Customer Reviews

2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The shame is, you can't get along without this book. No other book in the industry does what this one does, and we all know it. But this edition is an embarrassment. It is riddled with spelling and other typographical errors, so much so that I can't read it without stumbling over them. In the first couple minutes of flipping through it, I found a dozen obvious errors - sometimes two or three on a page. Whole sections use Æ instead of em dashes. Reading those sectionsÆespecially because they appear without warningÆis painful.

Continuing the trend, in coordinate sections on opposing pages from each other, certain heads

Use Certain Capitalization Styles

and others

Use other capitalization styles

Heading styles are mixed even within a single section on a single page. The genres portion of the book is a good example of this. Check out the end of it: romance (one cap style for heads), fantasy, sci-fi (another cap style), and horror (both cap style uses in coordinate heads on the same page).

Did a proofreader even look at this?

Worse yet, just after I consoled myself that no matter the incompetence of the copyeditor, compositor, and proofreader, the content was the same essential stuff, I found an error. Not only an error, but a flat contradiction. I can't recall the entry name - it made me so mad I put the book away and haven't looked at it again since I got it - but I remember the error, clear as when I read it. This particular publisher's entry listed genre works the publisher is not now accepting. Among these was horror. In the next sentence, the publisher was quoted as needing certain genres of work - among them horror.

What a dilemma:

* Is WM's summary list of do-not-sends in error - perhaps a holdover of the previous edition?
* Is the publisher's quote of please-do-sends in error - again, perhaps a holdover of the previous edition?

Good questions - and unless someone writes the publisher, I doubt we'll ever know. And if one list (and who knows which?) is in error, then what should we _not_ send? what _should_ we send? We simply can't know.

Worse yet, who's to know how many other places throughout the book this same thing has happened - and in less obvious ways? In a book such as this, which makes its name and earns its position by being current and correct (have you heard it pitched as the sure way to avoid querying the editor who left three years ago?), mistakes such as this are unpardonable.

Yes, the book is essential, as it has always been - but we'll all have to look past the mistakes, every single one of them. Of course, some mistakes we can't look past; we won't know about them until we address a query letter to last year's editor, until we send the wrong genre to the wrong publisher, until we mail our letters to dead addresses. Faux pas like these don't win writers friends in the publishing industry, and until this book is proofread for mechanics, for sense, and for errors against this year's MS, it won't win any friends among writers.

Well, everyone knows the good things about this reference. Here are the bad things: The print version omits many markets (though it comes with an apparently time-limited access to a more complete online database), and it has not been thoroughly updated, because certain entries refer to dates as early as late 2008 as being in the future (along the lines of "the theme of the December 2008 issue will be..."). Obviously, they do not actually contact each market annually to ask whether what they're planning to print is still true. I think truth in advertising should require them to indicate for each entry how long it's been since the information was updated!

A lot of words, little useful informnation. Difficult to find sought data (poor index). Found more appropriate info on Internet; won't buy again.

The Novel and Short Story Writer's Market is an excellent source for writers to locate publishers. Granted, the printed material is dated by virtue of its being gathered many months prior to printing, but the guide--now with its online database--is a valuable starting place. Its limited number of publisher listings reflects a discouraging trend, the shrinking short story market. Despite these drawbacks, the "how-to" articles, coupled with the listings of agents and contests, make the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market especially useful to the beginning writer. That is why I require my Creative Writing students to purchase it. Not only do we use it as a supplement to our discussions and workshops, I also require my students to research publishers and to submit their works for commercial publication. Unlike some creative writing courses, mine is designed to help students learn the writing profession.

This book is the key resource for anyone hoping to build a writers/publishing credit.
It's extremely detailed and always a good buy for anyone hoping to get published. Don't be intimidated about getting into the writing world! Simply buy a Writer's Market (something Stephen King highly suggests in his book "On Writing") and get to work! The more you publish, the more valuable you are to an agent who will get your work into larger publication! It's never too late to get published!

Ctacker@tetheredbyletters.com
check out[...] for even more publishing tips and a community of writers to help you review your work, give helpful advice, and even get published!

There is no other source for this material that comes close in terms of comprehensiveness. Other reviewers have complained about typographical errors detracting from the overall quality of the product. However, these kinds of errors are intentional being placed within texts such as this as a means of detecting copyright infringement where the infringer simply copies pages of text and passes the "new" product as their own. This is commonplace practice for these kinds of publications and unfortunately is a necessary evil.

Book came in excellent condition. Resources aplenty. If some are outdated, so what...move on. There are enough contacts to choose from.

I have never before vied for publication and am totally new to the conventions of the publishing market. Coming from this background, the "2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market" has been a comprehensive, accessible resource for me. In addition to its extensive listing of presses, journals and publishers, and its attendant informational blurbs about what each publication specializes in and is looking for, the book also contains numerous articles about different aspects of the literary market, whether it be writing, genre, or whathaveyou. In all, a diverse book covering many basic bases that has helped me know where to begin and has made it seem doable. Fully recommended.

Although this book is a "must" for any writer, it is not current with regard to names, contact information, and addresses. I like it but I don't love it. Not a waste of money if you are willing to use the I-Net for up-to-date contact information as well. Also, it can be a bit overwhelming due to the way it was written. All in all, buy it because there is a lot in it you can use.

This book is excellent. It has a list of publishers, magazines and agents. It also provides a description of the type of writing each company is looking for and how to submit manuscripts. A great tool for up and coming writers.