Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

Useful websites

edited December 2010 in - Resources
You asked for it, you've got it!
Add your useful weblinks here... if I get time and it seems productive, maybe I'll paste all the websites into this top post, to prevent it running on too long.
Brief rules: no personal sites please, no ads, no spamming, start another thread if you want to discuss any of these sites. (Again, if it seems productive, perhaps I can append a link to the discussion thread next to the site link.)

Recommended sites so far (thanks everyone):

Official bodies:
http://www.alcs.co.uk/ - The Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society
http://www.plr.uk.com/ - Public Lending Right – re books borrowed from UK libraries. Don’t forget to register your book!

Markets and opportunities
http://pred-ed.com/ - Preditors and Editors, so you can check out that literary agency or publisher to make sure they're not rip off merchants.
http://www.womagwriter.blogspot.com/ - Very useful for guidelines and submission details for fiction in women's magazines.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/ - BBC Writers Room
http://www.angiebenedetti.com/blog/category/anthology-market-listings/ - Constantly updated list of anthologies and submission requirements/payments details.
http://www.duotrope.com - The Duotrope Digest is a searchable writers' resource of over 3200 pro- to non-paying publications which accept submissions. It is updated almost daily and you can subscribe to feeds.
http://www.magazinesabout.co.uk - Magazine and periodicals directory (UK)

Competitions
http://www.writingcalendar.com/index.htm - Sally Quilford's calendar of forthcoming writing competitions.
http://prizemagic.co.uk/ - lists and lists of competitions to enter
http://www.writersreign.co.uk/Writing-Competitions.html

Advice and blogs on the publishing world:
http://deborah-durbin.blogspot.com - blog on making a living out of freelance writing.
http://howpublishingreallyworks.com/ - Does what it says on the tin.
http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/ - The Book Deal, an inside view of publishing by veteran editor Alan Rinzler
http://www.karenmiller.net/index.cfm?page=1 - About Writing - lots of great advice from author Karen Miller
http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/ - insider insight and advice on publishing world
http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/
http://www.annemini.com/ - Author! Author! This one is like taking regular exercise, excruciating and necessary...
http://www.advicetowriters.com/ - A new inspirational or practical quote from a wide selection of writers every day.
http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/ - If your mind needs stirring this blog has an: Emotion Thesaurus; Setting Thesaurus;Color, Textures and Shapes Thesaurus; Symbolism Thesaurus.

Software for writers:
http://www.openoffice.org/ - Open Office word processing
http://celtx.com/ - scriptwriting
http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html - novel writing

Selling books
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/ - To check if Waterstone’s stock copies of your book(s).
http://localbookshops.tbpcontrol.co.uk/tbp.web/customeraccesscontrol/home.aspx?d=localbookshops&s=C&r=10000020&ui=0&bc=0 - To search for books and local bookshops and order from them.
http://www.openingthebook.com/library-resources/networks/

Web resources
http://photobucket.com/ - For loading and editing your photos for your website or blog. You can even keep your albums private if you want.
http://www.google.co.uk
http://www.yahoo.com
http://www.alltheweb.com
http://www.bing.com

Etymology
http://www.phrases.org.uk/ - for useful phrases and proverbs, including the Bible, Shakespeare; and American, French and Latin.
«13

Comments

  • A ghostly/eerie/spooky fiction website calling for submissions - prose and poetry. (They have just accepted one of my supernatural stories) The blogsite is called Spook City.

    http://spookcity.blogspot.com/?zx=af30bcaa1280dc69
  • http://talltalesandshortstories.blogspot.com/2011/01/four-writing-competitions-crime-theatre.html

    a competition site flagged by tracy
  • http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/#/writers-retreat/4544902483

    this website runs all sorts of competitions throughout the year
  • http://creativecompetitor.com/about/writing-competition-experiment

    this also runs all sorts of competitions and has loads of helpful hints etc
  • http://writing-experiment.webs.com/newcompetition.htm


    as one TBer has had success on this why not share the site, so we can all have a go?
  • edited January 2011
    http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/numbering/guidance-tele-no/numbers-for-drama

    The above shows telephone numbers that are OK to be used in UK drama.

    (Have we got a website for the names of characters?)
  • I would appreciate one please
  • There's www.babynames.com - has anyone used that?

    And, in Writing Magazine, February 2011, there's www.wordle.net - the more a word is used, the larger it appears in the "cloud" of the text you submitted.
  • edited January 2011
    http://www.archive.org/

    this has lots of links to audio and digital .
    Links to US Libraries who have digitised their books so you can read them on your computer or e-reader. So a useful research tool for different subjects.
  • I know we have duotrope digest, but don't forget Duotrope Theme and Deadline Calendar

    http://www.duotrope.com/themecal.aspx
  • http://openlearn.open.ac.uk

    there are some useful FREE courses to help develop writing, critical analysis an other skills useful for writers under their Arts and Humanities section
  • Sites that show reviews:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/

    http://www.amazon.com/

    http://www.goodreads.com/

    http://theshortreview.com/

    http://bfkbooks.com/

    http://www.authorsden.com/

    http://www.gather.com/

    Gay sites:

    http://www.rainbow-reviews.com/

    http://rldbooks.com/

    (above site probably doesn’t accept new reviews)
  • http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/ara.php

    "the etymology and history of first names"
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_london_underground_stations

