Damn, I should've posted this question before I bought the blasted thing!!! $6 FOR A MAGAZINE!!!!!
-
Guest please check The Index before starting a thread.
Writer's Digest Magazine
- Thread starter LearningTwoWrite
- Start date
Yeah, but you'd always be wondering if you should have bought it. And maybe you'll get something out that issue anyway.
Better (and current) info can be had on QueryTracker for free. If you want to pay you can for a higher level of service.
If you bought Writer's Digest because you wanted to query an agent listed there without checking her website, then, yes, it was a waste of money. But, really, did you believe an agent put her ad in the mag the same day it hit the newsstand? Come on. I don't care of you paid ten thousand dollars, or two cents, for WD, you should have known better.
WD is an excellent magazine, and one that's made me many thousands of dollars over the years. And no matter what anyone tells you, only a dolt ignores the ads therein. Take a minute to check out any website they lead you to, yes, but do not ignore them. I've found ads in WD long before whatever the ad was for showed up anywhere else.
This wasn't an ad placed in the back, or by some wannabe writer. It was a full story, with notes from actual agents as to what they were looking for in a submission and from an author.
I didn't know these mags were written six months before they were published, but perhaps someone should've checked their source before they sent it to the press....
And I thought it was only 3 or 4 months between deadline and showing up on newsstands for most monthly magazines. And that was decades ago. Matbe it takes longer in the Information Age.
Most magazines have a lag time of three to six months. Some are backlogged a year or more. At the time they checked the source (usually when the story is turned in) the information may have been correct.
Agents go in and out of open-submissions all the time, for many reasons. They have a full list, a couple of big projects that require lots of attention, their personal life goes haywire, whatever. The ones who do blog, usually release some kind of announcement. If not, then writers have to resort to a little guesswork and roulette. If they have an email address for information, a simple "Are you open to queries?" will suffice.
There are enough online resources to give writers faster, more-accurate information, if they need it. I've been agent-hunting long enough that I have to edit my 100+ list of agents, whenever I hear of someone moving agencies or leaving the business. I've queried agents I found in WD, but only after verifying the information elsewhere. I've also picked up some small sales off WD, either through writing quickie articles or following a tips I read.
Count the $6 toward your business expenses, if you itemize taxes. Don't think of it as wasted money -- you read the the magazine, and used it as research.
Agents go in and out of open-submissions all the time, for many reasons. They have a full list, a couple of big projects that require lots of attention, their personal life goes haywire, whatever. The ones who do blog, usually release some kind of announcement. If not, then writers have to resort to a little guesswork and roulette. If they have an email address for information, a simple "Are you open to queries?" will suffice.
There are enough online resources to give writers faster, more-accurate information, if they need it. I've been agent-hunting long enough that I have to edit my 100+ list of agents, whenever I hear of someone moving agencies or leaving the business. I've queried agents I found in WD, but only after verifying the information elsewhere. I've also picked up some small sales off WD, either through writing quickie articles or following a tips I read.
Count the $6 toward your business expenses, if you itemize taxes. Don't think of it as wasted money -- you read the the magazine, and used it as research.
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2006
- Messages
- 5,363
- Reaction score
- 1,761
Unless it's a cutting edge fashion rag, always assume the info in the magazine is months old.
I subbed a story (fiction) to one, didn't get an acceptance until 8 months had passed, and it was another 6-7 months before it hit the stands. I got my author copy two full months before release.
As far as the writing mags go, save your cash and read in the library. If it has an article you want, the photo copy machine is cheap.
The last, absolutely LAST time I subscribed to one was over a decade back. I was an established mid-lister and thought I might submit an article to them. It would help pimp my titles and I'd get paid, to boot.
Against my specific written instructions, the damn magazine gave my address to every writing business with some rip to pimp. I was invited to join the "Famous Writers' School" and got invites from vanity houses who had "heard" I had a book to sell and boy, they wanted to see it!
I think it was iUniverse who claimed they'd paid over a million dollars in royalties to its writers. On another page in the letter it let drop they had over 9000 titles to sell. I did the math and was unimpressed by the average of 111.11 earnings for a book that would cost thousands to print.
I explained as much in a lengthy mail to them, inserted in their handy, postage-paid envelope, telling them to stop sending me trash.
Had to send another letter (pre-email days, kids) to the magazine telling them what I thought of their pimpage and to take me off their mailing list.
I'm agreeing with the rest, the mag is a venue for ads and might contain a kernel of useful info now and then.
Who recalls the issue that screamed "Interview with J.K. Rowling!!!" on the cover along with her pic?
I was wise to that one. The interview was a transcript of a 3-minute phone conversation, padded with biographical fluff from Wiki so there was enough content to fill two pages . . . one of which was all-pictures.
It's funny, but I remember back in the day those mags were once useful, packed with real info. I hung on to those old issues. They hold up.
I subbed a story (fiction) to one, didn't get an acceptance until 8 months had passed, and it was another 6-7 months before it hit the stands. I got my author copy two full months before release.
As far as the writing mags go, save your cash and read in the library. If it has an article you want, the photo copy machine is cheap.
The last, absolutely LAST time I subscribed to one was over a decade back. I was an established mid-lister and thought I might submit an article to them. It would help pimp my titles and I'd get paid, to boot.
Against my specific written instructions, the damn magazine gave my address to every writing business with some rip to pimp. I was invited to join the "Famous Writers' School" and got invites from vanity houses who had "heard" I had a book to sell and boy, they wanted to see it!
I think it was iUniverse who claimed they'd paid over a million dollars in royalties to its writers. On another page in the letter it let drop they had over 9000 titles to sell. I did the math and was unimpressed by the average of 111.11 earnings for a book that would cost thousands to print.
I explained as much in a lengthy mail to them, inserted in their handy, postage-paid envelope, telling them to stop sending me trash.
Had to send another letter (pre-email days, kids) to the magazine telling them what I thought of their pimpage and to take me off their mailing list.
I'm agreeing with the rest, the mag is a venue for ads and might contain a kernel of useful info now and then.
Who recalls the issue that screamed "Interview with J.K. Rowling!!!" on the cover along with her pic?
I was wise to that one. The interview was a transcript of a 3-minute phone conversation, padded with biographical fluff from Wiki so there was enough content to fill two pages . . . one of which was all-pictures.
It's funny, but I remember back in the day those mags were once useful, packed with real info. I hung on to those old issues. They hold up.
Poets and Writers is worth at least looking at if you're a poet.
The others—especially Writer's Digest—are underwhelming in the extrem. Go to the library; read six issues from any time in the last ten years. It's a vehicle for ads.
There are books worth reading, books about language and grammar, books about genre writing, books about the business of writing. Read those instead.
The others—especially Writer's Digest—are underwhelming in the extrem. Go to the library; read six issues from any time in the last ten years. It's a vehicle for ads.
There are books worth reading, books about language and grammar, books about genre writing, books about the business of writing. Read those instead.
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2005
- Messages
- 25,582
- Reaction score
- 3,785
- Location
- New Hampshire
- Website
- madhousemanor.wordpress.com
Writer's Disgust is useful in one way -- if you see anyone at all advertise on its pages, cross them right off your list.