USEFUL WEB SITES FOR WRITERS
As writers, we have obstacles to overcome, from learning all of the
in’s and out’s of our profession, to finding agents and publishers and determining which ones are good and which
ones are bad. The web sites below are tools that we can use to do this with. I have attempted to organize these sites by category,
and I have included comments based on my experience with them.
GENERAL HELP
Absolute Write is a fantastic site that offers help in a very wide range of subjects
to the writer with many useful help forums and a chat room. Registration is free. The first site, the water cooler, offers
most of the help and discussion topics. The second site, Share Your Work, is where you may post short stories or parts of larger works for comments and critiques. You can navigate
to either site from the other. I have received really valuable help from these fine folks and I highly recommend them
to you!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26
Another writers' site that may be useful, though I must admit I haven’t
used it much due to Absolute Write's meeting
all of my needs, is Write Fine. They offer many help topics and a chat room also.
http://writefine.com
Writing West is a place to post essays and non-fiction. It has been idle for awhile,
but is in the process of being revitalized by good friends of mine.
http://p088.ezboard.com/NonFiction-and-Essays/fwritingwestfrm7
Here’s another group started by very good friends of mine, some
mighty nice folks here!
http://www.thecornercafeforum.com/index.php
Forward Motion for Writers, another group I have on my computer that I haven’t
used for the same reason as Writers Fine, i.e. Absolute Write.
http://www.fmwriters.com
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language offers word
reference services and more. It also comes with a Google search in it.
http://www.bartleby.com/61/
Unsure about what a copyright is and how it affects you? This site has
everything you need to know about copyrights.
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wmf
LITERARY/WRITERS AGENTS
While there are many small independent presses out there that still
accept author submissions, most of the big boy publishers won’t accept manuscript submissions from anyone but agents.
There are other reasons for having an agent also, a good agent knows the publishing business and which publisher would not
only be the most suitable for your particular work, but (this is a very big but) which publishers pay the most.
Since Agents work for a percentage, plus expenses, of your pay for your
work, the above is a good motivating factor for them to get you the largest possible amount.
WARNING: There are a lot of dirt-bag scam artists out there that call
themselves Literary and/or Writers Agents that are running rackets. They are usually identified by wanting "up front" money
from you. This is how the dastards make their living, off any money they collect from YOU. A simple rule to follow: MONEY
FLOWS TO THE WRITER, NOT FROM THE WRITER. Avoid any agent wanting money from you. Reputable agents make their money from the
sales they make for you, AFTER the fact of the sale. Their commission is a mutually agreed-on percentage and reasonable
expenses they incur promoting your product. They do not charge reading fees - another trick of scam-artist agents who will
take your money and do nothing else for you.
"Well, geeze, are there any easy ways to tell the good agents from the
bad ones, other than the facts noted above?" You may well ask.
NO. This is something you have to do research on for each individual
agent you may consider. Fortunately, there is help out there to do this.
The standards set by The Association of Authors’ Representatives
are good ones. The members of AAR are held to strict guidelines and rules of the association such as ethics and NOT charging reading
fees, etc. Read their informative postings about, and how to find, good agents. They list their membership of Agents for easy
referral.
http://www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=9693&orgId=aar
Ok, so are all of the good agents in the AAR?
No, they aren’t for different reasons; Some may not as of yet qualify for membership, others are just ornery and don’t
want to belong to any organization and there are many well established and reputable agencies that fall into this category,
they are so successful that they don’t need to belong to AAR, there are other reasons also.
The sites listed below are the ones I use the most to check out an agent:
Preditors and Editors provides listings of Publishers and Agents that are annotated. These
annotations provide useful information, especially warnings about bad agents/publishers, plus much more helpful info for writers.
I usually start my agent research here first.
http://invirtuo.cc/prededitors/peba.htm
Writers Beware is a site hosted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of American,
Inc. A very good site.
http://www.sfwa.org/beware/
Absolute Writers Bewares and Background
Checks. Great Info here!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22
Please use these sites, or others like them, to properly research an
agent.
Agents receive hundreds to thousands of submissions/queries each month
from writers. Some agencies will deal only with established authors. Naturally, there are more rejections than acceptances.
A good query letter is absolutely essential to catch the agent’s attention.
Simply use your search engine with the topic of "How to write a good
query letter" or "Query Letters" and you’ll come up with more sites on this subject that you can shake a stick at. Not
all of them agree on format or content, I suggest reading a few and using your own common sense to combine what the best ideas
are into your own query letter. some of the best sites are the organizations under ‘General Help’ above, that
not only tell you how to write a query letter but let you post it for critique.
If you are rejected, DON’T GIVE UP! Many successful authors had
to make well over a hundred agent queries/submissions before their work was accepted and eventually sold. First time writers,
such as many of us are, have the roughest row to hoe - KEEP TRYING!
LISTINGS OF LITERARY AGENTS
These are listings of Agents/Agencies and I’ve found to date.
Some are better than others, many have some obsolete entries, a lot of them have duplicate information on Agents/Agencies.
Remember, each agent you consider should be researched thoroughly by you, BEFORE you attempt to contact them via a query letter.
Check for possible web sites they may have. These will tell you what
genres/types of work that particular agent/agencies prefer - many of them are very highly selective in that matter. They will
also inform you of exactly how they prefer you to contact them. Most want a query letter first - without any of your
work being attached to it. Some will accept e-mail queries and submissions which is a boon to us in the savings of paper,
ink and postage. Other’s will only accept snail mail. LOL, I’m saving them for the last resort.
Current editions of Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors,
& Literary Agents and Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market books (as well as many others) are also valuable tools.
Writing is easy - it’s the editing of your work and finding a
good agent that is where the real work is! Again, RESEARCH EACH AGENT!
http://invirtuo.cc/prededitors/peba.htm
http://agentquery.com/
http://bksp.org/Agents%20That%20Accept%20Email%20Queries%20(Kristen%20Nelson).pdf
http://www.writers-free-reference.com/agents/index.html
http://booktalk.com/agents1.html
http://www.wrhammons.com/graybill-english-literary.htm
http://www.bloomsbury.com/sitemap.asp
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/index.html
http://users.erols.com/veritas/agents4you.htm
ADDITIONAL LINKS
While most of the above references include publisher listings as well
as agents, here’s a couple of extra ones you may find of use.
BellaOnline is featured as the "voice of women". They also have a very good site
for the submission of magazine articles, etc. Check it out!
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art2022.asp
This site contains links to a variety of publishers.
http://www.onceuponaromance.net/publisherslinks.html
Considering freelance writing? Check out this site.
http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/
Never thought you’d reach the end of this, huh? Well you have!
My final words are: Remember, a writer should do all in his/her power
to help other writers as much as possible. If you come across additional web sites and/or printed media that can be helpful,
by all means, pass it on to us!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Gary M. Bennett2305 Glendale Ave.
Hattiesburg, MS 39401
(601) 408-5739
Gary Talk@comcast.net
Prepared for Hattiesburg Writers
Group, 1 Dec 07