    List of London Underground stations with useful links.
  • Here is another - quite a cracker with some useful freebies.
    http://allfreelancing.com
    Take a look, lots of useful stuff to read. Came upon it by chance in another website
  • Is it kosher?
  • As far as I know, nothing to pay, just take a look and see what you think. There are interesting articles to make you more efficient plus some links.
  • http://design.lkcampbell.com/
    For e-book formatting.
    xxx
  • Here's an interesting one I found...

    http://www.jmtohline.com/
  • Moody Writing has posted terrific advice about writing dialogue.

    http://moodywriting.blogspot.com/2011/04/d-is-for-dead-on-dialogue.html
  • Hoax Slayer for those annoying 'warning' emails friends send you.
    http://www.hoax-slayer.com
    and
    http://www.snopes.com
  • This one is fab for all us SF and SFF TBers

    http://electricspec.blogspot.com/
  • This one is a scream.

    http://theauthoranswers.blogspot.com/
  • http://ebookrevolution.blogspot.com/
  • edited April 2011
    http://www.authorhotline.com/profiles.php

    Add your profile and details on here.
  • http://www.firstwriter.com
  • Kindle User Forum - http://www.kuforum.co.uk/kindleusersforum

    *************************

    For creating book covers from images and photos - picnik photo and image editor at http://www.picnik.com:

    A wealth of effects for free and even better ones for an annual subscription of under $25. I use/create graphics in my dayjob with Fireworks from Adobe Creative Suite (hundred of pounds worth!) - picnik is a worthy contender. I used it to manipulate the four images I used on the February Femmes Fatales showcase as twenty-eight different faux book covers - http://lilychildsfeardom.blogspot.com/search/label/fff
  • Thanks for that Lily - really useful. I am currently researching how to format my cover. I want to get a local artist to do it and will need to give them the links to the guidelines.
  • If you have a blog with Blogger you can find out if there are problems or other issues relating to Blogspot blogs you can check details at: http://status.blogger.com/
  • I can't remember how I came across this blog - probably through the A-Z Blogging Challenge. I've signed up for the Webinar. It might give some insights into ePublishing strategies.

    http://ebookrevolution.blogspot.com/2011/05/writing-communities-publishing.html
  • Here are two further websites for writers who want to put their books and other work online www.authoradvance.com and www.bookrix.com
  • Would someone kindly post Sally Q's new website? (Webbo, I think the old one needs to be deleted.)
  • No, you can just google her site and get on, it's her E-MAIL account that has changed. To contact her, just go to the site and click on the contact form
  • Her Blogger site will still be up a few days I think, but her blog is now Wordpress and all her other links are on there.
  • http://www.publish-yourself.com/sell-it.shtml great blog on publising your own books
  • If you want to read experiences from published and self-published writers about their publishing experiences, find news about what is happening in the e-publishing world, advice about writing or publishing, rating of e-publishing houses or simply yearn for a topical laugh about writing, go to http://www.epublishabook.com

    They accept submissions for short humorous pieces that they will publish, with full credit, on Sundays.
  • http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1101558167561-124/10_Ways_to_Boost_Writing_Potential.pdf

    Link to free advice booklet from Creative Competitor
  • UK literary festivals:

    http://www.literaryfestivals.co.uk/
  • Article on using CreateSpace to self-publish a print-on-demand book. http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_2303665_publish-book-using-space.html
  • Useful article on how to create a book trailer. http://www.bubblecow.net/how-to-make-your-own-book-trailer
  • Sally Quilford's ever-so-useful Writing Calendar Blog has now moved to https://writingcalendar.wordpress.com/

    Is it worth updating the original post?
  • A blog post and other links for those thinking about the KDP Select program: http://louisewise.blogspot.com/2011/12/kdp-select-amazon-wants-exclusivity.html
  • I run a UK website called Writers' Web Resource. The site has many useful pages to help budding authors, e.g. writers' news, a library of books dedicated to the craft, used writers' books, competition web sites, articles, hundreds of writers links and even a page where you can advertise and promote your book.

    Please feel free to leave comments or submit articles at http://www.writers-web-resource.co.uk

    Regards
    Dave.
  • For keeping up to date with current news etc. try www.drudgereport.com
    The UK newspapers papers are down the bottom on the left.
  • edited February 2012
    The Society of Authors has various guides and articles. These are free to download:

    Author Appearances Report
    Quick Guide to Authors' Agents
    Quick Guide to Copyright and Moral Rights
    Quick Guide to Permissions
    Vanity Publishing
    Guidance for authors talking in universities
    Guidance for festival organisers
    Guidance for schools
    Guidance for schools and universities on engaging self-employed authors for one-off appearances
    Tax on foreign income (including US ITINs)

    The above tax relates mainly to overseas taxes, not UK taxes. The guide explains how to minimize overseas tax.

    http://www.societyofauthors.org/guides-and-articles

    (Thanks, Carol.)
  • I have remembered Jay ;)

    Find an expert and ask a question - for free! I have used the site, and I got a pretty quick response.

    http://www.allexperts.com/
  • samperkins mentioned these on other threads:

    http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/

    http://www.autocrit.com/wizardformpage.php#
  • e-fit for your characters:

    www.toondoo.com


    Be warned: You may spend more time on here than your story! :D
  • A piece by Sally Quilford about Rights, Copyright and Moral Rights- an easy to understand explanation.

    http://writingcalendar.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/rights-copyright-and-moral-rights/
  • Great site for YA fiction advice, interviews and reviews

    http://www.yayeahyeah.com/
Sign In or Register to comment.