Writing markets’ triage: three strikes

How do you find markets for your writing? That’s easy. Look around you, markets are everywhere. Whether you’re writing articles, or are writing copy for businesses, markets are EVERYWHERE.

However, most of them won’t be markets for YOUR work.

They won’t be markets for your work because:

* You don’t have the credits or experience to write for this market yet;

* They already have a stable of writers with whom they work;

* For whatever reason (maybe they have financial problems) you need to steer clear of them.

Triage: three strikes and – so long, good-bye
Over the years I’ve kept very elaborate writing markets’ databases. I’ve kept lists of markets in everything from MS Excel and MS Access to simple text files.

They were all a waste of time, just another example of writing procrastination. I finally figured that out when a database I’d been building for a couple of years was corrupted, as was the tape backup. I winced at all the hours I’d spent on building the database, then worked out how much use it had been to me.

I decided the markets database hadn’t done anything for me – it hadn’t improved my business at all. The publications and business with which I worked where in my email program. All the interactions I’d had with them were there. Hard-copy contracts were in my files.

Nowadays, markets need to prove themselves to me. If I assess a publication or a business and feel that perhaps they could work as a market for me, I follow a simple process:

* Research – I read the publication, or find out as much about the business as I can;

* I send them THREE queries/ proposals over three to six months.

No result? That’s too bad. They’re off my ultra-short markets list.

Perform triage on your own markets’ lists – you don’t need elaborate lists. You just need responsive markets which pay well and for which you enjoy writing.

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