb-typed grocery lists have replaced handwritten letters and sticky notes. Electronic keyboards offer obvious efficiency benefits that have undoubtedly boosted our productivity — imagine having to write all your emails longhand.

To keep up, many schools are introducing computers as early as preschool, meaning some kids may learn the basics of typing before writing by hand.

But giving up this slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves may come at a significant cost, according to a growing body of research that's uncovering the surprising cognitive benefits of taking pen to paper, or even stylus to iPad — for both children and adults.

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In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning. In adults, taking notes by hand during a lecture, instead of typing, can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.

"There's actually some very important things going on during the embodied experience of writing by hand," says Ramesh Balasubramaniam , a neuroscientist at the University of California, Merced. "It has important cognitive benefits."

While those benefits have long been recognized by some (for instance, many authors, including Jennifer Egan and Neil Gaiman , draft their stories by hand to stoke creativity), scientists have only recently started investigating why writing by hand has these effects.

A slew of recent brain imaging research suggests handwriting's power stems from the relative complexity of the process and how it forces different brain systems to work together to reproduce the shapes of letters in our heads onto the page.

Your brain on handwriting

Both handwriting and typing involve moving our hands and fingers to create words on a page. But handwriting, it turns out, requires a lot more fine-tuned coordination between the motor and visual systems. This seems to more deeply engage the brain in ways that support learning.

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"Handwriting is probably among the most complex motor skills that the brain is capable of," says Marieke Longcamp , a cognitive neuroscientist at Aix-Marseille Université.

Gripping a pen nimbly enough to write is a complicated task, as it requires your brain to continuously monitor the pressure that each finger exerts on the pen. Then, your motor system has to delicately modify that pressure to re-create each letter of the words in your head on the page.

"Your fingers have to each do something different to produce a recognizable letter," says Sophia Vinci-Booher , an educational neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. Adding to the complexity, your visual system must continuously process that letter as it's formed. With each stroke, your brain compares the unfolding script with mental models of the letters and words, making adjustments to fingers in real time to create the letters' shapes, says Vinci-Booher.

That's not true for typing.

To type "tap" your fingers don't have to trace out the form of the letters — they just make three relatively simple and uniform movements. In comparison, it takes a lot more brainpower, as well as cross-talk between brain areas, to write than type.

Recent brain imaging studies bolster this idea. A study published in January found that when students write by hand, brain areas involved in motor and visual information processing " sync up " with areas crucial to memory formation, firing at frequencies associated with learning.

"We don't see that [synchronized activity] in typewriting at all," says Audrey van der Meer , a psychologist and study co-author at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She suggests that writing by hand is a neurobiologically richer process and that this richness may confer some cognitive benefits.

Other experts agree. "There seems to be something fundamental about engaging your body to produce these shapes," says Robert Wiley , a cognitive psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. "It lets you make associations between your body and what you're seeing and hearing," he says, which might give the mind more footholds for accessing a given concept or idea.

Those extra footholds are especially important for learning in kids, but they may give adults a leg up too. Wiley and others worry that ditching handwriting for typing could have serious consequences for how we all learn and think.

What might be lost as handwriting wanes

The clearest consequence of screens and keyboards replacing pen and paper might be on kids' ability to learn the building blocks of literacy — letters.

"Letter recognition in early childhood is actually one of the best predictors of later reading and math attainment," says Vinci-Booher. Her work suggests the process of learning to write letters by hand is crucial for learning to read them.

"When kids write letters, they're just messy," she says. As kids practice writing "A," each iteration is different, and that variability helps solidify their conceptual understanding of the letter.

Research suggests kids learn to recognize letters better when seeing variable handwritten examples, compared with uniform typed examples.

This helps develop areas of the brain used during reading in older children and adults, Vinci-Booher found.

"This could be one of the ways that early experiences actually translate to long-term life outcomes," she says. "These visually demanding, fine motor actions bake in neural communication patterns that are really important for learning later on."

Ditching handwriting instruction could mean that those skills don't get developed as well, which could impair kids' ability to learn down the road.

