Product: Confessing for Money: Writing and Selling to the Secret Short Story Market

Author: Peggy Fielding

Reviewer: Beth Ann Erickson

Date of Purchase: Late 2005

Date of Review: June 22, 2006

Price: 14.95

What ‘cha get:

I admit it. I cracked open this book with a bit of trepidation.

I know. I’ve peeked through the “confession” mags in Walmart. I’ve even paged through them. I never dreamed that I’d ever write anything for these little pulp-wonders.

What I didn’t realize is that as with pretty much every genre of writing, “confessions” also follow a hidden, partially secret, architecture.

And this is exactly what Peggy Fielding covers in this delightful, easy-reading title.

Now before I go any further, I need to clarify exactly what a “confession” is. I think Peggy does it best on page seven of her book. She writes:

“According to my dictionary, one of the definitions of the word confessions is… ‘a voluntary admission by an individual who has learned his/her lesson the hard way.’ We’ll accept that. It’s also the secret short story market which is always buying, buying, buying.”

And buy they do.

We’re not talking porn here. Nor are we talking pure trash either. We’re talking imaginative short-story telling at its finest.

And Peggy expertly guides her readers every single step of the way.

She begins by detailing what a confession is and what it is not. Then she sails into how you can become a confession story teller. Then she launches into manuscript preparation, and what you should write about.

She discusses the genre, yourself and your fans and what you need to succeed at writing confessions.

She goes into detail on the emotional aspects you need to cover and how to draw a compelling confession.

She even covers dialogue and the business of writing confessions.

As if that isn’t enough, she concludes with outlining what editors want (and what they’ll immediately discard.)

Don’t know where to send your confessions? That’s OK. Peggy covers that as well.

I’d never dreamed of writing confessions… well that was until I got my hands on this title.

It’s an easy read. It’s packed full of great information. But most of all, it’s an indispensable, inexpensive reference that can add yet another income stream into your writing career.

And yeah. I’m writing confessions in my spare time. Even got a pen name.

And I’m having the time of my life.

Wish List:

More market information. But a simple subscription to WritersMarket.com takes care of that.

Final Verdict:

5 Stars.

A hands down winner.

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