A friend recently admired a long line of UK non-fiction magazine issues that I get twice a year and then looked at the price and blinked. “Wow, they cost!” Yes, they do, because although they aren’t gloss-covers, they are over 80 pages in foolscap per issue, feature some very well-known names in mystery fiction in both the letter column and contributed articles , and at that size postage from England is a fair amount. But they’re useful in keeping me up to date with the field, I love most of the articles and reviews, the pages covering people in the field who’ve recently died are often handy, and all in all they’re worth every penny. Then too, I very rarely pay for my copy. Instead I write reviews and articles for them and receive my current copy in exchange. And this may be something other writers can do if they like a magazine of this type. Swap your writing for copies of the magazine. Okay, most of us are used to doing some of that with fiction, but some factual magazines will do it too, where else do you think semi-pro get their contributions? My connection with this magazine dates back more than a decade – for most of which time I’ve been trading writing for copies. It’s been a good deal on both sides and I not only recommend it, I hope to continue for the life of the magazine – or mine – whichever comes first.
