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Teen Vogue's editor-in-chief Amy Astley agrees. "Being a teenager hasn't changed, though culturally, the circumstances have," she says. "Teenagers are still trying to fit into their world, while simultaneously trying to find their individuality."

Writers who seek to reach this audience must draw upon a clear memory of their own teen years, while keeping in mind what makes today's girl -- and her magazine -- different. "We have to understand these girls and not try to force them to be some outdated idea of who teenagers are," Seventeen's editor-in-chief Ann Shoket says. "We need to be profoundly in touch with the texture of their lives." mediabistro.com asked editors to share what today's girl wants... and how they deliver it.

She wants more than a guy
"When I worked at Seventeen, we had wedding pages," says Bokram, whose tween readers are more concerned with friendships. "Now you don't encourage a teen girl to dream about her wedding day," Teen Vogue's Astley says. "We want her to dream about college." Readers look to their magazine to give them a leg up in a competitive world. "You can't get into college anymore just with great grades or SAT scores," says Ribeiro. "You have to be in every single club under the sun and do charity work and have a job." Both CosmoGirl! and Teen Vogue offer internship programs to help readers gain that competitive edge. Seventeen regularly dishes college advice in its "Real Life" section. "We talk about the next step of their lives as college and career," Shoket says. "We certainly talk about relationships as part of a girl's life, but not the main focus."

She wants access
All four titles have a strong Web presence, but Astley says today's readers want more. "They want the magazine; they want the Web site; they want to come to Fashion U [a weekend fashion industry seminar in New York each October]; they want to come to our events and parties; they want to win an internship; they want to watch The Hills [a reality show that follows a Teen Vogue intern]." Seventeen also reaches beyond the magazine's pages in a variety of ways. "We have a television partnership with America's Next Top Model," Shoket says. "We're in stores -- you can buy the Seventeen bedding at JC Penney. We are such a strong base brand that it's important for us to be everywhere our girls are." Both Seventeen and CosmoGirl! offer content via cell phone on Verizon Wireless' Mobile Web 2.0 service. CosmoGirl! also combines the modern girl's love of technology with her perennial love of shopping, allowing readers to "Shoptext" on their cell phones -- a feature Ribeiro says is a reader favorite. But the rise of tech in no way replaces the magazine. Bokram says Girls' Life gets phone calls if a reader's new issue isn't delivered the same day her friend gets it.

She wants relevance
For Teen Vogue, offering relatable stories is key, Astley says. "One of our most popular features ever was about how to deal with your mom's criticism. It's a universal problem." CosmoGirl! remains in touch with the teen zeitgeist in regards to sexuality and gender issues. "This generation is more comfortable with their sexuality than in the past... and it's not just about sexuality," Ribeiro says. "It's not simply, 'I'm a lesbian' or 'I'm bisexual.' It's about gender, and not being 'male' or 'female,' and everything that is supposed to come along with being one or the other. If they're strong enough to stand up and say they identify as 'genderqueer,' then we have to pay attention to that." Seventeen readers can literally see themselves in the magazine since the pages often feature actual readers. "We show a tremendous diversity in skin types, hair texture, and body shapes," Shoket says. "We want every girl to feel validated, so she feels like, 'This is my magazine.'" All the titles cover serious teen issues and trends as a means of informing and/or cautioning readers about situations facing them. Even though Girls' Life skews younger, Bokram takes pride in educating readers about matters such as the HPV vaccine and dating violence.

She wants a modern approach
Though teens of years past might have welcomed a 2,000-word feature with uninterrupted blocks of text and one measly photo, today's teen is neither wired for nor tolerant of long-form journalism. "It's not like we're going to cut everything to a page, but there are ways to break up longer stories," Ribeiro says. "Maybe we'll do a really cool illustration or something incorporating celebrities, something to grab their attention so they won't look at all those words and lose interest." That doesn't mean everything must now be dumbed down, however. Ribeiro insists today's teen is smarter than ever, and Astley agrees -- as evidenced by Teen Vogue's nonchalant inclusion of words such as "quotidian" in a recent celebrity feature. "I always say I don't mind if someone has to grab her dictionary," Astley says, and she encourages potential writers to read the letters to the editor to get a sense of just how bright her readers are. Shoket advises writers to consider where Seventeen readers are coming from. "On their MySpace pages, things are flipping and moving with all these tiny bits of information," she says. "We have to make a magazine that captures their attention while entertaining and informing them." Bokram's goal is to make Girls' Life "a tight coil," giving her adolescent readers the same quality she expects and enjoys in her own favorite magazine. "When I read Glamour each month, I'm always impressed at how solid, well-thought-out, and extremely high quality it is," she says. "Everything is so tight. That's what teen magazines should strive to be."

