If you’re writing or illustrating for children, it’s likely that you want your work to reach a lot of kids. Getting a book published is one way, but children’s magazines are also a viable way to share your art or stories with many thousands of readers. Magazines sometimes find their way to kids who would never see your book in a bookstore or library, and often a magazine story will reach far more readers than a book will.
Before you start sending out your work, do your research about the magazine so that your submission will be tightly focused. Be sure to read back issues of each magazine to get a feel for their style. What’s their philosophy about reaching their audience? Each magazine is a package, highly targeted and focused on interesting a specific child. What age is that child? What kind of material does the magazine purchase? Who is the correct person to submit to? What’s the word count requested?
To help you get started on your research, here are links to some popular children’s magazines: