Ugh
I know I've said in the past that Novel & Short Story Writer's Market is a great resource but man, I feel like they issue it every year without being very careful about updating their entries. I have definitely run across a few magazines that have stopped publishing that are listed in there (of course, that's not exactly uncommon in the industry) but I feel like I've run across enough fallacious entries to wonder just how careful they are.
Today I thought I'd send a story to a magazine that looked promising, but when I visited the magazine's web site it turns out that instead of reading from Sept 1 through Jan. 31, they only read from Sept. 1 until December 1, so I missed that short window. (I guess short submission windows at magazines is another rant for another day.)
Anyway, I guess this is the straw that broke the camel's back. This is the latest issue and I have found enough wrong entries that I felt like blogging about it. I guess the paranoid thought (what a nice thought for the season) is, wow, it would be sooooo easy to just publish that thing each year with minimum research. (Truth is, if they were well staffed enough they could do a boatload of the research on the Internet, like I just did, for God's sake.) Publishing it every year and then get poor suckers like me to pay for it every year. Or, you could also spin it as a dinosaur, where your own electronic research ends up being better than the book. (Ten years ago, it was a lot harder to find markets -- thus the then-usefulness of this particular resource.)
So maybe I should have an addendum to this, that it's a good resource to start with but by no means, the end-all, be-all. God knows I've found plenty of markets just from talking to you guys through blogs -- that aren't in N&SSWM.
Have great holidays, everyone!
LLB
Today I thought I'd send a story to a magazine that looked promising, but when I visited the magazine's web site it turns out that instead of reading from Sept 1 through Jan. 31, they only read from Sept. 1 until December 1, so I missed that short window. (I guess short submission windows at magazines is another rant for another day.)
Anyway, I guess this is the straw that broke the camel's back. This is the latest issue and I have found enough wrong entries that I felt like blogging about it. I guess the paranoid thought (what a nice thought for the season) is, wow, it would be sooooo easy to just publish that thing each year with minimum research. (Truth is, if they were well staffed enough they could do a boatload of the research on the Internet, like I just did, for God's sake.) Publishing it every year and then get poor suckers like me to pay for it every year. Or, you could also spin it as a dinosaur, where your own electronic research ends up being better than the book. (Ten years ago, it was a lot harder to find markets -- thus the then-usefulness of this particular resource.)
So maybe I should have an addendum to this, that it's a good resource to start with but by no means, the end-all, be-all. God knows I've found plenty of markets just from talking to you guys through blogs -- that aren't in N&SSWM.
Have great holidays, everyone!
LLB
posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 5:04 PM
4 Comments:
I have a whole row of Writer's Markets on my shelf, from different years, all from long past years. I buy them when the library discards them as they get new ones.
Have a very Merry Christmas!
Hey Maktaaq,
I think you've definitely got the right idea with getting them from the library discards. I am a little disappointed that I've been buying them full price and then dealing with entries that are wrong.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas too! :)
I get mine the same way.
I wish there was an online component for the book. It would make a lot of sense, and would be much easier for them to keep it up to date.
Yep, Hebdomeros, you're right -- an online database would be great. I think today I've caught the book with yet another erroneous entry... ugh. I guess we can all use the blogs to keep the entries honest...
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