2008 Writer's Market by Robert Brewer
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Book Reviews of 2008 Writer's Market
Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 4 Stars
Writer's Market is one of the most useful tools for any serious writer. Excellent, up-to-date information.Book Review: Good, but....
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is good, there is no question about that. However, if you're tight on money, go to the library and bring you laptop with you. Firstly, there are a number of links that are no longer active, despite it being the 2008 edition.
I ranked this 3 stars because if you're new to writing, there is a wealth of information here. But if you've been at it for a while, most of this you can find on the web for free thru various other writing sites [...].
Normally, I'm pretty succinct about what I like, or dislike about books, but this time, I just feel that I could've gotten bigger bang for my buck. What I have found most disappointing is that the links are no longer valid or accurate. I understand that by the time this type of volume goes to print, approx 6-12 months have passed, but this only furthers my argument for using the internet.
I will probably keep this for the next 3 years before I even begin to consider purchasing another one.
If you're a writer, good luck and whatever you do, don't quit!
Book Review: indispensible but flawed
Summary: 3 Stars
The Writer's Market is an essential tool for serious writers and is updated every year. However much of the information is inaccurate or simply faulty. Publications that are supposed to accept unsolicited MSS for consideration, don't. Editors move from publisher to publisher so often the risk of addressing an editor no longer employed at your chosen publisher is about 50-50. Magazines go out of business so quickly that it is essential to call before submitting anything or you will end up wasting postage, copying costs, etc. At over a thousand pages it does an excellent job of being all inclusive, but writers need to be careful because specifics are often inaccurate too - word limits are wrong, time periods for submitting change, and ones that say they will accept unagented MSS seldom do, and as for encouraging new writers, almost none do to any great degree. But, if you want to be a professional writer, it is still a necessary resource.Book Review: New one every year?
Summary: 3 Stars
It is probably the only resourse with so many entries, but many are like last year. The price was definately right. But I don't think I need one every year.Book Review: Disappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
The Writers' Market has long been the place I have gone to research small literary magazines in the U.S. It has been the backbone of such information for me. However, this year I am very disappointed with the Market. I went to it looking to find out if a certain literary review was still up and running, and what I found was that Writers' Market no longer has a section for small magazines. If America is bent on killing its small magazines and dealing the final death blow to the poetry market, I am sorry to say the Writers' Market has its hand swinging the axe. A flippant introductory essay by a woman whose last name--I think--is Breen advises poets to get "a reality check" because since there is no money to be made in poetry, evidently, it's not worth anybody's time (or space in the Writers' Market 2008). She also advises poets to make like Emily Dickenson and write poems for the sake "of writing good poems" and forget about publishing books of poetry. She admonishes the public in general, and poets in specific, for not spending their money on works of poetry. Those may be her views, and such may be the case in America, but there are still poets in our nation. Poetry and poetry writing is still being taught in our educational institutions, small magazines still exist in America, writers still publish in them, readers still read them, and poetry is still one of humanity's most basic, most intimate forms of communication. I hope the editors will rethink their position in the next editions. Bring back the support of America's small magazines.