Hey guys,

Music to write by: “River of Deceit“ by Mad Season

Welcome to the first in a two-part series on Writing.com. There’s a lot of information to cover on this massive site, so I thought I’d break up the post into one section that details the advantages of using Writing.com’s services, and a second post detailing the negatives. (If you missed the pun in the title, I’ll give you a hint: “Pros” = “Prose”. hahaha…I kill me…).

Writing.com is a massive website that provides a lot of resources for a writer free of charge. It’s a meeting place for new writers and the largest critique group in the world.

Writing.com’s website centers around a writer’s “portfolio”, which is a place for writers to publicly post their work and invite reviews. You can using “Gift Points” to entice other members of the site into giving you reviews of your work (Gift Points are purchased or given as payment by writers you review) . These are certainly not professional quality reviews like you might find on Tangent Online. Usually these are short little shots of encouragement, but sometimes a writer will write you an essay on how to improve your work. Unfortunately, as with any site, Writing.com has their share of trolls, but it’s pretty easy to ignore them.

One of the services that I found most useful was the variety of genre-specific newsletters that get sent to your Writing.com inbox every week. Though these newsletters are often written by amateurs, often they contain valuable tips on how to improve your craft and find markets (much as this website does, but without your charming narrator). Some of the latest newsletter subjects have been “Hero’s Journey – The Belly of the Whale”, “Creating the Perfect Victim”, and “Dealing with Rejection”. There’s a newletter for every genre, including fantasy, mystery, horror, …etc. I’d recommend keeping the number of newsletters you sign up for low, or the reading can get a little intense.

Every newsletter, the editor posts their “picks”, which are often just stories that authors have sent them with a “please put this in your newsletter” note. This is a great way to put your stories in front of a lot of eyes and get some valuable feedback from other readers. Be warned, an “editor’s pick” means nothing, so don’t try to use it as a writing credit or even a good sign about the quality of your story, but it is great exposure.

Other activites include forums to participate in, crossword, games, and contests, so if the two features I mentioned above don’t appeal, don’t write the site off. You can get a base membership to the site for free, so I suggest you check it out.

If you thought this post read like an ad, tune in next post for a scathing critique of Writing.com. It’s sure to be dripping with bile, swimming in sarcasm, and rife with righteous outrage. You don’t want to miss that, do you? Do you? I thought not! See you next post!

Hey guys,

Music to write by: “Dirty Frank“ by Pearl Jam

Last week, the Washington Post published an article about Josh Bell, considered by many to be one of the best violinists in the world. They had him busk in a local mall for 45 minutes (total walk-by traffic: 1097 people). He made a grand total of $34.

What does this mean for us writers? Well, the article argues that our perception of an expert’s skill is largely based on hearsay. Get a big enough name and people will believe you are good simply because everyone else believes it. This is one reason why you read deeply flawed stories by big name authors in your favorite magazines, but you never seem to get your babies within spitting distance of Slush Pile A (the other reason is that Big Names Sell Magazines).

Now, before you jump all over me, yes, the pros are good. Many of my favourite authors are pros. But what can you do to up your chances? Get in front of editors as much as possible. If Gordon Van Gelder keeps seeing your name in the slush he’ll begin to remember it. Sooner or later, you’ll start to get personal rejections, then eventually, possibly, an acceptance (*this exact anecdote was told by James C Glass at a panel at NorWesCon).

Building your image is key. That’s why it’s so important to get published in the small presses. Every time you do, your name gets in front of a few more sets of eyes, more people remember you, and your rep gets a little bigger.

It helps if you have a great name like Cat Rambo (It’s a pen name right, Cat? Right? No one’s born with such a cool name, are they?). Pen names are great, but this author likes the idea of seeing his real name on the shelves at Indigo.

What else can you do? Ask Christopher Heath. All of his stories start with “Azieran” (ie. Azieran: Distilling the Essence, in Sails & Sorcery). Azieran is odd enough that you remember it and by proxy you remember Christopher Heath. KD Wentworth does the same thing with her Hallah Iron-Thighs short fiction. A neat trick, and one you should consider if you’re into writing series.

Until next time!

Hey guys,

Music to write by: “Money Honey“ by State of Shock

I thought I’d bring your attention to an awesome little website for reviews. Tangent Online is a site devoted to reviewing the short story market. They review everything from independently produced anthologies like this one, to Asimov’s (probably the premier pro magazine out there for fantasy and sci-fi.

What’s really useful here is that Tangent Online also reviews semi-pro zines like DKA Magazine (where this writer got his start) and The Sword Review, both publications where the unpublished author stands a good chance of getting in.

What does this mean for you? One of the things any author thrives on is his/her quote sheet. Garnering (positive) quotes from independent reviewers is even better than getting published and looks great on a cover letter. Tangent Online also lifts the profile of the magazines it reviews, which means that your work is seen by that many more eyes. As far as exposure goes, getting reviewed here is a great start!

A few of the authors I know use Tangent Online to find new markets (check out the market list on the lower left side of Tangent’s home page), specifically to get reviewed. This isn’t a bad strategy. Being listed means that a market is at least semi-legitimate and your work won’t end up stuck at a single-issue magazine.

Another great venue for reviews is Locus Online, but we’ll be taking a look at their site in another blog post. Until then, ciao!