Tip: Poets and Writers, the Magazine and the Web Site

Another Web site (besides the Publishers Marketplace one I mentioned in one of my first postings, I think in August) that is genuinely helpful to beginning writers is Poets and Writers (www.pw.org). A lot of you may already be familiar with Poets and Writers Magazine. This is a useful little periodical that comes out every two months, six issues a year, for $19.95 per year. It usually has a cover story on a well-known literary writer (fiction writer or poet) and for some reason these writers always look kind of grim on the cover - magazine photo style or late advance checks? We'll never know.

In any case, the magazine is a tad more literary than the more commercial Writer's Digest publications. It features articles about the more literary side of the industry (what is narrative nonfiction, really? who decides what books get reviewed? what about the current MFA explosion?) and also practical advice (how to get an agent, step-by-step). But a large part of its value is in the generous number of listings it has in the back of every issue announcing calls for manuscripts from literary reviews, magazines, anthologies, contests, etc. These are well indexed by region and type in the magazine. The Web site has a place for you to subscribe to the magazine (left column of home page), but also offers many of these listings, with links to some of the various magazines, reviews, and contest sites, for free. You can search for awards and contests that are specific to your region. Some of these venues even allow you to submit your work electronically, so you can literally do the whole thing without leaving your computer. All in all, it's darned convenient.

We've all had that year where we decide we're going to enter every contest we see! But take the same approach I recommend for using the Writer's Market listings. Choose a few likely candidates. Don't just waste your contest entry fees (they are usually $10 to $35 a pop). Ditto with the magazines and reviews you see there. Try a few at a time, but keep it steady. And remember, only pay fees to a contest, not to a publisher, magazine, or agent, and don't even pay an exorbitant fee to a contest! If anyone at all wants, say, $100 to read your work, something fishy is going on.

Hang in there.