FUNDS FOR WRITERS, owned by C. Hope Clark, has been a Writer's Digest award-winning site every year since 2001 and is one of the most valuable freelance resources on the 'Net. It provides information to writers about publishers, contests, grants and jobs as well as sound advice. Subscribe to the FREE newsletter at fundsforwriters.com. For a very modest fee, you can subscribe to her Total site which provides many more resources. Clark shares advice and encouragement in her blog hopeclark.blogspot.com/.
AUTHOR MARKETING EXPERTS, INC. If you're not on the 'Net, you could be missing out on a lot of publicity and sales. The many books on the New York Times Bestseller List AME helped to promote tell the story of how powerful the Internet really is. This company was founded by Penny C. Sansevieri, who has done many workshops, contributes to several blogs, teaches a course at NYU, hosts a show called "Publishing Insiders" on Blog Radio (blogtalkradio.com/thepublishing
insiders), has written two publishing/marketing books (see one below or go to valeriestasik.com/books-for-writers.html), and publishes a free enewsletter to which you can subscribe at amarketingexpert.com. Her company also provides monthly no-cost seminars. Webinars cover a variety of topics and are led by outstanding industry professionals. See the schedule and directions for registering at amarketingngexpert.com/announcing-free-monthly-
webinars/. I’ve attended one of her workshops, have her book Red Hot Internet Publicity and subscribe to her newsletter. I find her to be up to date on the latest in publishing and marketing. AME's promotional packages also appear to be very reasonable.
WRITING MAGAZINES The three magazines to which I subscribe are Writer’s Digest, The Writer, and Poets & Writers (to order, go to valeriestasik.com/
writing-books-1.html.). They each have their own websites. Writer’s Digest seems to aim its content at the new writer while The Writer seems to appeal to both new and seasoned writers and is the most expensive. Poets & Writers appears to be geared more to an academic audience with a heavy emphasis on MFA programs and poetry. I find all three of them valuable sources of information. Writer’s Digest offers webinars and writing books; and Abbott Press, a POD publisher, is owned by the magazine. (See valeriestasik.com/self-publishing.html for information on POD publishers.) Poets & Writers is very supportive of the writing community and advertises many recently published books as well as providing information on grants and residencies. All three publications list conferences, publishing opportunities, and contests, not to mention some very informative articles on writing, publishing and marketing.
WRITERS WEEKLY (writersweekly.com) offers a collection of articles on writing, self-publishing resources and writing tips. The site is owned by Angela Hoy who also owns the POD company Booklocker (booklocker.com). Hoy does a good job of researching the ins and outs of the most popular POD companies. She has called them out on some of their practices like upselling services that authors don’t need or that may be free and how they overcharge for some services. She refers to another industry watchdog, Mark Levine, at publishing
revolution.com. His blog alerts writers to scams in the POD industry and offers good advice on self publishing. He’s also written a book on effective self publishing (see below).
BRIAN JUD ON BOOK MARKETING (bookmarketing.com) Jud’s site provides a wealth of information on marketing and many free downloadable documents that writers swimming in the sea of promotion can use to organize their efforts. He does free webinars for Createspace and also has two marketing books out, one of which you'll find below.
I’ll have more valuable resources for you in future blogs. In the meantime, you may find other books of interest to you on my website at valeriestasik.com/books-
for-writers.html.
Don't get stuck with what you already know or think you know. Be open to change without sacrificing your identity or integrity, trust yourself and keep writing.
THANK YOU.