WPN Market Update – May, 2009

By Patricia L. Fry

Going, Going, Gone – 40 magazines, bookstores, book festivals, etc. are gone.
Here’s What’s New – 13 new and changing sites, publishers, magazines and more.
Opportunities for Freelance Writers – Article Submission Service, 9 specific writing opportunities, plus THOUSANDS of jobs for writers.
Opportunities for Authors – 5 royalty publishers soliciting manuscripts and the various children’s book genres defined.
Book Promotion Opportunities – 6 ideas, leads and links.
Opportunities for Poets – 7 great opportunities and a resource for poets.
Opportunities for Screen/Scriptwriters – 3 scripts needed and a super resource.
Opportunities for Artists and Photographers – 2 interesting markets for your photos and a marketing idea.
Resources for Writers and Authors – 6 amazing resources, plus magazine statistics, 5 magazine databases and a moneymaking tip for freelance writers and authors.
Bonus Items: Bookstores are struggling and an article: “Have You Ever Bought a Self Published Book?”

Going Going, Gone
Ascent Magazine has descended into oblivion.
New York Look is gone.
Scottsdale has ceased publication, but will be redesigned and re-launched.
Pacific Magazine has closed down.
Cooking for 2 has ceased publication.
Backyard Living will close.
Breakaway (a teen magazine) is gone.
Canadian Home and Country has folded.
Lipstick Magazine has ceased publication.
Energy Management has closed.
The Good Life is no more.
Hallmark Magazine is no longer publishing.
Ignite Your Faith has gone out of business.
The 2009 Santa Barbara Author and Book Festival is rumored to have been canceled.
The Boston Globe may go out of business after 137 years
www.realkids.com is closed.
Seattle Post has gone online only.
http://www.writingroad.com site under construction.
Wedding Essentials for Same-Sex Couples has closed down.
Archi-Tech is now online only.
Newsday’s Parents and Children Magazine is gone.
RCR Wireless is out of business.
Byline Magazine has suspended the print publication for the time being.
The Write Stuff site (in Australia) seems to be inactive.
Several Berean Christian bookstores have closed.
Christian Publishers Warehouse has closed 13 outlet stores.
Logos Bookstore in Virginia has closed after 37 years.

Here’s What’s New is back in print and online. http://www.jpgmag.com
JPG Magazine
Variety is rumored to be cutting their rate of pay for material from .75 cents/word to .50 cents/word. http://www.variety.com.
Nursing Professionals is a new magazine targeting nursing students. It looks like their site is still under construction. So be patient. http://nursingpromag.com.
Scottsdale Golf Monthly is now known as AZ Golf Alive. http://azgolfalive.com. While I do not see submission guidelines at their impressive site, there is mention of Arizona locals contributing to the magazine. To find out how to submit your stories, contact Rick Baker at rick@scottsdalegolfmonthly.com.

