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Q: I read your review about [insert
author's name here] and I really loved her book [insert book
title here]. Can you please send me her email address so that
I can converse personally with her? She is my favorite author.
Or, could you forward my letter to her?
A: Women Writers is a site run by a
grad student, who doesn't have any connections whatsoever with
publishing companies (except that sometimes we're lucky enough
to get a free book to review). And most of the contributors are
just average Joe's and Jane's too. MOST (if not pretty close
to all) of the time, we do not have any contact whatsoever with
the authors we review beyond a publicist or agent.
We cannot forward your letters, or give
you the address so you can write to your favorite authors. Even
if we had the addresses, it might be unethical of us to send
you (who we know nothing about) the address (what if you're a
stalker?) This is not meant to imply that we have never personally
met or corresponded with one of the authors reviewed on our website.
All book reviews are the opinions of the book review writer,
and this is not meant to imply that there is no personal influence
or what some snide commenters might call "bias" in
said book reviews. We strive to be professional and ethical in
all of our work.
But luckily for you, we do know how
you can contact your favorite authors.... you need to look in
the title page of the book you love for the publisher's address.
The publishers of the books have up-to-date addresses on all
of their authors (they have to, to give them their royalty checks!).
Usually, there is a "snail-mail" address for the publishing
house, and you can write to your favorite author via the publishers,
who will forward your letter. Do it sort of like this:
Favorite Writer
c/o Publishing House A
1234 Main Street
NY, NY 10001
Some publishing houses also have a link
on their company website so that you can send e-mail. A very
few authors put their email address out there for anyone to find,
or have an official author website you can use. Use a good search
engine www.mamma.com or www.google.com come to mind, and see what you can find.
Now, I can't promise that your author
will write back-- some of them do, but a lot do not. So don't
get your hopes too high.
Q: I would like to write for your site,
but I have to be paid. How much do you pay?
A: Read the
contributor's page carefully, and you'll
see that at this time, the site does not pay anything at all
for its writers. This is truly a labor of love for all of those
who work here, and while we hope that someday someone will find
us and give us lots of money, so we can pay our contributors,
today is not the day. We basically are a place for you to get
some lines on your resume/vitae, or for you to do it just for
the sheer joy of seeing yourself online (in print). So if that's
not enough for you, sorry, but you'll have to find the paying
folk out there somewhere else. And usually, those people contact
you-- so your chances are not so hot if you're not already doing
it.
Q: Will you review my book?
A: If you are a woman writer, we will
try to assign your book to one of the reviewers who regularly
works on the site. Since it is strictly voluntary, we can't promise
you will be chosen. But you will need to send a copy of your
book to our book reviews
editor, who will be glad to take care
of the details. Send her also a copy of your press release, or
a blurb about the book for her to use in generating interest.
Not all books sent to our reviewers will be reviewed. Sometimes,
the book is just not content-wise what we're looking for.
Q: I've tried to contact "X-reviewer/scholar"
who is a writer for your site, using the address that is on the
page but they do not respond/ I get a bounce-back. Can you tell
me how to contact them?
A: Unfortunately, sometimes the people
who write for us don't keep in touch when they change addresses.
This doesn't mean we want to remove their work, which is still
valid. But it does mean that we probably do not have their address
to give to you. Please feel free to tell
us if there are any authors we have
linked to on the site whose addresses are no longer working and
we'll try to fix the problem, but cannot promise anything.
Q: I'm looking for information on [insert
author's name here]. Have you ever heard of this author, and
do you know where I can find information?
A: Chances are, if we know of a site
or information on the author you're searching, it is already
on the site. Check the links pages. If there is no link to the author, we
don't know about it. Also try searching
the site for the author's name. If
you come up with zero hits, having spelled it right and everything,
we probably can't help you find anything. There are millions
of authors out there and we cannot pretend to even scratch the
surface. Try a good general search engine like mamma or google. You can also try our listserv-- sign up, ask the question of the group and
see if anyone on the list knows something the rest of us don't.
But again, we can't promise anything. Then, if all of those things
fail, try the library. Some authors who are less well known end
up in reference books like the Contemporary Literary Criticism,
or Contemporary Authors or the Dictionary of Literary
Biography. Ask your reference librarian for help finding
these sources.
Q: Will you tell me the theme of [insert
book name/author's name here]?
