Resources for Authors and Publishers

[Nikki]

Listed below are various websites, books, etc. that relate to "indies", small publishers, and self-publishers for use as resources to connect with other authors, improve your writing, and to generally keep in touch with the indie book scene. Please feel free to add material, links, etc. that you think other authors will find useful. DO NOT use this thread for self-promotion of your book.

http://indiereader.com/

http://www.indiewritersalliance.com/

http://blog.smboyce.com/the-indie-author-how-to-index/

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

http://www.worldliterarycafe.com/

[Nikki]

Carpe diem.
O si villi, si ergo, fortibus es in ero.
Et tu, brute.
HOW TO WRITE GOOD

by Frank L. Visco
My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:

Avoid alliteration. Always.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
Employ the vernacular.
Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
Contractions aren't necessary.
Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
One should never generalize.
Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
Profanity sucks.
Be more or less specific.
Understatement is always best.
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
One-word sentences? Eliminate.
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
The passive voice is to be avoided.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Who needs rhetorical questions?


Here is a second set of helpful hints:

http://www.plainlanguage.gov/example.../writegood.cfm

Derived from William Safire's Rules for Writers:

Parenthetical words however must be enclosed in commas.
It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
Avoid archaeic spellings too.
Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
Don't use commas, that, are not, necessary.
Do not use hyperbole; not one in a million can do it effectively.
Never use a big word when a diminutive alternative would suffice.
Subject and verb always has to agree.
Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.
Use youre spell chekker to avoid mispeling and to catch typograhpical errers.
Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
Don't never use no double negatives.
Poofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Hopefully, you will use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
Eschew obfuscation.
No sentence fragments.
Don't indulge in sesquipedalian lexicological constructions.
A writer must not shift your point of view.
Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
Always pick on the correct idiom.
The adverb always follows the verb.
Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
And always be sure to finish what

[Prime Administrator]

Looks good Nikki. Thank you for starting this thread and helping out Independent authors.

[Nikki]

[Kodai Okuda]

LMFAO.

Looking good Nikki.
Love your review of Jessica's book.

[Proud Proletarian]

Wow, another new regular user since I left.

I'll have to keep an eye on this thread for any books I may want to buy.