AuthorsDen was founded in 1999 by Matthew E. Miller and William D. Sauers. Miller also co-founded ebrary.com and ReadersDen.com. Sauers is a playwright, director and legal counsel for AuthorsDen.
Their stated mission is "to bring together the world's Authors and Readers, making the discovery and purchase of content useful, direct and personal." The purpose is, primarily, author promotion. According to Miller, "AuthorsDen provides various ways in which authors can communicate information about themselves and their works to readers... AuthorsDen also provides a forum to discuss and share information with readers as well as other authors."
A quick scan of the site is impressive in quantity and quality of content. There's some very good writing posted here, including works by Center member Kevin Hull. We asked Kevin, editor of White Heron Press, if he found the AuthorsDen connection beneficial.
"Yes and no," was his reply. "Depends on what you're looking for. It has been beneficial in that it gives my work more exposure, many people log on and review my work... I like to post a new poem and find that two hours later I have three or four reviews from perfect strangers, from all over the world. I even had a glowing review from a young man born and raised and still living in Nepal. To me that's kind of cool."
AuthorsDen offers two membership levels. Writers can join for free and receive basic listing services, or pay a fee ($99 annually at the time Kevin joined), and utilize the full range of optional goodies, such as the message boards, subscriber email service, a homepage with photo, a bio page, and, of course, a page for showcasing your stories, poems, essays, novel excerpts, etc.
Our Two Favorites
www.pw.org/
This is the entrance to the Poets & Writers site, probably the best resource a writer could have. Start with the magazine and keep surfing around: contests, conferences, resources, literary links, advice, etc.
www.aldaily.com/
Arts & Letters Daily is the most comprehensive collection of reviews and non fiction around. Check out the hundreds of great links to all the best journals, newspapers, and anything else a writer might be interested in.
Literary
http://webdelsol.com/solhome.htm
http://webdelsol.com/ELAN/
Web del Sol focuses on the contemporary literary arts, and is an excellent resource for poets and prose writers. ELAN is the online news journal, with reviews, articles, and commentary.
Literature Online
http://www.bartleby.com
Books online, in case you spent all your money on this computer.
Poetry
www.theatlantic.com/unbound/poetry/
"Poetry Pages" from the Atlantic Magazine, including the online journal, digital edition, and archives. Poems, critical articles, essays, and reviews on traditional and modern poets including audio clippings.
www.poetrymagazine.org
Poems and articles from Poetry magazine, published since 1912, that include audio recordings of poets reading their works.
www.poems.com
Poetry Daily features a selection from published books and journals posted daily on the web.
Publishing
http://publishersweekly.reviewsnews.com/
Publisher's Weekly is the trade journal when it comes to the world of books. What is your editor looking for? Visit here to find what the industry is talking about.
Writing for Children
special.lib.umn.edu/clrc
Children's literature research collection of the University of Minnesota: Hess Collection, Paul Bunyan Collection, Oz Collection, Treasure Island Collection, and Kerlan Collection. PRCW Member and children's book author Norma Gaffron works with the Kerlan Collection, which contains over 90,000 children's books, original manuscripts and illustrations.
www.childrensbookguild.org/ourmembers.htm
Information including biographies and summaries of books--complete with photos--of members who include children's books' authors, author-illustrators, illustrators, children's librarians, and organizations.
www.kidpub.org/kidpub
A web site that features writing for and about children.
www.kidnews.com
A web site maintained by a mother and son that features writing for and by children as well as for parents.
www.stonesoup.com
Stone Soup is a magazine for young writers and artists.
