So I wrote this as an email for some friends in my critique group, and then thought to myself 'Well now that I've got this thing all typed out, I might as well post it.' So, you authors and aspiring authors, here are my favorite writing links! If you've got suggestions, add 'em in the comments! :)
My absolute favorite writing sites:
http://www.querytracker.net/
If you only click one of these links, it should be this one. I spend a ridiculous amount of time on this website and their query tracking tool has been a Godsend. You can use their site to search for agents by genre, and then use their free query tracking tool to keep track of each query that you send. It’s a great way to keep things organized without having to keep a notebook listing who you’ve queried, what agency, they were from, etc. You can just search your list electronically and avoid querying more than one agent at places where a no from one person is a no from everyone, check dates to know when a query should be recorded as a non-response, etc. Each agent also has a comments page, where people write about their experiences querying that person and how long it took for them to get a response. You can also find links on the comment pages to interviews, Twitter accounts, etc. if you want to do really in depth research. One word of caution is that they do list email addresses on each agent’s page (for those who take e-queries) but you should still click each agency’s website and read the actual agent listings there because they sometimes have different email addresses for queries or additional submission requirements, like a synopsis or sample pages.
Other awesome things about querytracker: The message boards. After you sign up, go to ‘Groups’ and join ‘Perfecting the Query.’ You can post your query there and people will come give you advice and suggestions. This was so vital for me. There are people on the board who really put a lot of time and effort into query critiques and best of all, it’s free! There are also success stories for when you need a pick me up (http://www.querytracker.net/success.php) and a blog with lots of great advice (http://querytracker.blogspot.com/)
http://www.agentquery.com/
I’ve mostly used this website as another tool for finding agents to query. What makes it different from querytracker is that while querytracker has a set list of genres for you to select from when you search for agents (i.e. multicultural, YA, fantasy), agentquery lets you search their agent profiles with your own keywords. So for instance, you could search for agents whose profile say something about aliens .
Agentquery also has an author community (http://agentqueryconnect.com/) with message boards where you can get query critiqes, read successful queries, talk about agents and the submission process, etc. I haven’t really used this one so I can’t say what it’s like, but it looks interesting.
http://www.annemini.com/
This is probably my favorite writing blog. Anne is a published author who really knows her stuff and has hundreds of blog posts on pretty much every writing topic under the sun. I used this site for help writing my query, synopsis, author bio, and figuring out how to format my manuscript. There’s detailed info on what to do at pretty much every step of the process. If you go to the far right side and scroll down, you’ll see ‘Categories’ and that’s where you can choose which posts you want to check out.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Besides trying to keep up with the latest in publishing by checking out their top stories, I love their search tool. I found several articles discussing the need for more multicultural characters in YA fiction, and actually ended up using a quote from one of them in my query letter. This is a great place to find current works to compare your story to, or information to support your reasoning for why your book is relevant and necessary in this market.
http://www.inkpop.com/
Put together by Harper Collins, this is an online community for people who write for teens. There are a good number of adults, but many, if not most, of the members are actual teenagers. There are message boards where you can get advice and opinions But the best thing about Inkpop is that you can post some or all (some people post entire books but I wouldn’t recommend it since that could potentially mess with your ability to sell electronic rights down the line) of your story and get feedback on it. If readers like what you’ve posted, they can vote for it by selecting it as one of their ‘picks,’ which can be rotated every 24 hours. Stories are ranked by number of picks, and at the end of each month the top five stories/novels get read and reviewed by a Harper Collins editor. It’s really tough to make it into the top five, I spent a while trying to improve my rank, but I think that ultimately trying to do that gets to be more work than its worth (you’ve gotta post about the story, send people messages, swap critiques, etc). But just having the story up there and writing a few posts asking people to check it out guarantees that some readers will leave comments, and I’ve gotten some really helpful feedback. It’s nice to hear from people who are right in my target audience, and they’ve been great at pointing out anything that didn’t sound authentically teenage or modern.
*Update 4/6/2012: This post is really old. Inkpop is now called Figment. Haven't checked it out yet, so I'm not sure how it's changed, but I imagine it's probably somewhat similar.
More sites you might find useful:
Query advice from agents:
http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ - A really funny site run by agent Janet Reid. She posts queries and tears the heck out of them (but the people who submit specifically to this blog know what they’re in for). It’s a great place for clear examples what works and what doesn’t.http://www.nelsonagency.com/faq.html
http://foliolit.com/submissions/basic-information-on-query-letters
http://ncliterary.blogspot.com/search/label/queries
http://kidlit.com/2009/08/05/writing-a-simple-compelling-query/
Some places to post work for feedback:
http://www.fictionpress.com/ – similar to inkpop, but not strictly YA
http://www.textnovel.com/ – interesting site, stories written to be read on cell phones
http://www.webook.com/ – people rate your first page, and enough positive ratings can lead to having more of your story reviewed by an agent. I’ve posted here.
More Message Boards:
http://www.mywriterscircle.com/
http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php
Some assorted writing blogs I like:
http://bigglasscases.blogspot.com/ - an agent blog
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/ - lots of advice from a former agent
http://www.kidlit.com/ – an agent blog, focuses on Children’s Lit and is updated frequently
http://letthewordsflow.wordpress.com/ - blog by several published authors
Writers’ Communities:
http://www.shewrites.com/
http://www.filedby.com/
http://www.litopia.com/
http://www.goodreads.com/ – This one is more of a reader’s community, but I think it’s good to be familiar with it since readers explain what they did and didn’t like about books.
Some additional random sites:
Long list of publishers:
http://www.internet-resources.com/writers/markets/online-guidelinesPUBLISHERS.htm
Two articles on how to classify YA vs. MG:
http://www.sfwa.org/2010/09/the-pirate-code-of-children%E2%80%99s-literature/
http://ingridsnotes.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/agent-day-insight-from-agent-mary-kole/
Haven’t checked out this site in depth, but looks like it has some free writing classes
http://www.sfwritersu.com/
School Library Journal - Interesting articles & great e-newsletters you can sign up for
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
The Evolution of a Writer – a great comic
http://kristanhoffman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Evolution-of-a-Writer-1.jpg
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