Links Tent: Writing Software, Edits, Query Letters, Submissions

Thanks to Bubble Cow for sharing this news: Penguin UK is accepting non-agented submissions until October 2010. Find out How to Submit Your Book To Penguin. While you're there, add Bubble Cow to your Google Reader. Lots of great info about how to get published.

I stumbled across yWriter5, free writing novel writing software from Spacejock. I've just started playing with it but it's intriguing. You can easily keep track of how many (and which) scenes your characters are in, the word count for each viewpoint character and so much more. If you're already using this software, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

Want a professional editor for your novel? You can win a FREE edit from CA Marshall of your manuscript up to 100K. Check out Julie Lindsay's blog, Musings From the Slush Pile for details.

If you're querying, there is lots of great advice out there. What do you do when the advice you read is contradictory? Start by reading Nathan Bransford's great post on How to Deal with Contradictory Query Advice. After that, check out these query critiques: Query Shark and Literary Rambles: Erin's Queryhttp://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/2010/09/public-critique-erins-query.html.

Links Tent: Must-Read Agents

The links to all of these blogs are found on the right, but I know you probably haven't clicked on even one of them. So here's a bit more information about each of these must-read blogs to hopefully entice you to visit them.

I was disappointed when Miss Snark, anonymous agent and snarky blogger extraordinaire, discontinued her blog. Luckily the archives are still up, and the posts are labeled for easy reference. Informative, with just enough added sarcasm to keep it fun, her blog is a great resource for aspiring novelists.

Janet Reid, aka Query Shark, is just about snarky enough to make me wonder if she might be related to Miss Snark. Her no-nonsense, no BS advice makes her agent blog a must read. Recent posts include questions to ask prospective agents, and her helpful list of links includes a query checklist.

Query Shark, Janet Reid's alter ego, offers biting (groan...I know, bad pun) critiques of query letters. If you are in the process of writing a query letter for your novel, or even just nearing completion of your novel, take the time to go through the posts.

If Shark or Snark are not your thing, literary agent Nathan Bransford's blog is just as informative but with a lot more "nice" thrown in. His list of Essentials are a great starting point, and especially his impressive Writing Advice Database and the FAQs.

Also make sure to stop over at Pub Rants, the blog of literary agent Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency. Make sure you check out the terrific links on the right (you'll have to scroll down a bit) including Agent Kristin's Queries: An Inside Scoop (of queries that worked) and Agent Kristin's Query Pitch Workshop on the Blog.

Last, but not least, is the BookEnds, LLC blog. The Must-Read Posts listed on the right of the blog are, well, must-reads. Check them out.

What about you? What's your favourite agent blog?