Writers Have Trades Too

Writer’s Digest. The Writer. WRITERS Journal. Poets & Writers. These are the trade magazines for writers, and great additions to your tool kit. With the latest industry news, trends, and interviews with established and emerging writers, they offer techniques and other resources to build your skills. The magazines also have websites with additional content, many times only available online. And of course, they have market listings to submit your work, including the mags themselves. Following is a quick rundown of each.

The veteran of the group, The Writer, calls itself ‘The essential resource for writers since 1887’. One feature,‘The Writer Archive’, focuses on an element of the craft of writing from past articles. There are reviews of newly released books to browse. You can check out their blog to get into the minds of the mag’s staffers. And now, registered users can post comments on any columns or articles in the ‘Columns and Articles’ sections of the site.

With the motto, ‘Write Better, Get Published’, Writer’s Digest (WD) is a favorite of many writers. Highlights include the ‘101 Best Websites for Writers’; ‘Writer’s Workbook’, which covers specific areas of writing; and the WD contests in Popular Fiction, Poetry, Short Short Story, the International Self-Published Book Awards and the annual Writing Competition with multiple categories to enter.

My favorite is Poets & Writers, the largest nonprofit serving creative writers dedicated to taking writers ‘From Inspiration to Publication’. There’s always a comprehensive list of upcoming conferences and residencies, and awards and grants recipients; In addition, there’s a continuing series where agents and editors share their experiences and their wants from writers. And readers can start applying what they’ve learned from ‘The Practical Writer’.

To wrap up, there’s WRITERS’ Journal, ‘The complete writer’s magazine’. Offerings include contest listings, including ‘Write to Win!’; columns on how to break into niche markets, promoting your writing properly, and photography how-tos, among others. And the ‘Books for the Writer’s Bookshelf’ area always has a selection to whet the appetite.

So, if you haven’t already, add one, a couple--or all of these trades to your tool kit. They’re the tickets to equip you to be the best writer you can be.

By Jill Earl

Photo credit: Microsoft