Resources
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KidLit411
KidLit411 is a site that collects information of interest to children's book writers and illustrators. They post contests, grants, and pitch opportunities. The site also features weekly profiles of writers and illustrators.
Old Book Illustrations
Images from this searchable database of vintage book illustrations are free to download for your graphic design project. The site attempts to ensure that all images are public-domain and legally accessible in your jurisdiction, but the risk is ultimately on you to confirm permission.
The Volta in Flash Fiction
In this craft essay, fiction writer Cole Meyer, an editor at The Masters Review, suggests structuring a flash fiction piece like a poem with a "volta"—a shift of thought or mood that gives the piece its tension and forward movement.
Self-Publishing School
Self-Publishing School offers intensive, individualized coaching programs to help authors finish, design, and promote their self-published books. With a prize tag of around $6,000 per course, this program is most useful to writers who already know the fundamentals of copyediting and story structure, and who can commit to finishing their book within a few months. It is not an editing or ghostwriting service. Best for authors of commercial nonfiction, genre fiction, and children's books.
Tales of the Woodcock
By Julie Irigaray A picture of me holding a woodcock my father had freshly shot takes pride of place in our living room. What a peculiar thing to let a three-year-old child pose with a dead bird, and such a majestic one. But I'm not repelled. I am familiar with the woodcock's umber and burnt sienna plumage—I even know her Latin name is Scolopax Rusticola, that her belly resembles bandages. I have learned to find the pin feathers, these delicate striped tears used by artists as brushes for miniatures. I spread her wing as one unfolds a moth, trying not to touch the powder which allows it flight. I'm not thinking about why her head is dangling: I just love to caress her coal skullcap. I grasp the woodcock tightly—my father's most precious treasure. I don't realise yet that he will neglect his family to track her down every... [continue]
Trumpet
By Jackie Kay. Lyrical writing distinguishes this multivocal novel about a trans male jazz musician in 1950s-'90s Scotland and the many ways that people process the revelation of his queer identity after his death.
Break Every String
By Joshua Michael Stewart. This poetic autobiography is a blues song for the dead-end economy of Midwestern towns and the family wreckage they harbor. His characters crackle with energy that could find its outlet in verses or fists, parenting your own children or stealing someone else's, a guitar or a bottle. As the one who escaped, Stewart plays through all the octaves of emotion, from gratitude to judgmental pride, to survivor guilt, to wary compassion: "of loving/the lost with raucous praise, of letting the gone go."
How to Paint a Dead Man
By Harry Bauld. With mordant wit and erudition, the poems in this chapbook dissect artistic masterpieces from Rembrandt to Basquiat, to analyze the nature of fame, genius, and mortality. Several pieces are from the perspective of cogs in the commercial art machine—docents, consumers, or anonymous assistants to the famous painter (who are actually doing most of the work). Others remix words from news stories, textbooks, and artists' monographs, as if to warn that no body of work is immune to being decomposed.
Unmonstrous
By John Allen Taylor. Bold, tender poetry chapbook depicts a Southern childhood marked by sexual abuse from his Sunday school teacher, and the grace and gratitude he finds in reclaiming his body as part of the natural world.
Smoke and Mold
Founded by Callum Angus (author of the story collection A Natural History of Transition), Smoke and Mold is a literary journal publishing transgender and Two-Spirit writers on themes of nature, the environment, and the climate crisis.
Metonymy Press
Based in Montreal, Metonymy Press specializes in queer, feminist, and social justice literature. They seek to promote literary fiction and nonfiction authors with underrepresented perspectives. Their motto: "We want to keep gay book lovers satisfied." See their contact page for submission guidelines.
Humor Writing Websites Directory at Point in Case
Humor website Points in Case has compiled a list of 50+ humor writing sites, with brief descriptions of their specialties. The list can be sorted and searched by genre (general humor, niche humor, or news satire), frequency of publication, keywords and more.
What Is Creative Nonfiction?
The website of well-regarded literary journal Creative Nonfiction offers articles on how to define the genre, its signature techniques, and sample essays from the magazine.
