Taking the Internet route Writers spin on the Web

October 5, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

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www.inkpop.com

pulseit.simonandschuster.com

www.medallionpress.com

www.wattpad.com

McClatchy Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

In a Barnes & Noble cafe, Evelyn Burdette gently rests her hands on her polka-dot laptop case and says, “This is my best friend in the entire world.”

It could also be her big break as a writer.

The 19-year-old Kansas City, Kan., author is making a splash on inkpop.com, a new website for young-adult literature that’s a shortcut on the traditional route to publishing for writers like she is.

Burdette tried the traditional route last year, self-publishing fantasy novels about half-vampire, half-witch twins. But when that didn’t get her very far (the books sell on Amazon.com for about $13), she jumped on the Inkpop bandwagon.

Inkpop allows young writers to share their work with a larger community. The site’s users can upload any kind of writing, from short poems to long novels, and other users can read and offer suggestions for improvement.

Burdette has already put excerpts from three new books on Inkpop. The first two were popular with Inkpop readers. Her third, which she uploaded in July, is climbing in the site’s rankings. And that’s a good thing because Inkpop’s owner, HarperCollins, keeps a close eye out for potentially publishable titles.

More and more, traditional publishers are turning to the Web for feedback and even complete manuscripts from young writers.

Simon & Schuster, for example, has a website called Pulse It, on which teens can sign up to read and review young-adult books before they are released.

On Wattpad.com, an independent site, authors can exchange their writing online and compete in contests sponsored by publishers and literary agents.

And Medallion Press Inc., a small publisher in Illinois, accepts only online submissions and recently announced a new “young adults writing for young adults” series.

Emily Steele, Medallion’s editorial director, said talented young authors might not know how to navigate the publishing world, but they’re right at home on the Web.

Typically, authors need a literary agent before publishers will look at their work. Finding an agent can be complicated and expensive. But Medallion’s young-adult writing series and sites such as Inkpop offer a simple and free way to get your name out.

Like Medallion, HarperCollins editors at Inkpop read projects submitted by teens. Inkpop also uses a sort of crowd-sourcing, similar to Pulse It, to determine the most popular writing among teens, and it includes a way for authors to give one another feedback.

This model has worked well for Inkpop’s “big brother” site called Authonomy. HarperCollins launched Authonomy in September 2008 as part of its adult division. Four publishing contracts have come from the site since then.

Inkpop’s design is much more focused on social networking than Authonomy’s: It’s a sort of Facebook for authors. The pages have brighter colors and more movement; users create profiles and amass friends. The home page contains a constant stream of updates to forums and stories, reading suggestions and the top-five most-popular projects for the month.

And, in the same way that you can “like” a friend’s picture from last night’s party on Facebook, Inkpop users can “pick” their favorite works. On Inkpop, the more “picks” an author receives, the closer he or she is to getting a book deal.

Picks work like votes. Readers can choose up to five projects for their pick lists. They can change their picks every day, but at the end of the month, the five novels, essays or poems on the most lists are named “top picks.” These top five authors get to send their manuscripts to a HarperCollins editor for review.

The publisher has already seen two of Burdette’s novels. She topped the February and May picks lists with “Revealing Colors” and “Lost Spirits.” Her emotional novels explore themes such as romance, death and abusive family through the lens of the paranormal.

Burdette recently received a critique from HarperCollins for “Lost Spirits.” The editor gave Burdette suggestions for her plot and characters. Though Burdette does not know whether HarperCollins will take “Lost Spirits” any further in the publishing process, just having a professional editor read her book is a rare opportunity. Now Burdette has her foot in the door and a better idea of what publishers want for the future.