Not only does "The Writer's Handbook" give you helpful tips on how to write well, but it also gives the reader a selection of markets to send his or her work. I think this book is a very helpful resouce.

I was deeply disappointed when I received this book, for one thing I had mistaken it for the Writer's Digest Markets which always satisfies with thousands of real markets and all the info one needs to sell their work.

Not so with Writer's Handbook--it is more concerned with telling you HOW to write! Telling the obvious & calling it helpful. It only includes 3000 markets at best (and repeats quite a few which would probably cut the 3000 almost in half). So if you need to know how to write, this might help, if you want to know WHERE TO SELL, this is NOT the book for you. Instead try Writer's Market 2001.

This 65th edition is fully updated, revised and expanded thereby continuing to present the aspiring writer and the seasoned author with a premier compendium of writing techniques, inspiration, and advice from dozens of leading writers in all fields and aspects of the writing process. For those seeking to market their manuscripts there are 3,300 listings for possible publication which include names, addresses, editorial requirements, payment rates, and preferred lengths. Whether writing fiction or non-fiction, essays, articles, short stories or full-length novels, writing for adult or juvenile readerships, working with agents, and more, The Writer's Handbook 2001 is an essential, core reference title that is highly recommended for personal, professional, writing class and seminar, as well as academic and community library "how to" and reference collections.

The annual edition of THE WRITER'S HANDBOOK is a joy to use. Need inspiration? Dip into the section, "Background for Writers" or soak up the interviews with successful writers. Weak plot? Wimpy characters? Study the "How-to-Write--Techniques" sections, two for fiction, another for non-fiction, with consideration of both articles and books. The handbook sometimes departs from the trite path: for instance, one article urges us to write what we DON'T know. Pulitzer Prize winning Donald Murray encourages us to "pay attention to what you need to understand and write your way to understanding." Rita Berman explains the difference in dialogue in fiction and creative nonfiction: in fiction, the writer can make up the words. In nonfiction, dialog should be verbatim from interview tapes and notes, something I'd never been clear about. The section on markets is smaller than that found in WRITER'S MARKET, but still gives a wide choice of publishers. This is a book for all writers. Definitely recommended.

This book isn't exactly a .. .. but it's not much for your money either. It's a collection of short essays. Out of the entire book only two essays applied to the kind of articles I write. Most authors will find that only one article covers their specialty and that one will be too short on top of that! If you must have this book get it from the library.