I'm not sure how to find this out, but there must be a way. How do you find out the number of subscribers or readership for a magazine or literary journal? This question came to me after I read I post by @J.T. Woody who was turned away from placing a subscription order to a publication because they had reached their limit to subscribe. That just sounds crazy to me. I know you can find out this information about some of the bigger publications, but it's for sure not easy to pin down for all of them. And especially when you get into the literary journal scene. But this is something I'm interested in. How would you go about determining the how many subscribers a journal has or how large their readership is? I'm particularly curious about some of the big-name publications and mid-level publications. Have any of you ever looked into this for places you've published? I actually only know the number of subscribers for one place I've published because they mention it or I've seen it mentioned somewhere. I know I submit to good places that I like to read, and I am very proud of my work that has been published, but I honestly am curious to find out their number of subscribers or how big their print runs are. How would you go about finding this information?
If they are publicly traded, then look at their financial reports. Income should be listed by source. Divide that by subscription price, and you have a ballpark number.
It's really tough to find circulation numbers. I looked into it a few years ago when I was trying to work out a tiered submission list, and I didn't get very far. (But it was at least a productive way to procrastinate from writing, lol) The first place to start is probably their website's about page. Some places list their numbers right there (Rattle is a great example; I wish every publisher was this open), and others have a link to marketing info for advertisers. Most don't seem to have anything, though. If they're a print journal, you may be able to find the info in the magazine itself. The USPS requires any periodical that publishes with a certain frequency (I think it's at least 4x a year, but don't quote me) to print their subscriber info at least once a year. Flip through some back issues and you may find just what you're looking for. For speculative fiction, Locus magazine does an annual market report that's chock full of useful information. That one's especially good because they also include digital subscriptions and website traffic directly from the publishers when they can get them. I eventually gave up looking for real readership data and started using Twitter followers as a proxy. It's not a perfect metric (especially now), but I figured it was at least a decent way to gauge relative the popularities of different publishers.
Is it okay to ask this question of publications? I honestly don't know if that's a weird thing to do or not. I would think good publications would be happy to provide this number, right? Any of them should, really, IMO.
Okay, I'm really not sure about asking this kind of info. Maybe if I asked the advertising department, it would be easier. I'm sure they have that info there. But, again, I don't want to seem weird for asking this information even at places that have published me. @AntPoems -- I tried looking in the back of issues, but I'm not finding anything like that. The publications I'm looking at are well established and are sold in at least some bookstores. They have the ISBN with a barcode and a price on the back. But I'm not seeing anything about subscribers, sales numbers, or print run anywhere in the issues. And since some of these are regularly carried in bookstores so that would also be that to factor in somewhere. I don't know. I'm not going to put to much effort into this. It's more of a curiosity thing. But it would be nice if this sort of thing was more readily available.
Eh, too bad they didn't print the info, but I suppose it was worth checking. Like I said, I don't know what the actual requirements for periodicals are (and I can't seem to find an authoritative reference), so it's quite possible the journals you're curious about don't need to print that stuff. I know I've seen it in big mags like the New Yorker and Atlantic and some small to medium publications like The Sun and Funny Times, but a lot of journals are smaller and published less frequently. As for asking directly, I don't know. It does feel weirdly personal, like asking someone their salary or their weight, doesn't it? Granted, those kinds of social taboos are kind of dumb, too, but they do exist. Heh, maybe you need to put that journalism background to use. Make up a fake personality and ask directly from a throwaway email address. Then if they get huffy about it, they won't connect it to you. Whatever it takes to get the story, right? But yeah, it really does seem like this info should be easier to find. I'm sure the publishers have the numbers, so the only reasons I can think of to hide them are laziness and shame, and neither of them are very good.
I'm too chicken to ask the publisher. It just seems weird a bit. I am just wondering if my latest publication has more readers and subscribers than what has been my best up to this point. I have some numbers for my older one, but the new one definitely has some reach, too. Both of these can be found in bookstores. It probably doesn't matter all that much. I'm already nervous, leading up to the new issue with my story coming out. Does anyone else go visit a publication that's carried in bookstores when your story is printed in the pages? I'm not going to buy it since I'm sure they will send me some copies when they pay me upon publication. But I just want to see the issue on the magazine rack. Maybe tell some strangers, "Hey, I'm in this one." LOL.
