Marketing
Author Marketing Experts, Inc.—Author and publicist Penny Sansevieri offers a slew of helpful marketing tips. Be sure to subscribe to her weekly e-letter.
Book Marketing Maven—A wealth of free book marketing tips, ideas, and resources.
CAN—The Christian Authors Network (CAN) blog offers accessible and timely marketing tips.
Author Tech Tips—Help for writers timid about technology.
Marketing Tips for Authors—Low cost/no cost ways to market your book.
Market My Novel—Shares marketing knowledge with authors, as well as tips about dealing with reviewers and interviewers.
ProBlogger Tips—Helps bloggers to add income streams to their blogs.
Sharing With Writers and Readers—Promotion guru Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s blog.
You Can Sell More Books!—Marketing tips from Lisa Copen.
Names
Behind the Name—Search names by name, meaning, and description, plus have fun with the name generator and etymological and historical facts.
Fantasy Name Generator—Set the specifications to your needs and generate dozens of names at a time.
Popular Baby Names—Use the Social Security Administration’s records of baby names to slap the right moniker on your next character.
Sean Puckett—Random Word Generator—According to the site: “...if you want to generate some new girls’ names, feed it a list of girls’ names, and it will take them apart and discover how to make girls’ names, then come up with a list of words that are very similar, but probably never before seen.”
Victorian Era Names, A Writer’s Guide—Names from the turn of the century.
Networking
AuthorNation—Similar to AuthorsDen. An online community, powered by Infinity Publishing, where authors and readers can mingle.
Christian Media Forums—A group for filmmakers, writers, photographers, musicians, and artists dedicated to using their talents for the glory of God.
Christian Writers—Hang out of with writers from all walks of life and levels of experience, submit work for critique, talk shop, and enjoy one of the most encouraging atmospheres on the web.
ShoutLife—A Christian alternative to MySpace. Includes special features for authors.
Research
AllExperts—Quick, easy access to a host of experts on every imaginable subject. Submit questions and receive prompt, comprehensive answers.
Answers.com—Search engine, online dictionary, encyclopedia, and generally handy reference tool.
Bartleby—Searching for that perfect quote? Bartleby, “the preeminent publisher of literature, reference and verse,” is the place to go.
Best of History Websites—Some nice person did a nice thing and compiled a wide range of historical websites all into one place.
The Code of the West—Learn about the chivalry of the west.
Conjugater—Need to figure out how to conjugate a snippet of dialogue in another language? Here’s your exit.
The Costumer’s Manifesto—Costume history, listed by period.
The Costumer’s Guide to Movie Costumes—Although it focuses primarily on female costumes, this site is a treasure trove of inspiration. Watch out—it’s addicting!
Elizabethan Insults—Learn how to write insults with a Shakespearean flare.
Elizabethan Online Dictionary—Get all your thee’s and thou’s straight.
Eras of Elegance—Online store and information desposity for costumes from the Ancient Era to the Edwardian Era.
Feudal Terms of England (and Other Places)—Index of medieval terminology.
Google Help: Cheat Sheet—Streamline your Google searches to get the best results.
Gutenberg Project—Makes available hundreds of classic books, in toto, at no charge.
Historical Maps of the World—Although you can purchase hardcopies of the maps, the online versions come in handy for quick references.
Historical Replicas—Need to know what your character would have worn during the Civil War? Check out this online catalog to browse costumes and props from throughout the 19th century.
HowStuffWorks—Discover the inner workings of everything from cars to cockroaches.
Information Please—Offers stats (including world events, economics, sports, and entertainment) for every year from 1900-2008.
Journal of Western Martial Arts—Brush up on historical battle techniques.
LacusCurtius - The Daily Life of the Romans—Get the lowdown on life in ancient Rome.
LibrarySpot—Use this engine to search through a horde of heavy-duty resources, including newspapers and online libraries.
ManyBooks—Free e-books galore.
A 19th Century Slang Dictionary—Old-time slang, but not limited to cowboys.
Odin’s Castle of Dreams and Legends—A handy compilation of medieval websites.
Old West Dictionary—Fun reading on the slang of the Old West.
Old West Slang—More western terminology.
The ORB—Online reference book for medieval studies.
Our Timelines—Create personal timelines for historical characters to discover what happened during their lifetimes.
Scholarpedia—Wikipedia for the brainy.
Wikipedia—Although written by the public and therefore far from infallible, Wikipedia remains one of the best and most comprehensive resources on the web.
World Design/World Builder Questions—Brilliantly in-depth list of world-building questions for writers of speculative fiction.
Yahoo! Answers—If you don’t want to take the time to join a group, Yahoo! Answers will publish your questions and allow other browsers to post their opinions. I’ve gathered quite a bit of good preliminary research through this site.
Yahoo! Groups—Joining a special interest group on Yahoo can put the answers of experts right at your fingertips.
Writing Tips
The Alphabetizer—Put any list in alphabetical order.
AskOxford—Writing tips and other fun stuff straight from the experts.
Critters—Receive constructive critiques of your fiction manuscripts. (Speculative fiction only.)
Fifty Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills—A wide variety of handy articles, sites, and software.
OneLook Reverse Dictionary—Know the definition but not the word? Look it up here.
Pain in the English—“Forum for the gray areas of the English language.”
Quick & Dirty Grammar Tips—Take a peek at the Grammar Girl’s one-bite grammar tips and be sure to sign up for her weekly e-letter.
Write or Die—Set a timer on your writing and select a punishment (such as having your writing begin to delete itself) if you don’t meet your word count.
