Resources
From Category:
Doubleback Review
Doubleback Review is a project of Sundress Publications, the literary press that sponsors the annual Best of the Net Awards. Doubleback Review specializes in pieces of any genre that were published by a journal that subsequently became defunct. Entries are accepted year-round for two issues to be published in April and October. Submissions are free. Writers from traditionally marginalized communities are particularly encouraged to submit their work. Managing Editor Krista Cox says, "In a churn and burn culture, to revisit and reflect is a luxury. Doubleback Review wants to hit the pause button on art that may slip from the public's eye (and therefore lose its potential for connection). It wants to resurrect your retired darlings, your dead art, your beautiful zombies—pieces that, like rare and precious artifacts, are worth dusting off, airing out, and putting out on display. Let Doubleback's talented team of editors help you recirculate your valuable relics, and offer them one more triumphant day in the sun."
Wordsworth
Created by Marissa Skudlarek, Wordsworth is a free online search tool that helps writers of historical fiction use period-appropriate language. You can compare a passage from your story to a corpus of fiction from the decade you're writing about, or look up whether a specific phrase is found in fiction from that decade. Wordsworth's database of comparison texts currently features (mostly British) classics written from 1801-1923. More texts after this date will be added when their US copyright expires.
Writer Beware’s Guide to Selecting Reputable Literary Agents
Writer Beware, a project of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), shares detailed guidelines for evaluating the credibility and experience of literary agents, plus warnings about common scams in this field.
American Writers Museum: Literary Links
Based in Chicago, the American Writers Museum hosts exhibits and events to educate the public about great American writers, foster a love of literature, and mentor young writers. Their resources page features links to many reputable contests, book festivals, and literary societies.
Walking Backward
By Diana Anhalt
Late each night, woozy with sleep, my bare feet
traveled blind—knew one room from the next
through warps in the wood, space between
floorboards. Sensed their width and breadth...
For forty years I called that place home.
It still resides in me. The feet are last to follow.
They fumble with the unfamiliar, reject the waxed
surface of a new life, are the last to forgive
my leaving, long to return me to the old home—
unwashed windows, lopsided gate, caged parrots
in the kitchen, geraniums. At night my feet step
back, tread dream halls where faces linger
in mirrors, Spanish echoes down corridors
into a past I left behind. And there you are,
waiting in the entrance. You lean
against the door frame, ask: Como te fue?
How did it go? Red wine or white?
Elegy Between Middle Age and Death
By Trina Porte
Say aloud all the names of those who've ever loved me—
even if we haven't spoken in years or they are
long dead themselves or I am dead to them,
lodged in their vault of anger
like forgotten bones bleached white
from so many lost touches no longer adorning
this once precious flesh.
Put my dead body—or what's left after the good parts,
if any remain, have been donated to help
someone keep living as long as
they vow not to hurt anyone (as if that
were possible for a human being
or any breathing creature not to do)
Put what is left of me into the earth or the ocean—
I always loved the ocean because it is
continually raging, massively beautiful,
stronger than all mankind, and touches everywhere.
Or put me into the compost heap if that is where
my beloved ex-wife will lay down her remains
with the last of her garden's sustenance and
her silent love and her raucous laughter, and there
we will remain remains ever after.
There, let the rain raft us to the roots of a flower or
the body of a worm digesting chocolate-rich dirt
who becomes lunch in the belly of a reptile
or amphibian because I dearly loved the snakes,
the turtles, minuscule red efts, and especially the frogs—
their amazing internal antifreezing winter hibernations,
and unending shrill singing that defined each spring's arrival.
Yes, put me there in eternal lovely muddy singing spring.
First published in Queer Voices: Poetry, Prose, and Pride (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2019)
Creative Commons
Creative Commons indexes over 300 million public domain and stock photo images available for licensing for your website, book cover, or marketing materials. Searches can be filtered by the type of permitted use and licensing regime.