Six Degrees Magazine is re-launching. This magazine actually comprises 4—focusing on Miami, Atlanta, Detroit and Las Vegas. Their purpose is described as: “defining culture, style and city living.” If you live in or are intimately familiar with any of these cities, study the website at http://www.sixdegreesmag.com and consider contacting the editors at their Farmington Hills, MI address. (I don’t see any other way to communicate with these folks.)
Disney has launched a new magazine. D23 is named in honor of the year 1923 when Walt Disney left Kansas City and headed for Hollywood where he founded the Disney Studios. The accompanying website, “Disney Twenty-Three” provides fans with all sorts of goodies and experiences, according to President and CEO Bob Iger. It is a membership site. Members are treated to the quarterly editions of D23. Learn more at: http://d23.disney.go.com.
Susie is a new magazine for Christian teens. Susie Shellenberger, creator of the now defunct teen magazine, Brio, (Focus on the Family) has designed this magazine to help young female readers grow spiritually. And it includes articles and stories on fashion, modesty, family issues, self injury, eating disorders, relationships and more. When Focus on the Family decided to discontinue its teen ministry and canceled Brio, Susie, who had been editor for that magazine for 19 years, quickly launched her own magazine. As you will see when you visit the magazine site, there is no link to submission guidelines. If you want to write for this magazine, contact Susie at Susie@susiemag.com. Visit the website at http://www.susiemagazine.com.
The New York Times announces that HarperCollins will launch a new imprint in the fall. The publishers at It Books will focus on pop culture, style and sports. I’m not sure how much good it would do to contact editorial director Mauro DiPreta with your manuscript idea, as it sounds like they already have several titles lined up to published through this imprint. There’s not much at the website about the new imprint, but keep an eye out at: http://www.harpercollins.com. I studied the site and learned that they prefer receiving email queries now at Harper. But they give out very few email addresses. You may have to call or mail a letter of inquiry to get the correct email address.
The founder of Spirituality and Health Magazine has just launched a publishing company. They will produce 5 titles this year through Spirituality and Health Books. If you have an idea that would fit into this line of nonfiction books, send your first 3 chapters and a one-page synopsis to Heather Shaw at, heather@spiritualityhealth.com. Study their book list at: http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/books.
The Book Review Club site is being redesigned. Check back every so often at http://www.bookreviewclub.com.
SynergEbooks is not accepting submissions until July 1, 2009. http://www.synergebooks.com/subguide.html
Write From Home at http://www.writefromhome.com is not accepting submissions at this time because of a backlog of submissions.
A Google Book Search Settlement has been reached. Learn more at http://www.googlebooksettlement.com.

Opportunities for Freelance Writers
Article Submission Services
Have you ever used an article submission service? I haven’t and I generally do not recommend that you do, because I believe in the writer staying involved and in control of his/her own work. For those of you who would like to try a submission service, here are a few: At http://www.wordhustler.com, not only will they submit your manuscripts to a list of over 4,000 literary markets, they will also enter you in contests. You just fill out their contest form. Before signing on the dotted line, you can browse their markets to see if they conform to your topics/genre and you can take a tour to learn more about their services and techniques. Here are other submission sites to check: http://www.sendarticles.com, http://www.submityourarticle.com, http://www.submitthisarticle.com.
Job Listings and Directories for Writers
Here is a FREE list of over 600 paying markets posted in alphabetical order. Just follow this link and start planning your submissions: http://www.writergazette.com/calls.shtml.
Lately, we have provided several job sites and directories of job sites for your information, convenience and pocketbook and here’s another one: http://www.writesuccess.com/jobs_for_writers.html.

Regional Magazines
Community Living Magazine is a business magazine profiling businessmen and women in Idaho. Learn more about it at http://www.mycommunityliving.com. Contact editor Ty Cook with your submission, tcook@mycommunityliving.com.
Capital Style is a magazine for women living in central Ohio. The women who read this magazine are interested in fashion, health, trends, people profiles, parenting and travel. Learn more about the magazine at http://www.capital-style.com. Contact editor Kristy Eckert and request a copy of their submission guidelines, keckert@capital-style.com.
Long Island Parent has just launched a magazine and a website for parents living in the Long Island area of New York, http://www.liparentonline.com. They seek comprehensive articles written by Long Island journalists, parents and experts. In other words, this magazine is for, by and about Long Island moms and dads. Here’s a peek at their Editorial Calendar for 2009: July— Family Resource Directory; Aug/Sept—back-to-school, green living, fall fun; Oct/Nov—Halloween, special needs, taking care of you; Dec/Jan—Holiday and winter activities, gift guide, preschool. Contact the publisher/editor, Liza Burby, and ask for a copy of their guidelines for local writers at editor@liparentonline.com.
Write for Writers on the Range and your articles may appear in as many as 75 newspapers, magazines and websites. They’re looking for “taut and pithy opinion pieces about issues that affect Westerners.” And be sure to tie your article content to current events. They welcome a wide range of philosophies, perspectives and styles as long as the piece covers public lands, wildlife, rural communities, recreation, water and energy in an 11-state region, including OR, WA, CA, MT, ID, NV, WY, CO, NM and AZ. Learn more at http://www.hcn.org. Here’s the link for submission guidelines http://www.hcn.org/about/submissions, but it doesn’t seem to work. So I suggest going to http://www.hcn.org. Scroll way down and you’ll find a link to Submission Guidelines under “About Us.” They use pieces of from 800 words to 10,000 words in length. They are a paying market. Payment may range from $100-$200 per piece. The only way I could find to contact the editors—other than via snail mail—is through an online form: http://www.hcn.org/letters.
The Loki List is a currently non-paying lifestyle print magazine covering art, literature, culture and more in Arkansas. Editors Holly McCauley and Judea Jackson (editor@lokilist.com) say that they do plan to eventually pay freelancers—so you might want to start a relationship with the folks at this publication early on. Learn more at http://www.lokilist.com.

