Customer Reviews

2003 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market

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NOVEL AND SHORT STORY WRITER'S MARKET is the book that almost every aspiring writer buys - and for good reason. With listings for book publishers, commercial magazines, literary journals, agents, contests, conferences, and now e-publishers, this market guide provides a fairly comprehensive look at the possibilities. Writers new to the business will appreciate the submission guidelines and the insider look into publishing. Established writers will go straight to the listings which provide not only contact information but also editorial needs, writers published, length requirements, and payment specifics. I find the small boxes of interviews scattered throughout a fun and occasionally instructive diversion.

Yes, even if you bought the 2002 edition, you need to buy this. The 2003 edition lists changes in editorial staff, new markets, changed addresses, and shifting requirements. If you want to become a professional, you need to have the most current information available. This book, while not perfect and certainly not comprehensive, comes the closest to gathering all the pertinent information in one place.

As a published author, I can honestly recommend this book as a solid resource for getting your work in print.

Fiction writers rejoice! The new edition of the "Novel and Short Story Writer's Market" is on the market and better than ever.

Inside you'll find close to 700 pages of valuable tools for fiction writers. In addition to the hundreds of pages of market listings, there's also writing contest information, conference details and articles from industry insiders.

The articles tackle such topics as what happens after a contract is signed, query letters and the business of fiction writing. Alternative publishing avenues such as electronic publishing and print on demand are also explored.

Sections of this guide include:

* Personal Views - A collection of articles featuring some of today's top authors and their insight on writing.

* Craft & Technique - How-to instruction on novel beginnings, subject matter and more.

* Getting Published - Details contracts, queries and the business aspects of your writing career.

* Electronic Publishing - Information on the new venture many authors are taking, plus print on demand pros and cons.

* For Mystery Writers - Key resources for mystery writers regarding rejection, defining space and a mystery market directory.

* For Romance Writers - Writing for urban women, categorizing your romance projects and emotions within your fiction.

* For Science Fiction/Fantasy & Horror Writers - Essentials for getting the most out of these three genres as well as a market directory.

* The Markets - Literary agent listings and insider reports on agents.

* Resources - Writing programs, conferences, organizations, info for Canadian writers and a dictionary of printing and production terms.

This guide is an absolute must for fiction writers wanting to see their work in print. Even if you have a previous year's edition, you must get the current year to be ahead of the publishing game. With contact information, market needs and pay rates changing, the current year edition is the only way to get your foot in a publisher's door.

No matter what type of fiction you write, the "2003 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market" is an excellent investment in your writing career.

Short and sweet: Regarding the "Novel & Short Story Writer's Market" - I used contacts from the 2001 book and sold 3 stories. I used contacts from the 2002 book and sold 5 stories. I am buying 2003 now. Sure, rejections abound regardless but, don't dwell on "sour grapes". Use the contacts enough and you will succeed!!! This is a good resource.

For those that rely on this book alone, you have an IN, but are OUT as well. The publishing world is not static and by the time this book is released each year, businesses go under and contact info changes. I'm not going to give you an "end all be all" lie about this book, however, it is a MUST companion.

Let's take out the NOVEL word on the book, ok? Well, then again if you are a one-time only novelist and that's as far as you want to go, leave it in.

The book is more useful to freelance writers and story writers than to the novelist. I know that's a debateable point, but it has held true to me for the last 3 years. To get your work in print this is a basis and has a wealth of knowledge that isn't found in too many areas, however, keeping up-to-date with the current submission guidelines and websites of the publishers is your responsiblity. Use this book as a companion and you may open up a far bigger world for your writing than you have ever imagined.

Novelists can use this too. My only point with that is the Writers Market and Guide to Literary Agents would be a more logical choice for the novelist.

Robert Eldridge (...)

You must own this if you write fiction. I'm sorry, but, no, there is no getting out of it. You cannot check the copy out of the library. No, you can't use LAST year's copy. Buck up and buy the thing! This is THE reference full of places to submit... but that's NOT all. It will also tell you which markets pay, which markets only accept agented work, what percentage of their published pieces are from first-timers, and give you valuable contact information. There really isn't much more this book could do for the writer, shy of sending in your submissions for you! If you don't have it, GET IT!

The Writer's Market is a rather absurd principle in today's world of fiction writing and publishing. Sure, there are many, many names and addresses in this resource and it is a well-organized, fundamentally sound reference. But the real deal is, no one is going to pay any attention to whatever you send them, so don't waste your valuable time and money. How many query letters, dear writer, have you received, returned from an agent or publisher? How many have you written? How much money have you blown on stamps? Can you paper the walls with the return mail? Of course you can. Does that mean your stuff stinks? No. It only means that no one actually reads anything you sent; they have a junior intern opening their mail, putting your query letter back in your SASE and mailing it back. There you go, seventy cents down the drain right there. And how much time did that cost you? Plenty. My advice is to take a different route. There are ways to get your stuff published without having to go through the brick wall of the current agent/editor/publisher relationship. It is a terrible situation for which this book has no answer, except in a very brief, but informative article on Print-On-Demand (POD). Don't bother any more with this stuff. You're going to have to do it yourself anyway, as the blurbs in the smaller publishing houses clearly state. They all say that since we are a small publisher/printer, we expect the writer to market his own book- it's in their contracts. And the big houses (Random House, Simon and Schuster) aren't taking any more writers unless you know somebody who knows somebody who was at a cocktail party they went to once. That's the truth, I'm afraid. A sad state of affairs, but it is nonetheless the reality. Best of luck to you- but my advice is to think outside the box; you're beating your head against a wall.