Product Description: As popular and indispensable a guide as Writer's Market (or the "writer's Bible," as it has come to be known) is, its intense focus on market listings leaves little room for the informative articles writers crave. With the revised edition of Writer's Market Companion, readers will find all the answers they need about the business of writing.
Seventeen chapters updated with all of the latest statistics, trends, and news will provide writers with a comprehensive overview of the publishing world. Insider advice from successful authors and editors gives readers a professional view of what it takes to get their work in the market, get it published, and get paid. Topics featured in the book include: *The Writer's World *Your Writing Plan *Selling Your Articles and Other Short Nonfiction *Selling Your Fiction *Promoting Your Business and Yourself *Making and Saving Money *Finding A Community
With one of the most trusted names in writing, this book is bound to take its place alongside Writer's Market on every author's desk!
Review by Irene Watson, author of "The Sitting Swing." Definately an "essential guide" for anyone that wants to have their writing published.
A Valuable Supplement to "Writer's Market" From Writer's Digest Books comes "Writer's Market Companion," which serves as a valuable supplement to their `writer's bible,' "Writer's Market."
In the volume's introduction, the authors explain their reasoning for a companion to the popular "Writer's Market" guide: "As the publishing industry changes, we have become more selective in choosing markets that appear in `Writer's Market.' As a result of these choices, we have to sacrifice essential content, the nuts and bolts of publishing...To fill this gap, we're providing you with this `Writer's Market Companion, 2nd ed.'"
In their "Writer's Market Companion," authors Joe Feiertag and Mary Carmen Cupito provide an overview of "the nuts and bolts of publishing": writing and selling different types of material, including poetry, short fiction, non-fiction articles and essays, book-length fiction and non-fiction, and even screenplays and scripts. They also discuss alternative markets for a freelancer's work, such as corporations, web sites, and eBook aficionados. Other topics covered include conducting research; executing interviews; promoting your work; pursuing grants, fellowships, and prizes; finding and evaluating writing groups and communities; treating your writing career seriously, like a "real" business; contractual and copyright issues; and pricing your work.
As compared to other manuals on writing, publishing, and promoting books and articles, "Writer's Market Companion" is easily one of the more superior ones I've read (and trust me, I've pored over quite a few!). The guide is well written (an essential when it's a book about writing!), informative without sounding dry or boring, and chock full of useful advice. However, I thought a few of the chapters were on the weak side; for instance, chapter 13, "Promoting Your Work and Yourself" didn't offer much beyond the monotonous promotional strategies I've seen in every other writing manual. Nonetheless, the book as a whole is good buy, definitely worth the time and money.
A caveat: if you're just in search of market listings, stick with "Writer's Market." There aren't any paying markets included in "Writer's Market Companion," simply descriptions of the different types of markets out there, along with advice on how best to court them. Conversely, if you're a newbie just starting out, you'd probably be best served buying both the "Writer's Market" and its companion (after all, what good are market listings if you don't know what to do with them?).
- Kelly Garbato
Author & ePublisher Peedee Publishing / Hot Dog!, LLC
The Writer's Market Companion Probably many of us do not realize that incredibly over a billion books were sold during the past year. In the USA alone there are over 18, 000 magazines and approximately 45, 000 newspapers. Added to these publications is the multitude of information web sites. What is more noteworthy, as mentioned in The Writer's Market Companion, authored by Joe Feiertag and Mary Carmen Cupito, is that "America's love of reading is perhaps most evident when we look at book sales. In the years leading up to the new millennium, book sales in the U.S. (excluding textbooks) were up a healthy 38 percent."
No doubt this is excellent news for the aspiring writer as well as the seasoned professional. There is a vast market for your books and articles. The key question is to how do you crack the market?
Feiertag and Cupito provide the reader with a detailed plan as to how to go about succeeding as a writer. Divided into seventeen chapters, the authors deal with such topics: resources, ideas, writing plan, finding leads, selling, legal aspects, self-promotion, business aspects, and workshops.
As examples of some of the excellent advice contained in the book, there is a chapter entitled "The People Chase" that explains how to conduct an effective interview. We are also provided with concrete interviewing tips and pertinent samples of questions to ask of the interviewee.
Another section deals with the topic of what to write about. It is within this section that we are provided with idea-generating exercises.
Finding leads and knowing how to research your topic can very often prove to be a stumbling block in the planning of a good article. The manual provides three chapters that detail how to resolve this dilemma. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised when I followed the advice of the authors and experimented with a suggested site called ProNet.com. As I was informed, this site is a subsidiary of the PR Newswire. It allows you to find an expert by typing in a topic, and to my surprise I was bombarded with replies to my query within one day.
The authors do not omit to delve into the business aspect of writing and there is an entire chapter dealing with the subject of pricing. Various pricing suggestions are presented pertaining to such occupations as ghost writing, film scripting, brochure writing, and many more.
My reading of this book was out of sheer curiosity. However I would have to admit that "The Writer's Market Companion" should be placed on a must acquisition list.
This review first appeared on the reviewer's own site www.bookpleasures.com
Amazing Resource This book is a life-saver...it offers real advice that will help anyone who is just starting out in the writing field. All of the information is well presented, so that you don't have to do a lot of guessing about what they mean. A must-have book for any wannabe writer.
Comprehensive, informative, indispensable. One of the key reference books for aspiring writers seeking publication, The Writer's Market Companion is a compendium of sound information on every aspect professional writing. Joe Feiertage, Mary Carmen Cupito, and the Editors of "Writer's Market" have collaborated to provide up-to-date information on writer organizations, internet resources for writers, securing representation, obtaining a publisher, copyright protection, self-promotion, marketing and promoting fiction and non-fiction, taxes and financial issues, and much, much more. The Writer's Market Companion is a comprehensive and informative addition to any personal, professional, and community library professional writing reference collection.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