"If young children are not receiving any handwriting training, which is very good brain stimulation, then their brains simply won't reach their full potential," says van der Meer. "It's scary to think of the potential consequences."

Many states are trying to avoid these risks by mandating cursive instruction. This year, California started requiring elementary school students to learn cursive , and similar bills are moving through state legislatures in several states, including Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin. (So far, evidence suggests that it's the writing by hand that matters, not whether it's print or cursive.)

Slowing down and processing information

For adults, one of the main benefits of writing by hand is that it simply forces us to slow down.

During a meeting or lecture, it's possible to type what you're hearing verbatim. But often, "you're not actually processing that information — you're just typing in the blind," says van der Meer. "If you take notes by hand, you can't write everything down," she says.

The relative slowness of the medium forces you to process the information, writing key words or phrases and using drawing or arrows to work through ideas, she says. "You make the information your own," she says, which helps it stick in the brain.

Such connections and integration are still possible when typing, but they need to be made more intentionally. And sometimes, efficiency wins out. "When you're writing a long essay, it's obviously much more practical to use a keyboard," says van der Meer.

Still, given our long history of using our hands to mark meaning in the world, some scientists worry about the more diffuse consequences of offloading our thinking to computers.

"We're foisting a lot of our knowledge, extending our cognition, to other devices, so it's only natural that we've started using these other agents to do our writing for us," says Balasubramaniam.

It's possible that this might free up our minds to do other kinds of hard thinking, he says. Or we might be sacrificing a fundamental process that's crucial for the kinds of immersive cognitive experiences that enable us to learn and think at our full potential.

Balasubramaniam stresses, however, that we don't have to ditch digital tools to harness the power of handwriting. So far, research suggests that scribbling with a stylus on a screen activates the same brain pathways as etching ink on paper. It's the movement that counts, he says, not its final form.

Jonathan Lambert is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist who covers science, health and policy.

• handwriting

What Stormy Daniels said happened in Trump’s hotel suite, from the transcript

Despite objections from Donald Trump’s attorneys, adult-film actress Daniels shared details of the alleged sexual encounter in the New York hush money trial.

Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels appeared on the witness stand at Donald Trump’s hush money trial Tuesday, offering an account of her alleged one-night stand with the former president . Despite the repeated objections of Trump’s lawyers, Daniels went into great detail about the 2006 sexual encounter; her description at times made it sound like the sex could be viewed as nonconsensual . The presumptive Republican nominee could be heard muttering profanities at certain points in the proceedings.

Trump, who denies ever having sex with Daniels, has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to Daniels during the 2016 election.

Here are key moments from Tuesday’s trial in New York, based on an early transcript and lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Trump hush money trial

Trump’s lawyer seeks to block Daniels from sharing sexual details

At the opening of Tuesday’s court session, Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles began by objecting — in advance of testimony by Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — to the prosecution seeking “any details of any sexual acts.” The charges, the defense noted, are not over alleged sexual acts.

Susan Necheles, defense attorney: We think that this is irrelevant. It has nothing to do with the charges in this case. And to the extent that it has any relevance, it’s unduly prejudicial. And there really is no reason for it to be coming into the case about books and records here.

Justice Juan Merchan: And when you say “details of any sexual act,” what do you mean? Do you mean more than just “we had sex?”

Necheles: Yes, your honor.

The prosecution argued that Daniels’s account — particularly of a conversation with Trump in a hotel suite where Daniels says they had sex — was important for establishing her credibility as a witness.

Susan Hoffinger, prosecution attorney: The general details of what occurred, including the sex act, barring certain details that are unnecessary, are a significant part of the story, but also very important for us in terms of her credibility.

Merchan : So when you say that some details are necessary, can you give me a sense of what you have in mind?

The prosecution argued that the details are important if the jury is to understand why Trump would have been motivated to pay money to prevent a story about the alleged encounter with Daniels from appearing in news reports.

Hoffinger : How she even ended up having a sexual act with him, and then in terms of the sexual act, it will be just very basic. It’s not going to involve any descriptions of genitalia or anything of that nature.

