Articles and Blogs of Interest

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Articles and Blogs of Interest to Writers

ROYALTIES

Fiction Factor has a useful article on how royalties are figures.

http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/royaltiescalculated.html

While you're there, check out their article archives and sign up for Fiction Factor ezine which is always full of great articles on writing craft and the writing profession.

AGENTS

Agents' pet peeves in the opening pages of a novel.

http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Agents+Chapter+1+Pet+Peeves.aspx

Agent Laura Bradford is interviewed on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008.

http://ninc.com/blog/index.php

Agent Submission Times

Jessica Faust March 11th 2008 blog

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

Nathan Bransford, March 6, 2008

http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/

http://www.sfwa.org/epiracy/faq.htm

CRITIQUE PARTNER MATCH SITE

http://critpartnermatch.ning.com

PUBLISHING TERMS

Bookends blog defining publishing terms, Thursday, August 21st, 2008

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

PUBLISHING CONTRACTS

Agent Janet Reid tells you what you need to know before you sign that publishing contract http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2008/08/ten-things-to-know-if-you-go-commando.html

WRITERS AND WILLS

An excellent blog on the subject by Neil Gaiman which includes a PDF form that writers can use to explain their wishes on their works.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html

PUBLISHING TRENDS

A BOOK PUBLISHER'S MANIFESTO FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

As I discussed what's happening in genre publishing (The State of Publishing), Sara Lloyd has a series on articles on what's happening in nonfiction publishing. http://thedigitalist.net/?p=137

To receive a complete Adobe Acrobat download of the entire article go here

http://thedigitalist.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/a-book-publishers-manifesto-for-the-21st-century.pdf

TRENDS IN CURRENT GENRE MARKETS (2008) "Writer's Digest" has its popular fiction report available online.

Be sure to click the link directly below the title that offers a further breakdown of types of books. It has an excellent list of the types of romance, mystery, etc.

http://writersdigest.com/article/The_Popular_Fiction_Report

QUERIES

WRITING THE PITCH PARAGRAPHS Agent Kristin Nelson has an interesting series of blogs (starting April 25 through May 6th, 2008) on creating the pitch paragraph or paragraphs about your book for a query letter. http://pubrants.blogspot.com/

RESEARCH GROUPS FOR WRITERS

Crimescenewriter: Crime Scene Questions for Writers

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/crimescenewriter

A large membership with lots of experts and questions. Very mystery oriented. It tends to stay on subject with little chatter.

Rains_Writers-Research http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rains_writers_research

Most questions seem to be fantasy and historical based. Some mystery questions. Fairly small membership so messages aren't as frequent. Most, if not all, members are writers, not experts. Not much chatter.

Weapons_Info : Weapons Info and Survival

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Weapons_Info

Medium-sized group with lots of experts on mayhem of all sorts. Covers contemporary and historical weapons, etc. Very little chatter off topic. My personal favorite resource group.

WickedCompany http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WickedCompany

Large group specializing in mystery questions. Includes readers as well as writers. I've seen no nonwriter expert replies. Lots of chatter, bickering, sniping, and off-subject discussions as well as discussions on publishing. A heavy traffic list.

WriterResourceCentral http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writersresourcecentral

Small group that bills itself as a bulletin board for writing-related information. Not much email generated. The same people do most of the posting.

USING REAL PEOPLE IN FICTION (LEGAL ISSUES)

http://www.writersweekly.com/ask_the_expert/004318_10172007.html

WRITING GROUPS

PNWriters (Paranormal romance and urban fantasy):http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PNWriters

Paranormal Mystery: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paranormal_Mystery

Worlds of Fantasy http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Worlds_Of_Fantasy

PROMOTION LINKS

A series of blogs on book promotion from agent and former book publicist, Colleen Lindsay.

http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/09/pimpin-your-book-what-is-publicity.html

http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/09/pimpin-your-book-how-to-work.html