The Press of the Great Northwest

July 7, 2007 10:43 AM

I'm trying to draw up a list of publishers in Western Washington State. Google and the Yellowpages have done all they can.

Hi Metafilter! Here's the situation. I'm a writer, and I'm determined to get published within the next couple years. Selling a book would be ideal, but a steady magazine or newspaper gig would be wonderful as well. I'm sick to death of "day jobs" and I'm desperate to make a living doing what I love before I get any older.

To that end, I've decided to leave the national publishing market alone for awhile and go local. I would like to get into print with a small, nearby firm and build a reputation I can trade on a little further down the road.

So my project for the day is building a list of local publishers to contact for submissions guidelines. Local meaning the "Cascadia" area - Western Washington, Northern Oregon, etc. I've gotten a fair number of leads from Google, and the Yellow Pages. I've also gotten a rather large count of commercial printers, vanity presses and defunct businesses.

Fiction is my preferred genre, but I just want to get paid for putting words on a page. Now that I've consulted the obvious sources, I was wondering if any MeFites might know a clever way to search publishers by location. Books, magazines, papers, online, pretty much anyone who pays for the written word. I swear to god I'll lose my mind if I have to make a living kissing customer ass much longer.

Thank you so much, AskMe.

posted by EatTheWeak to work & money (4 comments total)

The Vancouver Voice is a fairly new monthly paper in Vancouver, WA. They don't pay much, but they always need writers.
posted by thinman at 1:19 PM on July 7, 2007

Well, the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association both list their members on their web sites, but I wouldn't count on getting far with any but the smallest papers until you have some clips to show what you can do. Newspapers tend not to have submission guidelines. You'll need to have a story idea, and to call the editor to pitch it. The story will need to be non-fiction and relevant to the community of the publication.

If you don't already have published examples of newspaper-quality writing, you're in a bit of a catch-22 with most papers. You may have to write for free (or for almost nothing) for an itty bitty paper to get the clips that will prove to slightly less itty bitty papers that you're worth the risk (and the money).

Have you been to the local library to look up the latest edition of "Writer's Market"? It has a pretty comprehensive directory of local and regional magazines, along with contact info and submission guidelines.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 1:32 PM on July 7, 2007

You are in luck: The 2008 edition of Writer's Market was published yesterday.

Congratulations and good luck on your decision. It is almost impossible to imagine a worse way to try to support yourself than writing -- especially fiction -- so if are to have any chance of succeeding you seriously need to become an expert on this vanishingly small market right now. There are actual jobs where you write all day long in journalism and in technical writing, and jobs where you write some of the time in editing and teaching. If any of these are tolerable compromises for you, pursue them! The vast majority of published fiction writers are doing these jobs -- or jobs that don't involve writing at all.

Freelancers who submit work to magazines or book proposals to publishers are basically entrepreneurs selling words, and that's hard enough without imposing geographical restrictions on your market. Don't limit yourself to the Pacific Northwest. Do the market research, write the "business plan." Hang out in Internet groups that discuss freelance writing. Write to published writers you envy and ask them for their secrets. And write like mad, of course.

Almost everyone who tries to write for a living fails. Nine of the ten best writers alive today got frustrated and stopped writing years ago. None of the two or three hundred people who support themselves as fiction writers just lucked into the role -- they're all ruthless small business owners (at least until they were successful enough to hire an agent). If you are ready to dedicate your life to that challenge, then more power to you!
posted by gum at 2:47 PM on July 7, 2007

thank you, all

croutonsupafreak - I knew I'd left something out of the question. I've done a year at a small town weekly, but clippings are scarce. Moved lots of times since then.

gum - the only reason I'm thinking of focusing on the local scene is that I would have the option of heading right for the editor's office to shake hands and chat.
posted by EatTheWeak at 7:56 PM on July 7, 2007