The judge ruled that prosecution lawyers can ask Daniels for background information about the events leading up to the encounter.

Merchan : But we don’t need to know the details of the intercourse.

Daniels describes alleged sexual encounter with Trump

Daniels, who appeared nervous and spoke quickly, gave an incredibly detailed account of the evening she went to Trump’s suite at a Lake Tahoe resort following a golf event, where she said they had sex.

When she arrived for what she thought was just dinner, Daniels said Trump was wearing silk or satin pajamas, but that he changed into a suit after she made a joke about it. When they sat down at the dining room table, Trump asked her questions about the adult-film business including whether she tested for sexually transmitted diseases, she said. At one point, she says she spanked him with a rolled-up magazine.

After emerging from the bathroom, Daniels said she was “startled” to find Trump on the bed in a T-shirt and boxer shorts. Daniels told jurors she did not want to have sex with him.

Daniels: Then I just thought, oh, my God, what did I misread to get here. Because the intention was pretty clear, somebody stripped down in their underwear and posing on the bed, like waiting for you.

Daniels said she never felt physically or verbally threatened by Trump, but did feel a power imbalance between them. Trump was bigger than her, she said, and there was a bodyguard outside the door.

Daniels: The next thing I know, I was on the bed, somehow on the opposite side of the bed from where we had been standing. I had my clothes and shoes off. I believe my bra, however, was still on.

Daniels’s account also included how she stared at the ceiling during sex, since she was “trying to think about anything other than what was happening there” — to which the judge sustained an objection. She also said Trump didn’t wear a condom, and described the position in which they had sex. After the encounter, Daniels said she remained silent as she gathered her possessions.

Daniels: My hands were shaking so hard. I was having a hard time getting dressed. He said, “Oh, great. Let’s get together again honey bunch. We were great together.” I just wanted to leave.

Daniels said they stayed in touch because she hoped Trump would let her appear on his hit reality show, “The Apprentice.”

Judge requests Trump stop cursing

Even before Daniels described the alleged sexual encounter, the judge was concerned about Trump’s reaction to her initial testimony. As the court rose for its morning recess, Merchan beckoned Trump’s defense lawyers to a sidebar.

Merchan : I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that’s contemptuous. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that.

Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said he would talk to his client.

Merchan : One time I noticed when Ms. Daniels was testifying about rolling up the magazine, and presumably smacking your client, and after that point he shook his head and he looked down. And, later, I think he was looking at you, Mr. Blanche, later when we were talking about The Apprentice, at that point he again uttered a vulgarity and looked at you this time. Please talk to him at the break.

The judge rejects a mistrial request from Trump’s lawyers

Immediately after the lunch break, Trump’s attorneys argued that Daniels’s testimony about the sex act was irrelevant and prejudicial to the point that it warranted a mistrial.

Trump’s lawyer Blanche : The Court set guardrails for this testimony. And the guardrails by this witness, answering questions from the government, were just thrown to the side.

In particular, Trump’s attorney argued that many of the details were simply intended to embarrass his client and “inflame the jury” in a trial fundamentally about business records, including any suggestion there were “safety concerns” in the encounter.

The prosecution responded that it had been “extremely mindful of not eliciting too much testimony about the actual act.”

Hoffinger: But, at the end of the day, your Honor, this is what defendant was trying to hide … in terms of the payoff in 2016 before the election. This is an exhibit. If you were … of what Mr. Trump wanted to make sure didn’t get disclosed. We have carved back details.

The judge said it “would have been better” if the prosecution hadn’t gone into certain areas, but suggested that “in fairness,” the witness was “a little difficult to control.”

Merchan: I do think that there were some things that were better left unsaid. Having said that, I don’t believe we are at the point where a mistrial is warranted.

Daniels admits to signing a false statement in 2018

In a statement in 2018 ahead of an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Daniels denied getting paid to keep quiet about her encounter with Trump — one of several claims that she has since renounced but that Trump and his allies have seized on to undermine her credibility. “I am denying it [the affair] because it never happened,” the statement said.

But in Tuesday’s testimony, Daniels said she signed the statement differently than how she usually signs things as a “tip off” to indicate that the statement was false .

