Links to the WWW (Wonderful World of Writing)

The Web offers a plethora of information to writers -- markets, job opportunities, professional organizations, references, research tools, and more. Listed below are some of our favorite sites; like old friends, we visit them again and again.

Travelerstales.com is the site of the Travelers' Tales publishing house. Here you can read their great monthly newsletter, and learn about their large selection of books, which include some of the best travel narratives in print (most of the Wild Writing Women are featured in one volume or another). But more importantly, their site lists the books for which they are currently accepting submissions; they are happy to work with unpublished authors as long as the material is terrific and it fits the theme of the anthology.

The English Department at San Jose State University maintains Literary Locales, a site featuring 1,100 images related to authors. Here you can see photos of everything from Plato's Academy to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to Edgar Allen Poe's museum to Langston Hugh's schools to Borges's childhood home. We can virtually visit Illiers, France, the setting Proust used for the vacation home in Remembrance of Things Past. You can also find links that connect to biographical information about the authors, criticism, quotations, even fun trivia like Proust's recipe for bouillabaisse. This site is a helpful reference source, but an even better rainy-day activity for those curious about the literary world.

www.backpacknation.org Brad Newsham is quite a guy: writer, diplomat, cabdriver, visionary, world traveler and philanthropist. While most residents of the Bay Area--certainly those with a family to feed--are just focusing on paying the bills, Brad decides to travel around the globe, select a worthy individual, and pay to bring this person to America. And naturally drive them cross-country in his taxi. And give interviews to the BBC, CBS, and NPR along the way. And of course write a book about it all called Take Me with You. He now has new projects afoot, Brad's personal vision of how world travel will make the planet a better place--and who are we to argue? His organization, Backpack Nation, will also be seeking and accepting stories that emphasize encounters, relationships, and acts of kindness between individuals who have met through travel. Read more about him on his website.

WildWritingWomen.com And of course our own Wild Writing Women site! Here you can read our dispatches from the road; in fact, since we're all traveling, this is where we frequently learn what each other is up to. You can subscribe to this magazine, learn about new events and workshops, and even if you're trapped in the office, you can take a virtual trip to far-away places by surfing through our gallery of photographs.

www.wnba-books.org. Women's National Book Association. Among other things, they hold an annual Meet the Agents Day, a forum for writers to meet and talk to agents about their work.

www.californiaauthors.com/index.shtml California Authors is a non-profit site that features authors, events, advice, independent bookstore lists and more. If you are a published author, you can list your book and bio with them for $25 a year.

www.WritersDigest.com The Writer's Digest site has all sorts of information on copyright, jobs, writer's tips and much more in their free weekly newsletter.

pat@holtuncensored.com Pat Holt is a writer who puts out a free newsletter with advise for authors on the publishing world.

www.bookexpoamerica.com BookExpo America, now in its 104th year, is a showcase for books in all formats, gift and music merchandise, as well as new technology and services. BEA offers an educational forum that looks at the business of publishing from many viewpoints, and is a meeting place for the entire book industry.

www.americanpenwomen.org The National League of American Pen Women sponsors a writing contest, and the local Bay Area branch produces a monthly series called "Pen Women Presents: Interviews with Creative Achievers" which airs on channel 29. Their email address is: PenNobHill@aol.com

These organizations can answer your questions on copyright and other legal issues.

www.nsja.org - American Society of Journalists & Authors has a free newsletter and Contracts Watch archive service where you can search for answers regarding your print rights.

www.nwu.org - The National Writers Union is the trade union for freelance writers of all genres who work for American publishers or employers. They have chapters around the U.S. and offer many workshops on a variety of subjects from writing skills to selling rights (workshops are also open to non-members).

www.media-alliance.org -- Media Alliance is based in San Francisco. By joining you get discounts on classes; invitations to free discussions, panels, and social events; and access to their credit union, reference library, and job listing service.

http://www.woodenhorsepub.com offers many services including a CONTENT WATCH: where you can check illegal use of your words.

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LITERARY EVENTS CALENDARS

The following sites offer listings of readings, workshops, and literary events.

BAY AREA:

SFStation.com
SFGate.com -- Calendar link to Bay Area events.Poetry Flash
Travel Writers Calendar (Laurie King's email newsletter)

NATIONAL:

CraigsList .org
ShawGuides.com

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INFORMATION ON AGENTS AND PUBLISHERS

Before contacting any agents, refer to the latest edition of the Literary Market Place or the Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents for agents' specific submission guidelines and marketing areas.

www.WritersDigest.com
http://www.LiteraryMarketplace.com

(LiteraryMarketplace.com charges a subscription fee for info on some of its literary agents. This URL has it for free: http://www.writersservices.com/WrHandbook/wh_alphaindex_3.htm)

www.writersmarket.com is very helpful because you can search their database by various criteria and hone in on the ones most to your liking. $30/year.

Directories

The following directories of agents vary in the kind and the amount of information they provide. For best results, check what several of them include about the same agency.

Writer's Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents by Jeff Herman (Prima). This directory is unique in that it asks agents questions that give you a sense of their personality as well as their approach to their job. Its list of publishers enables you to find out more about their editors and what types of books the company specializes in. If you decide to approach publishers yourself, verify Jeff's listings because editors tend to move around. Also contains a ton of other helpful information.

Guide to Literary Agents (Writer's Digest Books). An annual sold in bookstores that gives thorough info on 550 agents, including a subject index, and includes a wealth of helpful articles.

Writer's Market, (Writer's Digest Books), an annual sold in bookstores. Also lists information on magazines and publishers. Since it is published for writers, it goes into more detail about publishers' needs and requirements.

Literary Agents: A Writer's Guide by Adam Begley (Penguin) is published in association with Poets & Writers. After a solid, systematic explanation of how agents work and how to find one, this guide contains a listing of almost 200 agents who do not charge reading fees.

Literary Market Place (LMP): The Directory of the American Book Publishing Industry with Industry Yellow Pages, which is in your library, is the annual two-volume, all-inclusive trade directory of publishing. The listings include basic information on 500 agents and the interests of publishers of all kinds that do three or more books a year.

The Writer's Handbook, which is published annually by The Writer magazine. The Handbook lists the names and addresses of more than 150 agents, and also includes articles about all kinds of writing.

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MISCELLANEOUS WEBSITES OF INTEREST TO AUTHORS

Amazon.com
American Booksellers Association
American Society of Journalists and Authors
Authors' Licensing & Collection Society
Authors Registry
Authoryellowpages.com/about.asp Barnes and Noble
BookExpo America
BookSense
BookWire
Copyright Law -- An Overview
Copyright Law -- Hypertext of Title 17
Currency Conversion
Elements of Style (online version)
The Electronic Newsstand
Horror Writers Association
Ingram's Top 50 Mystery List
Inkspot -- writing resources on the internet
Library of Congress
Media Bistro
Mystery Writers of America
National Listing of Publishers
National Writers Union
New York Public Library
New York Times Book Page
New York Times Reference
Novelists, Inc.
Pen American Center
Publishers Weekly
Romance Writers of America
R.R. Bowker (access Books in Print)
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.
Screenwriters/Playwrights Information
The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
U.S. and International Copyright Information Site
U.S. Copyright Office
USA Today Extended Bestseller List (51-150)
The Writers Guild of America
Writers Weekly