© 2018 Tina Radcliffe
“Woman’s World is written for the traditional, 
family-oriented woman with a feel-good mix of heartwarming human interest stories and practical solutions.” –Woman’s World Facebook
The top-selling magazine in retail with a total audience of 6.1 million is a weekly with a short romance and short mystery in every issue. The key to selling to this market is to understand the demographics that is 96 percent women with a median age of 55.7.
Guidelines
They pay $800 for 800-word romances and $500 for a 700-word mystery.
The fiction editor is Patricia Gaddis.
They prefer email submissions. If you’ve had a fiction contract with Woman’s World in the past, e-mail your story to FictionPro@WomansWorldMag.com.
If not, send your story to Fiction@WomansWorldMag.com.
They do not have a tracking system so do not call or write to check on your story.
All stories should be sent in industry standard submission format (double-spaced, 12-point font, Word document).
Send your story as an e-mail attachment with your name, address, email address, and phone number on the manuscript. Include “romance submission” or “mystery submission” in the e-mail subject line. Send holiday-themed stories two to three months before the holiday.
Tips for Submitting a Woman’s World Romance or Mystery
- Pets mean everything to their owners, so no stories where the family pet dies.
- Protagonists are single, divorced, widowed, or married, but the story is not about rape, incest, abuse, muggings, illness, or anything else that is not uplifting.
- Woman’s World publishes fresh stories with a clever ending or twist.
- Avoid sad or depressing stories. Woman’s Worldstories are meant to uplift and entertain.
- No science fiction, fantasy, historical romance, or foreign locales. No explicit sex, graphic language, or steamy settings.
- The heroine in a Woman’s World romance wears ballet flats, sneakers, or nurse’s shoes, not Christian Louboutin heels.
- They are interested in cozy mysteries as opposed to blood and gore for the short mysteries.
- Woman’s World stories are dialogue driven and may be first- or third-person, male or female point of view. There is little time or word count for introspection.
- Short mysteries include the narrative and a solution and should challenge the reader to figure out the crime or how the crime was solved.
The best advice to sell to Woman’s World is to read the magazine. Have questions? Consider joining the Woman’s World Writers Facebook group WW Writers.
A freelance writer for more than twenty years, Tina Radcliffe 
has sold more than two dozen romances to Woman’s World. Tina is an RWA Honor Roll member, a two-time RWA Golden Heart finalist, and a 2014 ACFW Carol Award winner. She is a 2018 ACFW Mentor of the Year and a 2018 Carol Award finalist. She currently resides in Arizona, where she writes fun, heartwarming romance. Look for her latest book, Falling for the Cowgirl, on Amazon.
Thank you for the information. I’ve been trying to sell to them. I know some of my stories have gone to the fiction editor, but so far, no sales. One thing I wonder about is if they publish stories by writers with “ethnic” names. I know they appeal to Midwestern women, and I wonder if my name will put readers off. I can always do a pen name, although my pen name is “ethnic” too. Thanks.