Hoffinger: What kind of a tip off?

Daniels: That I didn’t — that either I didn’t sign it — that I didn’t sign it willingly.

Hoffinger: Is that because you were upset about signing it?

Daniels: Yes.

Hoffinger: And is this statement false?

Daniels’s 2018 statement echoed a similar one provided by Daniels’s lawyer to the Wall Street Journal the same year, when it reported that Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen had negotiated a secret $130,000 payment to secure Daniels’s silence ahead of the 2016 presidential election. On Tuesday, Daniels said she did not want to sign off on that statement to the Journal “because it’s not true,” but worried about violating a nondisclosure agreement.

Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.

Trump New York hush money case

Former president Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial is underway in New York. Follow live updates from the trial .

Key witnesses: Several key witnesses, including David Pecker and Stormy Daniels, have taken the stand. Here’s what Daniels said during her testimony . Read full transcripts from the trial .

Gag order: New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has twice ruled that Trump violated his gag order , which prohibits him from commenting on jurors and witnesses in the case, among others. Here are all of the times Trump has violated the gag order .

The case: The investigation involves a $130,000 payment made to Daniels, an adult-film actress , during the 2016 presidential campaign. It’s one of many ongoing investigations involving Trump . Here are some of the key people in the case .

The charges: Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Falsifying business records is a felony in New York when there is an “intent to defraud” that includes an intent to “commit another crime or to aid or conceal” another crime. He has pleaded not guilty . Here’s what to know about the charges — and any potential sentence .

Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening?

All vaccines have at least occasional side effects. But people who say they were injured by Covid vaccines believe their cases have been ignored.

Shaun Barcavage, 54, a nurse practitioner in New York City, said that ever since his first Covid shot, standing up has sent his heart racing. Credit... Hannah Yoon for The New York Times

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By Apoorva Mandavilli

Apoorva Mandavilli spent more than a year talking to dozens of experts in vaccine science, policymakers and people who said they had experienced serious side effects after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.

• Published May 3, 2024 Updated May 4, 2024

Within minutes of getting the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, Michelle Zimmerman felt pain racing from her left arm up to her ear and down to her fingertips. Within days, she was unbearably sensitive to light and struggled to remember simple facts.

She was 37, with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, and until then could ride her bicycle 20 miles, teach a dance class and give a lecture on artificial intelligence, all in the same day. Now, more than three years later, she lives with her parents. Eventually diagnosed with brain damage, she cannot work, drive or even stand for long periods of time.

“When I let myself think about the devastation of what this has done to my life, and how much I’ve lost, sometimes it feels even too hard to comprehend,” said Dr. Zimmerman, who believes her injury is due to a contaminated vaccine batch .

The Covid vaccines, a triumph of science and public health, are estimated to have prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths . Yet even the best vaccines produce rare but serious side effects . And the Covid vaccines have been given to more than 270 million people in the United States, in nearly 677 million doses .

Dr. Zimmerman’s account is among the more harrowing, but thousands of Americans believe they suffered serious side effects following Covid vaccination. As of April, just over 13,000 vaccine-injury compensation claims have been filed with the federal government — but to little avail. Only 19 percent have been reviewed. Only 47 of those were deemed eligible for compensation, and only 12 have been paid out, at an average of about $3,600 .

Some scientists fear that patients with real injuries are being denied help and believe that more needs to be done to clarify the possible risks.

“At least long Covid has been somewhat recognized,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist and vaccine expert at Yale University. But people who say they have post-vaccination injuries are “just completely ignored and dismissed and gaslighted,” she added.

In interviews and email exchanges conducted over several months, federal health officials insisted that serious side effects were extremely rare and that their surveillance efforts were more than sufficient to detect patterns of adverse events.

“Hundreds of millions of people in the United States have safely received Covid vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history,” Jeff Nesbit, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an emailed statement.

But in a recent interview, Dr. Janet Woodcock, a longtime leader of the Food and Drug Administration, who retired in February, said she believed that some recipients had experienced uncommon but “serious” and “life-changing” reactions beyond those described by federal agencies.

