In 1997, I eagerly anticipated and finally purchased the first Writer's Market on CD-ROM - Writer's Market 1997. I also bought the hardcover book, just because old habits are hard to break. Plus it reassured me a bit to have the book as a backup. Let's put it this way - I'm glad I bought the version with the book. I was so unhappy with the 1997 CD-ROM version of Writer's Market I hesitated to purchase the 1998 version.
But as luck would have it, I did get it on CD-ROM only and I cringed at first. No book! What would I do? I took a deep breath, installed the 1998 Writer's Market: The Electronic Edition onto my computer and ran it.
What a very pleasant surprise! Not only was it useful for my article and fiction submissions, I used it to keep track any press releases I sent out - this software is useful for writers *and* companies and businesses.
When it came time to get the 1999 Writer's Market: The Electronic Edition (this time bundled with the book), I had no qualms whatsoever. Again, it installed quickly and easily. After the initial "Welcome" screen (where you can click on "Learn to Use Writer's Market" - very useful for beginners) came a selection screen, where you can choose which medium to look for.
| There is a choice of |
| Book Publishers/Producers |
| Consumer Magazines |
| Contests and Awards |
| Greeting Cards/Gift Ideas |
| Organizations |
| Scriptwriting |
| Syndicates |
| Trade Magazines |
| Or add new markets |
| Or make a custom list of your own |
Then, depending on which option selected, you choose by location, circulation, your needs (such as fiction, non-fiction, etc), and pay rate. You can even specify if you want to only look for markets that pay on acceptance, accept simultaneous submissions, don't buy all rights, buy reprints or are new to this edition - or you can select more than one or all these options to refine your search even more.
I decided to browse through the markets and define them a bit. I selected Consumer Magazines, U.S. (Entire), Fiction, Circulation (all), and Moderate or above pay, then selected the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror genre and clicked on "Apply Criteria."
Other options in this menu are "Editorial Profile" (self-explanatory), "Submissions" and "Titles." The latter two are a nifty addition and much better than the 1997 version. You can keep track of your submissions and titles of your works by submission, by title or *by pay.* Also, in the "Editorial Profile" window, if the "Guidelines" button on the lower right is highlighted, click on it and you'll get additional guideline information about the publication.
A list of magazines appeared and from that I selected Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. From there I clicked on "Details" and another menu of options came up. The window size can be enlarged to full screen or minimized, as can the separate menu windows during the course of the program.
The first screen to come up is the "Contact Information" screen. If the publication has an email address or web URL, you'll find it here, as well as phone, fax and who the contact person is.
Other options in this menu are "Editorial Profile" (self-explanatory), "Submissions" and "Titles." You can keep track of your submissions and works by title, format or type. Also, in the "Editorial Profile" window, if the "Guidelines" button on the lower right is highlighted, click on it and you'll get additional guideline information about the publication. If you find this is a publication you want to submit to or that you like their guideline information, you can check off the "Mark this listing as a favorite" box (the text is bright blue and you can't miss it). Then if you go back to the main selection screen, you can go directly to your custom "favorites" list and this publication (and any others you've selected) will automatically pop up.
If you find this publication does not suit your writing style or needs, you can check of the "Hide this market" box and the next time you look up Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, this publication won't appear. This is a great feature and cuts down search time when I'm looking for specific publications.
But wait, there's more! Under the "Activities" pull-down menu on the toolbar, you can print or view reports of your submissions by date, title, market or pay, report by custom list, or view the list of titles or submissions (which will include word count, date entered, title name, type and format).
Under the "HELP" pull-down menu on the toolbar are several other great things you can read and take advantage of.
Then there's my personal favorite - the Writer's Encyclopedia, which has what every writer should know, from "A"
AA - Acronym for author's alteration, refers to text corrections or emendations
made by the writer on galleys or page proofs. Typographical errors, known as
printer's errors (PEs), are not counted as part of author's alterations. The author's
contract indicates the percentage of the text that may be changed by the author
at a given stage in the production process; the author must pay for any alterations
made after that percentage has been reached. Also called author's alts.
to "Z"
Zip Code Information.
New to the 1999 edition is the "Resources" section, which leads you to publications of interest and web sites of interest (with instant links to the web sites) and the web site for Writer's Digest allows you to copy and paste new market listings (the "Hot List") to the Electronic Edition on your hard drive, search their online markets guide by category, and browse other items on the site (such as Writer's Digest Magazine, Writer's Digest School, and contests). I do wish this site had a section where you could download an updated market list if you already own the Electronic Edition. Maybe next year?
There are two things I did not like, which I note in my "downs" section below, but other than that, the 1999 Writer's Market: The Electronic Edition is still a must-have for any writer, published or unpublished, or for a business that wants to keep track of and send out press releases to pertinent trade magazines. If you've hesitated to purchase it, hesitate no longer! Not only is it more Windows-friendly this year, it's search functions are much more flexible, you can easily import or export market information to other applications (such as a word processor), you can create and manage custom market lists and it has much more information than the 1997 and 1998 editions - with over 4,200 completely updated listings, including almost 1,000 new ones, plus a literary agent section in the book (which I wish was included on the CD-ROM).
So what are you waiting for? Go out, buy this and get writing and selling today!
UPS OF 1999 WRITER'S MARKET: THE ELECTRONIC EDITION
Comes bundled with the book, which has a new literary agents section to it (very useful)
You can import any additions you made to the market list if you owned the 1997 or 1998
editions
Easier to use
Web site available for more markets or general info
Easy to install
DOWNS
In the 1998 edition, you could go to a market list, click on "Editorial Profile," close that window,
go to the next market and double-click and you would automatically go to that publication's
"Editorial Profile." In the 1999 edition, no matter what you do, you always get "Contact
Information" first. I wish we could make a choice like in the 1998 version.
Also, in the 1998 edition, if I scrolled down the market list and clicked on a publication
beginning with the letter "T," after I'd read the info and returned to the list, it would bring me to
the publication I just looked at - not so in the 1999 edition. It brings you to the top of the list
each time, making it a pain in the you-know-what for looking at markets.
You cannot download and import current or new markets from the Writer's Digest web site - you
have to manually cut and paste them.
Finally, the book has the new literary agents section, but the CD-ROM does not - I hope they fix
that next year
The 1999 Writer's Market: The Electronic Edition
Book/CD-ROM Package is $49.99 ( book is softcover)
and can be found at your local bookstore or direct from the publisher:
Writer's Digest Books
Phone 1-800-289-0963 or 513-531-2690
1507 Dana Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45207
J.A. Hitchcock is a regular contributor to Compute Me. Visit her web site at jahitchcock.com.