General Markets is now a paying market. They are interested in submissions from new as well as seasoned writers who can provide quality articles, both original and reprints, that relate to writing. They prefer pieces of 600-800 words copied over in the body of an email—no attachments. Go to shaunna67@tripod.com to learn more about this newsletter. And send your appropriate submission to shaunnawrites@msn.com. She will pay you $10 per piece through Paypal.
The Writer Within Newsletter
The editors at Writer-On-Line.com are currently reading fiction stories up to 3,000 words and creative nonfiction up to 3,000 words for possible inclusion in upcoming issues of Writer Online. They are reading only through June, so get material to them now, if you want to be included. Learn more at http://www.writer-on-line.com. Contact submissions@writer-on-line.com.
Do you write for children? You might be interested in the Children’s Writer, A Newsletter of Writing and Publishing Trends. http://www.childrenswriter.com. It looks like a useful newsletter for anyone interested in writing for children, including freelance writers. Not only can you benefit from reading this newsletter if you write for children’s publications, but this is a paying market for freelancers. Earn anywhere from around $200 to $300 per 750 to 2,000-word pieces. http://www.childrenswriter.com. Click on “Writer’s Guidelines.”

Article/Story Directories for Freelance Writers now has a database of over 2,200 market listings from all over the globe. Check it out at http://www.worldwidefreelance.com. Gain access to all of the markets for as low as $1.25 month. Access 750 of them for FREE!! http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/markets2.htm.
Worldwide Freelance Writer
Bella Online offers a list of over 20 ezine and newsletter directories for freelance article and story (fiction) writers. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art12836.asp
For additional magazine databases reflecting some of the over 22,500 periodicals currently being published, see Resources for Writers and Authors in this newsletter.

Book Review Opportunity
Would you like to be a book reviewer? Some people enjoy doing this just for the fun of reading the books. Others do so to make some extra money. I am not sure if this is a paying gig or not. Check it out. Curled Up with a Good Book is soliciting reviewers. Learn more at http://www.curledup.com/revue4us.htm. Or contact them at editorial@curledup.com.

Opportunities for Authors is seeking gift and inspirational books as well as books on personal growth, teens/tweens and family relationships. They do not want to see fiction, rhyming poetry, memoirs or children’s books. They don’t seem to have a website, so email them at Bmpbooks@sps.com and ask for a copy of their submission guidelines.
Blue Mountain Press
Second Wind Publishing publishes novels of from 40,000 to 100,000 words in the following genres: romance, crime, mystery, action, adventure and mainstream. Send a summary of your story, the genre and length, along with your publishing credits. They also want to see your first chapter (up to 30 pages). Editor Mike Simpson, says not to send material for manuscripts unless they are completed. Send the requested materials to mike@secondwindpublishing.com. The submission guidelines are here: http://www.secondwindpublishing.com/Submissions.html.
Moonlight Mesa Associates will be accepting submissions for Western novels in the fall. Check out their explicit and clear submission guidelines at http://moonlightmesaassociates.com/_wsn/page7.html. Consider sending them a query reflecting your amazing Western novel some time in September or October (which is when they are accepting submissions).
Walk Worthy Press is seeking contemporary fiction book manuscripts that may be of particular interest to African American readers. They want good stories that encourage the faith of their readers. If you are working on a Christian-oriented novel, consider showing it to the publishers at Walk Worthy Press. They prefer manuscripts of from 85,000 to 120,000 words. Email your query to ManuscriptCoordinator@WalkWorthyPress.com. Study their guidelines at http://www.walkworthypress.com/submissionguidelines.html.

