The Queer Press Guide [Paperback]

Paul Harris (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 1999

One of the fastest growing areas of publishing in the past twenty years has been the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered press. From a time when there were only a handful of brave newspapers in the largest metropolitan cities today we have reached the stage where almost every single city of a certain size and every state has at least one and in most cases many different publications.

From a time when such newspapers and magazines were publicly denigrated today many of these publications are able to gain interviews with leading members of every walk of life from politics to entertainment. In some cities politicians actively seek the endorsement of gay and lesbian publications. Many leading mainstream manufacturers and retailers spend considerable sums of money advertising to their potential queer customers using the gay and lesbian press to do so.

This book is long overdue. Freelance journalists, writers, publishers, public relations consultants, advertising agencies and readers themselves have been crying out for a comprehensive listing of all the queer press. This book, which will be updated annually, will provide the user with the names, addresses, and websites of all the queer press in North America together with details from the leading foreign queer newspapers and magazines. The book will also contain information such as the publication's circulation figures and the names of the leading editorial staff and advertising manager. We shall pride ourselves on the accuracy of our publication. Each entry will also include an indication of the length of articles the publisher is seeking together with the minimum pay scales.

Details about the two leading queer journalist andpublishing organizations, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and the Publishing Triangle, will be included. The foreward will be written by Charles Flowers the current chairman of the Publishing Triangle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Painted Leaf Press (October 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891305174
• ISBN-13: 978-1891305177
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,923,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL! FAR BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS!, October 31, 1999

By 

ANTHONY BRUCE (HOLLYWOOD HILLS, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Queer Press Guide (Paperback)

AS A PERSON INVOLVED IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, I AM CALLED UPON TO SEND OUT PRESS MATERIALS AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE. THIS BOOK IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR! VERY CONCISE AND ACCURATE! THANK YOU, MR. HARRIS! I HOPE THE BOOK BECOMES AN ANNUAL TRADITION.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong Source for Writers Targeting Local GLBT Newspapers, April 7, 2000

By 

Mubarak Dahir (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Queer Press Guide (Paperback)

I write a column on gay and lesbian issues that appears in many GLBT newspapers across the country. It appears in quite a few more thanks to this book.In the past, I have had to rely on word of mouth, friends, and personal visits to different cities to find gay and lesbian papers around the country. There have been previous attempts at publishing lists of gay and lesbian papers, but until now, none of them have offered e-mail addresses.This book is a great aid in locating potential markets for my column precisely because it gives quick and easy e-mail addresses and editors names. With the help of this book, I increased the number of newspapers that pay me for my column by about one-third. I would say this book is an essential tool for any writer who wants to place his or her work in local gay and lesbian publications.One problem that may well be beyond the control of the author of this book is that editors at gay and lesbian publications change frequently, so the listing is sometimes out of date already. But as a general rule, it was incredibly helpful in helping me (eventually) get to the right person at a publication to pitch my work.A few suggestions for improvement: Under each publication heading, a little spacing and formatting would have made it much easier to quickly pick out a contact person's name and e-mail address. I suspect most of us using this book these days will go for the e-mail addresses rather than the mailing addresses, and sometimes those felt "buried."Some editors did an excellent job of telling you what kind of publication they put out; however, comments from other editors were so vague I felt I was sending a blind pitch. It would help if Paul could somehow arm twist the rest of the editors to do a better job at telling us more about their publication needs.Finally, I would encourage Paul to include major gay and lesbian web sites, such as PlanetOut or Gay.com, in upcoming editions.In balance, however, let me re-iterate that this book gave me a nice boost in my customer base (which is local gay and lesbian newspapers.) I would gladly purchase a follow-up edition on an annual basis.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nearly perfect!, March 4, 2000

By 

Paul H. Hawkins - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Queer Press Guide (Paperback)

This book is primarily organized to help writers find appropriate outlets in the queer press. In that sense, the book can be described as a kind-of "Queer Writers Market." No doubt, writers will gain the most from its format.

As an activist, my needs are different than those strictly akin to the writing craft. But this book is still a unique and valuable resource for activists like me. Finally, I can to go to one source in order to distribute a national press release, thus solving a problem that has confounded activists for years! Without a doubt, this book saved me countless hours of research drudgery, and probably with much better results than I could have achieved on my own.

As noted in the introduction, however, queer publications rise and fall continuously. Thus, even though I used the guide only four months after publication, a number of media contacts are already out of date. Of course, this is not a problem with the author, but it demonstrates the difficulty of tracking a quickly moving target.

I would rate this book with five stars except for three reasons: 1) The format for each listing could be more consistent. 2) Because accuracy is critical to any guidebook, a better proofreading effort could eliminate the few typographical errors I found. 3) The index only lists the publications in alphabetical order. It would also be helpful to index the publications according to their focus, such as: national news, erotica, niche market, entertainment, local news, commentary, etc.

Of course, these criticisms do not detract from the essential worth of The Queer Press Guide. I am sure it will be on my "must buy" list every time it is updated.