1999 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market (Novel and Short Story Writer's Market) [Paperback]

Barbara Kuroff (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For writers of fiction intent on publishing, there is no better resource than the annual Novel & Short Story Writer's Market. Each update of the guide, which lists over 2,000 places to publish fiction (including magazines literary and otherwise, zines, and book publishers large and small), acts as a kind of annual industry checkup. What publications are out there? What are they publishing? What kinds of fiction are hot, and not? This year's edition tells us that freshness, short shorts, originality, neatness, simple fonts, risk taking, good endings, and humor are all in. Workshop writing, thinly veiled autobiography, gimmickry, splatter fiction, and grammatical errors are not. Still, the best, and perhaps most often repeated advice throughout is: To thine own self be true. Write what you want or feel compelled to write, and worry about publication later. There is a market for almost everything, including climbing fiction (The Climbing Art), black-lesbian erotica (Black Lace), baseball stories (Spitball), tales of oppression and rebellion (Struggle), hot-air ballooning stories (Balloon Life)--even fiction featuring large-breasted characters (Gent).

While contact information, payment terms, and the like provide the backbone of the listings, it is the advice from the publishers that makes this book so eminently browsable. "Forget formulas," says the editor at The Café Irreal; "Write about what you don't know, take me places I couldn't possibly go." "Write as if words were your bread, your water, a great vintage wine, salt, oxygen," say the folks at Collages and Bricolages. "Even though we are jaded old teachers and editors," confide the jaded old teachers and editors at The Distillery, "we still want to feel a chill run down our spines when we read a perfect description or evocative line of dialogue." And don't forget: "If an editor says, 'try again,'" remind the editors of Acorn Whistle, "try again ... and again!"

New this year: listings for over 60 literary agents; a section on screenwriting markets; overviews of the mystery, romance, and science-fiction & fantasy markets; and short interviews with Olivia Goldsmith (The First Wives Club), Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha), Ann Beattie, Rick Bass, Mary Higgens Clark, Amanda Scott, and others. --Jane Steinberg

Product Details

• Paperback: 678 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books; 9th edition edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898798760
• ISBN-13: 978-0898798760
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,385,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have Book for all fiction writers!, April 6, 2000

By 

Brenda Grolle (Elyria, Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 1999 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market (Novel and Short Story Writer's Market) (Paperback)

It had been a few years since I'd last updated my Novel & Short Story Writer's Market and, boy, what a mistake that was! As the Internet as enhanced our lives, so has Writer's Digest enhanced this market guide. The listings contain editorial email addresses, magazine/publisher website addresses, publication size and number of pages (magazines), clear symbols indicating paying vs. non-paying markets (no more wading through all that small print), online markets only, and so much more! New to this edition is a section listing literary agents that are open to working with new writers and special sections on craft and technique for writers of mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy. This is a Must-Have Book for fiction writers.

3 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you right well enough to get published, you need this!, October 26, 2000

By 

Chiron (....) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1999 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market (Novel and Short Story Writer's Market) (Paperback)

This is the best place to get an accurate evaluation on the current market for fiction. Do you write? Forgive me for being presumptious here, but it's my guess that you do. That's why you're looking at these reviews. In that case, I feel indebted to give you some pertinent information regarding this book. First of all, if you have a manuscript that you wish to see in print, you should know a few things. You should know the marketplaces in which to get published. You should know the best ways to submit your work. To say it plain and simple, since I know you're looking for answers (after all, you're a writer, that's what you do.), I won't waste your time: this book gives you all the info in regards to any questions you have about publishing. If you're seriously interested in becoming published, this resource is indispensible!