Independent Book Review
Independent Book Review publicizes small press and self-published books through online reviews and author interviews. They also sell editorial services such as developmental and copyediting, proofreading, and book design. (Winning Writers does not recommend paying for reviews; submit your book for consideration to their free reviews service only.)
Self-Publishing Made Simple with April Cox
Children's book author April Cox offers numerous services for self-published authors, including an indie author interview series on YouTube, an author workgroup with step-by-step advice for creating and launching your book, and online courses. Visit her YouTube channel for book marketing tips and profiles of worthwhile indie books.
Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Hybrid Publishing
In this 2021 guest post at publishing expert Jane Friedman's blog, prizewinning indie novelist Barbara Linn Probst (Queen of the Owls and The Sound Between the Notes) explains the "hybrid publishing" business model. Similar to self-publishing, hybrid publishing requires a financial investment by the author. However, a hybrid publisher may be more selective and will provide more editorial and design services. Hybrid publishers may also offer distribution that is more like a traditional publisher.
College Consensus Ultimate Campus Guide for LGBTQ Students
While not a literary website, this guide to thriving as an LGBTQ college student merited a link at Winning Writers because it is comprehensive and clear about what an affirming academic environment should look like. Links include grants for queer students, free art therapy, and how to protect your civil rights. College Consensus is a resource site that ranks colleges on various metrics and can be used to search for the top degree programs in different academic fields.
Grammarly
Grammarly is a free online program that will suggest grammatical and style edits for your writing. You can add it as a plug-in to your Firefox browser, and use it on common email and social media platforms (Gmail, Twitter, LinkedIn, MS Outlook, etc.) as well as documents. There is also a paid premium version.
The Self Publisher
The Self Publisher is the writing resource site of novelist and writing coach C.S. Lakin. Her blog features useful articles on such topics as copyrighting your work, building an author website, how to price your books, and getting Amazon reviews.
Creative Forces: Healing the Invisible Wounds of War
Creative Forces is an interactive online exhibit of writing and art by military service members and veterans who participated in the NEA Military Healing Arts Network. The artists also contributed short video clips discussing their process and the impact of art-making on their recovery from combat trauma.
Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts
Founded in 2020, Pensive is a literary journal sponsored by the Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. They are currently open to submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, cross-genre, photography, visual art, and translations, from writers of all spiritual and philosophical perspectives. Editors say, "Pensive publishes work that deepens the inward life; expresses a range of religious/spiritual/humanist experiences and perspectives; envisions a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world; advances dialogue across difference; and challenges structural oppression in all its forms."
The Hub
The Hub is a project of Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. They review YA literature, including audio books and graphic novels.
Rainbow Book List
Launched in 2008, the Rainbow Book List is the American Library Association's annual recommendations of LGBTQ books. A related project of the ALA's Rainbow Round Table is GLBT Reviews, a book review blog.
Jessica Hische
Jessica Hische is a successful graphic designer specializing in lettering (typefaces), as well as the author and illustrator of the bestselling children's book Tomorrow I'll Be Brave. Check out her website to get cover-design inspiration, purchase fonts for your book, or hire her for a design project.
Techno-Orientalism in Science Fiction
Chloe Gong is the author of These Violent Delights (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2020), a paranormal retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in 1926 Shanghai. In this 2019 blog post, she discusses how to write cyberpunk and dystopian speculative fiction without relying on imagery of Asian societies as unfeeling, robotic, and menacing.
Outspoken: Oral History from LGBTQ Pioneers
Outspoken is an online archive of Steven F. Dansky's video interviews with leaders and elders in the queer community. Its goal is to preserve the grassroots history of LGBTQ life and the battle for equal rights following the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Writers will find this useful for historical fiction and nonfiction research.
Making Manuscripts: An Irregularly Braided Conversation
In this interview from the Spring 2021 issue of DMQ Review, poets Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet (Morse Poetry Prize winner for Tulips, Water, Ash) and Annie Kim (Word Works Washington Prize winner for Eros, Unbroken) share their manuscript craft tips and intuitive strategies for discovering how poems speak to one another.
