“Uplifting, escapist stories will remain in demand.”

Women’s magazines haven’t escaped the curse of 2020. At the start of the first lockdown printed copies going out of date in closed shops and difficulty producing new issues caused financial losses. Covid restrictions forced many editors to work from home. In many cases this means authors waiting longer than usual for responses, particularly with postal submissions.

Not all the bad news is directly virus related. Australian magazine that’s life! are cutting costs by reusing previously published work for no fee (as their contract allows) rather than buying new stories. Restructuring within several companies has meant changes of editorial staff at Allas (Sweden), You (South Africa) and Woman’s Weekly. A change in policy means that Take A Break’s Fiction Feast has joined the growing trend of demanding all rights from fiction contributors.

The Weekly News and Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special have been discontinued, due to falling sales. This has increased competition for the remaining fiction slots, meaning some editors have had to continue their practice of only accepting submissions from a limited number of writers, or to temporarily close to all submissions, as is currently the case with You.

There is a piece of good news. Best magazine, which stopped its regular fiction slot a few years ago, has introduced short story competitions. These are free to enter and offer publication in the magazine as well as cash to the winner and runners up.

A positive aspect of Covid restrictions is that many people have discovered, or rediscovered, the pleasure of fiction. My prediction for 2021 is that uplifting, escapist stories, such as those provided by women’s magazines, will remain in demand, but the way in which they’re accessed will continue to change. I think fewer titles will be stocked in high street shops and more readers will take out subscriptions, or use technology to view the content. Because services such as Readly cost the same however many magazines are read, and PressReader is available free to library card holders, many readers may be tempted to try titles they wouldn’t otherwise have considered, and publications might see an increase in readership.