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Free Magazines: How to Find Them
by Patricia Spork

If you want to write articles for consumer or trade magazines, you should study the magazines for content and style before writing and making that first submission. Getting magazines to research can cost you money. But you do not have to spend a penny for some magazines.

Many writers subscribe to magazines that offer the first issue free. Once the issue is received, the subscription is often canceled. That is one way to get free magazines of your choice. But stay observant and you may not have to take time to subscribe in the first place. Get in the habit of searching for free magazines during your daily routines.

If you enjoy going to the library, browse magazines when you choose or return books. Find magazines that you want to write for and locate articles that meet your topics of interest. Copy and use these articles as examples when writing for that magazine. When making copies, be sure to copy the inside page that gives the editor’s name, magazine’s address, and phone number. You may need this information to request writer’s and photographer’s guidelines.

Have a dentist or doctor appointment? While in the waiting area, browse the magazines on display that are for client reading. Do not steal a magazine that you want (as some people might do), but instead be polite and ask the receptionist if you can have the magazine. Explain why you want it. If the receptionist is reluctant to part with the magazine, offer a trade of one (or more) magazines that you have gathering dust at home. Dust them off before you make the trade. I have brought home several magazines this way.

Garage sales sometimes house a treasure of magazines. If you find a magazine that suits your needs, ask what price the seller wants for it. Usually you will be offered a total price for all of the magazines. Turn it down unless you want the deal. If not, and you still want a free magazine, explain that you are a writer. Stress why you need the magazine.

An explanation about research and the high cost of stocking research material, such as magazines, usually has the seller sympathize with you. By doing so, the seller might let you walk away with a free magazine.

A beggars trick? No, I’d say it was one way of bartering for the best price. The best price to me is always FREE! Be careful though—you may find yourself spending money on other items at these garage sales.

Do not forget the abundance of free magazines that are now available on the Internet. Many print magazines have Web sites. Some online magazines have content like their print counterparts. There are magazines (webzines/ezines) that are only published online. Writer and photographer guidelines can be printed straight from some Web sites, and submissions may be e-mailed to editors saving you snail mail postage costs.

Friends, neighbors and family are other free magazine resources. Glance around for magazines that may be lying around when you visit. Offer to take the magazines if they are of no further use to the owners.

Let your friends, neighbors, and family know that you are open to receiving magazines anytime. Be the curb service of magazine disposal and you may have occasional calls for pick up. You can have these same people help you find magazines during their daily routines, too! No telling how many magazines you might inherit having extra helpers.

Holidays like Christmas or your birthday can be opportune times to receive free magazines in your mailbox. Drop hints to family or friends that you would like nothing better than a subscription to a particular magazine as a gift. Enough hints to the right people could have your mailbox overflowing with different magazine subscriptions each year.

Before submitting to any magazine that you have researched, be sure to verify who and where to send your submission. If you are lucky, and an article is accepted, the magazine company may include a magazine subscription as full or partial payment for your article. Consider not refusing the offer. The magazines are free! If you can not use them, maybe someone else can.

Free magazines can be circulated to other writers that you know, or distributed to hospitals and clinics where other writers may frequent. Many writers are on a quest for free magazines. Finding free magazines to research can be a challenge. If you are up to the challenge, then start hunting for those free magazines today.

Copyright © 2000 Patricia Spork

Patricia Spork is the owner of

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