Magazines Writer's Digest (1-year)
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Learn the Tools of the Writing Trade
Writer's Digest is a magazine designed for writers and it attempts to cover many different aspects of writing in its columns and featured articles. Most every issue offers at least one interview with a famous or semi- famous author. This spotlighted author could be the author of a book, a screen writer, or some other type of author. These interviews offer some good insight into writing success and the necessary skills and sacrifices to succeed at your chosen craft.

Aside from the interviews, Writer's Digest is basically a magazine of tips and advice. One issue might talk about ways to break into the business of movie reviewing for newspapers. Another might talk about ways to make your writing more concise and less wordy. Still another article might discuss ways to overcome writer's block. The main goal of Writer's Digest is to help the reader become a better writer and, hopefully, gain an offer for a publication at some point in the future.

One thing that is a little different with Writer's Digest is that it doesn't contain the long list of standard monthly departments like you find in other magazines. With Writer's Digest, the departments are de-emphasized and there are only a few of them in each issue. The rest of Writer's Digest is dedicated to columns and featured articles. This format is unique and it makes Writer's Digest a good choice for those who like change and prefer to read something different in each issue.

Writer's Digest does contain a pretty good number of advertisements, but the ads are usually for writing conferences, writing software, writing contests, or ads that encourage a visit to the magazine's own web site. Because the ads stay so focused on the subject of writing, they don't seem all that bad and they are not distracting. I know some Writer's Digest readers who actually look forward to the ads so that they can find information on the latest contests. And speaking of the magazine's web site, it seems to be an important component of the magazine because it is referenced on many pages throughout each issue.

Writer's Digest is a pretty good magazine for writer and I like it for its advice and classified ads more than anything. The success stories can sometimes get a bit carried away and they make it look a little too easy to land a huge writing contract. It would also be nice if Writer's Digest was published monthly rather than semi- monthly. But Writer's Digest is still a good magazine for writers everywhere, with plenty of good advice and tips to help you become the writer you always knew you could be.

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Rating: - Best for the hobbyist or starting writer
If you are making your living by writing you probably won't use this magazine as much as a hobbyist or a beginning writer.

This magazine makes a nice gift subscription for friends or family who enjoy writing for a hobby. Each issue comes with 3-4 large features or how-to articles. These articles focus on different aspects of the writing life, including development, marketing and interviews with published authors, agents and editors of publishing houses.

As other reviewers mentioned, most of the writing topics in this magazine and similar resources can be found online. That doesn't mean you should not buy a subscription as a gift.

The magazine is perfect for an older person who is not comfortable with computers or someone who doesn't have access to a high-speed Internet service. The monthly assortment of articles helps to encourage and stimulate a beginning writer. There are gems for everyone that can be found in a one-year subscription to Writer's Digest.

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Rating: - Not rating Writer's Digest, just Amazon's subscription scheme
My beef is with Amazon's advertising "up to 75% off" for subscriptions. I've checked the rates for VQR, Poetry, Writer's Digest, and Poets & writers, and I'm four for four: Amazon's rates are either exactly the same as those posted on these journals' websites, or (in the case of Writer's Digest and P&W) more expensive. It's nice, I guess, that Amazon is providing more exposure for these journals; nonetheless, for them to claim they're offering a discount, while not exactly a lie (since they're offering a discount over the per-copy price), is deceiving, as they don't seem to be offering a cheaper rate than that already offered by the journals. Caveat, as always, emptor.

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Rating: - Excellent Resource!
Writer's Digest publishes hands-on, practical articles for writers. Their interviews contain smart tidbits that I can apply quickly, and they don't write down to readers. I like the brevity of their articles too -- busy writers can read an article in five minutes or less. That's my style.