Plunder My Links!

Pardon me, Everyone. Today's post is geared towards writers and self-published authors doing their hustle to get paid and/or published. I've been doing some reorganization of my favorites list recently and come to the conclusion I have a lot of useful writing links that might benefit my fellow scribes out there. So please feel free to plunder through these links like good little Vikings and take anything of value.

Unless I've indicated it, I haven't used the services of some of these companies. But if you have used their services, please leave a comment and tell us about your experience!



Writing Sites

Word Hippo  Need another word or a similar word? Need to find the meaning or maybe translate a foreign word? Try this site.

Smart-Edit  First-pass-editing tool for creative writers and novelists. Free-Trial available.

Editminion  A free online robot editing site where you can edit a chapter at a time.

Galley Cat  Excellent site for traditional and indie publishing news.

The Bookshelf Muse - Look down the right edge of this site for the full online writer's Thesaurus...but not for words. The wonderful people there have compiled this awesome grand Thesaurus grouped by these subjects: Setting. Character Traits, Weather & Earthly Phenomena, Color, Textures, Shapes. and Symbolism. These are all free and useful during rewrites. They also have an Emotional Thesaurus that you can buy. 

Wordplayer  This site focuses on screenwriting BUT much of the information is useful to writing any type of story. I strongly urge you to read through the Columns section of the site. The creators are Academy Award ®-nominated writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio who co-wrote the DreamWorks animated feature SHREK, winner of the first Academy Award for Best Animated Film in 2002

Barry Eisner - For Writers   Great marketing tips and other goodies for writers. Indie-pub and tradition authors can pick up some good stuff.

Great Opening Sentences From Classic Fantasy Novels - See how good writers opened their books. 

Randomly Awesome Sites for Writers

Query Tracker   About to go through the agent query process? Use this site! It helps you keep track of who, when, and where you've sent queries. Also gives you other writer's experiences with a particular agent. Contact info for agents also provided as well as links to other relevant info to help you research that agent. And best of all it's FREE! I've used this one and I can vouch that it was quite helpful during my agent query campaign.

Authors for Libraries  Good tips on contacting and building relationships with libraries!

Mailchimp - If you want to set up a great author newsletter, use this service. It's free and simple to use. I use it to manage my own email list.


Indie-Publishing Sites

Pro Book Covers  My book cover designer. Travis is affordable, easy to work with, and his designs can compete with traditional covers!

Indie Recon  A FREE online conference for indie authors! Next one won't come around until early next year BUT this year's stuff is still on there so please take your Viking ship over there and plunder it. You won't be disappointed with the info you'll find there.

52 Novels  Designs high-quality eBooks for writers. Used by authors Barry Eisner and JA Konrath

Ebook Architects  Another ebook conversion service.

Extended Imagery  Book Cover Designer. Used by authors JA Konrath and Barry Eisner.

Book Buzz  Full service book publicity firm ran by Susannah Greenberg.

BKR critique   Editing services by Bev Katz Rosenbaum. She specializes in Middle Grade, YA, and New Adult. Former in-house Harlequin editor.

Authorgraph  Free service that allows author to "autograph" their eBooks. Not affiliated with Amazon.

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing   The BEST site to follow latest developments on indie-publishing. Blog by indie-pub pioneer JA Konrath.

 Pubslush  Need crowd funding for your book? Unlike Kickstarter, this site is for books only.

Kobo Book Hub  Do you have your book on Kobo? Good site to let Kobo readers know about it!

Book Blast  Author JA Konrath recommends using them to help promote your Amazon KDP Select Free or Bargain book promotions.


Young Adult/Children's Writing Sites

Write On Con  FREE online conference for Children's writers. (Kid and YA) Date hasn't been announced for 2013 yet but get on their email list so you'll know. Excellent conference with fantastic information. Last year's conference material is still available on their website so take your Viking ship over there and pillage! It's worth the trip.

YA Books Central   One of the top sites for young adult books. Active community and a place to be if you read and write young adult fiction.

Need to find some young adult book bloggers? Try these two sites...
YA Blogosphere
Kidlitosphere

YAlit Chat  Another great resource of information and online services. Yearly subscription is only $30 but they have a lot of useful resources. I'm a member and I would recommend it if you can spare the money.

Verla Kay Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Chat Board  If you only want to join one old-style chat board for YA and Kidlit writers, join this one. They share lots of info on lit agents, critique query letters, even will critique first couple of pages of your MS. Look around because there's even more.

YA Novel Reader Blogtours   Blog tour organizer focused more on YA book bloggers.

YOYA Magazine  Free online magazine for young adult librarians. Great info about teens and children's reading preferences.


Teen Culture/Point-Of-View

IAAM  Covers Teen Culture and Perspective.

FMLlife  A collection of quick story posts that people send in about their life. Many teens and young adults post hilarious stories on it.

Hypable  Website that covers entertainment from a teen/young adult perspective.

YPulse   This site helps people market to teens. I only include it because it does have some interesting information on Millennials.


Miscellaneous

27b/6  Okay, this one isn't "writing" related. But Australian David Thorne is funny as heck. Bookmark this page. Next time you feel depressed and need to laugh your butt off.  Go here. You're welcome. 
(WARNING: If you're easily offended and don't like high-brow humor, don't bother clicking.) 


UPDATE:

The most wonderful Kate Tilton volunteered a page on her site that has even more awesome and useful links. Go plunder her page here.