Get featured in Reader's Digest
Practical, human stories for a general family readership
We write a custom feature about you and manage the placement. You approve every word before it goes live.
- You approve every word
- Unlimited revisions
- Reply within 24 hours
How do I get featured in Reader's Digest?
We develop your story, write the feature to editorial standard, and manage the placement. You approve every word before anything goes live.
About Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest was first published in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Acheson Wallace and is part of Trusted Media Brands. It describes itself as America's fourth-largest-circulation magazine brand, and RD.com publishes hundreds of original articles a month.
Why a feature here matters
Reader's Digest names trust as its core trait and reaches families with practical advice and real-life stories. A feature here puts an expert or a personal story in front of a broad, general readership rather than an industry niche.
Best for: Health, money, home and food experts; authors; community leaders; people with remarkable real-life stories; consumer brands with genuinely useful advice.
How coverage happens at Reader's Digest
There are two ways in. You can approach Reader's Digest yourself, but its contact page says it does not accept article proposals or original works of fiction, nonfiction or poetry, so the open routes are its joke, funny true story and cartoon forms, a letter to the editors, or becoming a source its writers come to. That route is free but slow, and every decision rests with its editors. The second way is to work with DNA. We develop the angle with you, write the feature to the standard Reader's Digest readers expect, and manage the placement. You approve every word before it goes live.
The kind of story that lands
Reader's Digest describes its themes as optimism, faith, heroism, trust, humour and wellness, and its promise as helping families live healthy, wealthy and wise lives. The stories that fit are practical and human: a financial planner on the money mistakes families make most, a home expert on the risks worth worrying about and the ones that are not, a doctor explaining a common condition in plain words, or a real-life account of courage or kindness. Its food, home, travel and knowledge sections suit expert advice; its humour pages suit lighter material. What does not fit is corporate news, jargon or a thinly disguised product pitch.
How to Get Featured in Reader's Digest
To get featured in Reader's Digest, you need a story that suits its blend of practical advice, real-life drama, humour and optimism, and a route to its editors. The magazine is direct about one thing: its contact page says it does not accept article proposals or original works of fiction, nonfiction or poetry, and cannot acknowledge or return unsolicited submissions.
That leaves three realistic options: send a joke, funny true story, quote or cartoon through its own submission links; become a source its writers turn to; or work with DNA. We develop the story, write it to the standard Reader's Digest readers expect, manage the placement, and you approve every word before it goes live.
What Reader's Digest is
Reader's Digest was first published in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Acheson Wallace. It began by gathering the best stories from other publications and condensing them, and its editors later commissioned original reporting as well. Today it is part of Trusted Media Brands, its editorial division is headquartered in New York City, and it describes itself as America's fourth-largest-circulation magazine brand.
It was the first print magazine to go international, starting with a United Kingdom edition in 1938, and it says it is published in 22 countries today. Its themes, in its own description, are optimism, faith, heroism, trust, humour and wellness.
What Reader's Digest covers
Online, RD.com says it publishes hundreds of original articles a month aimed at helping readers know what to worry about and what not to, and at saving them time and money. Its main sections cover food, home, humour, knowledge, travel and video, and it lists jokes, riddles and interesting facts among its most-searched content. Health and medical coverage sits with its sister brand, The Healthy.
Its mission statement sums up the brief: trusted advice and stories to help readers and their families live healthy, wealthy and wise lives, kept simple, informative and fun.
How to get featured in Reader's Digest
Because the magazine does not take article pitches or unsolicited manuscripts, most people who appear in it do so as sources: the expert quoted on a money tip, the professional explaining a household risk, the person at the centre of a real-life story. Reader's Digest says its editorial team is made up of writers, editors and contributors with professional experience in their fields, and it publishes a page introducing that team. Becoming useful to those writers is the long, free route.
Can you submit an article or short story to Reader's Digest?
Not through an open submission process. The contact page is explicit that it does not accept article proposals or original fiction, nonfiction or poetry. If you have read a write-for-us page elsewhere claiming otherwise, the publisher's own wording is the one to trust.
Readers who want to respond to something they read can email the editors at letters@rd.com, the address the contact page gives for sharing thoughts on the magazine or RD.com.
How to submit a joke or funny true story
This is the one open door. The contact page links to forms to submit a joke or funny true story, and a separate one for cartoons, for possible inclusion in print or online. Each form carries its own terms, so read them before you send anything.
What makes a strong story for Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest says trust is its core trait and that it aims for everything it publishes to be accurate and in context. Strong material is useful and human at once:
- Practical expertise that saves readers time, money or worry, explained simply.
- Real-life stories of courage, kindness or recovery that show people at their best.
- Surprising, well-sourced knowledge that readers will want to pass on.
Corporate news, product launches and anything that reads as a sales pitch do not fit. For a national general-interest comparison, see how stories are shaped for USA Today.
How the process works
With DNA, the work runs in four steps. We first check whether your story suits Reader's Digest readers and say plainly if it does not. You share the substance: your expertise, the story and the people in it. We draft the feature in the magazine's warm, plain style and revise it with you. Once you approve every word, we manage the placement and send you the live link.
How long it takes
Expect weeks rather than days. Developing the angle, drafting, your review and the placement each take time.
How we get you in Reader's Digest
Questions about Reader's Digest
Is the Reader's Digest coverage a real, published feature?
Yes. It is a genuine article published on the outlet, written about you and your work — not an ad you design yourself.
How long does it take?
Most placements take weeks rather than days. We give you a realistic timeline for Reader's Digest before we start, and never promise a date we cannot control.
What if I am not happy with the draft?
You review and revise until it is right. Nothing publishes without your approval.
Who publishes Reader's Digest?
Reader's Digest is part of Trusted Media Brands, whose other titles include Taste of Home, Family Handyman and Birds & Blooms. Its editorial division is headquartered at 750 Third Avenue in New York City.
Is Reader's Digest still published?
Yes. Reader's Digest says it is published in 22 countries today, and RD.com publishes hundreds of original articles a month alongside the print magazine.
Does Reader's Digest accept short stories or articles?
No. Its contact page says it does not accept article proposals or original fiction, nonfiction or poetry, and cannot acknowledge or return unsolicited submissions. Jokes, funny true stories, quotes and cartoons have their own submission forms.