September’s First Monday
By Charlotte Mandel
Careful not to stumble on thick green sod, I stop and slowly bend to pluck a dandelion still yellow among dozens with globes of blow-away seeds. Holding the rubbery thread of stem between thumb and forefinger, I inhale scents of grass and earth cleansed by last night's rain. Sun-warmed downy petals stroke my cheek. The flower's crown wobbles.
fontanel pulse
in the cup of my hand
once
Rare Children’s Books Digital Archive at the Library of Congress
To celebrate the centennial of Children's Book Week in 2019, the US Library of Congress has made available a free digital collection of 100+ out-of-print, public-domain children's books from before 1924. These historically significant works include examples of the work of American illustrators such as W.W. Denslow, Peter Newell, and Howard Pyle, as well as works by renowned English illustrators Randolph Caldecott, Walter Crane, and Kate Greenaway.
Into the Drowning Deep
By Mira Grant. Masterful pacing and character development distinguish this cosmic horror novel about a scientific voyage to discover man-eating mermaids, set in a near-future where climate change and pollution are reshaping our relationship to the ocean. On a state-of-the-art ship commissioned by an American entertainment company, a diverse team of researchers fight to survive (and even study) a mysterious predator that overwhelms their defenses and challenges their belief in humanity's dominance of the ecosystem. Several crew members have disabilities, which turn out to give them unique knowledge that proves integral to saving their shipmates. A lesbian romance subplot lends a spark of hope to a terrifying situation.
London Undercurrents
By Joolz Sparkes and Hilaire. This collaborative collection by two British poets creates a people's history of London spanning five centuries, through persona poems in the voices of women from diverse backgrounds. Notable athletes, activists, and literary figures share these pages with imagined characters who represent factory workers, strikers, and working-class girls enjoying a hard-earned holiday. This book would be a good resource for junior high and high school history classrooms.
Six of Crows
By Leigh Bardugo. In this young adult fantasy novel, set in a cosmopolitan and mercenary city-state modeled on 19th-century Amsterdam, a crew of six thieves and underworld denizens must break into an impenetrable fortress to rescue the inventor of a magical weapon that could spark a devastating war. The world-building, social conscience, diversity of characters, and twist-filled plot are all outstanding. The story continues in the sequel Crooked Kingdom.
The Witch Boy
By Molly Knox Ostertag. This lovely middle-grade graphic novel features a youth whose magical skills transgress the gender roles of his community. All the girls in Aster’s extended family are supposed to become witches, and the boys, animal shapeshifters who defend them from evil spirits. However, Aster’s passion is for witchery. With the help of Charlie, a non-magical girl from the neighboring suburb, he uses his forbidden talent to fight a monster in a way that only he can. Charlie, who has two (off-page) dads, is uniquely sympathetic to Aster’s dilemma because she’s a female athlete struggling for equal opportunities at her school. Both children are people of color, and Aster’s extended family includes a variety of ethnicities. The artwork, in cozy earth tones, is clear and expressive, and not too scary for younger readers.
How to Survive a Summer
By Nick White. In this contemporary Southern Gothic novel, a disaffected young man must confront his memories of an "ex-gay conversion" camp he was forced to attend as a teen, when another former camper makes a horror movie based on a death that occurred there. The book parallels the structure of traumatic memory recovery, converging on the pivotal time period with scenes set before and after the protagonist's fateful summer. His Christian family members are drawn with depth and compassion, and the surprising redemptive ending feels earned.
No Ashes in the Fire
By Darnell L. Moore. This passionate, eye-opening memoir chronicles the author's coming of age as a black gay man in Camden, NJ, his activism with the Movement for Black Lives, and his maturing understanding of his parents' troubled marriage. Moore places his personal story in the context of structural oppression in Camden's history, and shows the extraordinary resilience and devotion of black families under pressure.
Polyphony Lit
Polyphony Lit is an Illinois-based nonprofit that publishes a high school literary magazine edited and written by high school students from around the globe. Since launching in 2005, they have given feedback to over 15,000 submissions from 68 countries. Polyphony sponsors the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards, a free writing contest with cash prizes for high school students.
