WPN Market Update – October, 2002
By Patricia L. Fry
Contents:
Going, Going, Gone
During the last 10 months, we have reported on the demise of 85 magazines and publishing companies. The new Writer’s Market records at least another 40. Here’s a partial list: (Watch for more in the November Market Update)
Accent on Living
Archway Paperbacks
Barfly Newspaper
Bergen and Garvey Publishers
Casino Executive Magazine
Conquest – High Tech Business
Dog World
Drag Racing, USA
Economic Facts
The Florist
Hendricks FP (Canadian Publisher)
Hero Magazine
I Love My Job
Individual Investors
International Wildlife
IPublish.com (Time Warner Books)
Johnson County Business Times
Latingirl
Minstrel Books (Simon and Schuster)
Money Saving Ideas (National Research Bureau)
Here’s What’s New
The 2003 edition of the Writer’s Market is out. So retire your 2002 edition, but keep it handy for checking on markets that are no longer listed in the new edition.
What’s new about WM this year? It looks like it has just about the same number of listings as 2002. I don’t see many new publications listed in my areas of interest. What about yours? There are 4 new titles under art/architecture and literary/little; 3 in automotive/motorcycle, home/garden, military, auto/truck, nurse/hospital and advertising/marketing; 6 in business management; 5 new religious magazine and 2 new romance publications. But check this out, they have added 11 new regional magazines.
Do keep in mind, however, that sometimes these are not actually new publications, but they’re listed anew. In other words, the editor may ask to have their listing removed for a year or two and then reinstate it at a later time. In this case, even 50-year-old publications that have appeared in Writer’s Market often, might be listed as “new.”
I noticed something new in the Publisher’s Subject area of WM. They’ve reformatted it so it’s much easier to use.
Here’s information about two new magazines and changes for four others.
Catalina (for the mind, body and soul of today’s Latina). This is a lifestyle magazine for Latin women. They pay 10 – 25 cents/word for profiles and inspiring nonfiction articles. Submit your queries to editor@catalinamagazine.com.
Hawai’i Woman. This new magazine is looking for material on health, home, beauty, career and entertainment – all relating to the Hawaiian woman. Contact Billie K. Takaki, Managing editor. billie@hawaiiwomanmagazine.com Web site: http://www.hawaiiwomanmmagazine.com
Canadian Writer’s Journal has a new Web site. Visit them at www.cwj.ca. To contact, email: submissions@cwj.ca
Mamm has a new address. To submit an article focusing on cancer prevention, treatment and survival, contact: Gwen Darien, editor-in-chief, 54 W. 22nd St., 4th Fl, NY 10010
editorial@mamm.com
Byline has requested that freelancers use their mailing address. Do not send queries or submissions by email. Contact: Marcia Preston, POB 5240, Edmond, OK 73083-5240.
Spa Magazine has reported a change of address. The new editor-in-chief is Liz Mazurski. Contact her at: Lmazurski@spamagazine.com, POB 4728, Santa Barbara, CA 93140-4728
Word of Warning
Here’s a site that keeps a running list of problem publishers and editors. They also detail the problems and even publish related correspondence.
http://www.writersweekly.com/warnings/warnings.html
Research/Reference Site of the Month
http://www.writersmarket.com/encyc/l.asp Encyclopedia of writers’ terms.
Sites for Writers
http://www.freelancewriting.com features a free job search database, a database with 398 Guidelines for Writers, a newsletter, article archives on a wide variety of writing-related topics, interviews with writers and discussion forums and chats.
Grammar Site
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar This site is offered through the Owl Writing Lab at Purdue University. They make grammar fun and learning easy.
For Fiction Addicts
http://www.writepage.com
This site boasts over 300 pages of resources and how to information for writers (and readers) of genre fiction.
Featured Writers
Carolyn Ashmore of Sidney, British Columbia writes professionally while holding down a day job. She says, “I don’t plan to start a writing business. I’m realistic enough to know what I’d have to give up to do that and I’m not prepared to do so as yet.” So she writes in her spare time with some success. Her articles have appeared in Pacific Yachting, Beautiful British Columbia, Boating for Women and Western Restaurant News.
