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Outdoor Photographer is a terrific magazine that can help you understand how to take better outdoor photos, learn about equipment and keep you in the loop as to what is going on in photography. If you do a lot of travel writing or plan on taking your own pictures for articles to accompany your text, you have to really be committed to staying with the curve of technology if you want to be competitive. This is a good way to do that and stretch yourself a bit in the process.

Subscribe for $14.97

ByLine Magazine was founded in 1981, and is great for people who are involved in all different kinds of writing. It has articles for those who write non-fiction, fiction and poetry and also offers contests with real cash prizes. Not bad right? At $29 for 11 issues, it is a good pick (and a write off) for keeping abreast of what is going on in your genre and others.

Make A Real Living As A Freelance Writer comes highly recommended. Authored by the “writer’s writer,” Jenna Glatzer, this is a must read for any new freelancer out there. Jenna offers some advice you won’t find elsewhere, and she delivers it in a very smart, funny way in this book. A super read that is worth the investment.

Ask any established writer for some advice when you are starting out and you will likely hear, “Check out Writer’s Market for magazine guidelines.” This is some good advice. Not only will you find market information, the authors also include a series of informational articles that can be invaluable when you are starting out. (You can also opt to join online.) This really helped me when I began, and it does answer some basics, giving a good overview of queries and such. A new version comes out each year.

Buy it now for $19.79

If you have a dog and like to travel, this is the magazine for you! Fido Friendly is the best resource around for finding places that you can travel with your dog, both in the US and abroad. They offer travel tips, destination roundups and hotel reviews, among other things; and it is all really well packaged. If you are looking for a good spot to vacation this year and want to bring Fido–check this publication out! Worth a subscription….

St. Patrick’s Day wouldn’t be complete without at least a nod to W.B. Yeats. There has never been a poet that I have adored more; his writing sings. If you love the man’s work, you’ll enjoy having so much of it at your fingertips in this book. Here, for your holiday pleasure, is one of my favorites (in the book it is on page 41):

WHEN YOU ARE OLD 

WHEN you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; 

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

 And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Buy now for $13.60

 If you are interested in the journalistic aspects of the writing game and don’t know who Dan Poynter is, do yourself a favor and check out the Poynter Institute. You will find a whole universe of stuff you didn’t know existed. Dan Poynter has built a hell of a reputation as an expert in all kinds of journalism, and you should not underestimate the value of any writing-related material with the Poynter name on it.

That includes this self-publishing manual. To be fair, I haven’t read this one yet but the Poynter name lends enough credibility to recommend it. To those who might take issue with me on this one, spend an hour at the Poynter site and tell me if you still disagree. And if that’s the case, forget the book–you can learn a LOT just by having a go at the site and soaking up the benefit of all that experience. At the website you will find a lot of info on Poynter workshops and seminars,and I have many friends who have attended Poynter seminars, all come back with glowing reports of the massive amount you can learn about the craft in a very short amount of time.

Buy for $13.57

Ok. I have to admit that I’m finding it difficult to tie this in to writing, but the truth of the matter is–this magazine inspires me. I can’t get enough of it. Visually, it is a masterpiece; a feast for the eyes. Nothing compares to the scenery of the American west, and you’ll get a lot of it here. The high-end ads will provide some great dream fodder or lotto plans, and the articles are top notch. I really enjoy getting it in my mailbox each month. Almost as much as getting a check.

Subscribe for $19.95

In the early days of my career I cut my teeth reading Robert Bly’s books on freelance writing, and while I daresay that most of the people who read this great book will NOT make $100,000 a year, they CAN earn more than enough to keep the beer and chicken wings flowing freely thank you very much.

