What To Do If You Like The Magazine
Expanding the readership of the Inner Circle Writers’ Magazine has several benefits for you as a writer:
1. By increasing the number of people who subscribe to the magazine, you are guaranteed a wider readership for anything that you might get published there.
What are your chances of getting published in the magazine? Well, given that there are 12 issues a year, each with well over 100 pages, if you write a good short story, a piece of flash fiction, an enlightening article about some aspect of writing, an interesting feature about your own work, a book or movie review, some good poems, or produce some eye-catching art, the chances are quite high that your work will appear in its pages. All you have to do is send it to
and it will eventually be seriously considered. But getting more people to read the magazine means more satisfaction for you as a writer, the chance to boost your reputation, be seen by influencers and develop a fanbase around the world.
2. More readers means more writers likely to contribute, which not only means a wider range of entertaining fiction but also the chance to read various insights about the topic of writing which could be of use to you. When a writer like Gary Bonn decides to pen an article about world-building, it’s worth paying attention; when Warren Alexander writes about how to be funny, you stand a good chance of learning something valuable. But there are so many more writers out there with incredibly worthwhile experiences which could help you — and many of them haven’t yet heard of the magazine and the submission opportunities it brings.
More readers = more wisdom for you.
3. As a significant part of the magazine is interviews and snapshots of other writers, then apart from the articles that the magazine contains, you can see right into the lives of other people who write fiction and learn what makes them tick, what their favourite books are, how their careers developed, and what they advise other writers to do.
Basically, by reading about others’ lives, you come to appreciate the fact that you are not alone in the world’s loneliest profession: you are part of a community of people who share the same broad interests and purposes. If you can help make that community larger, all the better.
So what should you do if you want the magazine to get more readers?
Firstly, you should subscribe yourself (if you haven’t done so already) so that you don’t miss out on any of the value and opportunities which are unfolding throughout the year.
Secondly, talk up the magazine in the Facebook group. The Inner Circle Writers’ Group on Facebook forms the gathering place of the hottest ‘prospects’ for the magazine. The group has over 10,000 members, many of whom have not yet heard of the magazine, believe it or not — or, if they have, they have not yet appreciated what a bargain it is. Talking about it in the group raises its profile and shows all members what they are missing out on.
Thirdly, talk about the magazine in other social media groups to do with writing. These are often much, much larger and contain writers who are desperate for the kinds of things that the magazine contains. If I advertise in those groups, it always looks like I’m ‘selling’ to them: ’Of course he’s going to rave about the magazine,’ they say. ‘He produces it!’ Whereas if you, the readers, rave about the ICWM, other writers tend to listen a bit more.
It’s always the case that customers who are happy with something and talk about it are listened to with more avid attention than the purveyors of the thing itself. It’s because they speak freely and without anything to gain. What’s one of the first things you do when considering buying something online? You check what other customers have said in the reviews, right? So talking about the value that the magazine contains for you, and the kinds of things you’ve learned or enjoyed through it, gets more interest from those thinking about subscribing themselves. You don’t have to ‘sell’ the magazine — just talk about it. One glimpse of its contents will persuade most people that there is something worthwhile there; and its price has been kept exceptionally low precisely so that it doesn’t really raise any objections for the vast majority of prospective readers.
Fourthly, if you’re really keen and want to help, share the Clarendon House posts about the magazine far and wide in writers’ groups. Easy to do and not time-consuming. But keep in mind that it’s not really about numbers: it’s always tempting to think it is, but much more important than numbers is authenticity and affinity. Yes, hundreds of thousands of people could and should learn about the magazine, but I’d rather have a highly interested but smaller group of real people learn about it than vast crowds of indifferent identities.
Have any questions? Contact me:
And thanks for anything and everything that you do! We can all learn and grow and flourish together!
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