A: I can spot someone trying to get
someone else to write a paper for them a mile away, and no, I
will not tell you your homework assignment. The point of the
homework is for you to learn how to do it yourself, so figure
it out. Talk to your teacher if you do not understand the assignment.
Q: I am a teacher and believe that one
of my students may have plagiarized an essay on your site. Will
you help me find which essay it is?
A: Actually, we will be glad to help
you find this info out, but there may be a quicker way than writing to us
(which you can try also). Search
the site for a specific phrase you
believe may be unoriginal work. The search engine is indexed
for all the words on the pages, so if it's on our site, it should
find it. But if it doesn't, you will need to give us specific
info too. Don't just say "a paper on Toni Morrison"
because it could be here, or it could be something that we have
linked to that doesn't belong to us. Tell us exactly what you
suspect, and we'll try to help you track it down.
Q: I'm writing a paper on website resources
and would like to know:
Why you chose the clip art on your site? Why the color scheme?
What is your purpose? Who are you?
A: The last two questions are answered
on the About Us page,
so look there for general stuff, and in the individual
staff writer biographies for specifics
on individuals. But as for the color scheme-- I, the editor/creator, like it. I think that
black is a cool neutral background, and it looks great with photographs,
which we use on the site a lot. So, white text is the natural
choice for the background. There is also this cool bit that a
French Feminist critic (Helene Cixous) once said about women's
writing (ecriture feminin) being done with white ink (a
metaphoric mother's milk replacing black ink). So I like that
we, as a feminist project, write in white ink in a new medium.
The links are different colors that
I think also look cool with black-- with a sophisticated "grey/blue"
thing thrown in there. It may begin to change based on the commercial
art which is the "masthead" for each issue. I haven't
decided yet.
So, finally, the main answer to this
question on color is personal taste. You may not like it. But
I don't really want to look like the corporate site, white background,
standard default link colors, etc. So I did it my way....
if you don't like it, make your own site but I might make
fun of your colors too. Someone once said that "there's
no accounting for taste" and that's true... but just because
your taste doesn't run with mine doesn't mean you are right and
I am wrong. I find the colors readable, and most others do, too.
But I understand that some browsers have trouble reading the
colors, so if that happens for you, please feel free to write
for a copy of the info you can't access, in a different format.
Realize that this might take a while, since I have other things
to do too, and may not be able to drop them all for your project
of the moment. If it's hard to read, try scrolling your mosue
along the entire page-- which essentially highlights the page.
It may make the text easier to read, it may not.
As for the artwork/clip art, in my basic
theme, I try to represent the multiple faces of feminism, the
multiple types of women who read and write for the site. I try
to have clip art that looks like a lot of different races, ages
and types of women. I use the book covers of the books we review
cause they are usually attractive. I use photos of the authors,
when I can get them, that they provide.
Q: I think you are/ your writer is pretty.
Will you exchange email with me?
A: If you saw my, or any other of our
staff photos, you should have read also the biography that says
whether I/we are married or not. In my case, I am married, happily,
and not interested in exchanging info with anyone. I don't know
of any of my writers who are interested in this sort of thing
either-- that's not what this site's purpose is. Go look for
a lonleyhearts page or something like this
one. Do not write to ask because you
will not be answered, and you'll get put in my junk email file.
Why the heck would you write to someone who didn't specifically
put themselves out there as interested? And why choose a site
like this? Go to a #$%@* chat room.
Q: I want to be a writer/go to college/get
a scholarship/ get an agent/ learn to write poems/fiction/etc.
Can you help?
A: These questions are answered on my writers' FAQ...
Q: I would like to be published on your
website. What do I do?
A: This one is answered on my writers' FAQ
too.
Q: I'm an artist/photographer and would
like to have my work appear on your site as a graphic or "cover
art." How can I do this?
A: There is more info on our artwork here.
Q: Can I use the photo you have on your
"insert page here" of a woman reading a book for my
website? It's nifty.
A: You can read about how we find and pay
for our art here. MOST of our art is NOT available for anyone
else to use on another website other than Women Writers. If you
use anything that we purchased commercially, you do NOT have
our permission and are violating copyright law. We paid for it,
you should too.
If your question is REALLY not answered here, see the
bottom of the contact page for
more info on how to contact us.
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