Like newspapers, magazines are read widely and they also have a significant

influence on the thoughts and actions of millions of people. A magazine, or

periodical, is any publication which is published at regular intervals, or periods, of
more than one day—once a week, once a month, or at some other specified
period.
Magazines differ greatly in subject matter, style of writing, make-up, and reader
appeal. They also differ widely in reading difficulty, ranging from those that
require a very limited reading ability to the learned journals of the professions
and to quality magazines such as Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, or the Saturday
Review. The content and style of writing of such periodicals appeal to those with
higher-than-average reading ability and a wide range of intellectual interests.
The reader can choose from a great variety of magazines. There are news
magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report, which are
devoted chiefly to giving an overview of the week’s news and interpretations of
current happenings. Such magazines explain relationships between events in
greater detail than is found in the daily papers. Magazines such as Life and Look
depict the news of the week primarily in pictures. General publications such as
the Saturday Evening Post contain stories, articles, verse, and other features that
appeal to those with many and varied interests. Periodicals such as Good
Housekeeping, The Ladies; Home Journal, McCall’s, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and
many others cater to women’s particular interests. There are various digest
magazines that present in condensed form selections taken from current
publications.
There are also many magazines that specialize in particular subjects. Are you
interested especially in sports, travel, science, antiques, interior designing, or the
theater? Whatever your interest, there are magazines for you. Sports Illustrated,
Holiday, and Popular Science Monthly are only a few examples of such specialized
magazines.
Magazines called trade journals give information about specific occupations.
Some of the larger companies publish their own magazines to keep employees
and other interested persons informed about the company and its activities and
progress. Such publications are called house organs.
As you can see from the large variety of magazines that are published, people
differ widely in the periodicals they choose to read. What are some of the factors
that determine why readers choose the magazines and articles they do?
It has been found that readers often do what is easiest for them, as well as what
they have become accustomed to doing. For example, they tend to buy
magazines that are easily available to them at the corner drug store or nearby
newsstand. They tend to buy the same magazines repeatedly. Also, it has been
found, men’s selections of reading material in magazines are often quite different
from women’s. age, reading ability, education, and occupation are other factors
that may have an effect on reading selections.