I often refer to my latest copy of the Writer's Market, but with the vast majority of publications now with Web sites, I find I'm relying on my search engines (like Google and Yahoo) far more. It's fast and easy to go to www.google.com and request a search for either a publication or a more general search of, say, newspapers, magazines, or editorial calendars. For instance, I just asked Google to look up "magazine editorial calendars" and was amazed at the number of listings that showed up. Possibilities I had never even thought of! Publications I've never heard of before.

Find a publication's Web site using your favorite search engine. Next, look for their writer's guidelines and editorial calendar. A big advantage in going directly to a publication's Web site is that you get their up-to-the-minute information, which will help you craft a story or article especially for them. Now you're ready to start sending the editor your work.

You can narrow your search by going to the link at the bottom of the search results page and asking for a more specific search. For instance, I began my search requesting "magazine editorial calendars." I narrowed my search by adding the word "travel" to "magazine editorial calendars." Almost like magic, a list of magazines with travel sections came up on my screen, some surprising and more than a few very interesting.

Of course the possibilities for searching are endless. You could ask a search for writer's guidelines or author's guidelines, or what about contributor's guidelines?

After spending the time researching and coming up with important information, where to store it is often a problem. When you find a publication's Web site or other information that interests you, be sure to bookmark it and place it in a folder called "markets" or "guidelines." Another option is to copy the data and paste it into a Word document and save it on your hard drive in a specifically named file. I have one I call "Writer's Markets." You can easily do a "save as" from an Explorer page directly onto your hard drive. Just make sure to label it and save it in a place where you can find it again, because these nuggets of information could equal a goldmine.