She wants stuff
Today's girl has more of a "what's-in-it-for-me" expectation, so giveways/contests, "are a staple these days," Ribiero says. CosmoGirl!, Girls' Life, and Seventeen offer freebies, such as lip tint and movie tickets, to lucky winners every day of the month, and Seventeen has recently begun partnerships with merchants, allowing readers to present the magazine in exchange for swag such as a t-shirt or sunglasses. Teen Vogue does fewer giveaways, but not because their readers are wealthier -- they're not. Astley points out that, while the magazine contains advertisements for high-end designer goods, Teen Vogue readers come from all walks of life and have in common a love of fashion. For a recent contest to win a room makeover, "Every single girl mentioned, 'my parents can't afford to redecorate my room,'" Astley says. While Teen Vogue readers love a freebie as much as anyone, Astley sees contests as serving a specific purpose. "I've had on my cover, 'Win an Internship at Teen Vogue,'" she explains, "but not 'Win a Free Lip Gloss.' I prefer interaction that is more in line with the Vogue brand."

She wants a magazine just for her
Sure, celeb weeklies and Internet gossip sites have tons of pictures of young stars, but ultimately, they don't offer the reader the same experience as her favorite teen title. "The tabloids definitely have a good readership among teens," Astley says. "They like them. But Teen Vogue gives girls a window into a bigger world, especially for those who don't live in big cities. We go to Paris and Milan; we know all the major fashion designers. Readers are looking to us to open up their world." Ribeiro notes CosmoGirls!'s leadership focus, with initiatives such as "Born to Lead" and "Project 2024," a campaign to put a woman in the White House. "The biggest thing that sets us apart is our mission," she says. "We're not just entertaining girls. We're standing next to them, whispering in their ear, 'You can do it!' and by 'it,' we mean anything. We truly believe that -- and we also believe that they want to do more than buy clothes and talk about guys. And I think they appreciate that we respect them in that way, which is what makes them choose us at the newsstand, giving us the highest newsstand sales among teen mags." Shoket, meanwhile, wants Seventeen "to emphasize the fun of being a teenager, to have that kind of crazy, hyper energy expressed in every page. We want to be her super cool best friend." Girls' Life is not only "the last bastion of short fiction" for girls, but also a trusted source of helpful advice -- something tabloids don't offer, Bokram says. "Seeing what Mary-Kate and Ashley are wearing doesn't really help a girl when she gets her first period."

The editors all agree that neither celeb weeklies nor technology can ever replace the unparalleled pleasure of teen magazines. "As people turn more and more to the Internet, some say, 'Oh, magazines are over,'" Astley explains. "If everything in your magazine could be delivered via the Internet, maybe, but for a fashion magazine that's very visual, that's about photography, and that isn't about a celebrity photo? I don't see 'dinosaur' immediately or in the near future."

"You can't take the Internet into the bathtub with you," says Bokram. "Can you cut out pictures of Zac Efron from your laptop? Not really."

Ribeiro agrees. "There's so much talk about technology, and what it means for the future of teen magazines," she says. "But as exciting as the Web is, it's not a replacement for magazines. Honestly, can you see a bunch of 16-year-old girls at a sleepover, all camped out around a computer screen looking at prom dresses? Maybe -- but it's much more likely that they'd pull out a stack of CosmoGirl!s and pass them around."

Shoket believes it's the relationship aspect that keeps readers coming back each month. "Seventeen has such a special place in girls' lives," she explains. "We are the girl that [readers] are going to turn to and be honest and open with. And I think that's a really important thing for a girl to have -- someone they can turn to for trustworthy advice."

Ginger Rue is a freelancer who has written for Seventeen, Teen Vogue, Girls' Life, and other magazines. She is currently shopping her first novel, Brand New Emily, about a nerdy girl who hires a brand manager to help her become popular.