All Things That Matter Press invites you to share your “self” with the world. This is a no-fee, royalty-paying small press whose publisher seeks to produce books that help authors share themselves with the world. Their focus is on spiritual self-growth and personal transformation. They want books with strong messages. In fact, they prefer looking at nonfiction, poetry, collections of short stories, science fiction, thrillers and even novels. While they are not particularly interested in children’s and young adult books, they will sometimes consider them. Admittedly, this publishing company is small, but it is designed to and committed to helping first time authors get their first book published. http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com.
Are you confused about children’s book genres? Laura Backes offers a clear understanding of this for children’s book authors at the Write 4 Kids site: http://www.write4kids.com/colum44.html. She clearly defines a picture book, baby book, toddler book, early picture book, easy reader, transition book, chapter book, middle grade and young adult books.

Book Promotion Opportunities
Book Review Opportunities
High Country News publishes book reviews for books about the West, with a Western theme or by Western authors. If this describes your book of fiction or nonfiction, ask someone to write a 300 to 700-word book review and submit it at the High Country News website: http://www.hcn.org. Use the form at http://www.hcn.org/letters.
Would you like to have your book reviewed by a teen reviewer? Check out http://www.teenlit.com.
Curled Up With a Good Book is an ezine and a website committed to bringing good books from presses of all sizes to the attention of their readers. It looks as though this is paid promotion. If you want to pay for this sort of advertising, check it out at http://www.curledup.com/advert.htm. Email them to find out if they also do free book reviews: editorial@curledup.com.

Promote to the Children’s Book Market is for authors with books to promote to the children’s book market. Check it out at, http://www.childrenswriter.com.
Children’s Writer Newsletter

Social Networking
Are you promoting your book and/or yourself through any of the social networks yet? Are you Twittering, involved with Facebook, MySpace, YouTube or Pownce? Here’s a site that keeps track of the world of social networking. http://www.mashable.com. Learn more about social networking here: http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com.

Articles on Book Promotion
I stumbled across this link, which offers links to articles related to book promotion. Click and learn: http://unjobs.org/tags/book-promotion

Opportunities for Poets
The editors at Writers in the Sky invite you to submit your poetry for possible publication. They publish short works of less than 25 lines in each issue. Go to: http://www.writersinthesky.com/writing-newsletter.html for complete guidelines.
The folks at Writer Online are reading poems and fiction through June. Submit 3-6 poems of any style in the body of an email: submissions@writer-on-line.com. Study their submission guidelines at: http://www.writer-on-line.com/submit.
Do you have a collection of poems or random poems you’d like to offer for publication in book form? Here are a few publishers seeking books of poetry and/or chapbooks: Kitsune Books (wants complete collection of poetry) http://www.kitsunebooks.com; Ooligan Press, http://www.ooliganpress.pdx.edu; World Audience, http://www.worldaudience.org; Alondra Press, http://www.alondrapress.com and Coteau Books, http://www.coteaubooks.com.
Here’s a site featuring resources and tips for poets. http://www.unitedpoets.org

Opportunities for Screen/Script Writers
Do you have a completed feature-length script in the vein of Willie Wonka, ET, Jurassic Park or Back to the Future? Inktip Newsletter is advertising for such a script. (See link below.)
They are also seeking completed feature-length character-drive WW1or WWII scripts focusing on a small unit or squad. This would be something similar to, Band of Brothers or Platoon. If you’re not familiar with these films, what they want is a tightly knit story taking place on a battlefield, in the trenches or in a prison camp, for example. Think, Stalag 17 or The Great Escape. (Link below.)
Maybe you’ve have a completed script similar to No Country for Old Men, The Westerner or Death Sentence. This script would have a gripping storyline focusing on a life and death situation. Check out these and other opportunities at http://www.inktip.com/pnews.php.
Are you familiar with Script Champion? If you’re a serious screenwriter, you really must check this out: http://www.scriptchampion.com.

