100 sites for fiction writers: #39 - Scribd

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

Scribd

Those familiar with e-books and similar digital technology will have a pretty good idea of what kind of siteScribd is and how it works. But not exactly.

Scribd is a site somewhat like e-book sites in that readers can go to it and read lots of different documents, but the difference is that Scribd doesn't provide e-books one can download to an e-reading device. Instead Scribd utilizes its own iPaper technology, sort of like PDFs, that allows readers to look over documents on a Web browser.

The site has grown quite popular over the last several years, especially with writers.

How can fiction writers use this site? Well, you can upload your own documents, which means your novels and short stories. You have the option of allowing those documents to be read for free, or you can sell your documents to readers. Again, this is quite similar to the e-book market.

If it helps, think of Scribd as an e-book site but the e-books can only be read online.

Though it's a little more tricky than even just that. See, Scribd also has plans in the works to allow smart phone users to use the site, which means the users could read documents on their smart phones. Yet again, kind of like e-books. In fact, Scribd just announced its new app for the iPhone.

Scribd also allows sharing of documents through Facebook and Twitter, which is a nice touch.

As writers are always concerned about finances, one has to ask: Can you get rich selling your products at Scribd? Probably not. But you can use the site for promotions and you probably will make at least a little money. At least your name and your titles will be out there in one more place.

Basically, Scribd is one more tool in the marketing and money-making tool boxes for writers. Look at it as a self-publisher's friend, though plenty of major companies and publishers are also using the site. Maybe you should consider checking it out.

100 sites for fiction writers: #38 - Trigger Street Labs

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

Trigger Street Labs

In 2002 actor Kevin Spacey and some friends came up with the website Trigger Street, which is now known as Trigger Street Labs. Initially this site focused upon screenwriting and short films, but it has expanded over the years to also include short story writing. Rumors over the years that novel writing might eventually also be included in the site have sprang up, but as of right now it has not occurred.

But what does Trigger Street Labs do for writers?

At its heart, this is a critique site. You sign up, upload one of your works, review the works of others for points, then use those points to get others to review your work. Quite simple.

More importantly, especially for screenwriters, Hollywood folks are known to sometimes peruse the stories and screenplay and films at this site. You never know, if some big wig sees something they like, they might look you up.

For prose writers, I suggest learning a little more about screenwriting. If you can write a decent screenplay, more than likely you can put together a decent novel or short story. Screenwriting can teach you the basics of building a plot and character, typically using far fewer words than are needed for a novel, which can also help you to learn to write tight.

Back to Trigger Street Labs.

Other bonuses at this site are the connections and friends one can make through the busy Message Board. Plenty of readers and writers and filmmakers hang out there, so you can have some fun or get down to business.

At Trigger Street Labs you can also keep up with Industry News, that industry mainly being Hollywood.

If you're seeking critiques as a short story writer, check out Trigger Street Labs. Or if you just want to read some others' stories and screenplays, and watch some short films, you should check out this site.

100 sites for fiction writers: #37 - Publishing Perspectives

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

Publishing Perspectives

All too often writers forget to think outside of their own language, their own culture and often their own nation. U.S. writers are commonly accused of this, but it happens to writers from other countries as well.

Which is a shame. There are a lot of potential markets out there for writers, and an international publishing industry that too often gets overlooked.

That's where a site like Publishing Perspectives comes in useful. This online site features plenty of publishing news and opinions from all over the globe. If you want to know what's going on with publishers in Britain, you need to check out Publishing Perspectives. If you need to find out about some hot new novelist from Argentina, more than likely Publishing Perspectives will have something about him or her. What about th the at publishing company in Germany expanding? Check out Publishing Perspectives.

This site tends to focus upon Europe and to some extent the U.S., but there are still articles to be found about other parts of the world, such as articles on Arabic Publishing News.

Also, Publishing Perspectives keeps up with publishing news daily through its Feature Articles. International markets are covered through the News Blog, and readers themselves are asked about topics and their opinions in the Discussion area. There is also the Resources department that provides helpful articles and lessons for writers.

If you don't have time to check out a website every day but want to keep up with the daily publishing news, you can sign up for the Publishing Perspectives daily e-mail newsletter.

So, don't forget about those international markets and the potential there for writers. Check out the Publishing Perspectives site if you want your eyes opened to broader horizons.

Epic fantasy e-book freebie (plus a secret)

My experimental epic fantasy short novel Bayne's Climb is currently free over at Smashwords. Just head on over there and pick it up.

How long will it be free? I don't know. As long as I feel like it. Maybe a week. Maybe a month. Maybe forever. Heck, it might eventually be free over at Amazon.

Oh, yeah, I also mentioned a secret. Well, the secret is that there is a Smashwords coupon code for a free copy of my new e-book novella, The Castle of Endless Woe. But I'm not just giving that one away free to anyone who stumbles across the novella. If you would like the code, e-mail me and I'll send it to you. Hopefully you would do a review after reading the novella, but if not, no hard feelings.

The Castle of Endless Woe (novelette)

Now available is my new novelette (16,000 words) titled The Castle of Endless Woe.

Details

Orphaned by the death of her wizard father, a 12-year-old girl finds herself trapped in servitude and traveling to an abandoned castle in the hinterlands. Among the group assigned to returning life to the castle, she finds her only friend in a barbarian warrior. But then he goes missing, and the castle itself seems to be coming alive in a manner most chill. Who will disappear next, becoming a victim of the castle itself?

The Castle of Endless Woe is a young adult, dark fantasy novelette bordering on horror fiction.

