Searching for A Community or an Editor?

Where does a budding novelist begin to take their dream from manuscript to ebook to print?  Where would one go to meet other authors, editors, agents etc.?  There are lots of agencies out there for actors, screenwriters, musician, and labor workers.  They are well known and some advertise.  Some have strict guidelines for membership that would exclude and intimidate absolute beginners.  But that entire aside, what about the creative writer? The poet? The novelist?  It seems we are left to dangle in the wind and go at it alone unless you already know someone or are working in the industry.  Luckily the internet came along and made self-publishing and marketing a lot easier.

There are also a few associations out there for the independent writer looking for guidance and community.  A few such organizations would be Online Publishers Association (OPA), the Association of Publishers for Special Sales (APSS), Association of American Publishers (AAP), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Association Media and Publishing (AMP), National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) and Independent Authors Guild (IAG).

IAG is a great community and resource for a hopeful writer.  It’s all right there in their mission statement. "One is to assist each other in writing the very best books that we possibly can. Our second goal is to increase awareness among those who buy and read books - whether they are readers, retail bookstores, or in the media - of the rich treasures that are available, outside the mainstream publishing channels."

NAIWE is another great tool for finding writers and editors.   All of the above are worth checking out for their different missions, one may be more useful than another to you.