2004 Online Markets for Writers

How and Where to Get Published Online and Paid for It
Founding Co-authors
Anthony Tedesco and Paul Tedesco
http://www.marketsforwriters.com

Review by Stephanie Olsen

Because they've been in the game so long, Anthony and Paul Tedesco have personal contacts and relationships in the East Coast writing world that writers in say, Seattle, might not be privy to. And the wonder here is, they share them.

2004 Online Markets for Writers is not only an impressive database of listings, it's also a market guide that's truly fun to read: Down, Seattle!

The Tedesco credo: We like sim-subs cuz "we ain't got no patience!" is evident in the pertinent information and advice for writers provided on top of over 200 paying markets. The brothers give a solid recommendation, back it up with a true, illustrative example and move on to the next distilled gem.

For instance, a sample query letter is a real letter that landed an actual contract. It was submitted by a editor as her "favorite." There are additional comments by yet another editor as to why that query is so good, both editors agreeing that it's "short" and "precise." Similarly, when Anthony talks about the importance of local details with global appeal in web-writing, he uses a real article written by a writer he personally knows to provide examples of his point. And Paul is just as concrete when explaining how to use technology to enhance articles (i.e. audio clips incorporated into a side bar of Italian phrases for a travel article).

It's a toss-up whether you'll find the writer interviews or the insights from writers in the Market Listings the most fascinating. In the latter, the honesty of the Tedesco editing and their respect for writers is apparent: opposing opinions on the same market are set out; writers with wildly disparate experiences given equal space. Thus the reader is presented with an unbiased overview on which to base a decision to submit.

Going a gigantic step further than any other market guide publisher, 2004 Online Markets for Writers has a $250 "paid & published guarantee". Why? This being out of the scope of a book review, I went directly to Anthony Tedesco, who responded:

It's not a shyster carnival sales ploy. It's a real incentive to help writers overcome their most common stumbling block - not sending out enough queries to get paid and published. For experienced writers this is vital, too, because writing really gets fun when you finally find editors/publications that are truly kindred to you.

It's ironic that even though this stumbling block is cited most often by the nearly 1000 writers who write me for assistance each month, it's also the easiest and quickest to overcome. You just need the courage to decide to do it.

So we made sure our book gives writers the how-to, the where-to and then also a loving nudge to actually get them to send out enough queries, along with a safety net of our guarantee: if they don't get published, they get our next edition free and have us personally work with them on their strongest query and then use our connections to help get them paid and published. That's all many writers need.

I'll say!

When not busy digging for Hot Off the Press markets, published freelance writer and editor Stephanie Olsen (owner of the expatriate website http://www.familylifeabroad.com), teaches English as a Foreign Language in Poland, trying to hide the fact that her two young daughters are already fluently bilingual, while she continues to do the "chicken dance" at the deli counter.