Interview With Cindy
Duesing
Interview By Jenna Glatzer
Cindy Duesing is the web editor of WritersMarket.com. Prior to working at
F&W Publishing, she was a greeting card writer and editor at Gibson
Greetings, and continues to do some freelance work in that field. She's also a
published writer of liturgical music and the music director of the contemporary
ensemble at her church.
Among her other titles are "wife, mother of two, and grandmother of one
very sweet little boy."
How did you get your start as a writer?
I started writing when I was in grade school -- poetry, music, a novel (still
unfinished) and comic strips. I edited our high school newspaper, but my first
real publication came in 1985, when a collection of my liturgical music was put
out by Resource Publications, Inc. As a young wife and mother of two, writing
music and poetry was a creative outlet for me, as well as a source of extra
income. In 1986, I enrolled at Northern Kentucky University with the
intention of getting a degree in English. While I was there, my work appeared in
The Compass, a journal published by the Honors Program, the campus newspaper and
several publications put out by the Literature and Language Department. I also
entered and won two poetry contests and was invited to read my poems on the air
at WNKU radio.
Upon graduation in 1993, I got a job at Gibson Greetings, where I worked as a
greeting card writer and editor for six years. When the company was sold to
American Greetings and moved to Cleveland, I came to F&W Publications,
starting as a production editor for Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market
and Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market. I've been the web
editor for WritersMarket.com for one year now. I still do freelance writing for
greeting card companies, as well as my diocesan newspaper and some of our other
publications here.
How did you start working with Writer's Digest Books
(F&W Publications)?
Barbara Kuroff, who is the editorial director of the Market Book division at
F&W, was an editor at Gibson Greetings during part of my time there. When
Gibson laid off most of the editorial staff, I called her to ask if she knew of
any openings. She was instrumental in helping me get on here. Several other
Gibson coworkers have since joined our staff. In fact, I still have the same
boss that I had at Gibson. He was hired one month before me.
Most writers are familiar with the annual print book, Writer's
Market, but the online version is still a fairly new incarnation. What
does the online subscription offer that the print version doesn't?
It offers a lot -- I think of it as Writer's Market on steroids. First of all,
WritersMarket.com is continually updated. This means that whenever a publisher
goes out of business or moves or hires a new editor, we can alert our readers to
this fact right away. We don't have to wait until next year when the new edition
of the book comes out. Secondly, many of the listings have direct links to
publishers' e-mail addresses and websites. That means you can get more in-depth
information about them with just a click, including (in many cases) a copy of
their submission guidelines.
In addition to that, WritersMarket.com features the Submission Tracker. This was
a really popular component of the electronic edition that we used to put out. It
allows you to record your manuscripts, which publishers you've sent them to,
what response you received, how much you were paid, and more. You can copy and
paste this information into a spreadsheet program to calculate yearly earnings
or transfer the contact information into a word-processing program to print
mailing labels. It's an extremely practical tool.
And if that weren't enough, WritersMarket.com contains 700 more listings than
the book, simply because there are no space limitations on the Internet. That
number includes 400 listings from our Guide to Literary Agents. And we're
constantly adding how-to articles and interviews to our Tips Library to help
writers with query letters, manuscript formatting, book proposals and ways to
get your foot in the door in this business. You can also check out our monthly
"Ask the Agent" column by Sheree Bykofsky of Sheree Bykofsky
Associates, Inc.
One final note: WritersMarket.com puts out a free biweekly newsletter that
people can subscribe to, even if they don't sign up for the web service. It
contains lots of information on writing contests, websites and other industry
updates. To sign up, go to www.WritersMarket.com
and click on the "Free Newsletter" link in the left-hand column.
Do writers have to buy the book to be a subscriber to
the online version? Do they have to buy a yearly subscription?
No. Writers can go directly to www.WritersMarket.com
and sign up. The cost is $29.99/year, and there's a 30-day guarantee, which
means that if you aren't satisfied with it, you can cancel within that time
frame and get a full refund. If you're hesitant to commit for a year, you can
sign up on a monthly basis for $2.99/month. For those who really love having a
copy of the book to page through but want the advantages of the online database,
there's the 2002 Writer's Market Online edition, which includes the book and a
one-year subscription to the website for $49.99.
How have you gone about finding content for
WritersMarket.com?
I can pull from a variety of sources -- excerpting from the many Writer's Digest
books we publish, calling on our in-house staff to do interviews with authors,
editors and agents. I also use freelance writers and other experts in the field.
Sometimes, ideas for articles will be sparked by questions or tips I get from
our readers. I love it when readers e-mail me with information about a new
marketing opportunity they've found or an organization we should know about. I
really try to listen to our subscribers to see what writing concerns they have.
