Write to Market: The People’s Friend
By: Stevie Adler
Tags: Writing For Money, Publishing, Writing Tips, Writing, Writers Life

Write to Market: The People’s Friend

The People’s Friend is the longest-running women’s magazine in the world. They publish fictional stories and factual articles weekly. Circulation is 162,000 weekly (ABC Jan-June 2019 average).

Each magazine bought is usually read by at least one other person apart from the purchaser, so, being published in one of these magazines has the potential to get some 300,000 sets of eyeballs on each and every story!

Much better than the couple of hundred, or so, readers one gets on Medium for the average short story over the first year.

I decided to have a proper look at The People’s Friend (PF) with a view to submitting a story.

First Thoughts

The People’s Friend publishes a lot of fiction. It is a respected women’s magazine available at many newsagents and newsstands in the UK weekly.

They consider unsolicited submissions. Most women’s magazines only accept stories from listed authors.

Could I change or adapt my style of writing from the short twisty microfiction I tend to write to what The People’s Friend require?

Time to do some research.

What Kind of Fiction?

The first point of call is their submission guidelines.

Since most of their content can be freelanced, they have guidelines for everything, including poetry, features, and photography.

We are interested in the PF Fiction Guidelines, which can be downloaded as a PDF easily enough. If you are new to submitting manuscripts make sure you read and understand these. Additionally there is also The Ultimate Guide to Submissions which goes into more detail on the format required.

From the downloaded guide, PF readers don’t like shocking or depressing stories. They insist on Happy Ever After (HEA) or stories with an uplifting end.

I never thought I was a HEA person until recently. I was halfway through reading a novel and the main character was in a bad way. Everything was against her. I remember thinking, “I will be so disappointed if she doesn’t find a way through all these problems.” This was a revelation. Since I like to read HEA, perhaps I might like to write it.

So, I read every short story in The Peoples Friend for seven weeks to try and get a feel for what they publish and therefore what they want. Here are some observations.

Number and Length of Stories Required

The People’s Friend (PF) publishes seven short stories, two series and a serial, every week, as well as factual articles.

Current Fiction Story word-count:

1 x 1200

3 x 1800

1 x 2000

1 x 3000

an “opener” story 2700–3000

Being a printed magazine there are fixed areas that need to be filled, so make sure word-count is more than quoted, up to 10% more seems OK, and never less.

A note on word-count

I have seen three sets of word-count requirement, which makes it a little confusing. My advice is go for 2,000-words AND always write about 10% more. So really write 2,200 or so. The reason to aim for this length is all three sets of requirements need about half of the seven stories at the

2,000-word mark, so this length is more easily placed in the magazine(s).

There is also a sister Specials magazine, published every three weeks. This has 14 short stories in each edition. So the overall market is much bigger than just the weekly magazine.

Note: There are slight differences between the weekly and the Specials magazines of what they publish but have same guidelines.

There is even a daily online serial AND a printed Christmas Annual.

The requirement for new stories must be relentless.

Stories

I had the preconception that women’s magazines are full of romances, but not so. In my seven weeks read I noted no love stories and only a couple hinting at romance.

Stories can be contemporary or historical and set anywhere in the world, not just Britain. The main character need not be female, but there must be an uplifting end.

What readers want is: “ordinary people, with problems they can sympathise with, and in situations they can relate to.” Stories can be about anyone, anywhere, contemporary or historical, with an uplifting end.

There are seven genres listed that work for them: Young romance, Mature romance, Period romance, Family, Junior, Twist in the tale, Ghost and General. For fuller details see here.

Language — Swearing? A definite no-no. Think the sort of language you use when on your best behaviour. I did note that dialect is sometimes used, usually to good effect. If it works it adds to the atmosphere of the story.

Seasonal stories should be submitted six months ahead of the season. ie Christmas stories should be submitted by the end of June.

Editors try to ‘balance’ story-lines so there is a variety in each edition.

Panels

They have reader panels that discuss the types of stories they like to read. These throw up requests and suggestions which are then filtered to writers.

Recently there have been calls for more romance AND more “twist in the tail” stories. Recently editors have said they like “junior viewpoint” stories but they don’t seem to get many sent in.

My Suggestions for Stories

Even though “twist in the tail” stories are actively sought, I only read a couple; it must be difficult to keep these realistic, but they do give a story an extra dimension.

I don’t remember reading any stories about people in academia and yet there must be plenty of readers who are ex-teachers or lecturers that would be interested in such stories.

If you need a spark to start writing see their weekly writing prompts for Story Starters.

Practicalities

Payment is on a scale, on acceptance (current rates here).

Stories must be printed, according to guidelines, and posted via snail mail.

If you live outside the UK you have the option to email submissions.

On average, PF signup one new writer every week. They accept male and female authors.

One thing that I will recommend for anyone making any submission, no matter how good, is to get a couple of other people to read it through for possible problems. Better still join a writers circle or critiquing group. If you don’t know any writers locally there are many groups online (my favourite is Scribophile).

It can take up to 16 weeks for a reply to a story submission.

Many literary journals take longer.

Additional Notes

They are actively seeking new writers:

Dream Big — A Few Notes To Encourage New Writers

Active on Twitter, Username: @TheFriendMag and “meet” with authors on the #PFWritingHour 11am every Tuesday (UK time) for one hour. During this time there is usually a call for questions, so it is possible to get an immediate answer to queries. These meetings are friendly and make it possible to interact with other People’s Friend authors.

There is a Facebook page (with videos), and other social media.

There are a huge number of fiction writing hints and tips on their web site.

For the latest news from the world of women’s magazine fiction including PF see the Womag and Other Writing.

Summary

Happy Ever After is not for everyone but I have come to expect it in my reading and feel I might be happy to write it. I have a story in mind and a word-count to aim for. All I have to do is sit down and write it.

The People’s Friend publish many more fiction stories each week than most other women’s magazines. They read and consider every submission. The editorial staff are friendly and accessible.

In choosing The People’s Friend to research first I seem to have stumbled upon the ideal magazine for the new author. If you are considering them as a possible market, read a few editions first, to get a feel for what they publish, and if you do submit, good luck!