WPN Market Update – July, 2009

By Patricia L. Fry

Going, Going, Gone – 20 magazines, websites and newspapers have folded.
Here’s What’s New – 10 newsbytes, announcements and informative reports.
Opportunities for Freelance Writers – 4 HUGE writing job directories, 7 mags seeking adult and teen writers & 2 useful websites for freelance writers.
Opportunities for Authors – 3 publishers seeking projects, a directory of children’s book publishers, publisher statistics, and publishers and distributors that Preditors and Editors DO and DO NOT recommend.
Opportunities for Book Promotion – 13 great resources and new Self-Published Book Expo.
Opportunities for Screenwriters – 3 new (to us) and hugely informative sites for screenwriters.
Opportunities for Artists and Photographers – 3 opportunities for photographers and a large directory of artists and photographers jobs.
Resources for Authors – 3 grammar sites + MediaFinder.
Editor Comments – Stop Sabotaging Your Success and Free Rice (how to feed the hungry and get smarter doing it.)

Going, Going Gone
Performing Songwriter has gone out of business.
Public Relations Quarterly has closed down.
Children’s Digest has ceased publishing.
Today’s Christian Woman has folded.
Missbehave.com and Missbehave Magazine have both shut down.
Common Ground has gone out of business. website will be discontinued as of October of this year.
http://encarta.msn.com
La Etcetera, the Los Angeles Times insert, has been suspended even before it debuted.
Shojo Beat, another teen magazine, bites the dust.
Apple (a Canadian health magazine) has folded.
Discipleship Journal has quit after 28 years.
There’s a rumor that Diversion Magazine has closed, but I can’t verify this.
Movieline Magazine is online only at http://www.movieline.com.
Photo Trade News is gone.
Studio Photography has gone out of business.
Portfolio has closed.
Pray! will no longer publish.
Presstime, the print magazine for the Newspaper Association of America, has shut down.
Starlog, a science fiction magazine, is out of business.
Tucson Citizen distributed its last print edition after 138 years. It’s online only.

Here’s What’s New is a brand new magazine for pet owners in southwest Missouri. It looks as though they are staff written and that, even if they use freelance work, they probably don’t pay, at this time. http://www.tamepetmag.com
Tame

Bad news for freelance writers. The New York Times has announced that it will try to balance its budget by cutting freelance writers. But, sadly, this same story is being told all throughout the magazine and newspaper world.

Family Fun is changing its name to Disney Family Fun. (More information under Opportunities for Freelance Writers.)

NorthSouth Publishers is not accepting submissions at this time.

Mundania Press is not accepting submissions at this time. Come back in September.

Lachesis Publishing is closed to submissions until further notice.

Actually, I’m not sure if these reports are NEW, but they are new to me and, perhaps, you. Meg Weaver, of Wooden Horse Publications fame, is offering reports with fascinating titles for $5.95 per report. Titles include “Getting Paid: You Wrote the Article; Now Make Sure You Get the Money,” “How to Send 50 Queries Per Week” and “Forget the Editors—How to Sell the People Who Really Count.” Order these and other reports at http://www.woodenhorsepub.com. Click on “Order.”

Opportunities for Freelance Writers was Family Fun. Not only will they be adding a section in each issue featuring fun things for children under 6, they will also come out with special interest magazines periodically. This magazine pays $1.25/word for articles from 850 to 3,000 words and anywhere from $50 to $200 for story ideas. http://www.familyfun.com
Disney Family Fun

University Link is a new campus magazine whose editors are soliciting articles from college students on topics such as sports, health and fitness, relationships, politics, fashion, travel and even bars and clubs. Learn more about the magazine here: http://www.ulmagazine.com. In order to land a paying writing gig with University Link, you must be able to prove that you are enrolled in a college or university and you need to have a measure of talent. You will be paid for your piece if it goes to print, according to your writing ability.

Here’s another opportunity for young writers, as long as they live in East Texas. East Texas Teen is soliciting essays by local teens on topics of interest to the same audience. Visit their site at: http://www.easttexasteen.com. Contact Heather Nielson, info@easttexasteen.com.

Popular Science Magazine has opened up an opportunity for those of you who love writing and who are qualified to write articles with a green theme. Popular Science is a paying market, but I could not discover how much they pay. I suggest that you look at their website, http://www.popsci.com, and then contact the editorial department. Submission Guidelines were buried, but I eventually found them here: http://www.popsci.com/writers-guidelines. It looks like they accept story ideas by mail as a preference: Editorial Department, Popular Science Magazine, 2 Park Ave., 9^th Floor, New York, NY 10016.

