Jennifer Lawrence is your Vogue September 2013 cover girl. In the accompanying profile by Jonathan Van Meter, Lawrence says that she doesn’t like goat cheese or people who forget to wring out sponges. She’s so real!

The September issue of Vogue hits newsstands August 20.

The @davidplotz case against the moniker of DC football team is air-tight. We’re changing @tnr stylebook. http://t.co/9S1PaKbCsn via @slate

— Franklin Foer (@FranklinFoer) August 8, 2013

Let’s hope this keeps going.

Perhaps the ultimate (mental) workout for freelance writers is tailoring the pitch. Five magic pitch perfect-ers? Dream byline in three easy moves? If only.

Landing an assignment at Shape may not be easy, but it’s not impossible, either. Like most mags, editors at the fitness/lifestyle pub have a stable of freelancers. However, “If someone pitches something that’s fresh… we absolutely are open to new writers,” said deputy editor Jeanine Detz. And unlike other publications, Shape editors are more than willing to assign features to new freelancers, as opposed to just FOB pieces.

For more details and editors’ contact info, read How to Pitch: Shape.

– Sherry Yuan

The full version of this article is exclusively available to Mediabistro AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, register now for as little as $55 a year for access to hundreds of articles like this one, discounts on Mediabistro seminars and workshops, and all sorts of other bonuses.

What better time to pitch a pub than after its 16th anniversary issue?

XXL, a publication aimed at representing ‘hip-hop on a higher level,’ is all about speaking in the language and attitude of the culture — bold, cocky, smart.

As for content, music is undeniably the keystone. “People get it confused and think that if you’re African-American and in entertainment that you automatically go in the book. But we’re a hip-hop music magazine. So, if you’re Asian and you’re an artist, you have a better chance than just being a Black actor or something,” explained editor-in-chief Vanessa Satten.

Editors are always on the lookout for fresh content from new writers. So if you want to avoid the slush pile, check out How to Pitch: XXL.

– Sherry Yuan

The full version of this article is exclusively available to Mediabistro AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, register now for as little as $55 a year for access to hundreds of articles like this one, discounts on Mediabistro seminars and workshops, and all sorts of other bonuses.

At this award-winning online mag, editors are looking for pitches that speak to the “new, modern parent,” said senior editorial manager Dara Pettinelli.

Launched in 2006 as an alternative parenting space, Babble.com has recently evolved into more of a lifestyle outlet and now covers everything from entertainment and travel to work and money.

Although more sections may mean more byline opportunities for journos, doing the proper research is still key to landing an assignment at this digital outlet.

For pitching etiquette and editors’ contact info, read How to Pitch: Babble.com.

– Sherry Yuan

The full version of this article is exclusively available to Mediabistro AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, register now for as little as $55 a year for access to hundreds of articles like this one, discounts on Mediabistro seminars and workshops, and all sorts of other bonuses.

The Alliance for Audited Media just released its first half circulation and sales data, and it’s a mixed bag. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: Overall, single copy sales dropped 10 percent compared to the first half of 2012.

Out of the 25 titles considered, women’s titles and gossip rags were hit the hardest. The breakdown: Glamour (sales dropped by 28 percent), Cosmo (-23 percent), O, The Oprah Magazine (-22 percent), Life & Style (-20 percent), Us Weekly (-16 percent). The big winner of the group? Another women’s title. Woman’s Day saw newsstand sales go up by 23 percent for the first half of this year.

Now time for some good news from AAM’s report. Print circulaiton remained relatively flat (down by only one percent for the first half) and digital circulation continued to improve.

In the first half of 2012, magazines reported just 5.4 million digital subscriptions, or 1.7 percent of total circulation. This first half those numbers are up to 10.2 million digital subscriptions and 3.3 percent of total circulation. While digital still represents a tiny slice, things are on the upswing. Not a bad start to the year.

Now that Newsweek has been sold yet again, it’s time to examine who is at fault for its downfall. The popular target is Tina Brown. She certainly receives the brunt of a New York Times piece, which features interviews with Newsweek staffers who claim that Brown’s style destroyed the magazine. And while that’s true, Brown is not solely to blame.

Brown is famous for being irrational and chaotic. As the Times notes, she sent staffers to Paris despite there being no promise of a story. She once asked Dirk Barnett, Newsweek’s former creative director, to design 82 covers in just seven days. When she did approve covers, they were often ridiculous. Brown even claimed that she knew about Breaking Bad before anyone else at Newsweek, which sort of shows how kooky she can be.

Read more

IBT Media, publishers of the International Business Times, are your new Newsweek owners. IBT is a digital-only company, so Newsweek will continue as it has since the print edition was folded. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In 2010, Sidney Harman purchased Newsweek from The Washington Post Company. Harman then entered into a partnership with Barry Diller and IAC. Tina Brown — editor of Newsweek and The Daily Beast — tried her best, but aside from generating some catchy/creepy covers, Newsweek continued to flounder. After the magazine was folded, Diller even admitted that being involved with Newsweek was a mistake.

IAC will operate Newsweek for the next 60 days, after that, it’s all IBT Media’s. For better or worse.

People stretched its weekly closing so that it could be the first gossip rag to publish a pic of the Royal Baby, and that gamble has paid off. According to The New York Post, the People issue featuring Prince William, Kate Middleton and George Alexander Louis on the cover is expected to sell 1.4 million copies.

That’s quite a jump from 971,668, which was People’s average newsstand sales for the second half of last year. Larry Hackett, managing editor of People, was pleased with the results. “Everyone knows the newsstand has changed forever,” Hackett told the Post. “In this environment, you certainly can’t be disappointed when you produce your best-selling newsstand cover of the year.”

Looks like People is already enjoying the summer of George.

Leah Chernikoff has put together a fun breakdown about what goes into to the critical annual September issue of Glamour.

EIC Cindi Leive tells the Fashionista editorial director that work begins on the issue pretty much right after September of the previous year. Discussions to get proven cover girl Jennifer Aniston on the front of September 2013 began a little later, in January. Leive says that reality TV, social media and even things like the 2009 documentary The September Issue have all helped raise the PR profile of Month #9:

“I think the average woman, the average magazine reader understands that the September issue is a big deal,” Leive says. “The fact that people are tweeting at me, ‘Who’s going to be on the cover of your September issue?’ That level of hunger would not have existed five years ago.”

Read more