Sillybean

Writing and Publishing 101

• Agents

  • A little-known way of identifying successful agents
  • Agent first, then sale? Other way ’round?
  • Career planning: before you look for an agent…
  • Do you need an agent?
  • Everything you wanted to know about literary agents…
  • Five Writers Explain How They Got, Kept and Fired Agents
  • How to Get Published: a Flow Chart
  • On the getting of agents and all associated comments
  • Preditors & Editors
  • Questions to ask an agent who has offered you representation
  • Sales reported in Locus since July 2004 with agent info when known
  • The 20 Worst Literary Agencies (with discussion)
  • The Association of Authors’ Representatives
  • Why fee-charging agents suck (scroll about halfway down)
  • Writer Beware
  • Writing a simple query letter
  • You should never submit unagented to publishing companies (or at least one editor thinks so)

• Book Publishing

  • A Book Publishing Glossary
  • A Publishing Dictionary
  • Book Publishing Accounting: Some Basic Concepts
  • Debut author lessons
  • How Acquisitions Work
  • How publishing works from the bookselling side (in five parts; hit “Next” at the top)
  • How publishing works from the publishing side
  • How to Get Published (a brief overview)
  • How to Get Published: a Flow Chart
  • How to Write a Query Letter in Five Easy Steps
  • Publishing in the Twenty-First Century, part 1
  • Publishing in the Twenty-First Century, part 2
  • Publishing in the Twenty-First Century, part 3
  • Publishing primer, part 1
  • Publishing primer, part 2
  • Sell-Throughs
  • The Devil’s Dictionary of Publishing, corrections
  • The Devil’s Dictionary of Publishing, part 1
  • The Devil’s Dictionary of Publishing, part 2
  • The Rise and Fall of the Mass Market Paperback
  • Things the author does not get to control
  • Under the Author’s Control For the Most Part/Not Under the Author’s Control For the Most Part
  • Who are all these people? one publisher’s outline of the various roles (editorial, marketing, etc.)
  • Word count for novels and children’s books
  • Word counts and novel length

• Copyright

  • Copyright FAQ

• Critique Groups

  • Critters
  • How To Start A Writing Group
  • Online Writing Workshop (formerly the Del Rey workshop)
  • Seven essential questions of critiquing

• Ebooks

  • On ebook piracy

• Jargon

  • A Book Publishing Glossary
  • A Publishing Dictionary
  • Romance Writer Jargon
  • The Devil’s Dictionary of Publishing, corrections
  • The Devil’s Dictionary of Publishing, part 1
  • The Devil’s Dictionary of Publishing, part 2

• Magazines

  • Locus
  • SFWA Bulletin Non-members may subscribe

• Markets

  • Black Holes response time tracker
  • Duotrope Digest including a submission tracker for registered users
  • Quintamid market database
  • Ralan

• Money and Contracts

  • Anatomy of a three-book deal
  • Annotated first novel contract (in parts; hit “Next” at the top)
  • Bestseller list primer
  • Business Realities for the Beginning Writer
  • How much money you'll actually see from a six-figure book deal
  • Laura Anne Gilman’s Basic [and Updated] Rules for Going Freelance, specific to novelists
  • Money
  • More on money and the writing life
  • Negotiating novel contracts
  • P&Ls and how books make (or don’t) money: part the first: the mass market original complete failure
  • P&Ls and how books make (or don’t) money: part the second: the hardcover to mass
  • Real World Book Deals
  • Real World Book Deals — follow-up #1
  • Real World Book Deals — follow-up #2
  • Royalty calculations explained
  • Sell-Throughs
  • Simple book revenue breakdown
  • Survey of first novel advances in short: get an agent
  • The Importance of Reversion Clauses in Publishing Contracts
  • Unasked-For Advice to New Writers About Money
  • What a royalty statement looks like

• News, Rumors, and Daily Reads

  • GalleyCat
  • John Scalzi
  • Making Light
  • Publishers Lunch daily email newsletter, plus weekly deal roundup
  • PW Daily email newsletter from Publishers Weekly
  • The Awl's Publishing School column
  • Top Ten Blogs About Writing and Publishing

• Organizations

  • Broad Universe Women in SF
  • Horror Writers of America
  • Mystery Writers of America
  • Romance Writers of America
  • SF Writers of America
  • Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators
  • Speculative Literature Foundation

• Publishing

  • Industry Statisics: Men vs. Women

• Responding to Reviews

  • Do: Carla Cassidy
  • Don't: Alice Hoffman
  • Don't: Anne Rice
  • Don't: Jacqueline Howett

• Scams and other bad ideas

  • Arguments against self-publishing
  • How to spot the scammers
  • Preditors and Editors A clearing house of information about publishers. Look up publishers here to see if they’re known scammers or not.
  • Publish America: Everything you need to know
  • Publish America: further reading
  • Publish America: the never-ending thread at Absolute Write
  • Variants of publishing scams

• SF Writing Workshops

  • Clarion 6 weeks; June/July; U.S. West
  • Clarion South 6 weeks; Jan./Feb.; Australia
  • Clarion West 6 weeks; June/July; U.S. Pacific Northwest
  • Odyssey 6 weeks; June/July; U.S. Northeast
  • Taos Toolbox a “graduate” workshop; 2 weeks; June; US Southwest
  • University of Kansas Center for the Study of Science Fiction 2 weeks; June/July; U.S. Midwest
  • Viable Paradise 1 week; October; U.S. Martha’s Vineyard

• Short Stories

  • Jay Lake on short story length

• Slush

  • Common slush mistakes
  • Confessions of a Slush Pile Reader
  • How NOT to write a cover letter for novels
  • How NOT to write a cover letter for short stories
  • Myrtle the Manuscript describes a short story; novel slush piles are even bigger and slower
  • Slushkiller and all associated comments

• Working with editors

  • Five Writers Talk About Their Book Editors
  • How to be the perfect author
  • What a copyeditor's style sheet looks like

• Working with other authors

  • On The Asking of Favors From Established Writers

• Writing

  • Avoid these clichés
  • Billy Wilder's ten tips
  • Dos and Don'ts of Setting
  • Elmore Leonard: Ten Rules of Writing
  • Holly Lisle’s articles
  • How to Write a Novel
  • Jennifer Crusie: Plot Diagrams
  • Jennifer Crusie: Revising Scene
  • Jennifer Crusie: Turning Points, part 1
  • Jennifer Crusie: Turning Points, part 2
  • John Scalzi: 10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing
  • John Scalzi: Ten Writing Tips
  • John Scalzi: Utterly Useless Writing Advice
  • Learn Writing with Uncle Jim
  • Michael Hauge’s six-stage plot structure uses some well-known films to illustrate turning points
  • Orson Scott Card’s articles
  • SFWA’s articles
  • Stephen King: Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully in Ten Minutes
  • The Guardian collects ten rules of writing from various authors (part 1)
  • The Guardian collects ten rules of writing from various authors (part 2)
  • The secret menu of writing advice
  • The Well-Tempered Plot Device
  • Write a Novel online courseware by Crawford Kilian

• Writing Life

  • 12 things about authors
  • A day in the life of John Scalzi
  • A week in the life of Nick Mamatas
  • Beware Of Writer II: Revenge Of The Teenage Penmonkey From Mars
  • How to behave at conventions: hotels & going out to dinner
  • The Dictator of Writing Announces His Decrees, Part I
  • The Penmonkey's Paean