What do you do with your old Writer's Markets, etc?

As far as thesaurasi go, there's nothing quite like flipping through a theasaurus. My eyes skim the words-- I stop on other words on my way to finding what I was looking for. Yum-- words.

Not quite the same with a dictionary, but I do like my big honking Random Webster one. It's also good for games of Compassionate Scrabble when you get the Polish Surname Bench. But whether you keep them or not is personal preference.

I'd check to see if any local schools or programs want the dictionaries/ thesauruses. And maybe make copies of something (articles or what not) from the Writer's Digest books that is still relavent or worthwhile.

--> Another option is to put them in storage somehow for a finite period of time. If you haven't even gone looking for those items within that time period (6mos, year, etc) then you clearly don't have any need for them. This helps me thin the herd of things that I have trouble getting rid.

They'll be worth money in 500 years.

Not a huge amount of money, but maybe enough to buy a TV, or something.

I nabbed a used copy of The 1998 Writer's Handbook when I first started writing two years (oh, Gawd, three years?) ago. I don't know how much it cost originally, but I got it for fifteen bucks and it's three inches thick, chock full of articles from published writers, agents and editors. Some of the info might be outdated, but the core of the articles are inspiring and informative. While I learn new skills and understanding, I revisit the book and read it with new eyes.

I still use paper dictionaries and reference books. It's nice not to have to turn my computer on to look something up and my computer does get turned off (sometimes).

There are many fun things to do with old Writer's Markets. You can sell them at a yard sale or donate them to a local charity (local women's shelter, prison, you name it). A local writer's group might also be interested, or you could always sell the books off to a used book store. The one thing that always gives me pause when chucking those are the essays at the front. Sometimes, there is an article I want to keep because it is useful.

I saved one copy of Writer's Market and it's now old enough to be amazing and wonderful, sort of a footprint of its time. If you've got room for one, hang onto the oldest. (Mine's 1977.)

If you own a really good subject-index thesaurus, keep that, too. Dictionary.com and its ilk may be fine for what's-that-word moments, but useless for exploring a concept and finding just the right words. We used my best one only Sunday, seeking names for an online business--and dictionary.com would have been worthless. I've found many titles that way, too.

I'm also in favor of keeping one good dictionary. Dependence on online resources seems foolish. Just like the thesauruses online, the dictionaries are not as complete as I'd like. Plus, you think you'll never, ever want to write when your connection to the net is gone, or the power's out, or your computer's unavailable or broken?

Maryn, who's got five dictionaries and two thesauruses in reach

Right now, I'm using a couple of my old Writer's Markets to lift my monitor up where I can see it. I've given some away, tossed others out.

Maybe a used bookstore will take them and you might actually get a few dollars, to boot.

I got rid of my Writer's Markets ages ago. Most of mine were from the early 70s, although I think I bought one in the 80s. I used to subscribe to Writer's Digest, too, but that ended in the 70s, too.

But I still have tons of dictionaries and thesauri sitting around. Nothing beats being able to just reach over and start thumbing through a dictionary or thesaurus. There's so much more adventure and learning involved. If you look up a word, you end up skimming a whole page of words and maybe you'll find something interesting.

Online dictionaries take you to your word and that's it. Booor-ing.

What ever you do, don't use old copies of Writer's Markets as reference books--you're bound to make mistakes.

Someone blogged about this recently, but I can't find the link: probably Behler Publishing, or perhaps someone else I've linked to (sorry to be so imprecise): anyway, they eventually received a submission which had been sent to an old address of theirs. The outcome wasn't good.

Writers' Market changes radically from year to year. Last year's is practically useless, and it's not just because a publisher goes out of business. Often a publishing house changes its parameters on what it seeks, how much it pays, WHO is still working for them, etc.