Saying you’re a writer is not the same as being a writer. There are many people (usually kids out of college still suckling on their parents teats) that loudly proclaim they are writers without ever putting pen to paper. Or there are those who scribble away, but never find the courage to submit their pieces. Even though the very act of writing makes you a "writer" I firmly believe you cannot claim that moniker until you are published in some form.
Granted, I am running afoul of my own definition in stating I’m a "writer by night", but that’s the brass ring I’m putting out there to constantly remind me of where I’m going. That being said, I would like to officially state my goals and criteria for success. Since my day job is the main source of income I cannot do anything to affect or interfere with it. My days range from 8 to 16 hours depending on the client and/or project. That gives me precious little time or energy to devote to other tasks. The reality of my situation forces my goals to be less than ideal, but if I don’t gauge them appropriately I’ll just set myself up for failure, frustration and the eventual abandonment of my pursuit.
Taking all that into consideration I’ve decided to aim for submitting one piece for publication at a pro scale market each month. It doesn’t sound like much and definitely won’t pay the bills, but its what I can reasonably muster with my current commitments. Now you’ll note I didn’t say publish a piece a month. I have no illusions regarding my success rate. Rejection slips are a badge of honor and even the greatest writers could still wallpaper a room with theirs. So instead I will keep throwing my writings into circulation until I grab that ring. The fact that I will only submit to pro scale markets is also important. There’s nothing like the minor leagues for writing in my opinion. Either you can string words together or you can’t. If I can’t play with the big boys then why am I even attempting this?
For market research most budding writers will immediately point to Writer’s Market, the bible for freelancers. Now it may be the standard, but two things prevent me from getting it. One, it will not have the latest and greatest information simply by nature of being a book. Second, I can’t see spending money on an endeavor that isn’t bringing any in so I’ll have to do this as frugally as possible. Scouring the Net for other market research tools I came across the following.
An up to date, internet based writing market search engine. With 2400+ listings it’s a good enough place to start for me. Statistics on the site range from response times by publications and upcoming deadlines for new issues to success/failure ratios, giving you an idea how impenetrable certain places are. On top of all that it gives you the pay scales involved with links to their websites. I’m actually quite impressed by the detail in this site for being run wholly on donations. Using this as my map I plan to start hitting the markets for the genres I end up writing in. Horror looks like a strong candidate out of the gate, but so does fantasy. Not sure how it will all go until I start producing stuff.
In a nutshell, this is what I’ve outlined for myself. It’s not the most ambitious and a far cry from the traditional “write the next great American novel”, but it’s something I can see myself actually accomplishing without burning out.
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