Musing Over Markets For Writers

I'm sorry that there was no post on Friday but illness prevented me from doing much of anything other than hugging my pillow all day. Back on track today.

Yesterday, I spent some time looking through marketing sites and books for places I might send a few finished pieces of writing. We seem to see trends in the types of publishers looking for writers to submit and the kind of writing they are seeking. At one time science fiction was king. Another period, we saw many calls for picture books for kids about same-sex marriage families. Romance took center stage off and on.

A number of the magazines and journals I checked yesterday wanted 'weird stuff.' Huh? After hitting several, I sat back in my chair and had to smile and laugh a bit inwardly. Face it, Nancy, you're showing your age. Yes, a lot of what the publishers today ask for is meant for young writers and geared to young readers. Not child-young, but young adults in their 20's and 30's. A lot seem to go for horror, wild fantasy, LBGT-based, and erotic writing. It puzzles me, but that only shows the generation gap. I'm not prejudiced against this kind of writing; I just wonder why it has grown so popular.

There are lots of writers in their 40's, 50's, 60's and older who write more classically--stories like cozy mysteries, spy thrillers, romance, historical, and more. We appeal to certain groups of people who are of varying ages, but I'm guessing the '20s and 30's group are not highly represented.

What's going to happen? Are we going to lose out completely as the years slip by? Can we even find markets for our kind of writing? I don't think that is the case. What you'll need to do is go through all the market catalogs and listings online and skip quickly over those that do not pertain to your type of writing. Yes, we have done that anyway, but perhaps we'll be skipping more and more to find places suitable to submit to. They aren't gone, only a bit deeper in the stack.

Another possibility is to do some rethinking about what type of stories you write. Maybe you'll want to try to write for the younger crowd. It might not be easy as you'd have to be very up-to-date on the jargon and thought process of that age group. Don't get me wrong. I love people in that period of life; I have grandchildren who fit there.

Consider this: If you are 64 years old and can write a picture book that appeals to young children, you should also be able to write a 'weird' piece for the 20-something crowd. True or false? I will have to take the easy-out here and say 'It depends.' There are many factors involved. Some of us can adapt better than others. One suggestion I have is to read as many of whatever kind of story it is as you can. The more, the better.

There is nothing here that is all right or all wrong. It's something that we writers in the '40s and above might want to ponder for a while. If you spend any time searching for markets, you'll most likely agree that there are far more that you skip over than ones that hold your interest as possibilities.