The one thing about the website is that it eats content. We post new market
information every day and new articles every three days, so it's a constant
challenge to keep it fresh. There is no such thing as having too much material.
I'm so impressed by the amount of work you and the rest
of the staff do-- how do you possibly keep up-to-date on all of these thousands
of markets?
Once a year we send out verification forms to all the publishers so that we can
make sure the information we have on them is still correct. They send the forms
back with any changes. Of course, some of them forget, so then we follow up with
numerous phone calls and faxes. We make all the necessary corrections to our
database, and at a certain point, the print book, which is generated from our
online listings, is sent to press.
With WritersMarket.com, however, there is no cutoff date for corrections. We
make them continually as we find out about them. We scour the industry news to
find out which publishers have merged, what magazines are folding or starting
up, etc. In many cases, the publishers themselves will contact us.
We also get a lot of information from our readers. It is so neat how they
take ownership of WritersMarket.com and let us know about a change in a
publisher's submission policy or if an e-mail link is no longer working.
It's like having all these eyes and ears out there reporting back to us on
what they've discovered. And if a publisher treats writers shabbily or isn't on
the up-and-up, we hear about that, too. We investigate the complaints, and if
they're well-founded, we pull the listing.
How do you advise writers to approach your listings?
Does it help their odds to send out dozens of queries at once?
We always hope that writers will do some serious research before they send
anything out. Read the listings carefully to see what type of publisher they are
and what kinds of material they're interested in. It wastes the writer's and the
publisher's time to send, for example, a romance novel to a company that only
prints science fiction titles. Writers will have a better chance at success if
they target their manuscripts appropriately and follow the submission guidelines
to the letter.
Personally, I don't think sending out dozens of queries at once is helpful and
in some cases, particularly with magazines, poetry or greeting card writing,
it's a definite no-no. If you are going to send out simultaneous submissions,
first, make sure the publishers are okay with it (if it's not mentioned in their
listing, assume it's not okay). Then, limit the number to two or three. And when
you write your query or cover letter, make sure you write separate versions,
each of which is tailored to the individual publishers. If your query sounds
anything like it's part of a mass mailing, it will end up in the circular file.
Is the information in the listings enough for a writer
to know, or should they also send for guidelines and read past issues of markets
they query?
The information in our listings is a very good starting point, but writers
should also send for guidelines or check them out on the publication's website.
If you're querying a magazine, you should definitely read several issues to get
an idea of its style and voice. You can also check if there are regular features
or columns where it would be easier to break in. If you're querying a book
publisher, send away for a catalog to get an idea of the titles they've
published in the past.
What kinds of things can we expect from Writer's Market
in the future? (I notice you've added in more literary agents and online
markets.)
The very next thing we're planning, which may already have taken place by the
time this interview gets posted, is a redesign of the WritersMarket.com home
page to make it even easier to find the information that's most important to our
subscribers. We're constantly looking at ways to refine searches and structure
the site so it's as user-friendly as possible. I also hope to add many more
articles on niche markets to give writers more in-depth information that we
don't have room for in the book.
And speaking of the book, we've had some changes on our staff. We're sorry to
say that Kirsten Holm has taken a position at another company, but we're happy
to welcome Katie Struckel Brogan as the new editor of Writer's Market. Acting as
assistant editor will be Robert Brewer. I'm looking forward to working with both
of them on making Writer's Market and WritersMarket.com the best that they can
be.
Some publications choose not to be listed. Why?
Some choose not to be listed because they have their cadre of staff and
freelance writers and really aren't open to unsolicited submissions. A few fear
that they will be swamped with inappropriate submissions, but actually, being
listed in Writer's Market and WritersMarket.com usually works the opposite way,
because writers have the publisher's information in front of them and can do the
research and target their manuscripts accordingly.
If you could give new writers one piece of advice, what
would it be?
Well, this is really two pieces of advice. First, be persistent in writing and
getting your work out there. But all the persistence in the world won't help if
you don't present yourself professionally. You may be eager to submit your work
and watch the offers come pouring in, but take the time to check all
correspondence for grammatical and spelling errors. Be sure your query is
well-written, concise and addressed to the right person. If the editor's name is
Chris, make the call to find out what gender he/she is. It makes a difference.
All of this applies whether you're submitting via snail mail or e-mail. Some
writers assume that they don't need to be as careful with e-mail submissions
since the medium is more informal. But errors are off-putting no matter what.
Talent alone isn't enough to make it in this business. You've got to be able to
market yourself effectively.
Anything else you'd like to add?
We have gotten so much positive response to WritersMarket.com. It's truly the
most comprehensive source of current publishers' information available.
Because it's relatively new, a lot of people still don't know
about it or they aren't sure what it is. I would urge anyone who's interested in
getting published to come visit our site and give us a try.
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WRITER'S MARKET ONLINE BY CLICKING HERE.
