Friday Find: Free Guides to Paying Markets

As some of you may remember, in my former (freelancing) life, I offered a slew of writing-related e-books for sale. As the years passed–and as I transitioned into a full-time staff job–I didn’t have sufficient time to update each e-book as frequently as I wanted. Other reasons prompted me to bid farewell to those guides: The guides to paying fiction and poetry markets, for instance, seemed less relevant once Duotrope became such an established and vital (and free) site. So, over time, I retired several of the guides, making each of them available at no charge for a period of time before sending them to the great virtual beyond.

Ultimately, I was maintaining (and updating, twice each year) two guides. One provides a directory of paying markets for book reviewers, and the other one lists dozens of paying markets for essayists. The most recent updates for both guides were completed last December.

The time is coming to say good-bye to updating–and selling–these two guides, too. But before they disappear from view (which will happen on August 1, 2010), I want to give you all the opportunity to access them (free of charge). They’re still available on the site that has handled the sales from the start: I warn you that you may need to jump through some hoops to access them (you may need a free account on that site, for instance). If you have any trouble, please contact the help staff at the site. I simply have no ability to fix any technical problems you may encounter there.

But let’s be optimistic! Let’s hope that you can access whichever book you want (or both, if that’s the case), and that the markets I’ve researched and updated over the years bring you–and your writing practice–much success!

13 thoughts on “Friday Find: Free Guides to Paying Markets

  1. John says:

    Hey, I just bought those! Are you having a drink on my tab? (I hope so.) Sorry to see you getting out of that particular biz. But that means more time for the books. Go, cat, go!

  2. Mike Hooker says:

    Erika,

    Thank you for the free ebooks.

    Why did you stop freelancing?

  3. GinaBoubion says:

    Thanks Erika, so generous of you.

  4. Erika D. says:

    @John: I'm sorry!

    As for freelancing…well, I still do a bit of freelancing on the side, but as I said in yesterday's post, time and energy are especially precious commodities these days.

    I returned to a full-time office job nearly 3 1/2 years ago, and in truth, the stable salary I earn helps subsidize the freelancing and other writing I do. In a way, I think that freelancing/adjuncting full-time was something I was doing while I was waiting/hoping to publish a book that would allow me to pursue a tenure-track teaching job with more realistic hopes of success. And it was unpredictable and relatively low-paying.

    After awhile, and especially when I considered moving to New York, freelancing just didn't seem sustainable for me in the long run. I probably should have approached it differently–trying to build up a corporate writing practice would have been a good idea. But since I didn't do that, I moved on to something else.

    Sometimes, I miss my old freelancing life (I especially miss the scheduling flexibility and the capacity to work from home). But I'm really lucky to have a good job in a wonderful organization where my writing skills are valued. And there's a lot to be said for a steady and substantive paycheck, employer-subsidized health insurance, and a growing retirement account.

  5. Sharon K. Mayhew says:

    Erika–You have a wonderful blog! I just put you in my sidebar with my writer resources section. 🙂

  6. Erika D. says:

    Thank you, Sharon!

  7. Mridu Khullar says:

    Thank you, that's very generous of you. I'll let my readers know of your offer as well.

  8. LCS249 says:

    My thanks, as well, for sharing the resources and knowledge you've gathered.

    all the best,
    L. C. Sterling

  9. Erika D. says:

    Thanks again. And Mridu, please do spread the word!

  10. brittany shoot says:

    Brilliant! Thank you!! I just found some new markets to pitch and I haven't had them downloaded for even an hour yet 😀

  11. Paula says:

    Thank you! I just saw this on Brevity's blog, and I'm looking forward to finding some new markets.

    Best of luck with your new direction.

  12. Erika D. says:

    Thanks!

  13. Virginia says:

    Thanks for this!

Comments are closed.