Editing and Publication

How to Edit a Story (In a Way that is Helpful to the Author)

Editors are, in essence, critics. People instinctively hate critics. After all, it’s our job to tell authors when they’re wrong, and nobody wants to be wrong. This is made especially [...]

US Copyright Office

Artists (including writers) automatically receive a copyright on any work they produce. However, U.S. authors may gain certain advantages by registering their copyrights ($30 fee). The U.S. Copyright Office provides [...]

Uncle Orson’s Writing Class

Uncle Orson’s Writing Class – Orson Scott Card has some unusual political and religious beliefs, but his views on writing are at the very least well-considered. Agree or disagree, each [...]

Writer Beware — Literary Agents

Warnings and Cautions for Writers, part of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. website, provides a through discussion of what makes a good agent – not just [...]

How Much Does A Writer Make?

Tobias Buckell’s Author Advance Survey Though based on a statistically small number of authors and their pay, this thorough and interesting article by John W. Campbell award nominee Tobias S. [...]

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) provides free PDFs of the copyright laws of all United Nations member states. It also links to the relevant government websites, [...]

So You Want to Freelance?

FreelanceWriting is the “website for today’s working writers.” The site’s articles try to keep abreast with all areas of publishing, much of which will be uninteresting to a genre fiction [...]

Chilling Effects

Chilling Effects is a site which focuses on the legal questions which surround fanfiction.

Passionate Pen

The Passionate Pen is a romance novelists’ site, but its information is useful to all writers. Its agent FAQ and agent questionnnaire are excellent.

Neil Gaiman on Agents

Neil Gaiman has an extensive entry on agents which includes not only good links but an exceptionally helpful letter from Tor editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden.

William Shunn

Standard Manuscript Format, by William Shunn This is an excellent outline of standard manuscript form. William Shunn’s Inhuman Swill is the main website. Do note that e-zines tend to maintain [...]

AAR & AAA

The Association of Authors’ Representatives (in the US) and The Association of Authors’ Agents (in the UK) are professional trade groups for agents. Both have rigorous screening processes, and membership [...]

SFWA Writing Articles

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. has dozens of articles on how to improve your writing and how to sell it, many written by well-known authors. This site [...]

Risky Business

Risky Business by Paperback Writer. This author of 27 books in 5 genres (under 5 names) explains the danger of book doctors and her own narrow escape from one early [...]

Safest Way to Search for an Agent

The Safest Way to Search for an Agent is a comprehensive, unintimidating step-by-step program to help even the most amateur writer feel comfortable pursuing an agent; it focuses on how [...]