Canceling My Book Deal Was the Best Career Move I’ve Ever Made
In this 2021 article from Electric Lit, Lilly Dancyger describes her long journey to publication of her hybrid memoir Negative Space (Santa Fe Writers Project) and warns writers not to rush into a sub-standard book contract simply because they're frustrated with rejections. Factors to look for in a small press: Amazon and trade-publication reviews, national distribution, social media presence, and editors who will work with you to improve your book.
Poetry by Josie Whitehead
Yorkshire poet Josie Whitehead has written over 1,450 poems suitable for children and adults. Her work ranges from humorous to inspirational. Visit her site to search by subject and age group. Whitehead has had many poems published by educational publishers, as well as poems adapted for an animated film and set to music.
Author Level Up
Michael La Ronn is a prolific self-published science fiction and fantasy author. His website is updated weekly with videos that share his best advice on writing, publishing, and marketing. We liked his 12-minute spiel on "How to BEAT Self-Doubt as a Writer".
Spring Tide
By Sherri Felt Dratfield A woman stands on a dune, orange vested. Her eyes, green, command the sea, will it to stay calm. Her wavy, sand-colored strands sway in synch with a harmless breeze. Her heart beats with a rhythmic shoreline that has already forgotten the ruin left in the wake of its recent outburst. The woman stands among a swarm of men in neon-yellow jackets. They drill holes— poking in pollen. She nestles in dune brush, leans like the patches of tall sea-grass surrounding her. They are survivors of past storms. The dune grassers drill, hum, plant sticks in slim cavities, dry but willing to receive these straw bits— will moisture come, will roots dig in before more hurricanes arrive? She bends and plants on a barren crest, bends and plants small stalks, bends and plants, bends, plants. The beach reclaimed, giant pipes are stacked. The ocean revs,... [continue]
Words That Didn’t Want to Be Written on Paper
By Elie Azar I squeezed my heart so hard I wanted it to suffocate Every beat was screaming out your name. Get out of my mind Set free my soul I have loved you You haven't at all. Get out from my corpse, it can barely hold itself Leave me alone You're a new regret. I'm out of my mind I still want you It's all I tried to get Love comes in actions, Yours I can't forget. Your eyes I love They have so much to tell A story of you and me I was hoping it held. Words I write to you All the world seems to get Why are you so blind? My breathing is getting hard I'm writing you this now that we're apart. Words coming out from the hands that wanted to hold yours so hard A heart full of soul, walking itself to... [continue]
The Book Canopy
The Book Canopy is a monthly online book discussion group. They seek to build community among writers and readers through discussing socially relevant contemporary literature.
Apples and Stones
By Alice Wolf Gilborn When the river spills from its banks, rushes down the road, it brings us gifts from its heart—sand and rocks and something else— apples—shaken from laden trees, hundreds of them, so when the water withdraws it leaves a line of apples and stones across all the yards on the street. We flee from the muddy current as we would from a snake's tongue licking the fence lines, the grass, the arborvitae. We return to pools and rivulets in the fields, water in the cellar two feet deep. The day after the flood, power is out and people are out on the street—the fire truck pumps basements, others dump dirt on washed out driveways, pick up begins. We compare damages. Later the excavator crawls up the road to the spot where the river boiled over, shoves the channel back to its bed. The way over the... [continue]
Keith Wheeler Books
Children's book author Keith Wheeler creates lively, informative short videos with advice on writing, designing, and marketing your self-published books.
The Queen of Egypt
By Geoffrey Heptonstall
Flamingos may be glimpsed in flight
through the waters of distant lagoons.
They make waves that stir desire
for elegant company at court.
Men are easily persuaded,
my lord, by feathers, jewels and eyes
till they are possessed by their passion.
I am amused to be thought divine
when secretly stained with intimate blood.
And I raise my skirts to shit.
[Men are shocked to hear this.]
Yet still a moth to a candle flies,
eager wings approaching the flame.
Life so fragile soon passes,
and no-one mourns what is gone.
When the wind parts the curtains
the world reveals its curiosity.
Someone looks in to see my life.