Here’s the result of my interview with Carolyn Ashmore:
Q: What is your day job?
A: I am employment coordinator for a service that helps people receiving BC benefits regain their self-esteem and financial independence through gainful employment. I was the original and only contractor for the predecessor to this program in Victoria when it began as a pilot project eight years ago. Now it has evolved so much it employs over 100 employees and offices like mine are located in over twenty cities throughout the province. As well, for five or eight years, I wrote and edited the company newsletter.
Q: How much time to you spend each week writing?
A: Well, up until this year, I’d spend several hours every evening after work writing to meet deadlines, researching for articles or submitting queries. This past year, I have pulled back so that I can pursue other activities. Now I only do it on the weekends or when I have a pressing deadline to meet.
Q: Can you describe your thoughts feelings about writing?
A: I love writing. I love words. I love to read and hope someday to write great novels. However, over the past 12 years, I have learned that I am not a genius and writing well is hard work and very labor intensive.
Before I began to write seriously, I was writing fiction. Then I realized that if I wanted to be paid for my work, I should tackle non-fiction. Consequently I am still writing non-fiction for payment and fiction for fun.
Q: Have you always been interested in writing?
A: Yes, since I was ten years old. I made up stories to amuse my younger siblings and as I grew older, for children I babysat and eventually my own daughters. I began keeping journals at that age, too and still write in one daily.
Q Do you have writing plans for the future?
A I am still hoping to have some of my stories for children published some day and will perhaps go full time again in a few years. For now I am happy combining both.
________________________________________________________________________
Anne Marie Aikins is a writer living in Toronto, Canada. She writes about children and childcare, community action, education, health, fitness and women’s issues. She’s the author of, Authentic Boys-Safer Girls (V-Day) and her articles have been published in The Toronto Star, The Globe, Macleans Magazine, VOICE and others. She also provides writing services for a variety of venues.
Following is my interview with Anne Marie:
Q: Please describe your writing business.
A: I own a small business called AMA Communications which provides public media relations services, media training and corporate and editorial writing services. I write for magazines and newspapers and have authored two books-one published to date.
Q: What/who motivated you to become a writer?
A: I have always loved to write, from journaling to poems to essays. I was published a number of time during my career working in the field of violence against women. After twenty years in the field, I decided to write full-time in 1998.
Q: Would you talk about the steps you took to start your writing career?
A: Deciding to follow my passion was a big step for me. First I took lots of classes both in freelance writing at university and also courses in small businesses practices. I already had lots of contacts at newspapers because they had published my editorials and I took contacts doing media and public relations, which allowed me to build a network of contacts. I often need to take additional “bill paying jobs’; but this allows me to do what I love.
Q: At what point did you begin to consider yourself a writer?
A: I supposed after I published my book, I really felt like a writer. It has taken introducing myself a thousand times as a writer to really believe I am following my dream. Getting business cards with “freelance writer” on them helped as well as belonging to writers groups.
Q: Tell us about your work day.
A: I devote 4 – 6 hours per day writing but it varies from day to day when I start, when I finish, when my breaks are and even where I write. I have a great set up at home and am available to my son when he needs me. But you do need discipline to get you over your writing slumps and dry spells.
Q: In order to succeed in this business, it’s necessary to be fairly organized. How do you schedule your time/projects.
A: I have set myself apart from many writers in two ways. First, I don’t get personal about my work. Don’t get me wrong-I put my heart into every writing project. But once it is out of my hands and at the publishers, I don’t fret over edits and changes they make. Second, I am very fast and never miss a deadline. Never, in fact I am usually early. Editors love me for it.
Q: Would you share some of your recent article topics and publications?
A: Domestic violence in the military -Women’s Ezine; Children and Obesity – Costco Health Connect; Teaching Boys to be non sexist – Teaching Tolerance Magazine; A Mother’s Day piece -Toronto Star newspaper; My bi-racial child – Macleans Magazine, Interview with Fubu Founders – Word Magazine.
Q: How much can a freelance writer hope to earn when they do the kind of work you do?
A: Freelancers can make a good living, but it takes skill, hard work and a lot of lucky connections.
Q: What would you advise others who want to become a professional writer?