Opportunities for Artists and Photographers
High Country News accepts color or black white prints and slides as well electronic images. And they’ll pay $35 to $100. Go to http://www.hcn.org. Scroll down and click on “Submission Guidelines” under “About” to get complete guidelines for photographers. Study the magazine to see what they use and then contact cindy@hcn.org.
Loki List Magazine is seeking images from photographers for their cultural regional (Arkansas) publication. This is a brand new company and they are currently soliciting volunteer photographers. But they have high hopes of eventually being able to pay for your excellent images. http://www.lokilist.com. Send images to editor@lokilist.com. Type “submission” in the subject line.

Break Into the Magazine Market
Are you a photographer who would like to break into magazines? Many print publications require or encourage photos with the stories they run. Few career freelance writers are also accomplished photographers. Yet, sometimes it’s the excellent photos that sell a piece. It is worthwhile for a freelance writer to partner with a good reliable photographer. Since many magazines pay extra for quality photos, I suggest that you—the photographer—find listings for freelance writers in directories, on websites and blogsites, in the bio at the bottom of articles related to the subjects you would like to photograph, etc. Contact these freelancers with your credentials and some samples of your work. Hopefully, you have a website to which you can direct the writer.
I’d love to hear from those of you who took this advice and are currently experiencing some success in the world of publishing in partnership with a credible freelance writer.
What are the possibilities for a photographer within the magazine field? The Greyhound Review pays up to $50 for the digital images they use. Aquarium Fish International pays up to $200 per photo as does AKC Gazette. Home Education Magazine offers only $12 for inside photos and $100 for the cover. Military Officer pays $75 to $250 for inside photos and up to $300 for the cover, as does Kitplanes Magazine. Soldier of Fortune pays $500 for the cover.

Resources for Writers and Authors
If you are an expert in your field, you might want to join the Round Table Group. Check it out at http://www.roundtablegroup.com. If you have questions, contact Toby Edwards at toby.edwards@roundtablegroup.com. Sign up and they will contact you when a client has a need for your precise interests and experiences.
Word Rescue is an interesting site that collects words that have vanished from the dictionary. Have you lost track of some of the words you liked—you don’t see them listed in the dictionary anymore? Visit this site: http://www.savethewords.org and see if they’re there. You can even participate in rescuing abandoned or outdated words by adopting them.

If you write children’s books and crave information and resources related to this genre, consider subscribing to Children’s Writer Newsletter. http://www.childrenswriter.com. A subscription is $19 per year (for 12 issues) but you get your first issue FREE.
Words Magazine is a site offering writing competitions that ultimately help charities. The explanation and their author’s guidelines are all a bit vague. If you like to write, enter contests and help worthy charities, you might want to spend some time at this site and, perhaps, participate. http://www.wordsmag.com.
Ask About Writing, http://www.askaboutwriting.net, is billed as the resource site for writers of all abilities. It’s a different site. I studied it for quite a while without being able to adequately describe it. I guess you’ll have to see it for yourself to determine whether it will be useful to you or not.

Magazine Statistics
There’s an interesting graph posted at the American Society of Magazine Editors site at http://www.magazine.org/ASME/EDITORIAL_TRENDS/1145.aspx. It shows the number of magazines being produced in around 300 categories during 1999 through 2007. The totals show that there were more magazines being published in 2001 than any other year since 1999 and the fewest were being published in 2004. The number of magazines in 2007 was actually up from the previous 3 years, totaling 22,652. You might want to visit this site and see how many magazines show up in your category. There are 13 magazines related to cats, for example, 166 related to children, 154 comic magazines, 441 computer magazines, 176 gardening publications, 139 golf mags, 732 related to ethnic cultures, 402 in the health and fitness category, 645 travel magazines, and 326 women’s publications.

How to Locate Magazines in Your Subject/Genre
What is your expertise or your book’s theme? Use Google.com to seek out the multitude of publications related to your subject or genre, use some of the periodical databases we provide here and either make some money writing articles and stories for the magazines of your choice or promote your book through articles to these magazines. Here are 5 databases of periodicals reflecting a wide variety of topics/genres.
http://www.woodenhorsepub.com
http://www.writersmarket.com
http://www.ipl.org/div/serials
http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages
http://www.worldwidefreelance.com

Let me know if you are aware of others we should report here.