Black History Month Collection at Copper Canyon Press
Copper Canyon Press, one of the most prestigious American poetry publishers, has compiled this list of recommended Black poets from its catalog. Authors include Pulitzer Prize winners Gregory Pardlo and Jericho Brown and activist June Jordan.
The Poem I Wish I Had Read
This YouTube channel, curated by the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College, features acclaimed contemporary poets reading and discussing poems that they wish they would have encountered as a teenager. The Poetry Center created this video series as an outreach project to spark high school students' interest in poetry.
Stoned
By Des Mannay
I'm like a pebble on a beach
with shingle running over me—
A scraping of ecstasy
with the passing of the tides
which are over too soon,
and I am left alone again
With the sun beating down on me—
bleaching me white
and baking the residue of salt
Until I crack—
at least inside I feel I do
But this is never really true
Appetite's whetted by the sea in you—
in reality
you were a piece of shingle
which was soon past
And only myself, the sun and sand
are still here
The skimming stone of life goes on.
First published in the No Tribal Dance anthology in the UK in 2017
ScreenplaySubs
Compatible with Chrome or Firefox, ScreenplaySubs is a browser extension that lets you stream the screenplay alongside the Netflix film you're watching. It's a real-time way for budding dramatists to learn how the printed page is translated into acting and directing. Good for viewers who like closed-captioning, too.
DMQ Virtual Salon
Online literary journal DMQ Review began their Virtual Salon in 2020 when in-person poetry readings were cancelled due to the pandemic. Each month they publish three videos of contemporary poets, most of them former DMQ contributors or editors, reading from their new books. Featured authors have included Nin Andrews, JP Dancing Bear, Meg Eden, Christopher Salerno, and W. Todd Kaneko.
20.35 Africa
20.35 Africa is a resource institution and publisher for African poets, particularly younger and emerging writers across the continent. They began in 2017 with their annual electronic anthology series featuring African writers aged 20-35. Newer features on the website are the Conversations series of interviews about the role of poetry in Africa today, and the New Poets series showcasing individual writers.
Know Your Rights: Key Provisions in a Publishing Contract
In this 2021 article on Anne R. Allen's publishing advice blog, literary agent and attorney Joseph Perry explains typical terms in a book publishing contract, such as the grant of rights, advances, royalties, and option clause.
Essayist App
Essayist is an app for academic writers. It will automatically format your text in the standard citation style you choose. Currently supported are Modern Language Association and American Psychological Association formats, with others such as Chicago Manual of Style coming soon. The software allows you to create a list of references that you can click to cite within the text, as well as adding tables and images in the proper format.
Pinpoint
Pinpoint is a software tool from Google Journalist Studio that makes your research documents easily searchable. Upload PDFs, audio files, images, emails, and other source materials to create a digital archive that you can keyword-search, transcribe, and share with your collaborators and fact-checkers. This tool would be useful for scholars, journalists, and nonfiction book authors.
Self-Publishing Advice Center
The Self-Publishing Advice Center website is a project of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Features include tech recommendations, author interviews, marketing and editing advice, and scam-busting pages that rate the leading indie book contests and self-publishing service providers based on their price structure and ethics.
Writer’s Digest Tips on Writing a Standout Self-Published Book
AJ Wells, a judge for the self-published book competitions at Writer's Digest, breaks down the key ingredients of a successful entry. Professional cover design is a must, as is editing to eliminate extraneous details that slow down the story. Don't rush the book into print without making it as polished as possible.
Writing Matters: 60 Places to Publish Formal Poetry
Updated for 2021 by poet Randal A. Burd Jr. (Memoirs of a Witness Tree, Kelsay Books) at the blog Writing Matters, this list originally compiled by formalist poet Annie Finch features reputable journals for emerging and established writers to send poetry in traditional styles. Some are general-interest and others have a specialty such as light verse, Christian, horror, or LGBTQ.
Substack
Substack is an easy-to-use platform to create free or paid-subscription email newsletters. Good for sending out short articles, poems, or blog posts.
Artvee
Artvee offers free, downloadable, high-res images of public domain art from museums around the world. Great for book covers.