A: Write, write write. Let someone in the business review your work and provide some guidance. Networking with other writers really helps.
Q; Can you suggest any sort of networking outside the office that might be helpful?
A: I belong to two major writing organizations – Canadian Association of Journalists and the Periodical Writers Association of Canada. There are excellent books and newsletters for writers. My networking is done during events, meetings, all kinds of opportunities.
Visit Anne Marie Aikins at www.femwriter.myonlinepublication.com
Bonus Items
This month we’re featuring parenting magazines, ezines and Web sites. If you’re interested in writing about family life, parenting or childcare issues, here are some possible markets for your work. We’ve included magazines that would be considered traditional and some with a more original type of content.
Anne Marie Aikins writes for parenting publications in Canada. Here’s what she advises others who want to break into this field.
“Most parenting magazines love first person stories which provide insight to help other parents get through similar challenges. Readers want to hear from experts like other parents.”
Christian Home and School. Contact Roger Schmurr (rogers@csionlin.org). This 34-page monthly magazine is seeking articles related to the Christian home and school. They want to see articles featuring solutions to parenting problems from a healthy Christian perspective. They also publish personal experiences. And the pay isn’t bad, either: $125 – $200 for 1000, 2000-words. Visit the Web site at: www.CSIonline.org/chs. (For more about this magazine, read the Editor/Publisher Interview in the February issue of the WPN Market Update).
Working Mother Magazine. This magazine pays very well, but the competition is stiff as they only use 9 or 10 manuscripts per year. They are looking for articles on child development and anything else of interest to the woman who juggles motherhood and work. They’re particularly interested in humor pieces. Editor Jill Kirschenbaum, announced recently that they’ve been changing the focus of Working Mother over the past six months. Best to take a look at a recent copy to get a feel for the new style. Here’s a peek into some of the new departments, though: Work in Progress features you, your job, health and well being. Go Home offers help for raising kids and Quick Dish provides easy recipes for busy mothers. The new tagline, according to Kirschenbaum is “The smart guide for a whole life.” As you’ll notice in the 2003 Writer’s Market, Working Mother Magazine has a new address. It’s 260 Madison Ave., 3rd Fl, NY 10016. www.workingmother.com
Adoptive Families is a resource for families before and during adoption. Each issue is built around stories of adoption and they’re looking for stories from adoptive families. This magazine has nearly 20 departments and accepts freelance submissions for most of them. They offer extensive Guidelines for Writers. Get a copy at www.adoptivefamilies.com.
Currently they’re looking for more about and from middle school kids and teens, relatives and community, foster adoption, trans-racial adoption, domestic adoption and adoptive parents of color. Send a query to Beth Kracklauer at beth@adoptivefam.com. While this magazine does pay, they claim rates vary and are not large.
Green Tit Magazine. Here’s a magazine for the natural family. They use articles on breastfeeding, herbs, cloth diapering and so forth. They don’t pay, but they will trade advertising space for articles. If you have something you want to advertise to parents interested in a more natural way of life, this might be a match for your work.
According to editor, Demetria Clark, this is currently an online only publication. She says, “We may go to print once a year just to give people a feeling for us.”
She says that the audience includes mothers and mothers-to-be. “We’re looking for strong articles for attachment parents, vegetarians, free birth supporters, homebirth supporters, cosleeping advocates, extended breastfeeders and strong political parents.
Illustrators take notice: Green Tit Magazine is looking for artistic talent, as well.
They receive anywhere from 5,000 – 10,000 visitors a month, so if you want your artwork to be seen, this might be a good venue.
Email your query or a complete ms to Demetria Clark at demetria@demetria.com. Visit their Web site at: www.greentit.com
Mothering. Peggy O’Mara is the publisher of this 22 year-old, natural family lifestyle magazine. According to O’Mara, “We address contemporary health, personal, environmental, medical and lifestyle issues in an upbeat, intelligent, compassionate, and courageous way.”
Ashisha is the contact person for Mothering. She has this to say to potential writers: “Our readership are well educated married couples (on the whole). The magazine is bimonthly and is most often read from pregnancy on through the first 4 years. We do cover material through the teen years.
