Writer’s Market UK & Ireland 2010
This market directory contains, as you would expect, a large number of listings of publishers, as well as many other categories of information such as broadcasters, specialist libraries, and organisations, including the Historical Novel Society. There are also several articles offering information on writing both as an art and as a business.
The book has its own website: http://www.writersmarket.co.uk.
Concentrating on the sections that would be of particular interest to historical novelists, the listing of UK and foreign publishers is very comprehensive. Unfortunately, unlike its competitors, this directory does not include an index of fiction publishers by category, so there is no quick way to find publishers with an interest in historical novels. The list of literary agencies is equally comprehensive. I’m pleased to see that most of the vanity publishers that appeared in previous editions have been purged, but a couple are still there. It is a good idea to do an Internet search on the name of any publisher with which you’re not familiar.
This directory is well worth its price, which you can offset as an expense against your income tax anyway, although it still hasn’t established a unique selling point to differentiate it from its competition.
