CONFESSIONS STILL POPULAR

By Hanna Rowan

As a preteen I often secreted myself in the basement to sneak a peek at such magazines as True Story or True Confessions, reading stories I considered quite racy at the time. And while times and social values may have changed, True Story and True Confessions continue to offer a peek into the lives and hearts of women, and a lucrative market for the writer who can tell a heartfelt story in 3000 to 7000 words.

True Story and True Confessions are the sole survivors of a group of magazines which used to contain such titles as True Romance and True Love, originally published by MacFadden which merged with Sterling in 1991 to form Sterling MacFadden Publishing. In 2004, Dorchester acquired the group of publications. Early in 2012, a new company called True Renditions LLC acquired the magazines. (http://www.truerendtionsllc.com/) This company has been working to increase circulation and exposure, bringing back an option to subscribe.

Editors Samantha Hazell and Hannah Wolfson are active in a yahoo group for confession writers. For writers interested in exploring this field, a subscription to groups.yahoo.com/group/truewriters will provide access to writers’ guidelines and the expertise of veteran confession authors.

For anyone unfamiliar with confession magazines, a visit to http://www.zinio.com/ will allow them to buy a copy if they cannot find one on their local newsstand.

Guidelines posted by the editors in April of this year include the following…

“The underlying theme is overcoming adversities in life. True Confessions’ readers want to read about women who have been through turmoil, but made it to the end by relying on their own willpower, determination, God, their children—whatever it is! Our readers want to be inspired by the characters they read about and gain strength and knowledge from the experiences they go through.

“True Story is an extraordinary publication that gets its inspiration from the hearts and minds of women, and it reads like a woman’s diary. Each issue of the magazine is an emotional journey filled with testaments of the ups and downs that every woman experiences. The articles touch on those things in life that a woman holds close to her heart, such as love, loss, family, and friendship.”

The stories are told in first person, past tense. Both magazines offer themed features as well, with varying amounts of payment. True Confession stories pay three cents per word, and True Story pays five cents. Editors prefer email submissions to trueswriters@yahoo.com, but will accept paper submissions in standard manuscript format at True Renditions, 105 E. 34th St. Box 141, New York NY 10016.♥




Hannah Rowan worked as a reporter for her local newspaper writing news, features, a gossip column and a humor column for almost twenty years. She was a stringer for the Star ledger and did news for WXMC-AM radio, and has been published in national magazines. Hannah has had two romance novels published. During a hiatus from writing she has been working at an assisted living facility doing activities, but has reentered the writing world with a story published in the June edition of True Story magazine.