Cyree Jarelle Johnson
Cyree Jarelle Johnson is a poet, librarian, teacher, and activist in New York City. He is a founding member of the Deaf Poets Society (an online journal of disabled literature and art) and the Harriet Tubman Collective, and an editor at TransFaith. His writing touches on themes of sexuality, blackness, autism, disability, and social justice. His first book of poetry, Slingshot, will be published by Nightboat Books in Fall 2019.
Reformation
By Thea Biesheuvel
A mighty fortress, in her chair
my mother sits, exists
within her room, her square.
She chats about her skin, her hair,
the home she missed
when this became her Unit.
Her unitary state approved,
though she's the keystone of our arc.
could never be extracted. She's removed.
The solitary matriarch.
The strength comes from within, her base
our family tree of old,
possession still of her antiques, kind face,
a stubborn faith, foreign Dutch place,
some chairs, bed-end, papers with mould
piled up where they might fit.
Things not for use, or not for her
a stack of memories, an image,
a way things never were
while she was still that personage.
Her children's kids provide a cause
of satisfaction, or disdain
their gifts, a 'lekker koekie', the silent pause
when they don't come, the source
of casual pleasure or deep pain
though this she won't admit.
Her photos serve as proof complete
that once she was, had once a life
and house, real bricks and mortar in a street,
was once a valued wife.
As chaff before a breeze she's blown
away from usefulness and roots.
Her house pulled down, her children grown.
Walled off from life, she sits alone
with memories her servants; idly puts
another bouquet near the bed-side phone.
Between the present and those gone she flits;
A mighty fortress once, now just a ruin.
The ancient landscape of her life befits
the castle of a queen deposed too soon.
Self-Publishing Review
Self-Publishing Review offers book marketing and editing services for indie authors. Their blog features useful articles on book promotion, choosing the best release date for your genre of book, technical advice and recommended apps, and more. Self-published and small press authors can enter their annual awards to win a promotional package. (We do not recommend using paid book review services, which they also offer.)
Public Books
Founded in 2012, Public Books is an online journal that aims to "unite the best of the university with the openness of the internet." Featuring accessible articles by scholars in a variety of disciplines, from anthropology and history to literature and television, the journal brings academic research to a general audience. They have an extensive book review archive.
Listen Notes
Listen Notes indexes over 650,000 podcasts that you can search by keyword for a specific person, topic, or show name.
6 Tips for Successful Poetry Readings
At the Submittable blog, poet John Sibley Williams gives useful advice for selecting and performing your work in public. Williams is the author of As One Fire Consumes Another (Orison Poetry Prize) and Skin Memory (Backwaters Prize) and the editor of the Inflectionist Review.
Literary Citizenship
In this article, creative writing professor Cathy Day proposes the concept of "literary citizenship"—the skills and habits that we can all cultivate to build a stronger and more generous literary community, whether or not we are published authors ourselves. Day observes: "the reason I teach creative writing isn't just to create writers, but also to create a populace that cares about reading...I wish more aspiring writers would contribute to, not just expect things from, that world they want so much to be a part of." Good citizenship includes reviewing books you enjoyed, letting writers know you appreciate their work, and buying books and literary journals.
Jewish Storyteller Press
Founded in 2007 by filmmaker and author Scott Hilton Davis, Jewish Storyteller Press is an independent small press that uses print‑on‑demand and e‑book technology to bring English translations of 19th-century Yiddish writers to 21st-century readers. They publish new translations, adaptations, and original stories based on the works of once-famous Yiddish writers such as Sholem Abramovitsh (Mendele Moykher Sforim), Jacob Dinezon, I.L. Peretz, and Sholem Aleichem.
Old Graveyard
By Richard Eric Johnson
Gnarled roots creep beneath
The old leaning trees still shading.
Faded epitaphs and names from other eras
Hide now on tilted, fallen, weathered stones.
Stark are the remaining angels and
Obelisks trying to stand this stillness.
A small stagnant, algae-thickened pond
Meditates a barely discernible sky above.
Insects crawl, buzz in flight and
Beg a swatting of the hand.