“I feel bad for those people,” said Dr. Woodcock, who became the F.D.A.’s acting commissioner in January 2021 as the vaccines were rolling out. “I believe their suffering should be acknowledged, that they have real problems, and they should be taken seriously.”

“I’m disappointed in myself,” she added. “I did a lot of things I feel very good about, but this is one of the few things I feel I just didn’t bring it home.”

Federal officials and independent scientists face a number of challenges in identifying potential vaccine side effects.

The nation’s fragmented health care system complicates detection of very rare side effects, a process that depends on an analysis of huge amounts of data. That’s a difficult task when a patient may be tested for Covid at Walgreens, get vaccinated at CVS, go to a local clinic for minor ailments and seek care at a hospital for serious conditions. Each place may rely on different health record systems.

There is no central repository of vaccine recipients, nor of medical records, and no easy to way to pool these data. Reports to the largest federal database of so-called adverse events can be made by anyone, about anything. It’s not even clear what officials should be looking for.

“I mean, you’re not going to find ‘brain fog’ in the medical record or claims data, and so then you’re not going to find” a signal that it may be linked to vaccination, Dr. Woodcock said. If such a side effect is not acknowledged by federal officials, “it’s because it doesn’t have a good research definition,” she added. “It isn’t, like, malevolence on their part.”

The government’s understaffed compensation fund has paid so little because it officially recognizes few side effects for Covid vaccines. And vaccine supporters, including federal officials, worry that even a whisper of possible side effects feeds into misinformation spread by a vitriolic anti-vaccine movement.

‘I’m Not Real’

Patients who believe they experienced serious side effects say they have received little support or acknowledgment.

Shaun Barcavage, 54, a nurse practitioner in New York City who has worked on clinical trials for H.I.V. and Covid, said that ever since his first Covid shot, merely standing up sent his heart racing — a symptom suggestive of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome , a neurological disorder that some studies have linked to both Covid and, much less often, vaccination .

He also experienced stinging pain in his eyes, mouth and genitals, which has abated, and tinnitus, which has not.

“I can’t get the government to help me,” Mr. Barcavage said of his fruitless pleas to federal agencies and elected representatives. “I am told I’m not real. I’m told I’m rare. I’m told I’m coincidence.”

Renee France, 49, a physical therapist in Seattle, developed Bell’s palsy — a form of facial paralysis, usually temporary — and a dramatic rash that neatly bisected her face. Bell’s palsy is a known side effect of other vaccines, and it has been linked to Covid vaccination in some studies.

But Dr. France said doctors were dismissive of any connection to the Covid vaccines. The rash, a bout of shingles, debilitated her for three weeks, so Dr. France reported it to federal databases twice.

“I thought for sure someone would reach out, but no one ever did,” she said.

Similar sentiments were echoed in interviews, conducted over more than a year, with 30 people who said they had been harmed by Covid shots. They described a variety of symptoms following vaccination, some neurological, some autoimmune, some cardiovascular.

All said they had been turned away by physicians, told their symptoms were psychosomatic, or labeled anti-vaccine by family and friends — despite the fact that they supported vaccines.

Even leading experts in vaccine science have run up against disbelief and ambivalence.

Dr. Gregory Poland, 68, editor in chief of the journal Vaccine, said that a loud whooshing sound in his ears had accompanied every moment since his first shot, but that his entreaties to colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explore the phenomenon, tinnitus, had led nowhere.

He received polite responses to his many emails, but “I just don’t get any sense of movement,” he said.

“If they have done studies, those studies should be published,” Dr. Poland added. In despair that he might “never hear silence again,” he has sought solace in meditation and his religious faith.

Dr. Buddy Creech, 50, who led several Covid vaccine trials at Vanderbilt University, said his tinnitus and racing heart lasted about a week after each shot. “It’s very similar to what I experienced during acute Covid, back in March of 2020,” Dr. Creech said.

Research may ultimately find that most reported side effects are unrelated to the vaccine, he acknowledged. Many can be caused by Covid itself.