“We generally are looking for strong written articles that address our main section of the magazine, i.e., homebirth, vaccinations, breastfeeding, alternative educational choices, midwifery-most natural approaches to birth and parenting.”
Pay for a 2000-word article is around $200. Ashisha says, “This amount increases with our relationship with an author and the degree of research involved.”
Contact Ashisha, articles editor, POB 1690, Santa Fe, NM 87504. Phone: 505-984-6298
Daughters is a bimonthly printed newsletter for parents of girls ages 8 – 16. This newsletter was launched in Nashville in 1996 as a way to help concerned parents “navigate their daughters through the difficult years of adolescence.” Daughters is looking for short essays for mothers and fathers of girls. They prefer 375 word articles for which they’ll pay $50. Contact: Lynette Lamb at editor@daughters.com.
www.daughters.com for guidelines.
There are numerous regional parenting publications. I’ve listed a few: Northwest Family Magazine, Metro Parent Magazine, Kids VT, San Diego Family Magazine and South Florida Parenting.
To get a list of 108 parenting magazines, visit www.parentingpublications.org.
Featured Editor/Publisher Interview
We are privileged to have inside information from two publishers newly listed in the 2003 edition of Writer’s Market. Here’s my interview with William Burns of Resource Publications.
Q: Please tell us about your publishing company.
A: Established 1973, we publish imaginative resources for leaders in liturgical, catechetical, or pastoral ministry. We also publish works in the area of ethics and morality, and personal growth or spirituality. We publish fiction only in the form of parables and stories inspired by scripture which can be used in preaching and/or teaching. Most of our works are non-fiction and serve as ministry resources and tools. A current release, for example, is Undoing the I Do, a book about the sacrament of marriage and the annulment process, for use by pastoral counselors in assisting in situations where this information is important.
Q: What type of manuscripts are you currently looking for?
A: Non-fiction works that help paid and volunteer leadership in the ministries mentioned above do their jobs better. Examples of forthcoming titles (or desired titles) would include: Strategies for Praying With Your Children, Last Minute Liturgies, What Every Catholic Needs to Know About the Priesthood, Answers to 101 Questions about the Children’s Catechumenate.
Q: How should authors contact you? Via email with a query letter? Do you want to receive a proposal or complete manuscript?
A: We have author guidelines, a proposal outline and instructions posted on our website at www.rpinet.com (in the “navigation” column on the left). We would prefer to receive a proposal, via email. A complete manuscript is also acceptable, but has a somewhat lower chance of acceptance since the editorial direction has already been done.
Q: What do you look for in an author?
A: We look for people who are qualified to write what they write, and who are passionate enough about their topic to make presentations about it at conferences and other gatherings.
Q: Please give us your contact information.
William Burns
Resource Publications, Inc.
160 E. Virginia Street, Suite #290
San Jose, CA 95112
editor@rpinet.com
www.rpinet.com
408-286-8505
I also interviewed Jennifer Elliott Bunting publisher at Tilbury House. Here’s what she had to say:
Q: Please tell us about your publishing company.
A: Tilbury House started more than thirty years ago as the Harpswell
Press. It began publishing regional history and over the years expanded
to include books such as So You Think You Know Maine, Message Through
Time, Maine Bassin’, A White Heron, Pink Chimneys, and much more. In
1990 it merged with the Dog Ear Press, which had published contemporary
fiction, biography, and poetry, and took the name Tilbury House (the
Pulitzer prize-winning poet Edwin Arlington Robinson, who lived in
Gardiner, had fictionalized Gardiner in his poetry as “Tilbury Town”).
Tilbury House began a series of award-winning children’s books and
teacher’s with the publication of Margy Burns Knight’s award-winning
Talking Walls in 1992, followed by Who Belongs Here?, Welcoming Babies,
and Talking Walls: The Stories Continue. It also published Project
Puffin with Audubon, and other children’s books such as Stone Wall
Secrets, Shelterwood, Sea Soup, Lucy’s Family Tree, Everybody’s
Somebody’s Lunch, Lights for Gita, and more. Many have a separate
teacher’s guide to facilitate their use as supplemental materials in the
classroom, or include notes and resources at the end of the book. We’ve
also published a series of teacher’s resource books with the Holocaust
Human Rights Association of Maine, The Spirit that Moves Us, that
provide lessons plans using literature to teach about community,
prejudice, moral decisions, human rights, and–for the upper grades–the
Holocaust.