Well Now Magazine pays 10 cents/word. They want 500 to 700-word articles on health, nutrition, fitness and help for those who are not motivated to eat right and exercise. http://www.wellnowmagazine.com. Contact Victoria Henley, editorial@wellnowmagazine.com.

Zone 4 Magazine is geared toward gardeners and gardening in the Rocky Mountain States. You’ll find their Submission Guidelines here: Guidelines are explicit. Be sure to read them. http://www.zone4magazine.com/authors_and_photographers.html. Send queries or completed manuscript to Dan@zone4magazine.com. While this is a paying market, payment is negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Breakwater Review, a Journal of the Arts is new and the editors are currently soliciting fiction and poetry for their September issue. Their reading period is June 1 through August 1. Learn more at http://www.breakwaterreview.com. It doesn’t look like this is a paying market—just an opportunity to have your work read and to claim that you are a published author.

Freelance Job Sites
Have you discovered JournalismJobs.com, yet? I just heard about it yesterday. I checked it out and recommend it for those of you who are seeking work as writers, editors, reporters, art directors and so forth. Here are a few of the jobs listed: reporters in Los Angeles and New York, Legislative Researcher position, Editor needed in Cincinnati, Web savvy writer, motivated writer and there’s even a listing for a beachcomber/fisherman in Oregon. http://www.journalismjobs.com. Let us know if you land a job from this amazing list. Patricia@spawn.org

If you are seeking paying freelance writing work, be sure to check out FreelanceWriting.com at http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages. There are currently 861 guidelines for paying markets, including the following categories: spirituality, boating, parenting, humor, workforce, fishing, religion, real estate and over 50 others. Here’s an example of their listings: Boys Life pays $400 to $1,500 per piece, Italian American will pay $50 to $250, AAA Journey Magazine pays $1.00 word, Escapees Magazine pays $150 per article, Melting Pot Gifts offers $50 for ideas, Massage Magazine generally pays $50 to $400, IntelligentEA pays $500 per piece and Birder’s World offers $450 per article.

Towe’s is another site featuring a large directory of paying markets for freelance writers and, of course, those who are promoting books. http://www.internet-resources.com/writers/markets/online-guidelines.htm. Here are a few opportunities I found at this site: The Nation pays $150 for comments and $350 for articles (http://www.thenation.com), Outdoor America pays as much as $1,500 for articles (http://www.iwla.org), Catholic Digest pays $200-$400 (http://www.catholicdigest.com) and HR Magazine (http://www.shrm.org) pays .50 cents word and up.
http://allfreelance.com/indexx.html is a large directory for, you guessed it, freelancers—and it includes those who freelance in practically all categories. You’ll find work-at-home job sites, freelance job sites, information about health insurance for freelance professionals, articles on tax issues, bookkeeping, etc. as well as a directory of online courses for freelance professionals.
If you are looking for work, this could be a good place for you to start the search.
Are you a professional freelance writer? Then you are probably interested in what’s going on in magazine-dom. Most likely, you especially appreciate hearing positive stories. If so, check out Hearst’s blog featuring ROI stories. http://magazineroistories.com. I’m assuming that ROI stands for Return on Investment—so we’re talking success stories within the magazine industry. If you are a career writer and you rely heavily on magazine article work, this is a blog you’ll definitely want to follow.

PageOneLit.com is an online literary newsletter for and about writers and authors. If you are interested in the literary community, you might find this site useful. You’ll discover writing contests, literary news, interviews with authors, book reviews, a list of resources for writers and authors and more. http://www.pageonelit.com.