“Regardless, when our patients experience a side effect that may or may not be related to the vaccine, we owe it to them to investigate that as completely as we can,” Dr. Creech said.

Federal health officials say they do not believe that the Covid vaccines caused the illnesses described by patients like Mr. Barcavage, Dr. Zimmerman and Dr. France. The vaccines may cause transient reactions, such as swelling, fatigue and fever, according to the C.D.C., but the agency has documented only four serious but rare side effects .

Two are associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is no longer available in the United States: Guillain-Barré syndrome , a known side effect of other vaccines , including the flu shot; and a blood-clotting disorder.

The C.D.C. also links mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to heart inflammation, or myocarditis, especially in boys and young men. And the agency warns of anaphylaxis, or severe allergic reaction, which can occur after any vaccination.

Listening for Signals

Agency scientists are monitoring large databases containing medical information on millions of Americans for patterns that might suggest a hitherto unknown side effect of vaccination, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the C.D.C.’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

“We toe the line by reporting the signals that we think are real signals and reporting them as soon as we identify them as signals,” he said. The agency’s systems for monitoring vaccine safety are “pretty close” to ideal, he said.

Those national surveillance efforts include the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). It is the largest database, but also the least reliable: Reports of side effects can be submitted by anyone and are not vetted, so they may be subject to bias or manipulation.

The system contains roughly one million reports regarding Covid vaccination, the vast majority for mild events, according to the C.D.C.

Federal researchers also comb through databases that combine electronic health records and insurance claims on tens of millions of Americans. The scientists monitor the data for 23 conditions that may occur following Covid vaccination. Officials remain alert to others that may pop up, Dr. Daskalakis said.

But there are gaps, some experts noted. The Covid shots administered at mass vaccination sites were not recorded in insurance claims databases, for example, and medical records in the United States are not centralized.

“It’s harder to see signals when you have so many people, and things are happening in different parts of the country, and they’re not all collected in the same system,” said Rebecca Chandler, a vaccine safety expert at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

An expert panel convened by the National Academies concluded in April that for the vast majority of side effects, there was not enough data to accept or reject a link.

Asked at a recent congressional hearing whether the nation’s vaccine-safety surveillance was sufficient, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the F.D.A.’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said, “I do believe we could do better.”

In some countries with centralized health care systems, officials have actively sought out reports of serious side effects of Covid vaccines and reached conclusions that U.S. health authorities have not.

In Hong Kong, the government analyzed centralized medical records of patients after vaccination and paid people to come forward with problems. The strategy identified “a lot of mild cases that other countries would not otherwise pick up,” said Ian Wong, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong who led the nation’s vaccine safety efforts.

That included the finding that in rare instances — about seven per million doses — the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine triggered a bout of shingles serious enough to require hospitalization.

The European Medicines Agency has linked the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to facial paralysis, tingling sensations and numbness. The E.M.A. also counts tinnitus as a side effect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, although the American health agencies do not. There are more than 17,000 reports of tinnitus following Covid vaccination in VAERS.

Are the two linked? It’s not clear. As many as one in four adults has some form of tinnitus. Stress, anxiety, grief and aging can lead to the condition, as can infections like Covid itself and the flu.

There is no test or scan for tinnitus, and scientists cannot easily study it because the inner ear is tiny, delicate and encased in bone, said Dr. Konstantina Stankovic, an otolaryngologist at Stanford University.

Still, an analysis of health records from nearly 2.6 million people in the United States found that about 0.04 percent , or about 1,000, were diagnosed with tinnitus within three weeks of their first mRNA shot. In March, researchers in Australia published a study linking tinnitus and vertigo to the vaccines .

The F.D.A. is monitoring reports of tinnitus, but “at this time, the available evidence does not suggest a causal association with the Covid-19 vaccines,” the agency said in a statement.

Despite surveillance efforts, U.S. officials were not the first to identify a significant Covid vaccine side effect: myocarditis in young people receiving mRNA vaccines. It was Israeli authorities who first raised the alarm in April 2021. Officials in the United States said at the time that they had not seen a link.