From this point one sees an old road of
Crumbling asphalt stretching for neighboring hills.
A grand new super highway drones
Somewhere out of sight.
No one has been here
In a very long time.
Tint Journal
Tint is an online literary journal for ESL (English as a second language) writers. They publish poetry, fiction, essays, flash prose, author profiles, and articles with writing advice.
Publishing Resources Links at BookBub
Diana Urban, industry marketing manager at the self-publishing company BookBub, compiled this list of 48+ reputable vendors for every stage of book creation and marketing. Categories include developmental and copy editing, graphic design, distribution for self-published books, marketing, publishing industry news, authors' associations, and website building tools. Links are current as of 2019.
[Spoiler Alert]
[Spoiler Alert] is the online book club of The American Scholar, a well-respected magazine of literary criticism and essays. "We're a forum for swapping book recommendations, meeting editors and authors, and connecting with other readers across the country, culminating in regular livestreamed discussions about our book of the month." Read the forum guidelines and submit a request to join their private Facebook group.
The Savvy Self-Publisher
At the website of Poets & Writers magazine, publishing veteran Debra Englander has interviewed numerous self-published authors about their experiences creating and marketing their books. Each interview is supplemented with expert opinions about the success of the author's self-publishing plan, adding up to a valuable case study on all aspects of self-publishing.
Narrative Magazine’s Directory of Literary Agents
Narrative Magazine, a well-regarded online journal of creative writing, maintains this directory with links to established agents in many genres. The site also includes advice about pitching your book.
PublishDrive Free E-book Converter
PublishDrive's free converter tool will change your MS Word documents into ePub or Kindle mobi files (two of the most popular e-book formats). Note that conversion of complicated publications is not guaranteed (magazines, textbooks, books with many pictures or too long and wide tables). Files must use Latin characters only, no foreign-language alphabets.
Radical Copyeditor
The Radical Copyeditor is a blog and editing service that keeps writers up-to-date on respectful ways to write about marginalized communities. Tips include recognizing biased reporting, a style guide for referring to transgender and nonbinary people, and unpacking the politics behind buzzwords like "alt-right" and "politically correct".
The Writer Magazine: Essays About Writing
The Writer Magazine is a well-established guide to writing, editing, and marketing your work. This page on their website collects links to their past articles with inspirational tips for writers. Topics include finding the heart of your story, balancing writing and parenting, and resisting negativity from your inner critic.
The Write Life’s 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2019
The Write Life, a writing resource site, compiles this annual list of their favorite websites in 10 categories: freelancing, inspiration, writing tools, blogging, creativity and craft, editing, podcasts, marketing and platform building, writing communities, and publishing.
Draftable
Draftable software lets you compare two versions of MS Word, PDF, Excel, or PowerPoint documents, so you can easily see the edits and changes you made. See a free demo by uploading sample text to their website.
Etheree for Heather Heyer
By Lorna Wood
One
Person
With freckles
And hazel eyes
Helped bankrupt people
Get in their paperwork
And showed us love is simple,
Like falling while crossing the street,
But rising again, reaching toward hate
With arms and heart made infinitely strong.
Pageantry
By Cindy Kelly Benabderrahman
In second grade,
my mother and her best friend
Rebecca took the shortcut
home from grade school,
fashioned a beauty pageant
from ribbons and flowers
they found in the trash out back
of Sweeney-Dodd's funeral home.
"In Memoriam" and "Dear Husband"
sashayed home with lily-scented hair,
their pageant sashes sparkling with glitter.
Spine Magazine
Spine is an online journal profiling contemporary authors, illustrators, and book designers. In-depth pieces on great cover designs will be useful to self-published authors in packaging their own work.
Erika Krouse’s Ranking of 500 Literary Magazines for Short Fiction
Editor, writing coach, and fiction writer Erika Krouse ran the numbers on some 500 journals publishing literary short fiction. Rankings are based on circulation, pay rates for writers, subjective "coolness" factors, and how frequently stories from these publications are selected for Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Awards, and Pushcart Prizes. While there's room for debate about the value of these metrics, the comprehensive list of markets will be useful for writers seeking new submission venues.