Opportunities for Authors is currently seeking manuscripts for their newest series on restaurant management and profitability. Aside from publishing books on finance, accounting, tax subjects, bookkeeping and restaurant management, they’re the only company that publishes and nationally distributes professional study materials for the IRS Enrolled Agent Exam. They also want to see manuscripts with a self-help or how-to aspect written by professional authors. Study the Pineapple Publications website at http://www.pineapplepublications.com, review the submission guidelines and then contact publisher, Christine Silva using the contact form provided at the site. If you are currently showing your fiction manuscript around, you’re invited to submit it to their Pineapple Exotics division using the same contact form. Silva is one of the few publishers, these days, who welcomes a complete manuscript, but she wants to see a brief synopsis at the beginning of the manuscript. Silva explained to me that this company is NOT a subsidy publisher. Authors do not pay fees in order to publish with them. Once they’ve published your book, they pay a flat fee per unit sold, based on a percentage of the book’s list price. If you have questions for Silva, use the contact form at http://www.pineapplepublications.com/contact-us.html.
Pineapple Publications

Phoenix Books has launched a new children’s line called Dove Imprint. The books produced from this company are entertainment oriented—mostly by and about celebrities. And the children’s book imprint will follow the same theme and standards. They hope to publish a full line of children’s books by fall of 2010. http://www.phoenixbooksandaudio.com.

Moody Publishers will look at unsolicited fiction manuscripts, but you must go through an agent in order to have your nonfiction work looked at. http://www.moodypublishers.com. This publisher also offers a list of things you can do in order to bring your credentials up to their publishing standards. For example, develop a portfolio of published magazine articles, consider using a manuscript review service (they recommend two), ask a published author to recommend you, join a writers group in order to meet published authors. This is good advice for any author who is still trying to break into the world of publishing.

The next time you hear someone complaining because they can’t find a publisher, give them this statistic. According to Bowker there are at least 75,000 publishers in the U.S. Sure, some of them are subsidy publishers, others are small independents such as myself (I publish only my own books), but many others are small, medium and large traditional publishers in search of good projects. Just take a look at the Writer’s Market (purchase or order your copy from any online or real-time bookstore or use the online database at http://www.writersmarket.com) and Literary Marketplace, http://literarymarketplace.com, plus the directories I have list below.

Colossal Directory of Children’s Book Publishers lists a huge number of publishers of children’s books (many of which also publish general interest books for a more general audience). The Directory is here: http://www.signaleader.com. Once there, you will find publishers such as, St. Anthony Messenger Press (http://www.americancatholic.org), Blue Earth Books (http://www.capstonepress.com), Bridge/Logos (http://www.bridgelogos.com), Browntrout Publishers (http://www.browntrout.com), New Canaan Publishing (http://www.newcanaanpublishing.com) and many, many others.

Did you know that, at the Preditors and Editors website, they list publishers and distributors and note whether they recommend them or NOT, a link is broken, it’s vanity publisher, etc? For example, they strongly do NOT recommend AEG Publishing Group, American Reprint Company, Amereon Press, and Rivercity Press. Air Leaf is NOT recommended. Go to http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/peba.htm. Here, you will find the publishers’ listings starting with the letter A. Use the alphabet provided at the top of the page to tap into other publisher listings.

Opportunities for Book Promotion
Some of you may have seen Fran Silverman’s suggestion in the June 3, 2009 issue of her Book Promotion Newsletter suggesting that you contact Kim Smith, host of “Introducing Writers” on Blog Talk Radio. If you have a book to promote, certainly you’ll want to connect with Kim and arrange to talk about your book. Contact her at pubd2b@yahoo.com.

Sally Shields is the creative facilitator at “Blog Talk Radio Book Show for Authors,” broadcast live every Wednesday at 9 p.m. (ET). If you have a book to promote, contact Sally at sally@theDILRules.com. Check out the program and submission requirements at www.blogtalkradio.com/blurb.

Most of you are probably familiar with “Book TV” on C-SPAN2. They claim that they focus only on nonfiction books on public affairs and policy. But I see, by the program schedule published at their website, that they review a fairly wide range of books that fit loosely within the “history” category. See for yourself by studying the books they’ve featured at http://www.booktv.org. Email booktv@c-span.org with your questions. Send your book to Book TV on C-SPAN2, 400 N. Capitol St., NW, Ste. 650, Washington DC 20001.

For an incredible array of detailed radio show listings, read Fran’s new book, Talk Radio Wants You: An Intimate Guide to 700 Shows and How to Get Invited. Evidently, you can get this $75 book from the author for $67.50. To refresh your memory as to the scope and depth of this book, read my review in the May edition of WPNews at http://www.spawn.org/books/books_mark_radio.htm.

Get your book reviewed and/or be interviewed at PageOneLit.com. http://www.pageonelit.com. You’ll also find a good resource list and contests for writers at this site.