On May 22, 2021, news broke that the C.D.C. was investigating a “relatively few” cases of myocarditis. By June 23, the number of myocarditis reports in VAERS had risen to more than 1,200 — a hint that it is important to tell doctors and patients what to look for.

Later analyses showed that the risk for myocarditis and pericarditis, a related condition, is highest after a second dose of an mRNA Covid vaccine in adolescent males aged 12 to 17 years.

In many people, vaccine-related myocarditis is transient. But some patients continue to experience pain, breathlessness and depression, and some show persistent changes on heart scans . The C.D.C. has said there were no confirmed deaths related to myocarditis, but in fact there have been several accounts of deaths reported post-vaccination .

Pervasive Misinformation

The rise of the anti-vaccine movement has made it difficult for scientists, in and out of government, to candidly address potential side effects, some experts said. Much of the narrative on the purported dangers of Covid vaccines is patently false, or at least exaggerated, cooked up by savvy anti-vaccine campaigns.

Questions about Covid vaccine safety are core to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. Citing debunked theories about altered DNA, Florida’s surgeon general has called for a halt to Covid vaccination in the state.

“The sheer nature of misinformation, the scale of misinformation, is staggering, and anything will be twisted to make it seem like it’s not just a devastating side effect but proof of a massive cover-up,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at Johns Hopkins University.

Among the hundreds of millions of Americans who were immunized for Covid, some number would have had heart attacks or strokes anyway. Some women would have miscarried. How to distinguish those caused by the vaccine from those that are coincidences? The only way to resolve the question is intense research .

But the National Institutes of Health is conducting virtually no studies on Covid vaccine safety, several experts noted. William Murphy, a cancer researcher who worked at the N.I.H. for 12 years, has been prodding federal health officials to initiate these studies since 2021.

The officials each responded with “that very tired mantra: ‘But the virus is worse,’” Dr. Murphy recalled. “Yes, the virus is worse, but that doesn’t obviate doing research to make sure that there may be other options.”

A deeper understanding of possible side effects, and who is at risk for them, could have implications for the design of future vaccines, or may indicate that for some young and healthy people, the benefit of Covid shots may no longer outweigh the risks — as some European countries have determined.

Thorough research might also speed assistance to thousands of Americans who say they were injured.

The federal government has long run the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program , designed to compensate people who suffer injuries after vaccination. Established more than three decades ago, the program sets no limit on the amounts awarded to people found to have been harmed.

But Covid vaccines are not covered by that fund because Congress has not made them subject to the excise tax that pays for it. Some lawmakers have introduced bills to make the change.

Instead, claims regarding Covid vaccines go to the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program . Intended for public health emergencies, this program has narrow criteria to pay out and sets a limit of $50,000, with stringent standards of proof.

It requires applicants to prove within a year of the injury that it was “the direct result” of getting the Covid vaccine, based on “compelling, reliable, valid, medical, and scientific evidence.”

The program had only four staff members at the beginning of the pandemic, and now has 35 people evaluating claims. Still, it has reviewed only a fraction of the 13,000 claims filed, and has paid out only a dozen.

Dr. Ilka Warshawsky, a 58-year-old pathologist, said she lost all hearing in her right ear after a Covid booster shot. But hearing loss is not a recognized side effect of Covid vaccination.

The compensation program for Covid vaccines sets a high bar for proof, she said, yet offers little information on how to meet it: “These adverse events can be debilitating and life-altering, and so it’s very upsetting that they’re not acknowledged or addressed.”

Dr. Zimmerman, the neuroscientist, submitted her application in October 2021 and provided dozens of supporting medical documents. She received a claim number only in January 2023.

In adjudicating her claim for workers’ compensation, Washington State officials accepted that Covid vaccination caused her injury, but she has yet to get a decision from the federal program.

One of her therapists recently told her she might never be able to live independently again.

“That felt like a devastating blow,” Dr. Zimmerman said. “But I’m trying not to lose hope there will someday be a treatment and a way to cover it.”

Apoorva Mandavilli is a reporter focused on science and global health. She was a part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the pandemic. More about Apoorva Mandavilli

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