Duotrope.com ...markets galore

Sorry for the week-long absence - when a chance to go to Mexico comes up, you don't ask questions... you just get on the plane and go.

After coming back to the unavoidable pile-up of e-mails, I deleted most of them without a glance. It's just not worth reading up on information that's already out of date.

But there are a few that I read through anyway. One of them is the Duotrope Weekly Wire/Digest e-mails. You can find their main website here and sign up for their newsletters here.

The newsletters come out every week and are divided into a Poetry edition (Fridays), Short Fiction (Saturdays) and Novel/Collection Publishing (Sundays). Each one is concise - you get the basics on only the newly added or updated markets, and an active link to take you to the Duotrope page on that publication if you're interested in learning more. The publication's website is just a click away from there, but you have a chance to see what sort of work they buy and how much they typically pay before you even get there... what a nice way to save time and poking around for payment information.

The Food Writing e-Zine

I love reading a well-written, market specific newsletter - even if I don't write for the market it refers to. I'd like to... I just haven't gotten around to it yet. So until I get around to trying my hand at food writing, I'll just satisfy my internal connoisseur by reading the Food Writing Free e-Zine.

The group page lists this as a bi-weekly e-zine, but the last issue I received announced that it has gone weekly. It features a couple of articles and several markets in each issue, much like other writing newsletters - but it's all about food, food, food!

Writer Beware for warnings and Ralan's Webstravaganza for markets

If you write Science Fiction, Fantasy, or the otherwise undefinable Speculative Fiction, check out the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America's Writer Beware site. They publish a list of Alerts for Writers, case-studies of Scams in Action, a thumbs-down list of publishers and agents not to query, and more. Nobody wants to focus on the negative, but it's good to be aware. They also have a blog for up-to-the-minute warnings and other helpful writing thoughts and information.

I came across the link to Writer Beware in Ralan's Webstravaganza market newsletter. If you're interested in Writer Beware you'll probably also be interested in Ralan's market listings - Check out his site and sign up. It's spam free.

European Writer Newsletter / EU Writer

Are you located in Europe or would you like to write for European publications? Then you might want to subscribe to the European Writer free newsletter. Just click on EU Writer Newsletter in the upper left corner of your screen and sign up to receive the free European Writer e-Newsletter twice a month. As stated on the website, you get markets, information about books, websites, other writing tips... and did I mention markets?

The Core Creative Group

Here's another job site: The Core Creative Group. They search the internet for work-at-home writing jobs and update their listings daily. I just signed up for their newsletter (the link is below the job listings) so that's I'll receive an e-mail when they update the job listings.

I'm especially happy that these jobs are all work-at-home - it saves hours of weeding through on-site job offers that would require me to move away from Alaska.

Paying Writer Jobs discussion group

Here's another discussion list to browse: PayingWriterJobs.

What is a paying writer job? To quote from the list's homepage, "It can be Freelance, Staff, Contract, or Permanent, but must PAY." This is a moderated list, so there's no spam - just a list of paying opportunities (contests and market listings also come through, in addition to jobs) dropped into your e-mail inbox every day.

Is it worth it? Well, if you're up to your eyeballs in constant, paying work, you may not have time or the need to browse a selection culled from the classifieds, as it were. But if you want every job lead you can get, if you're looking to get an idea of what's out there, or if you're just curious, it would be worth your time to subscribe.

Blog: Writing for the Education Market

I love blogs that list viable writing markets and/or job opportunities. It's much easier to snap up a brief blog post in the morning than to read through a whole newsletter, and it makes every day seem like Christmas - what will I find in my stocking today?

Here are two of my favorites:

Writing for the Education Market by Laura Coulter - She posts frequently with markets, job leads, and other helpful information. You don't have to be a teacher to appreciate or make use of this information.

C. Hope Clark/FundsforWriters Blog by Hope Clark - Another frequent poster. Each post features a funding source for writers - contests, grants, fellowships and the like. I love how she prompts writers to think outside the box when it comes to funding (see March 1st post for an example).