The first ever Self-Published Book Expo (SPBE) is in the planning stages. The first SPBE will be held in the heart of Manhattan. It is planned as a one-day event for Saturday, November 7, 2009 from 10 to 5:00. Admission is only $15.00. Exhibitors will be required to pay $275 for space if their application is received prior to July 15, 2009. It’s $325.00 thereafter. http://www.selfpubbookexpo.com. If you have questions, use this email address: info@selfpubbookexpo.com.

Are you even aware of your competition as a published author? Well, the figures are in. According to RR Bowker, there were 560,626 titles released in 2008. And, for the first time, ever, the on-demand, short run titles beat out the number of books produced through traditional publishers.

Be sure to check out the “Opportunities for Freelance Writers” listing in this newsletter because I’ve noted two huge directories of magazines that pay for freelance work. As we, here at WPN, and other professionals have told you, writing articles for magazines is a good way to get exposure for your book and yourself. The two directories are Towe’s (http://www.internet-resources.com/writers/markets/online-guidelines.htm) and the Freelance Writing site (http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages).

I happened across a good article about book promotion when I was compiling the Market Update for you this month. It is written by Bill Adler, Jr., of Adler and Robin Literary Agency and it encompasses pretty much all of the good stuff we teach and preach here at WPN. And while it is not fresh copy, it is still good basic advice for authors who are promoting their books. http://www.adlerbooks.com/promguid.html

Bob Baker has a good article featuring ten ways to promote your book on the Internet. Check it out at: http://www.bob-baker.com/qt/10ways.html.

Right here at WPN, you’ll find numbers of articles on book marketing as well as writing, editing, self-publishing and how to build an author’s website. http://www.spawn.org/articles.htm

Patricia Fry’s website also has a nice collection of articles related to book promotion and other aspects of writing and publishing. http://www.matilijapress.com/articles.htm

And remember, two newsletters we recommend related to book promotion are Book Promotion Newsletter: http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com and A Marketing Expert: http://www.amarketingexpert.com.

Opportunities for Screenwriters , at http://www.networkisa.org, is a treasure-trove of resources for screenwriters. They provide listings of classes, guilds/organizations, literary agencies and production companies, for example. They offer links to contests for screenwriters, script consultants and they feature a list of writing gigs with daily updates. I checked the list this morning and found over 4 dozen listings posted just since May of 2009.
International Screenwriter’s Association

Have you discovered Screenwriters Online, yet? This is a great website for aspiring screenwriters who want to learn more about the craft and the business of screenwriting. There’s no cost to check it out and it’s also free to join. http://www.screenwriter.com

Screenwriting Goldmine is a website with a forum and a blog and lots of opportunity to learn from professional as well as beginning screenwriters. http://www.screenwritinggoldmine.com

Opportunities for Artists and Photographers uses a variety of photos throughout the magazine and on the cover. This is a paying market. Mainly they are interested in garden photography in the Rocky Mountain region. If this is your specialty or you enjoy this type of photography, familiarize yourself with this magazine, read the submission guidelines and send your submissions or questions to dan@zone4magazine.com. Here’s the website address: http://www.zone4magazine.com/authors_and_photographers.html.
Zone 4 Magazine

Brown Trout Publishing is soliciting work from professional photographers. Request a copy of their submission guidelines at production@browntrout.com. Learn more about the company at http://www.browntrout.com.

Outdoor America is always looking for good photos to illustrate their stories and grace their magazine covers. They pay $100 to $500 (more for exceptional work). http://www.iwla.org

Be sure to check out All Freelance, http://allfreelance.com/indexx.html, for photography and art work. This is a huge directory of sites for all freelance professionals, including artists, photographers, web designers, graphic designers, illustrators and more.

Resources for Writers and Authors
We haven’t discussed grammar sites in quite a while. I hope that as writers, authors, web designers, graphic designers, proofreaders, editors, etc. you have a favorite grammar site that you frequent. Here are some pretty good ones:

Guide to Grammar and Writing
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar

Grammar Gorillas
http://www.funbrain.com/grammar

Grammar Girl
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com

MediaFinder.com is the largest database of United States and Canadian Magazines, Catalogs, Newspapers, Newsletters and Journals. Check it out at http://www.mediafinder.com. I did two quick searches and located 200 publications on writing and journalism and 253 on animals and pets.

Editor Comments
Stop Sabotaging Your Publishing and Freelance Writing Success
Are we giving our full attention to the materials we probably need to look at? I can tell you that there is a percentage of WPN members who do not. And it irks me when members do not renew because they “didn’t get anything out of being a member,” or because “everything you offer is geared toward the freelance writer, the fiction writer, the hobby writer…” WHAT?

