Writer's Market 2014

There's nothing worse than a book that's not only outdated but is also peppered with bad advice structured in the same disorganized way it has been for the past 2 decades (that I know of).First off, the outdated information. The book has a listing of books published by Harlequin including Silhouette which hasn't been published as Silhouette since the spring of 2013. Apparently nobody bothered updating that information which makes you wonder how much more information is outdated and obsolete. (Probably quite a bit...or all of it.)Second, the bad advice: I've been a business consultant and entrepreneur for the last 20 years so it really bothers me when people talk haphazardly about starting an LLC when it's pretty clear that they don't know what they're talking about. Yes, writers should start a corporation and should NOT function as a sole proprietor. (This means you shouldn't be accepting payments from publishers and magazines in your own name but rather in the name of a corporation you own; sole proprietorship is not recommended.) Writers should NOT start an LLC unless they have a business partner, spouse, or other person to add on the LLC. As of about 3 years ago, the IRS will no longer recognize or accept filings for "single-member" LLCs (meaning there is only 1 person or entity that is the member. LLCs are designed for multiple people in a business (i.e. 2 or more people or entities) and not for 1 person. And if you're starting a writing business, why add a spouse or a business partner just to share the proceeds of your hard work when you don't have to? (That's just more red tape if you get a divorce or decide to break up a partnership.) Instead, start an S corporation (not a C corporation) in your HOME STATE (not Nevada or anywhere else unless you live in Nevada or anywhere else). An S corporation will allow you to be your own "member" without having to take on a partnership to function as a corporation and to file annual corporate taxes. All of your writing profits "flow down" to you (the owner of the corporation) and you pay taxes at the personal level AFTER all of your write-offs are accounted for; this is exactly the same as how an LLC works.I did like the very small section on getting a SEP IRA but the section was barely 2 paragraphs and wasn't really worthy of any deep information. I didn't care for the small section on setting up bill pay online. I don't think it's the place of a book for writers to give that type of useless filler advice and I fail to see how the little worthless tidbits like that here and there throughout the book is really going to benefit anyone much less a writer.And being disorganized?My first Writer's Market I ever purchased was the 1994 version in 1993. I'm a little shocked that 20 full long years later, they still haven't made this book any more user friendly or organized. In fact, it's set up much the same as back then. Yes, they organized the magazines nicely for you with a listing of magazines by topic or type so it makes it easier to find. (For example, if you want to write cooking articles, it would be very easy for you to find the appropriate magazines by the topic, gaining instant access to every magazine you can write for under a single topic.) However, they've never made it easy for you to find agents or book publishers in the same fashion.Just like 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago and even 2 years ago -- yet again -- you have to burn at least half of a workday to take flags and highlighters to each page to find the book publishers and/or agents you need for the type of writing or projects you're doing. You have to go LISTING BY LISTING, PAGE BY PAGE through both the agent and book publisher sections to highlight, say, agents and publishers that handle writers for business books, for instance. Apparently they've never bothered with organizing these for their wide audience of writers. (Apparently we're not worth the time.) And this sucks, sucks, SUCKS!!!Why did I give this 3 stars?Well, if you have no other Writer's Market, you're basically stuck getting this one because there really isn't anything else out there. If you have 2013 or 2012 editions then you probably should skip this one because nothing has changed. They didn't even bother updating the listings from what I can tell. Apparently they keep printing the same book over and over again, year after year without many (or any) updates. They just inject new articles in the beginning of the book by writers which, as I pointed out, dole out poor advice that will get you in trouble if you don't know otherwise. (Sometimes NO ADVICE is better than BAD ADVICE.) Or they just puff the book up with filler articles that will waste your time more than anything. (Do you REALLY need someone to tell you that you should pay your bills online? I didn't think so.)I'm disappointed in this Writer's Market and, unfortunately, it's doubtful that they will ever heed to the negative comments or suggestions to make a better resource for writers. It's pretty evident that they just don't care.

I have used the Writer's Market, the Artist's Market, the Photographer's Market books many times over the years. There are lots of good tips in the book for people who are just starting out. I've been freelancing since the 1980s, so, I am not new at this, but, there is always something new to learn. These books are great time-savers. They give you the information you'll need to get your foot in the door.You want to pay close attention to what each agent, publisher, or other representative wants. Follow those guidelines to the letter and you CAN get results.Don't shotgun submissions to publishers or publications. Pick your potentials from the fields that various publishers say they accept. You want to use these books to identify those publishers that work within your niche. If you don't have a niche, trust me, you need one. Figure out what your particular area of interest is and specialize in that until you are just too good to ignore. Then, follow that niche to the publishers that would give you an opportunity.Whatever you do, never give up.

I bought the Kindle version of the 2014 Writer's Market and had difficulty searching to begin with. For example, I did a search for picture book publishers and it came up with a lot of results. However, each result didn't have a heading with the name of the publisher, just a short paragraph, which you then click on to go to the details of the publisher. I would like to be able to choose which publisher to go to. Also, once I clicked on one of the links to go to a publisher, I couldn't find my way back to the list, even with clicking on the return arrow. (Later: pleased to report that I am finding my way around the Kindle edition of Writer's Market okay now!)

I've been writing professionally for over 30 years. I have had 24 books published, and received some endowments, while also attending and directing writers' conferences. My companion has always been Writers' Digest and their books, especially The Writer's Market. This book is dynamic! They structure the book for beginners through veteran writers, with categories of utmost necessity for any writer, such as list of literary agents, publishers, contests, and so on. The book also features articles and many other bonuses. No matter how much I've written or how long I've been writing, I do it with companion--The Writer's Market. It's easy to read and simple to find what you need, I would recommend this books to anyone wanting to write or having already been established. This is a writers ' must!

I love this "series," though this is the first edition of the book I bought for myself. I love all the resources and information compiled in this book, makes being a freelancer a little bit easier. Yet as these books get more and more updated, it seems the more the authors seem to lean more on the online version/online resources, which you are required to pay for. I haven't checked out to see if you get it for free with the purchase of the book, if so I think it's okay, if not then NO WAY! I'm paying you for this book--I want the material in between the pages, not on some webpage. Otherwise it is a helpful, informative resource.

I took the advice of another reviewer and have been going through with a red highlighter and a yellow highlighter, marking through the publications that pay on publication or those I don't know enough about to write for and highlighting those I'm interested in looking into for later review. Although the 2015 version is out, I went with the 2014 version because I don't feel it changes from year to year all that much and this was cheaper.It's a great tool for writers and for most publications it has all the information you need to decide whether to submit with them or not. It's a large book and is organized well, so it's easy for me to find exactly what I'm looking for. I highly recommend for any freelance writer.

This book contains all the updated information you need to get your book or article published. You only need to use it and take massive action to be on the road to success. This may sound like advertising hype...but I wasamazed at the wealth of detailed information...from how to write an effective query letter to who to send it to and how long to wait for a response before sending a gentle reminder. A treasure for writers and would-be writers.

This will be such fun to check through. I would refer my friends to it. much bigger than I expected.

I would highly recommend this book to all writers regardless of genre or type. Great reference for anyone hoping to traditionally publish.

I bought this book after taking a course in writing articles for magazines. As soon as I actually get down to writing those articles, I have no doubt that this book will be invaluable. I have already marked the most interesting mags for my type of interests, so all that's missing is my own input. This is for the US and Canadian market, although of course writers can submit articles from any place around the world.

I liked buying this to refer to each year, but underused the paper edition. I am finding this useful in the Kindle format because it is always at hand, not a heavy tome on my shelf.