“It’s overwhelming,” the student told me. She’d spent part of the week researching markets for her writing. When she saw how many markets there are, she became overwhelmed and stopped. If you thumb through a copy of Writer’s Market (Writer’s Digest), you’ll probably see why.

The good news is there are a lot of markets out there. The bad news is there are a lot of markets out there.

Tip: After narrowing your search by subject matter and other aspects that matter to you (payment, response time, whether online submissions are accepted, etc.), pick the first three markets you come to. For some reason, three choices usually feels doable. More than that may not.