The tale takes place in the world of Ursia, the lands from my epic fantasy Kobalos trilogy and Sword of Bayne trilogy, though it is not directly tied to those tales.

Where to buy?

This novelette only costs 99 cents. If you are interested, check out the links below.

For the Kindle
For the Nook
At Smashwords

Deep into the next novel

Just to let everyone know, I'm doing fine. The only reason I've not been blogging much of late is I'm 40,000 words into my next novel, Ghosts of the Asylum. So I'm busy writing that.

Yes, it's a Kron Darkbow tale. It's more or less a stand-alone story, though many of the events and much of the plot are outcomes of events that happened in my Kobalos trilogy, especially the City of Rogues novel.

Unlike my Kobalos trilogy, the events of Ghosts of the Asylum do not take place over months, but will all likely occur within a time period of a week or so.

Originally I had planned on this new novel being about 80,000 words, but I'm thinking it's going to be longer than that, probably at least 100,000. But in the past I've tended to write long and chop, chop, chop. The difference between then and now, however, is that I believe I'm a tighter writer than I used to be.

For those who liked my Kobalos trilogy, a handful of familiar names will be returning, but some will not. There will also be plenty of new names showing up.

Of the novels from the Kobalos trilogy, Ghosts of the Asylum is most like City of Rogues in that the action takes place within the city of Bond and that the plot revolves around that city's underworld elements.

Just to give a hint of the plot: With Belgad the Liar no longer around, someone has to step forward to take control of the city's criminal elements. Then there are the riots in the streets. All the while, Kron Darkbow is busy trying to rebuild the Asylum which was heavily damaged in City of Rogues. Oh yeah, and the Asylum is haunted by the hundred or so souls who died there in City of Rogues.

I'll get back to writing now.

100 sites for fiction writers: #36 - Scribophile

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

Scribophile

With this article in the "100 Sites for Fiction Writers" series, I thought I would do a little something different. Instead of me telling you what I think of the site, in this case Scribophile, I thought I'd let Alex Cabal tell you. He's the head honcho over at Scribophile, and here are the results of my e-mail interview with him.

For those who don’t know, what exactly is Scribophile?

Scribophile is a writing group of tens of thousands of writers who take their writing seriously. It's a place where writers can post their writing and get real, constructive, and lengthy critiques and reviews, and discuss the craft of writing with other dedicated writers.

What does Scribophile bring to writers that they can’t find elsewhere?

There are lots of critique sites and writer's groups out there on the Internet. The problem is that with many of them, the critiques you get are just pats on the back, or a few sentences about how the "critiquer" liked this or that. In short, useless for serious writers who want to improve.

Scribophile is a group that values genuinely constructive and detailed critiques. The average critique given at Scribophile is 374 words long, and we have many professional freelance editors contributing critiques too. If you visit the homepage you'll see a counter showing that right now we have about 93,000 critiques served for 14,000 works, which works out to something like an average of 7 critiques per piece of writing.

We also have an extremely active forum discussion environment. Other writers sites have forums that can be slow or even desolate. The Scribophile forums see thousands of people talking about writing and life every day. We also host free writing contests with cash prizes every month.

How can Scribophile help writers with their craft and writing career?

Writing is a lonely obsession, and it's not something easily mastered. Participating in the community at Scribophile teaches writers how to improve their writing not just through the helpful critiques they receive, but through learning how to deconstruct the writing of others through the critiques they themselves give.

There are writers of all levels here -- from beginners to authors that have been published by big houses like Penguin or Random House to freelance editors looking to help out promising beginners. It's an environment independent of the influence of big-name publishers filled with writers who genuinely love to write.

The great part is that you don't have to be a great critiquer to join. We're a learning environment, and that includes learning how to critique.  We welcome anybody who has an open mind, a curious attitude, and a willingness to improve themselves.

Who are some of the people behind Scribophile? Is there a team, or just one or two people?

Scribophile is mainly run by me, with the help from a small team of volunteer moderators, and with a small staff of professional writers who post tips, tricks, and advice about writing to our blog.

If you need help, I'm the guy who always gets your e-mail and you'll know that there's someone there who'll always respond.  I personally respond to every email that comes my way, sometimes within minutes if you catch me at the computer.

How did Scribophile get started? Who came up with the idea, and how?

Scribophile got started about three and a half years ago. I'm a web developer by trade, so I built the site on my own over the course of a year. Over the years it's evolved greatly, and today it only loosely resembles what was released so long ago.

I'm a horrible writer, but I love reading and literature. I wanted Scribophile to be a place that could nurture writers without exploiting them or wasting their time, and allow them to mature into artists who could produce pieces that I and others would love to read.

Are there any future plans/changes/updates in the works for Scribophile? If so, can you comment on some of them?

As anyone who's been a member for more than a few weeks can tell you, I'm constantly tweaking the site to try to improve the experience. There's a big list of planned updates, and I often implement member requests too. Just recently I released an update to greatly improve our inline critiquing system, which has proven to be one of the most popular ways to write a critique out there.  Directly next on my to-do list is letting members save critiques in progress, which is a feature that's been long-requested and is far overdue.

Though ostensibly a site for writers, would Scribophile also be a good fit for those who just like to read and review?

Absolutely. The site revolves around critiques and reviews, and reviews from interested readers are a great way to provide relevant feedback for writers. Anybody is welcomed to join!

Closing comments

It sounds to me as if Scribophile would be a great site for those seeking critiques and reviews of their writing work, especially for beginners who often have a difficult time finding beta readers and the like. Still, it also sounds like old pros could have a good time at Scribophile and could potentially pick up some first readers.

Alex, thanks for the interview, and good luck to you and everyone at Scribophile.