Yeah, can't fault you for that. It probably shows that you have good sense, but I still kind of want you to do the experiment and post the results here for all of us. C'mon, take one for the team! LOL, oh, I'm totally with you there. I've only been in one "big" publication, but I just had to buy a copy of it from Barnes and Noble even though they gave me some contributor's copies. Hey, I needed one to frame! And I was absolutely tempted to brag to strangers (especially the cute ones lol), but ended up being too shy. Oh well.
Maybe there's a way to bring it up when the issue comes out. The thing is that I know this place has a high number of readers and subscribers. I'm assuming this based on things I've read and know of this publication, and also that it's in bookstores. I feel like if I ask, they could be like, "Don't you just know we're a big deal?" I feel very lucky and proud that they bought a story from me. I have been reading them for decades. I just wish I knew how many other people were reading them. Or maybe that would just make me nervous. A lot of the bigger journals don't mention anything about pay, and I also feel weird about bringing that up. I had to fill out tax forms along with the contract. I imagine they might pay bigger names more money or something like that, but I don't know if the rate is a flat rate for my piece, or by page, or word count. This is only the second place that has had me fill out tax forms. And I just waited, and a check came with my copies. That was my biggest sale to date. I don't think I'll bring up money this time either. I know I will be paid. Do you bring up payment? And if so, when do you do it? If you have to fill out tax forms, I think that's a pretty good sign. Would you just wait and see what comes? When I was in the bookstore, I took a selfie in front of the magazine rack in front of the issue I was in. It probably got the most likes of anything on my Instagram. I was going to buy a copy (even though they had sent me some). but there was one left. I asked the guy at the counter if they had more in back and how many copies they get at a time. Poor kid had no idea how to answer any of my questions. I left the copy on the rack so someone else could find it. I also did frame a copy of that publication. It is kind of weird to think a lot of people read your story. I mean maybe a real lot. But I don't know what any of those readers thought of my story. I probably won't this time either. They say you should aim to please one person with your writing. I aim to please a big-time editor with each story I write. I guess that's the reader I always picture.
Actually, if you really want to know, that might be exactly the way to approach it. Use those words exactly -- they're honest and heartfelt and true. Editors are people, too, you know. They like sincerity. I've never had a piece accepted anywhere that didn't disclose their payment info upfront, so I've never had to ask. But I'd say you're doing the right thing here. If you had to fill out a tax form, you'll definitely have something to smile about when you get that check. It is weird, and I've definitely wondered myself, especially with the more personal pieces. An editor once forwarded me an email from a reader pointing out that I had "scientifically wrong info" in a humor short, but they didn't say if they liked it or not. My one real high came when a writer that I respect commented that she adored a particular sentence I had written in a Medium piece; I was smiling all week after that. But those moments are few and far between. Lol, I know you're anxious, but try to relax and be happy. Your work is going to appear in one of your dream publications! That's amazing! People are going to read it, and they're going to love it, and they'll give it to their friends and family and say, "You have to read this!" I'm super stoked for you.
I found this video completely disrespectful to the publications listed and their writers. And these statistics mean nothing. A lot of the bigger publications don't publish work online either for free or at all. Readers know to subscribe or buy a copy to read an issues. And the way this guy is talking about how he came up with this is all about web traffic through search engines. This guy with some publication (that the places he bashes I'm sure have never heard of) seems to have only made this video to make it look like his publication is something bigger than it is and he takes a very strange approach to this. Bashing the big players and saying no one reads New Yorker poetry is just ridiculous and makes him look a little stupid. This video has very little to do with publications (at least from any standpoint in reality) and way more about this guy just wanting to bitch while on his little soapbox. @Username Required -- I asked a real question here. There was no need to try and make something like this controversial and continuously promote your friend's publication in the process.
Sorry, I thought it would be helpful. I just deleted it. Mr. Brown and I aren’t friends; we don’t know each other except for having read each other’s work. It was just the only place I could find any statistics. You’ll know when I promote my friends’ poetry when I explicitly say so.
I wouldn't have watched the video except for the objection and subsequent deletion of the same, a situation which always makes me curious. The content of the video was mildly interesting, perhaps because it made me feel I am in good company with my tendency to skip past poetry in magazines the way I skip past eggplants in the grocery store. They're very beautiful, but I don't particularly want to injest one. I'm happy to overlook the snark in return for the line, "Revolution has become institutionalized."
