When the Shoe Doesn't Fit:
How to tell when you've outgrown a market 

by Christine Ballew-Gonzales

Most writers begin their careers hungry to get published somewhere… anywhere. Eventually, that happens. Then it's time to go for paying markets. With persistence, that goal is achieved. You increase the number of publications that you are contributing to regularly. Then, it happens. One market begins to eat away at your time. You find yourself constantly dealing with problems. Editorial expectations change, payment isn't received in a timely manner, calls aren't returned as they should be -- but the amount of money and prestige that this market offers are not rising along with the headaches.

Still, even when that market's shoe ceases to fit, many working writers are reluctant to leave the warm waters of low-paying jobs for the untested rapids of better paying, or at least more satisfying work. When you rely on your writing income to pay your bills, it can seem foolish to turn down any paying gig. But there comes a time when such work ceases to be worth the time and effort.

Here are some things to consider when judging if you have outgrown a certain market.

The Hassle Factor. I became painfully aware of this truth during my tenure as the associate editor of a fledgling community paper. Though the pay was decent, it was a huge demand on my time and energy, and I spent huge amounts of time putting out fires that could have been spent writing queries for magazine articles and other worthwhile writing projects.

Show Me the Money. Part of assessing whether you have outgrown a market is determining two things: how much you make per hour overall, and what percentage of your writing income comes from the suspicious market vs. the amount of time spent in that market. For these reasons, it's very important to time everything you do -- writing, emailing, phone time, interviews, meetings -- in order to determine exactly how much time you are devoting to that market. For example, if you find you are committing 40 percent of your work hours to a particular market that brings in only 15 percent of your writing income, it's obvious that something is amiss.

You're on the Right Track. You know that you have what it takes to successfully move on when you begin to get acceptances from better paying, more prestigious markets. Of course, that means you must first spread your wings and go after better work, and that's going to take some time and marketing acumen. Take the time to pursue markets that you perceive to be a stretch -- doing so keeps you growing and lets you know just how salable your writing really is.

What Have You Done for Me Lately? Can contacts for interesting, good paying writing projects be made by working in this market? Are there new writing and life skills to be learned by sticking around? Is the work personally fulfilling? Now that you have a proven track record within this market, will the pay improve, even slightly? Yes answers indicate that the market in question might be worth keeping for awhile. One or two no's in this category is food for some serious career thought.

The Life-Is-Too-Short Quotient. This is the nagging suspicion that this pesky market is keeping you from growing artistically and financially by this market relationship. Once there's nothing left to learn, nothing new to accomplish, and no possibility that you will ever make any more money within that market, you need to seriously question why you are continuing to submit to it.

The Oprah Answer. If you know intellectually and in your heart that a particular market has outlived its usefulness in your career, you need to ask yourself why you find it difficult to leave in favor of greener writing pastures. It could very well be low self-esteem and lack of confidence in your abilities that keeps you mired in less-than-satisfying markets.

Growth -- any step taken toward leaving a comfortable area for true life improvement -- is almost always painful and scary. But far scarier is picturing yourself too old and feeble to even operate your mouse, wondering if you could have done something great by increasing your reach to include better markets. This sounds a bit over dramatic - until you are bombarded by stories from people planning to "write their book someday." This brings into sharp focus what usually happens to people who don't take risks, step up and ask for something better. If you're not willing to go to bat for yourself, how can you expect your critics, from your irritating inner negativism to your mother-in-law, to believe in you?

Once you've built some momentum in your current markets, take the time to formulate goals and determine if it's time to move on. Then, take the next step and begin submitting to better markets. Does the thought of querying a larger, more prestigious publication tie your stomach in knots? Good news -- you're normal! Every writer who has ever tapped a typewriter key has felt the fear - but few have the nerve to persist. Be one of those few writers who dares to take risks -- when your gut tells you that a market is dragging you down, have the courage to say "Thanks, but no thanks" and take your writing to the next level.

 -- CBG
©1999 Christine Ballew-Gonzales