For my money, the real value for books like these is as much about showing you that other people can and do earn a living doing nothing but freelancing as it is giving you the advice on queries, research, taxes and all the other stuff. One day somebody will write the definitive book on how to avoid writing, blow off deadlines and ignore your creditors, and we can all learn some lessons in reverse. For now, I highly suggest books like Bly’s, but please take that dollar amount with a grain of salt until you can look back on your career from the time you first cracked this book open and laugh about whether that figure applies to you or not.

Maybe I am a bit biased against dollar amounts on the cover–if only because I keep finding used books with titles like “How to earn $25,000 a Year as a Photographer”. HAH! How dated is THAT one? Why not just call it “How To Take Pictures While Starving.”

Buy for $11.56 

The 2008 Photographer’s Market may not initially seem like a great resource for writers, but it is! Many writers don’t have any idea how much they should charge for photography and this book can really be a help in that department. It lists many magazines that accept freelance photography and gives information such as: price range, format they prefer and what type of photos they are looking for. If you supply your own photos and want some help with pricing, get this book.

Buy now for $17.81

The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing covers all the bases; query letters, coming up with ideas editors will love, and developing that all-important skill of targeting your queries to just the right market. If you’re new to the magazine writing game, try out this one…you’ll get some great help to get your first batch of queries out the door in the most effective way possible.

Most appealing about this book? It draws on the experience of a large number of successful freelancers. There are plenty of books written from a single freelancer’s point of view, but the range of experience represented in this book offers more perspective. Take what works and leave the rest! With 248 pages of freelance writing wisdom, you’ll find plenty of advice to apply to your early work.

Buy for $11.55

The Writer has been around since 1887, and is a well-respected publication on the craft of writing. It is published monthly and has a circulation of just over 40,000 readers. The magazine features information on a mix of different genres which include: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, sci-fi, romance and children’s writing, to name a few. You’ll find solid informaion and advice here whether you are an aspiring writer or an established one.

Buy now for $29.00

Hunter Thompson may be gone, but he is definitely not forgotten. His final book, Hey Rube, is a collection of essays from his ESPN column, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is a book strictly about sports. He used his column as a springboard into a great many topics including his political views, ideas on sex, and the creation of the infamous sport “Shotgun Golf”.

Thompson is best known as an author, but digging deeper into his body of work you’ll find that he was a freelancer with major credits–The Nation, Rolling Stone, and a big variety of others. Thompson is what many would consider to be a unreliable flake, an unemployable liability to any editor unfortunate enough to have hired him. Thompson frequently blew deadlines for nation-wide magazines and missed the point of his assignments. His most important book–Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, was the result of a horribly botched freelance gig for a major sports publication. Thompson was assigned to bring back some captions on a race and turned in literally thousands of words in commentary instead. Incidents like these did not keep him from getting work. Amazingly, he kept getting high-paying assignments. Thompson was damn near bulletproof.

He was a force of nature, a contradictory whirlwind of massive hubris and self-doubt. As a survivor in the biz, he is a true hero–he somehow managed to overcome every career-ending disaster and bounce back with even larger assignments. There will be more books by Hunter Thompson to be sure–his estate promises several more collections of unpublished material– but this is the final one he put together under his own steam with intent to publish.

Buy Hey Rube! for $11.20

Poets & Writers offers a nice mix of information. You’ll find interviews with poets and fiction writers, the latest news about the publishing industry and a variety of contest information. The magazine recently re-vamped its size–going a little smaller than the standard magazine. (I love the new look, and I have to confess, bought the last issue just because the magazine felt good in my hand!) Published 6 times a year, it is a must have for anyone involved in poetry or fiction writing, and a good mag to browse through for non-fiction writers as well.

Buy now for $19.95

Writers’ Journal is a good resource for both fiction and non-fiction writers. The nice part about the magazine is that it has information that is useful to all levels of writers; from the rank beginner to the more advanced. Selling and publishing are subjects that the mag focuses on, as well as improving one’s writing–something we can all use! There are a bunch of writer’s magazines out there–this is one that I find especially useful for non-fiction writing.

Buy now for $17.97