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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. Dont 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 Waterstones 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.
Comments
http://spookcity.blogspot.com/?zx=af30bcaa1280dc69
a competition site flagged by tracy
this website runs all sorts of competitions throughout the year
this also runs all sorts of competitions and has loads of helpful hints etc
as one TBer has had success on this why not share the site, so we can all have a go?
The above shows telephone numbers that are OK to be used in UK drama.
(Have we got a website for the names of characters?)
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.
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.
http://www.duotrope.com/themecal.aspx
there are some useful FREE courses to help develop writing, critical analysis an other skills useful for writers under their Arts and Humanities section
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 doesnt accept new reviews)
"the etymology and history of first names"
List of London Underground stations with useful links.
http://allfreelancing.com
Take a look, lots of useful stuff to read. Came upon it by chance in another website
For e-book formatting.
xxx
http://www.jmtohline.com/
http://moodywriting.blogspot.com/2011/04/d-is-for-dead-on-dialogue.html
http://www.hoax-slayer.com
and
http://www.snopes.com
http://electricspec.blogspot.com/
http://theauthoranswers.blogspot.com/
Add your profile and details on here.
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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
http://ebookrevolution.blogspot.com/2011/05/writing-communities-publishing.html
They accept submissions for short humorous pieces that they will publish, with full credit, on Sundays.
Link to free advice booklet from Creative Competitor
http://www.literaryfestivals.co.uk/
Is it worth updating the original post?
Please feel free to leave comments or submit articles at http://www.writers-web-resource.co.uk
Regards
Dave.
The UK newspapers papers are down the bottom on the left.
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.)
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/
http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/
http://www.autocrit.com/wizardformpage.php#
www.toondoo.com
Be warned: You may spend more time on here than your story! :D
http://writingcalendar.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/rights-copyright-and-moral-rights/
http://www.yayeahyeah.com/