Useful Links

* www.writing.com
Well of course I couldn’t miss this one out. This is my favourite writing site and I’ve been a member for several years. Great environment for new and experienced writers, encouraging, positive and helpful.

* www.writersweekly.com
This has a list of paying markets as well as whispers and warning list which anyone can add to and it’s all completely free. The newsletter articles are also excellent.

* http://www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do
Agents Association.Has a list of agents who are members of the organisation.

* http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/getwriting/A2981982
Info about getting an agent

* http://www.author-network.com/competition.html
Competitions listings

* http://windpub.com/literary.scams/
WARNING OVER NATIONAL POETRY CONTESTS!

* http://www.writerswrite.net/pubbrws.cfm
List of magazines/publications.

* http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/publishbook/publishbook3.html
Publishing, how-to info.

* http://www.online-literature.com/
Free online classical literature if you have time.

* http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/
You can register copyright here if you feel it’s necessary. You can also email them with questions about copyright. They responded very quickly to me and were very helpful even though I did not register with them.

* http://www.wordsmitten.com/coverletter.html
Specifially about writing cover and query letters to agents or editors.

* http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/ – Writing forum.
Not spent much time on this one but looks good. Worth a look. Lists paying and non-paying markets.

* http://forum.sfx.co.uk/
Hot link. Largest sci-fi magazine in the country (United Kingdom)
They work with Gollancz publishers and have a annual short story competition and on occassion a review competition. The review competition is a first come first served basis where you apply and if you are in time you get a pick of a few soon-to-be published novels. You may not get your first choice ( but you get a free manuscript to read and review. They give you plenty of time to read and even if you don’t win you can usually read other peoples entries and sometimes they give general feedback (not usually individually) as to what they were looking for. You don’t have to send a review once you get the manuscript if you choose not to but it’s worth a shot as you are competing against a very small number of people once you get through.

* http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/bookrev/tips.htm
Info about writing book reviews.

* www.lulu.com – Self-publishing site.
You can choose just to pay for making the book – the site takes a percentage of each purchase someone makes and covers the cost of the book. It’s an on-demand market though which means if no one buys it none get printed. While this saves on cost and means you can do it from the comfort of your own home it also means that you have to spend time advertising, editing and basically creating your own product which can be time consuming and may not bring in much revenue. However if you feel there’s something you really want on the market and think people will like but find that no publisher wants it because it is not something they want follow through then it could be ideal.

* www.Newsu.org – Plenty of free journalism and photojournalism courses here.

Phew. And there’s tons more out there. Some published authors will post writing advice on their websites but you’ll likely find many will be will be reluctant to provide much more info – for obvious reasons. You’re their competition!

Related articles

• How to start Writing Fiction (bardicblogger.wordpress.com)

Advertisement