Great Advice from Self Magazine

Self magazine started in 1979. According the magazine’s media kit, the mission of the magazine is to help “the woman who wants to stay informed, get inspired, grow and achieve her personal goals.” The magazine’s tagline or catch phrase, is “You at Your Best,” meaning women should strive to be the best they can possibly be.

Unlike many of its competitors including Cosmopolitan, All You and Glamour, Self magazine does not focus on dating, marriage and parenting relationships nor does it focus strictly on health issues like its other competitors Shape and Fitness magazines, though these topics are included in the magazine.

Now the monthly magazine has a circulation of 1.45 million. Each year the magazine has special annual issues including the Self Challenge, the award-winning Breast Cancer handbook, the fitness issue and the healthy eating issue.

For the past seven years Lucy Danziger has served as the editor-in-chief of Self magazine. Previously, Danziger was founding editor of the celebrated Women’s Sports & Fitness magazine, a style editor at The New York Times and a magazine writer for Vogue, Outside, Condé Nast Traveler, Skiing, Allure, Time Magazine and USA Today.

The magazine is divided into six main editorial categories:"Beauty," "Health," "Fitness," "Happiness," "Style," and "Nutrition." The magazine content also features personal, literary essays and investigative reporting. Articles are smart, sophisticated features on healthy living, including staying in shape physically, mentally and spiritually. The magazine targets readers 20 to 40-something years old.

Self magazine is an award-winning magazine. Self magazine won the 2006 National Magazine Award for Personal Service and has been nominated for six other National Magazine Awards in the Public Interest, Personal Service and Essay categories.

Self magazine has played an important role in the promotion of breast cancer awareness. In the early 1990s the magazine developed and founded the pink ribbon, an awareness symbol for breast cancer awareness. Each year the magazine produces the 20-page “Breast Cancer Handbook,” which includes information on breast cancer prevention, treatment and research through many different kinds of articles.

This year the magazine launched a program along with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation called “Who’s Your Suzy?”as a part its ongoing effort to educate and motive women to get involved in the fight of breast cancer.

Recently after surveying its readership, Self magazine improved its website, www.self.com. Now readers can access the magazine’s content through searchable recipes, videos and community boards. There’s also daily-updated blogs, including one by editor-in-chief Danziger, and much more.