Rating: 
Summary: Is Porn Copy Considered Professional Writing?
Review: I purchased Writer's Market 2003 and found it a very valuable resource. I will not be purchasing this edition because it profiles a mother of three who writes porn copy from a corner of her living room. Help me out here. Is this supposed to help all those poor saps who have been writing Penthouse letters for free all these years? Will the 2005 edition include markets for racist writing? Career help for drug lords? Terrorist Attacks for Dummies? Just because a market exists doesn't mean it should be profiled by a well respected professional writing organization.
Rating:
Summary: Is Porn Copy Considered Professional Writing?
Review: I purchased Writer's Market 2003 and found it a very valuable resource. I will not be purchasing this edition because it profiles a mother of three who writes porn copy from a corner of her living room. Help me out here. Is this supposed to help all those poor saps who have been writing Penthouse letters for free all these years? Will the 2005 edition include markets for racist writing? Career help for drug lords? Terrorist Attacks for Dummies? Just because a market exists doesn't mean it should be profiled by a well respected professional writing organization.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Edition Yet
Review: I think the 2004 Writer's Market has the best articles I've ever read in the book. And I didn't even get the book for the articles. Except I'm glad they brought back the "How Much Should I Charge?" piece, because it helps me figure up my rates.I also noticed there are many more markets, especially in the agent category. As a writer who's thinking about trying to get a book published, this is awesome! If the website has even more information, then I guess I better get that too.
Rating:
Summary: Best Edition Yet
Review: I think the 2004 Writer's Market has the best articles I've ever read in the book. And I didn't even get the book for the articles. Except I'm glad they brought back the "How Much Should I Charge?" piece, because it helps me figure up my rates. I also noticed there are many more markets, especially in the agent category. As a writer who's thinking about trying to get a book published, this is awesome! If the website has even more information, then I guess I better get that too.
Rating: 
Summary: Useless
Review: I'm giving the Writer's Market two stars because it is a useful resource for beginning writers. However, I'm fed up with the book. Not only does it neglect to list many, many, many common markets, let alone the lessor-known markets, but the non-web version doesn't have access to many of the few markets they do list. My non-web version, for example, doesn't have writer's guidelines for well-known magazines like Women's World and Good Housekeeping. Apparently, if I wanted those markets, I should have paid $10 more and messed with their CD. (Or I can just go online and get them through a two-second Google search.) Not to mention, I have often found the information in Writer's Market to be WRONG and I have to always independently check it with the market. Of course, that's something you should do anyway, but I think it's amazing how often WM gets things like addresses and websites wrong. We're not talking information that is bound to change anyway, like editors or contact e-mails, but static information that WM has plain gotten wrong. You can't trust this book. A few years ago, WM was a LOT more thorough and trustworthy. Now it seems like they don't even update their database against previous editions. Many markets that were in the 2002 and 2003 editions are not in the 2004 edition, even many of those markets still exist. As a freelancer, I don't even use this book very often as a resource since I know it will only list some obvious markets, at best. I find Google and the bookstore work better than WM.
Rating:
Summary: Warning! A rip-off!
Review: Many markets that were listed in earlier editions of this book are not listed this time. Instead, you are referred to a website, which costs extra. The book is now little more than a come-on for the website. This is a very unfortunate development in the history of this venerable publication.
Rating:
Summary: Can be very helpful
Review: Once upon a time I made my first sale. How? Through Writer's Market, of course.(Charlie Jones' Laugh Book Magazine (published for many years from Wichita, Kansas).
Rating:
Summary: waste of energy
Review: Save your money. And your time. And the anguish. These agents and publishers will not read your work. They have no time. Don't believe me, they will tell you in their listing. They rarely accept new clients from cold submissions. Definition of rarely: 99.44% of cold submissions are rejected. If they say they accept 5% of cold submissions they are exaggerating. If they get a thousand submissions they MAY ask to read one manuscript. (I'm being generous.) They WILL read your work if it recommended by someone they know. Otherwise you're doomed. All the how-to stuff in the front of these Writer's Market-type-books, and there are a lot of them is popcorn filler--the good query letter, the bad query letter. There is no good query letter. They don't read them.
Call them up. Ask them specifically if they are accepting the genre of fiction or non-fiction you've written. If the agent will talk to you thell him/her the plot, briefly. BE READY. Write down what you're going to say if you have to. Same thing with publishers. Most of them will take your call. Even an assistant can be very helpful. Sometimes more so. If they adamantly say in their listing "No phone calls," pass. All of them have too many clients already. If you're in L.A. or New York find out what functions the agents attend, show up, be cool but persistent. Maybe your personalities will click. If you HAVE to send a query letter, if you absolutely need to confrim this all for yourself, for heavens' sake go to the library and use their copy of Writer's Market. Good luck. Luck is what it's all about. Don't be encouraged by the one or two writers who succeed with the cold submission. For better odds try winning the lottery.
Rating:
Summary: Vital for All Writers
Review: Serious writers look forward to this time of year. The latest edition of Writer's Market always offers something new and contains even more invaluable than the previous year's. Why should you update your Writer's Market every year? In the past year, some editors have moved on to other opportunities, contact information has changed and submission guidelines have evolved with current needs. The best reason to get the current year? All new content, 100-percent updated information, new articles and more than 250 literary and script agent listings. Inside you'll find helpful articles about the writing life as well as the business aspects of the craft. The annual Guide to Literary Agents has been combined into the Writer's Market, now giving writers everything they need to not only find a market for their articles and books but also representation for those who need an agent. Also new this year, the greeting card and syndicate listings have been moved. They are now exclusively available through Writer's Market Online, joining newspaper and online publications. Besides book publishers, Writer's Market contains thousands of magazine opportunities covering a variety of topics, including these sample markets: * Hobby and Craft
* Juvenile
* Regional
* Religious
* Sports
* Teen and Young Adult
* Trade, Technical and Professional Journals
* Travel
* Medical If you're unfamiliar with this resource, each listing contains icons to help you identify the publisher's pay scale. Example: A market with one dollar sign ($) pays 0 - 9 cents per word or $0 - $150 an article. A market with four dollar signs ($$$$) pays at least $1 a word or over $1,500 per article. You'll also find special icons for markets new to the 2004 edition, Canadian markets, online publications, markets not accepting unsolicited submissions and markets only accepting agented manuscripts. Regardless of your writing experience, Writer's Market can help you get published. Whether you're looking for a home for your world affairs book or write articles on people who live in coal towns, this guide has a market for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Indispensable!
Review: The 2004 edition of Writer's Market is as complete and wonderful as it is every year. The massive paperback is brimming with tips and information about the craft as well as the business of writing. It is complete with contact information for book publishers, agents, and magazines. It also has a section on contests and awards, and a nice glossary. It is a good value. My one gripe is that the book has ads in it. I count three cardboard inserts advertising their magazine, their Web site, workshops, and their other books.
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