If you are a photographer or artist who craves the opportunity to make some money selling your work and you don’t make this happen using the resources we offer, there is something wrong with YOU, not us. If you can’t find many opportunities to earn a living or supplement your income as a freelance writer, you may be studying this newsletter, but you are definitely not pursuing the generous serving of resources and job opportunities we provide here each month. If you are an author who hasn’t a clue as to how to sell your book, you simply aren’t paying attention to the huge volume of resources and information we offer.

Folks, we can only do so much. We can spend many hours researching, compiling, sorting and presenting resources, massive directories, choice opportunities, prize articles, valuable sites and a multitude of ideas, but it is up to you to partake of the offerings.

We talk to hundreds of authors, screenwriters, poets, artists and freelance writers every year and most of them ask, “What can WPN do for me?”

How many of you know the answer to that question? Would you believe that some of these individuals are looking for an organization with experts and professionals who will take them by the hand through the process of becoming successfully published, getting their screenplay accepted, becoming an award-winning poet or creating a 6-figure freelance writing business, for example. For a membership fee of $45/year? Yeah right! I wonder if these people know what this would cost them in real life. Let’s take the author in search of a successful publishing experience, for example.

He would first need an excellent manuscript (at the least an editor/at most a ghostwriter—$800 to $40,000); an amazing presentation (a book proposal writer—around $5,000 from scratch); an agent or another representative to show the manuscript around to publishers (they’ll take a cut of the pie—a few hundred to $thousands); a fulfillment company, a distributor and a promotions/marketing company (additional $thousands). Is this actually what they expect from an organization such as WPN?

What most don’t understand is that there are numerous avenues to publishing a book, creating and maintaining a freelance business, promoting a book, etc. And the best person to do the research, check out the resources, do the legwork, make the decisions and pursue his/her choice of options is the author (freelance writer, artist, screenwriter, etc).

The only way you’re going to get your money’s worth from an organization like WPN is by taking charge of your own project from start to finish. This means educating yourself, becoming knowledgeable on all publishing fronts, studying all of your options and making the right choices for you and for your project. You care more about your project than anyone else in the universe. It is your vision. You must be in charge.

WPN is here NOT to make the decisions for you or do the work. Our function is to provide that education and those resources and options you need in order to make the best choices along your career path.

If you’re like most, you subscribe to several appropriate newsletters. Do you read them all? If you’re feeling a tad overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material coming at you (most of us do), start downsizing. Here’s how:

Take the time to review several issues of each magazine and newsletter to which you subscribe, including WPNews and the WPN Market Update.
Carefully and thoroughly evaluate the value for you in each of them. By this, I mean, actually check pertinent resources, determine what messages, information, advice is/was/has been most beneficial to you and your project/career.
Is there something in almost every issue that you can use? Or can you honestly thoroughly read through several issues without hitting on something of value to you?
Create 3 stacks of publications: Yes, No and Maybe. Then go through the maybe stack again and add those materials to either the Yes stack or the No stack.
Toss the “nos” and cancel your subscriptions. There, you’ve lightened your load considerably. Now commit to your education and your success by really using these incredible tools.
Set aside a specific time each week or once a month to read those newsletters that you have deemed important and valuable to your project or career.
Tap into the resources and use the information as promptly as possible. I sometimes go to the website or access the material I’m interested in and then file it for use at a later time.

I’d love to hear from members who have discovered their own workable systems for managing and utilizing the abundance of material we are bombarded with daily. Follow these steps and I think you’ll discover that much of what comes through the organizations you trust is worth perusing. Don’t allow it to go by the wayside along with all of that unsolicited, useless spam you get each week. There is a difference. Pay attention to the information and resources that will make a difference to you.

Get Smarter While Feeding the Hungry
Have you heard of FreeRice.com? It’s an unusual site where you can, supposedly, feed the hungry and get smarter doing it. Go to http://www.freerice.com. You will be presented with a question. Answer the question correctly and you have automatically donated several grains of rice for someone who is hungry. You’ll also get another question to answer. Answer it correctly and you are responsible for more rice being dispensed. Miss a question and you get an easier one the next time. It makes you feel good and it’s actually kind of addicting. Is it legitimate? According to Snopes.com, it is.