Are Magazines Dead?

In high school, I signed my first contract with a magazine. I wrote it, worked with an editor, and published it, all before I turned 18. I went on to write more magazine articles, and found I could actually make a decent amount of money as a freelance writer. In college I even interned with a magazine.

In the past month, I received emails from the editors of two good-sized publications that I have written for over the past several years, saying that they are ending the magazine.

These publications have both been around for about 20 years, reaching a national and international audience. They were well-established, but are still closing.

This is not a new trend. But seeing multiple publications ending at once has me wondering about the future of paid article writers. If people are no longer reading magazines and many (if not most) websites do not pay contributors, is there a future for article writers? Are short stories and short-form nonfiction still valuable to readers today? Most importantly, how should authors be shifting the creation and distribution of their content?

Maybe articles should still be used as the introduction to a sales funnel, or for practice working with an editor, even if unpaid. However, it takes a lot of energy to create a valuable article with a fresh perspective. Each article requires hours of research and thought before a word is ever written. If I invest time into writing an article, I want to receive something in return, whether that is through getting email subscribers that I know came from the article, a paycheck, etc.

Where does short-form content, article writing, and collaboration fall into a good marketing strategy, especially as different publication options die out?