Magazine Article-Writing Tip for Freelancers and Authors
For those of you who are not accustomed to writing for magazines or for those who feel they have pretty much exhausted their opportunities with the more obvious magazines, try this: Pitch a unique slant for new and different magazines. For example, maybe your topic is cycling. Rather than sticking strictly to cycling, sports and outdoor magazines, consider pitching a piece on cycling with your dog for a pet magazine, teaching your child safety while cycling for a parenting publication, fitness through cycling for a health and fitness magazine or bike paths for cyclists for a regional or travel magazine.
Study the array of magazines out there. Get copies of their submission guidelines. Put on your thinking cap and use your imagination to come up with different angles to present related to your area of expertise or your book’s subject matter.

Bonus Items .
Bookstores Are Struggling
If you are an author attempting to do business with bookstores, you know how slow they are to pay. It took me over a year to collect from one local bookstore. So what is selling in bookstores—anything? What sort of books should you be producing in this economy? While I don’t see evidence of this with my own ebooks, the Association of American Publishers reports that, while print book sales overall are down, ebook sales are up quite significantly. Some book categories have done better than others in recent months. Children’s and young adult as well as adult paperback titles were up slightly. All other categories of books were down, including religious, professional and scholarly and children’s, young adult and adult hardcover books. Even audio books have taken a dive. I keep hearing how well romance novels are doing—in fact, this is reported to be one of the ten best moneymakers in this economy. Chocolate and resume writing are also on that list.

In Response to Those People Who Won’t Consider Self-Publishing

Have You Ever Bought a Self-Published Book?

By Patricia Fry

Seriously, this question was posed to a friend of mine who contemplated hiring a self-publishing company for his first book. The author who asked him this was trying to make the point that no one buys self-published books. While this author has had a few books produced—all of them are by traditional royalty publishers.

But wow, what a question: “Have you ever bought a self-published book?” I can’t imagine very many people responding in the negative. Of course, we’ve all bought self-published books.
First, let’s identify a self-published book. It’s a book that was produced independent of a traditional royalty publisher. It’s a book published by an individual who becomes an independent publisher or through one of the many fee-based POD “self-publishing” companies. If you’ve ever bought a book at a book or harvest festival, a flea market or holiday boutique, for example, it was probably self-published. If you’ve purchased books in the back of the room after a conference, speech or other presentation, chances are, it was self-published. Do you buy books online? These may have been self-published.
When you bought the book, did you check to see who published it? Probably not. Did you care whether or not it was self-published? If you’re fascinated by astrology and you found a neat little pocket guide to astrology, you’re probably going to buy it no matter who published it. If you discover a quaint little book of poems about children, you may purchase it for your niece who’s expecting her first child whether it was produced by Simon and Schuster, or the Mom and Pop Publishing Company of Kansas. If someone recommends a fantastic novel, you’re going to order it no matter how it was published.
I probably buy more self-published books than traditionally published books. And I do so consciously. I like to support my fellow independent publishers and those who teamed with fee-based POD “self-publishing” companies to produce the books of their dreams.
I wonder if the author who asked that controversial question knows that Mark Twain self-published his work. And is he aware that James Redfield (Celestine Prophecy) and Richard Paul Evans (The Christmas Box), Beatrix Potter, Zane Grey, Edgar Allen Poe and Patricia Fry are/were all self-published authors? Most of us have had publishers pick up some of our works after we demonstrated their worth in the marketplace.
It’s too bad that the self-publishing stigma lives on in the minds of some people. How can we change that? Here’s how:

Produce the very best books that you can. This means, study the publishing industry so you know what it will bear and how you can participate in raising the bar.
Write a book proposal so that you ultimately produce a quality book that is wanted/needed by a large segment of the population.
Have your book professionally edited by someone you trust outside of your “self-publishing” company.
Commit to promoting your book so it receives the recognition it deserves.
Support independent publishers who are producing quality products. Join with others to convince booksellers and major reviewers that they should consider books by merit rather than company name.

The next time you purchase a book, notice how you make your choice. Will you buy it because of the publisher or will you choose it based on the quality of the book and the level of professionalism built into it? I trust it will be the latter. And I urge you to use the same strict criteria when preparing your book for publication.