19th Century Character Trope Generator
Whether you're writing a real or parody 19th-century historical melodrama, or seeking some levity while studying English literature, this algorithm will make you smile, and possibly alert you to cliché tropes in your work. What happens when the Troubled Squire who is in Love with a Duke meets the Mysterious Governess with Homosexual Tendencies? Let your imagination run wild.
10 Tips for Creating Your First Children’s Picture Book
In this 2018 article from the blog of self-publishing and marketing vendor BookBaby, Michael Gallant interviews Jill Santopolo, an executive editor at Penguin Young Readers Group, about the essential elements of a successful picture book. Key advice: keep the text short and make every word count, like a haiku, but don't dumb down the narrative. The fundamentals of storytelling—a relatable character, emotional arc, and plot through-line—apply to books for all ages.
20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry
Edited by Safia Elhillo and Gbenga Adesina. Published as an online PDF anthology by Brittle Paper, this diverse and emotionally affecting anthology features emerging African and African-diaspora poets aged 20-35.
The Bookends Review
Founded in 2012 by creative writing and composition professor Jordan Blum, The Bookends Review is an online journal publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, author interviews, essays, book reviews, and visual/musical works from around the world.
Barnes & Noble Press
This free program allows you to self-publish your books in print and for B&N's Nook e-reader and compatible devices. The site takes a percentage of sales.
Yellow Medicine Review
Founded in 2007, Yellow Medicine Review is a twice-yearly print journal devoted to Indigenous literature, art, and thought. It is named for a river in Minnesota where people of the Dakota tribe would gather healing plants. See website for special themes for each submission period.
Ghosts
By Raina Telgemeier. Children and adults alike will shed happy tears over this graphic novel about a Mexican-American family whose younger daughter has cystic fibrosis. In the days leading up to Día de los Muertos, the sick girl and her older sister cope with impending mortality through encounters with friendly spirits.
Last Look
By Charles Burns. This volume collects Burns' acclaimed graphic novels X'ed Out, The Hive, and Sugar Skull. Imagine that Samuel Beckett and Hieronymus Bosch dropped acid together and wrote a Tintin comic. These horror comics braid the real-world story of Doug, a photographer and failed performance artist obsessed with his lost love Sarah, with the nightmare visions of his alter ego, Johnny 23, a low-level functionary in a breeding factory where woman-like creatures produce monstrous eggs. The features of his grotesque dream world gradually reveal parallels to Doug's real life and the relationship patterns that trap him in isolation. Subtle clues toward the end indicate a Buddhist message about purifying one's mind to escape the wheel of rebirth.
Clemens Starck
Clemens Starck's books include Cathedrals and Parking Lots: Collected Poems (Empty Bowl, 2018). Awards include the Oregon Book Award and the William Stafford Memorial Poetry Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. New York Times critic Dana Jennings calls him "an essential plainspoken poet of work". Critic Louis Simpson says, "The poetry of Clem Starck is an American Works and Days...This is the kind of poetry Whitman called for: an expression of the individual—original, moving, refreshingly unacademic."
The Fries Test: On Disability Representation in Our Culture
Kenny Fries is a poet, memoir writer, and editor of the anthology Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out. In this essay on Medium, he proposes guidelines for adequate and respectful disability representation in literature, similar to the well-known Bechdel Test for women characters. "Does a work have more than one disabled character? Do the disabled characters have their own narrative purpose other than the education and profit of a nondisabled character? Is the character's disability not eradicated either by curing or killing?" Novelist Nicola Griffiths is compiling a list on her website based on readers' suggestions. As she notes in a 2018 New York Times editorial, since a quarter of the US population has some sort of disability, we should be able to name over a million non-ableist narratives—but instead, there are fewer than a hundred qualifying books on her list.
The Creative Independent
The Creative Independent is an ever-expanding resource of emotional and practical guidance for creative people. The website features brief interviews and essays by writers and artists in various disciplines, on topics ranging from starting a business to coping with adversity.