We’ve narrowed our focus for our adult books to regional non-fiction,
primarily Maine history, but sometimes delve into other topics. Many of
our adult books are co-published with museums and organizations, such as
the Maine State Museum, Maine Maritime Museum, Penobscot Marine Museum,
OpSail Maine, Maine Preservation, etc. This allows us to publish
high-quality books for a limited regional market while it offers
organizations the advantage of our publishing expertise and distribution
network.
Tilbury House generally publishes two or three new children’s picture
books a year, and three or four adult books. We’re a small company, with
just six employees, two of them part time.
Q: What are some of your recent (and/or most successful) titles?
A:Our recent children’s books are: When the Bees Fly Home, by Andrea
Cheng, with illustrations by Joline McFadden; this is the story of a
sensitive, artistic boy and his contribution to his farm family. Travels
with Tarra by Carol Buckley tells what happens when you fall in love
with a three-foot-tall, 700-pound infant covered with thick, black hair.
Carol raised a baby elephant, performed with her for many years, and has
established the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, a natural habitat
refuge for retired circus and zoo elephants. We’re just finishing up
another Audubon book, Saving Birds, by our Project Puffin duo, Pete
Salmansohn and Steve Kress. This details six bird rescue projects in
different parts of the world–absolutely fascinating. Picture books for
next year include The Carpet Boy’s Gift, about child labor in Pakistan,
and Life Under Ice, about marine life in Antarctica.
Our newest adult book is Maine Lakes, with photographs by Christopher
Barnes and text by Sarah Stiles Bright. Co-published with the Maine
Lakes Conservation Institute, this is a stunning look at Maine’s “inland
jewels.” Next year’s books will include Down on the Island, Up on the
Main, Ellen Vincent’s fascinating oral history project in South Bristol,
Fran Pelletier’s wonderful stories of a Central Maine childhood in
Growing Up Franco, and a Maine Sea Grant guidebook called Life Between
the Tides: The Marine Plants and Animals of the Northeast. Andrea
Stark’s The Same Great Struggle, will tell history of America through
the lens of the Vickery family of Unity, Maine, and Neil Rolde will
examine Maine’s Indian land claims settlements in An Unsettled Future.
Q: How do you prefer an author to approach your company?
A: We get a dozen or more queries a day, and most of them are wildly
unsuitable (the offer of an autobiography of a broken marriage to
country singer Travis Tritt came in last week!), showing that the
hopeful authors have not done their homework. As a small company, we
need to build on what we’ve done before, so approaching us with material
that is similar (but, of course, different) to what we’ve published
before is a more likely bet than asking us to go off in a completely new
direction. Our editorial guidelines are posted on our website
(www.tilburyhouse.com), and our online catalog is a good guide to the
kinds of books we publish.
Our children’s books need to sell nationally and should have enough
content and substance to appeal to teachers, yet still appeal to
families. We aren’t interested in talking animal books, fables, fantasy,
or folklore–they just aren’t the right fit for our niche market.
As you can see from the list for next year’s adult books above, the
topics are pretty varied, but interesting enough to appeal to a fairly
broad segment of the regional market.
We’re happy to look at query letters, complete manuscripts, or even
submissions online (but will not open attachments) and will respond
within a month or so if you provide a suitable SASE.
Q: What type of author do you most appreciate working with?
A: We’ve had great working relationships with our authors and illustrators-we’re firm believers in a collaborative process!
Contact information:
Manuscripts and queries can be mailed to Tilbury House at 2 Mechanic Street
Gardiner, ME 04345, or emailed to tilbury@tilburyhouse.com.
Coming Up
I’m devoting next month’s issue of Market Update to the world of fiction. Please let me know if you’d like me to interview a particular publisher or editor of fiction. Do you know of a fiction site worth mentioning? Is there a fiction writer I should interview? Send me your recommendations and I’ll try to include them in the November issue. |
