Writer's Digest

Writer's Digest

Editor	Jessica Strawser
Frequency	8 per year
Company	F+W Media
Country	United States
Based in	Cincinnati, Ohio
Language	English
Website	www.writersdigest.com
ISSN	0043-9525

Writer's Digest is an American magazine devoted to both beginning and established writers, offering interviews, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and how-to articles.

Writer's Digest is owned by F+W Media, which also publishes the annual edition of Writer's Market, a guide similar in size to a telephone directory containing a comprehensive list of all paying markets — magazines, publishing houses, and contests — as well as an index and many tips for the beginning writer on how to compose query letters and proper manuscript format. The magazine is published 8 times per year by editor Jessica Strawser, managing editor Zachary Petit, and online community editor Brian A. Klems.

Writer's Digest also sponsors several in-house contests annually. Of particular interest are the Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards and their Annual Writing Competition for short stories. Both are contests with fees and cash prizes for the Grand Prize Winner and Runners-Up. Certificates of participation and personal letters from the contest judges are given to all entrants in the Self-Published Book competition.

History

A copy of the 1939 edition of Writer's Market, published by Writer's Digest Books rests next to William Faulkner's Underwood Universal Portable typewriter in his office at his home, Rowan Oak, which is now maintained by the University of Mississippi in Oxford as a museum.

Writer's Digest was established in 1920 under the name Successful Writing, first issue, December. It changed name to Writer's Digest with the March 1921 issue. By the late 1920s, it shifted emphasis more from literary-quality writing to the rapidly growing pulp magazine field, which offered the widest opportunities to freelance writers. An important feature from 1933 forward was the New York Market Letter, edited by Harriet Bradfield, which gave timely updates on editor needs in the magazine field. As the pulp field collapsed in the 1950s, Writer's Digest shifted emphasis to famous writers and quality fiction.

Annual grand prize winners

• 2003 Michele Bardsley "A Mother Scorned" (short story)
• 2004 J. K. Mason "My Own Avatar" (short story)
• 2005 Nancy Tupper Ling "White Birch" (poem)
• 2006 Mary Feuer "House on Fire" (short story)
• 2007 Eros-Alegra Clarke "Salamander Prayer" (memoir)
• 2008 Jacob Appel "The Mistress of Wholesome" (drama)
• 2009 John Moir "Condors in a Coal Mine" (non-fiction)
• 2010 Julie L. Moran "Lunch With Debbie" (short story)

See also

• Guide to Literary Agents
• Writer's Market

External links

• Writer's Digest magazine
• Writers Online Workshop, from Writer's Digest magazine