Is "Writer's Market" any good...seriously? ?

Question

Okay, is this book any real help at all????

I've been thinking about getting an agent or just in general trying to find places to submit my short shorties.

And people tend to mention WM a lot. Is it any good really?Can you find agents in there?

Answer 1

The Writer's Market is full of pertinent information that will help you later. As you already know, it lists many publishers and agents, but also guides and methods to make you more professional and ways to prepare your work for submission. There is also a more specialized version called the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market that will feature solely people interested in novels and short stories (as the name suggests). In the regular Writer's Market you will have to sift through publishers that are not interested in your work, or are only magazines or periodicals. Since you are sending short stories in for submission, you may go with that one, but it doesn't really matter which you choose. Both are very helpful. The 2009 edition of both books recently came out over the summer, so you may start there. But the 2008 edition is just as good, so don't worry if you can't find the newer edition. I wish you luck on both your writing and your submissions!

Answer 2

Yes, it is. However you can do better. Writers Market is written mostly for newcomers to the industry. Literary Marketplace is the industry standard. However Writers Market costs 30 bucks and Literary Marketplace costs 300. The best thing to do is spend the 30 dollars on Writers Market and use Literary Marketplace at the library.

Whichever you choose - remember that neither one of them is 100% foolproof. You still must check out any listing through the standard Writers Beware sites and make sure they are legit. Things change very rapidly in the industry. The publisher who was on solid footing last year could have lost a big lawsuit and be floundering this year. Those are all things you need to check. Pax-C