The Four Best Websites for Writers
Becoming a freelance writer can be difficult. It isn’t merely sitting at a beach writing lyrical prose and hard hitting nonfiction. There are procedures and protocol that the average person just may not know. Thankfully there are some very good websites out there that will help you become the author you’ve always wanted to be. They will help you hone your skill, brush up your proposal, and sell that article, book, or screenplay. With these websites in your arsenal, you have a fighting chance to be published.
Preditors and Editors
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
This site has a great listing of agencies, book publishers, magazines, contests, etc with warnings, suggestions, and outlooks for their future. It is the perfect place to check up on that publisher and make sure that it is on the up and up. (Many PublishAmerica authors now can see how their “traditional publisher” they were promised is really a vanity press.) I highly recommend to all authors to use this site religiously to check up on their publisher, their agent, and to see what the buzz is in the world of publishing.
Absolute Write
http://www.absolutewrite.com/
This site has a great forum that discusses the backgrounds of people and companies in the business, gives newbie advice to those just starting out, plus gives a listing of both paying and nonpaying markets. The website section lists articles on the skill of writing, how to hone that skill, and tips to tighten your writing to be the best it can be. I recommend signing up for the free newsletters as there is a wealth of information that is helpful there.
Agent Query
http://agentquery.com/agentquery/default.aspx
Got that perfect book sitting on a shelf? Want the representation you deserve? This is the place. It has a listing of agents and agencies that you can search by topic, genre, location, etc. It lists their submission preferences, address, and other contact information. This site is #1 on my website bookmarks as it’s the one I tend to use the most.
Writers Market
http://www.writersmarket.com/index_ns.asp
Most every author knows the Writers Market listing of yearly markets for your writing. They know the Writer’s Digest magazine that is at every bookstore. Well this site is the online version. It comes free with the Writers Market deluxe version or you can purchase it separately. I find it valuable in that it shows you what is changing on a daily basis. Where the yearly guide can be out of date before it even goes to press, the online edition shows you what contact info has changed for your favourite magazine, to what the name of that new editor at Night Secrets is. It is $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year if you didn’t get it included free with your Writers Market. I find it well worth the price.
