Let's get the bad news finished first.

There is no denying it. It is a hard time for women's magazine short story writers.

Doors are slamming shut left right and centre.

Women's Own

Bella

Chat

Woman

Best

Take a Break

The Lady

Have all but completely closed their pages to fiction.

Candis

Your Cat

Your Dog

Women and Home

S Magazine

Prima

Have closed their doors to unsolicited stories, and what remains of their fiction slots will now be commissioned.

With fewer editors on staff, the magazines are saying they simply do not have the time to read submissions, and they need perfect on spec stories that will not require them to dedicate any more of their very limited time to actual editing. Some are saying that a great deal of publicity can be generated by having an already well known author write for a magazine. With the hope that the author will bring their own fan club with them, magazines are preparing to spend more to buy what they know.

It is sad, so many freelancers have spent a decade or more relying on this market.

However, in order to have a rainbow, we must have both the sunshine and the rain.

Tomorrow we will look at what remains of magazine fiction, and how you can grab hold of a piece of the endangered women's magazine short story pie.