Writers and Editors

Home, index Site map Pat McNees Events Q&A

Keeping Readers Hooked:
In 'Required Writing,' English Poet Philip Larkin defines the characteristics of a great novel (a Readback review by Cynthia Crossen, WSJ)

"Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."
~ Samuel Johnson

"Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one."
~ Malcolm Forbes

"Some reviews give pain. This is regrettable, but no author has any right to whine. He is not obliged to be an author. he invited publicity, and he must take the publicity as it comes along."
~ E.M. Forster

"Anyone can be accurate and even profound, but it is damned hard work to make criticism charming."
~ H.L. Mencken

"Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs."
~ John Osborne

Quick Links

E-mail Pat

About Pat (site host)

Help a reporter out (useful for reporters and for sources)

Bowling 1, Health Care 0 (Elizabeth Edwards' op ed piece, NYT, on the dismal state of the corporate media)

The Onion (if the news is making you sick, try this approach)

Truth-o-meter (St. Pete Times on whether, and how much, Clinton, Obama, and McCain are sticking to the truth)

Fact Check (Annenberg sorts political truths from half-truths)

Telling your life (or family) story

Medical links for smart patients

Contemporary Latin American Short Stories

Blog roll (and other great stuff)

Book news, reviews and reviewers, plus links to author interviews

With some periodicals, you may have to register to view the publication online (usually for free, especially for book reviews). They want the demographic information so they know where (and how old) their readers are and thus to whom their (dreamed-of) online advertisers will be able to market their wares.

Allbooks Reviews (reviews in various genres and authors' comments)

Are books absolutely necessary?
by Lauren Kessler (Etude, Spring 2007)

Armchair Interviews (with authors)

Arts & Letters links to book reviews
(excellent reference page)

Author Interviews (Powell's Books)

Author Talks on Demand (CDs of talks authors have given at the marvelous Politics & Prose bookstore, in Washington DC)

Authors in your pockets (podcasts of author interviews, Q&A, book news)

Best book lists (under Book Club Favorites)

Bestseller lists (Bookspot)

Book club favorites

Booklists for early literacy (birth to six)
Mulnomah County Library

The Book Loved By Everyone But You (Alison Morrison's delightful blog on PW)

The Book Report (once-a-week, one-hour radio magazine about books)

Book Sense bestseller lists

The Book Tour (which authors are speaking where)

BookNotes (transcripts of author interviews as far back as 1989, when CSpan was launched)

BookOpinion (Stephen Sakach's blog with book news, reviews, videos, more)

Book Reviews: Riles & Rules
(Paula Guran, writers.com)

Bookslut

Book Slut on crime writers

Book TV's current schedule (C-SPAN2)

Book TV (watch C-SPAN2 online or sign up for weekly e-mail of their weekend cable schedules (including After Words, Encore Booknotes, In Depth, History, and Public Lives)

Bookwatch (monthly library newsletter, from Midwest Book Review)

Book Wire

Book World (Washington Post)

Book Worm (Michael Silverblatt's KCRW podcast from Santa Monica, about books as literature)

Christian Storyteller

Complete Review
(selectively comprehensive and opinionated)

Conversational Reading (Scott Esposito's blog)

Critical mass
(blog of the National Book Critics Circle)

Critical Compendium (a super gateway to book reviews and literary blogs around the world)

Crimespace (a place for readers and writers of crime fiction to meet)

C-Span podcasts

Gateway to Publishers Weekly, Literary Marketplace, and other book-related sites

ForeWord (news of good books independently published)

Goodreads (what your friends are reading -- social networking around books)

The Ghost of Miss Truman, by Jon L. Breen (The Weekly Standard) -- did Margaret Truman write her own mystery novels or were they ghosted by Donald Bain?

Granta Best of Young American Novelists List, 2007

The Guardian (UK)

It's Not You, It's Your Books (an essay about love and literary taste, by Rachel Donadio, Sunday Book Review, NY Times)

Jacket Copy (L.A. Times blog with book news and information)

JBooks (the online Jewish book community)

John Updike's Rules for Reviewing Books

Kirkus Reviews

Library Journal

Library Journal's Most Borrowed (Nonfiction) Books List

Library Journal's Most Borrowed (Fiction)Books List

LibraryThing (catalog your books online, connect with others who read the same things)

Live from Prairie Lights (writers reading aloud from their works, a live radio program from an independent bookstore; host Julie Englander)

Midwest Book Review (reviews and advice)

The Mystery Reader

Neglected Books

NewPages.com, gateway to valuable book review sites, especially for the alternative press

NewPages.com guide to literary magazines

New York Review

New York Times Book Review

Paper Cuts (a New York Times blog about books)

PEN American Center panel discussions (you can listen to them)

PEN Literary Awards (archive of award presentations, to which you can listen online)

Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer Prize winners over the years (how clever to index winners on a timeline!)

Review copy helper (Linda Formichelli's guide for requesting review copies of books)

The Romance Reader

Salon.com books

School Library Journal

Science Books, reviewed by Phillip Manning

The SF Site: The Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy (reviews and super links)

Shelfari (Seattle-based social networking for book lovers)

Tangled Web (UK)
The latest on crime, mystery & fantastic fiction authors and their books

Tips for successful book reviewing
(NBCC, Skloot and Vitone)

Summer reading list, Los Angeles Times 2008

Top Ten (Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, from J. Peder Zane's book on the subject)

Writers on Writing (Barbara DeMarco Barrett's weekly radio interviews, available as podcasts)

Words Without Borders
(online magazine for international literature)

Writers FM (radio by writers, for writers)

Websites, organizations, and other resources

A GREAT READ

Memoirs

Blogs and news round-ups

Books for writers and editors

Book club recommendations

Book news, reviews, reviewers, author interviews, and social networking about books

Narrative nonfiction

Book publishing

Agents and book proposals

Publishing (and e-publishing)

Marketing, promotion, blogs, vidlits, intelligent radio

Shopping, acquiring, swapping, or selling books

Self-publishing

Book Collaboration FAQ
by Sarah Wernick

Communicating and marketing online (Web 2.0, blogs, podcasts, e-zines, survey tools)

So, You Want to Write a Book! by the late great Sarah Wernick

Editors and editing

Style, grammar, word choice, and pronunciation

For editors

Tips on tact and tone

Preface, foreword, or introduction

Ethics, rights, and other issues

Ethics, freedom of the press, and media watchdogs

General

Getting published (starting out)

GREAT SEARCH LINKS
Fact-finding and fact-checking

Freelancing

Conferences, workshops, and other learning places

Awards, grants, and funds for writers

Job banks and publishing marketplaces

Mastering art, craft, skills (writing, reporting, multimedia)

Writers and creators

Beyond text (adding images, sound, story, humor)

Copywriting, speechwriting, corporate and technical communications and training

Media professionals and allied creative and professional groups

Fiction, literary and commercial (including genre fiction)

Film, drama, and documentaries

Journalism and journalists

Local and regional organizations

Major writers organizations

Memoir, biography, personal and corporate history

Nonfiction

Poetry

Science and medical writing

Specialty writing, from children's books to sportswriting
Groups for writers who specialize in animals, children's books, food, gardens, family history, resumes, sports, travel, Webwriting, and wine (etc.)

Writing (general)

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