101 Best Websites for Writers – list releasing today

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Ray Robinson

I just received my email from Writer’s Digest for their 101 Best Websites for Writers – a very different list from past years. For those of you in the world of self publising that don’t follow the Writer’s Digest list, this venerable magazine puts together a list of what they feel are the absolute best-of-the-best sites for aspiring writers and self publishers.

“This year we sifted through more than 2,700 nominations and pulled the best of the bunch. The list, which features more blogs and free market listings than in years past, has been divided into eight sections: Creativity and Challenges, General Resources, Agent Blogs, Publishing Resources, Jobs and Markets, Writing Communities, Genres/Niches and Fun for Writers. We’ve also included symbols… with each listing so you can quickly scan to see if the site offers what you’re seeking: blogs, chatting, critiques, classes/workshops, contests, forums, jobs, markets, e-newsletters, podcasts and content for young writers.” writes editor Brian A. Klems.
I found the list interesting this year in that many more ‘non-commercial’ sites were listed – and a number of the ‘commercial’ sites didn’t make the list. (the 2008 list is currently not linked – at least in any way I could find it – on the Writer’s Digest site… though they show links they don’t go the the ‘old’ list)

My favorite in this years list -and for many years – has been Angela Hoy’s Writers Weekly. While Ms. Hoy owns a self-publishing company, BookLocker, her articles and advice are pretty much spot-on. I was disappointed to see that Dog Ear Publishing didn’t make the list -but if you don’t nominate, you can’t get chosen… I’ll keep that in mind for next years list. I thought Dog Ear Publishing might have made list after being described in Jane Friedman’s artcle in the April issue, Straight Expectations, as “…offer[ing] excellent information to help you compare various [self publishing] services.”

A great list – full of value – though for those interested in self publishing a bunch of sites were left out:

Morris Rosenthal’s Self Publishing 2.0 – this guy is brilliant… about just about everything…

Writing-World.com – the site is courtesy of author Moira Allen – and I’ve linked to her self publishing resource page

Midwest Book Review – they have a great section of advice – not just on self publishing, but also writing

Book Publishers Compared – the site of Mark Levine’s book that reviews self publishing companies

Publetariat – people who publish… very cool site / indie author / indie publisher community

Weber Books – Steve Weber’s ideas on marketing and selling books

Send me your thoughts and sites  / lists – maybe it’s time I created one here!

Filed under: self publishing, Self Publishing Companies | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Writer’s Digest – Everything You Need to Know About Self Publishing

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Ray Robinson

This edition of Writer’s Digest (the March / April 2009 edition) has an amazing selection of articles on self-publishing – and actually does an amazing job of covering, literally, just about everything you actually need to know to get started self publishing your book. In the interest of full disclosure, as most of you know I own a self publishing company called Dog Ear Publishing, Dog Ear is represented well in one of the articles on resources for self publishers.

The articles take a very straight forward approach to defining what authors need to know before choosing to self publish their book – no punches are pulled in any way, but conversely very little negative prejudice shows in ANY of the articles. I couldn’t actually find ANY myself, but a few other readers I surveyed felt that some of the writing was ‘too honest’ about the chances of self published works ending up in the traditional market… I tend to believe that reality is uncomfortable for many folks – especially when it’s fairly applied to their dreams and wishes – so I was pretty comfortable that everything I read was pretty much just grounded in the realities of  our market.

Jane Friedman – publisher and editorial director of Writer’s Digest – opens the discussion with an article titled “Straight Expectations.” This is a quick intro to the 5 key items authors should consider… not that any one of the items would dissuade a potential author from self publishing, but each is a critical item for review.

Contributor Andrea Hurst – president of Andrea Hurst Literary Management – is next with “The Stark Reality of Self-Publishing: An Agent’s Perspective” – and tough medicine that authors looking to self publish their book need to take in large doses. Even though self-publishing seems to be a logical first step in getting your book into a traditional house, the chances of success don’t really seem to be much better than if you’d just sent a query letter and sample chapter – and with good reason. The self-published books that fail to find an audience do so not because they are self-published, but because of some other mitigating factor (such as quality of writing; lack of marketing by the author – yes, even as a traditionally published author you’ll be asked to help out to a large degree; or often times – just no market for the book on a broader basis…). Even with all the ‘medicine’ Ms. Hurst’s piece is an amazing perspective from one of the significant gatekeepers of the traditional publishing world.

Joe Wikert – you’ll know him from my comments on his blog Publishing 2020 – he’s one of the gurus I read on a daily basis because his take on technology in our industry is amazing. His article The Changing Landscape of Self-Publishing highlights this in great detail – and highlights how little so many of us really understand about what is going on ‘out there’ – our industry (if you can even call it ‘our industry’ any more…) looks nothing like what any of us expected even a single year ago – let alone 10 or 15 years ago.

More articles follow – even one that discusses Brunonia Barry – along with commentary by readers on self publishing… it’s an amazing issue (can’t tell that I enjoyed it?) – so go out and get your copy today!

Filed under: book marketing, Joe Wikert, self publishing, Self Publishing Company Comparisons | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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