Marketing Your Work

By Stephen Goldin

Published in 1982, before the widespread use of personal computers, the Internet, and electronic publishing, THE BUSINESS OF BEING A WRITER concentrated on writing and selling to the print media--books and magazines. Updated excerpts are now being reprinted electronically on various topics--still focused on those primary areas, but still applicable to the current-day writer.

Theodore Sturgeon called the book "the second best reference book a writer can have, after the dictionary."

Harlan Ellison said, "It may not make you a better writer, but it will keep you from being a poorer one."

Isaac Asimov said, "Thank goodness! I am constantly being asked an infinity of questions about the writing business and can never answer coherently. Now I will stamp cards with a stamp that says: READ THE BUSINESS OF BEING A WRITER. IT WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING, CLEARLY AND INTERESTINGLY. Why on Earth didn't he write the book forty years ago when it would have done me some good?"

This excerpt discusses how an author should narrow the field of potential markets, and the criteria to use when making his submission list for each work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Parsina Press
• Release date: May 28, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452492704

Stephen Goldin

STEPHEN GOLDIN is a Nebula Award finalist science fiction and fantasy writer who was born in 1947 in the city of Philadelphia. When he was 13, his parents moved to California and, upon reflection, he decided to accompany them. It was a lucky thing he did, too; otherwise, when he went to college, the commute to UCLA would have been quite difficult. He eventually graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor's degree in Astronomy.His first job out of college was as a civilian space scientist for the U.S. Navy. The urge to write was strong, though, and after several years he left to try writing full time. He only regretted the move every other Thursday, when he would have gotten paid.After several years of genteel poverty, he took a job as writer/editor for a pornographic humor paper, the San Francisco Ball. In retrospect, this was a great crucible; because of deadline pressure, he had to learn to make his writing dirty, funny, and one draft.At about this time, too, he began selling novels on a regular basis. While he has, from time to time, held down other full-time employment (he helped design the Star Trek: The Next Generation computer game "A Final Unity" for Spectrum HoloByte and has also written manuals and game design documents for Maxis), his real love is fiction writing and he continues to pursue it.His first wife was fellow author Kathleen Sky. Their medieval-style wedding was a Saturday morning program item at the 1972 World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles. In the 10+ years of their marriage, in addition to their individual works, they collaborated on a pair of stories ("Painting the Roses Red" and "The Devil Behind the Leaves") about the diMedicis, a family of interstellar swindlers.Mr. Goldin's current wife is fellow author Mary Mason. Their wedding took place the night before EclectiCon 1 in Sacramento, at which Mr. Goldin was the Guest of Honor. They currently live in the San Francisco East Bay area. So far they have co-authored two books in the Rehumanization of Jade Darcy series: Jade Darcy and the Affair of Honor and Jade Darcy and the Zen Pirates. More books in this series are planned.Mr. Goldin is an atheist whose interests include Broadway show albums and surrealist art. He has lived with cats virtually all his adult life.Mr. Goldin served the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America as editor of the SFWA Bulletin and as SFWA's Western Regional Director.

Book preview

The Business of Being a Writer:

MARKETING YOUR WORK

Stephen Goldin

Published by Parsina Press at Smashwords

Copyright © 1982 by Stephen Goldin. All Rights Reserved.

Cover image copyright © Paul Moore.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Marketing Your Work

Narrowing the Choices

The Submission List

Simultaneous Submissions

Unsolicited Manuscripts

About Stephen Goldin

Other Books by Stephen Goldin

Free Ebook

Connect with Stephen Goldin

Marketing Your Work

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The Business of Being a Writer was originally published in 1982, before the widespread use of personal computers, the Internet, and electronic publishing. While this excerpt has been updated, it is still largely oriented toward publishing in the print media. I hope you’ll find it useful anyway.

While there are definite guidelines on how to submit your manuscript, there are no solid rules on where to submit it. Each article, each story, each book is a phenomenon unique unto itself, and each must be marketed to take advantage of its uniqueness. Marketing is most definitely an art rather than a science. The experienced professional develops a feel for which manuscripts should be sent where, and eventually can work by instinct alone. A beginner, however, faces a bewildering array of places where she might send a freshly finished masterpiece. How can she possibly choose among them?

One answer is to have an agent handle it for you; I’ll discuss this possibility in another article. What I’ll do in this article is outline a strategy to find and evaluate the proper markets on your own. No battle plan can guarantee you a sale to the first market on your list, but a well-thought-out campaign can shorten the time between completion of the manuscript and