Preview #9 - Introducing AuthorAdvance!

The following is reprinted from our email newsletter, which went out earlier this morning...


Two years ago, a little website called LitMatch was launched with the goal of helping writers find literary agents, and ultimately, get published. Later this year, LitMatch will relaunch with a new mission that encompasses a wider spectrum of writers and their work. With this new mission comes a new look and a new name!


Introducing AuthorAdvance! AuthorAdvance is a complete social network that lets writers connect, share interests, and find help with their work. Expanded listings allow users to add and edit publishers, markets, contests and resources to help them improve their work and find publication. Enhanced submission tracking helps writers organize their careers and free up more time for writing. Best of all, everything's connected, making it easier than ever to find the information you want and meet people with similar interests and goals.

AuthorAdvance is currently set to launch in late October, 2009. In the meantime, watch this newsletter, along with the LitMatch blog, for more information and previews.

Thank you to everyone who helped make LitMatch a success. We think you're going to love what AuthorAdvance has in store for the future.

Sincerely,

Christopher Hawkins
LitMatch.net

Preview #8 - Getting the Message

Now that you have an idea of what your fellow users all about, you might want to get in touch with those users. We've built a few options into the new site that make that possible, and allow each user to have as much or as little contact as he or she chooses...

Private Messages: These messages are simply short notes that users can send to each other. The site keeps track of message history between users, so you can easily view entire conversations that might take place over several days or weeks. If a conversation gets out of hand, you can block that user from sending you further messages.

Email Contact Form: For situations where private messages aren't enough, each user has the option to enable a personal email contact form. This form allows other users to send you emails without you having to expose your email address on the site. Messages arrive in your own inbox, where you can reply (or not reply) at your leisure.

Forums: One-on-one conversations are fine, but sometimes you want to speak to a lot of people all at once. That's where forums come in. If you've used forums on other sites, there won't be a lot of surprises here (well, maybe one or two, which I'll speak to at a later date). Users post messages, other users reply, and everyone gets a chance to read and participate.

Comments: Just like on the existing site, users have the opportunity to post comments on the content they view. On the new site, there's a lot more content to comment on, including content directly created by and related to other users. Because of this, comments have the potential to become conversations in and of themselves, and allow you yet another chance to better know your fellow writers.

There you have it. Time permitting, I'll be back with another preview before the end of this week. If you're a newsletter subscriber, watch your inbox next week for an important announcement about the redesign, one that will change the face of LitMatch forever!

Christopher Hawkins
LitMatch.net

Preview #7 - User Profiles

In my first preview, I wrote about some of the motivations behind the LitMatch redesign. Of those motivations, one of the biggest was wanting to find a way to allow our users to find and connect with each other. It was that desire that led us to decide early on that the new site would go beyond presenting listings and tracking submissions, and become a full-flegded social network.

The next series of previews will focus on some of the social networking features on the new site. Let's start by taking a look at how users can share information about themselves with each other.

When you first log on to the new site, one of the first things you'll want to do is complete your user profile page. The user profile contains basic information about yourself that you choose to share with other users. It is the face that you present on the site, and can contain as much, or as little, information about yourself as you care to share.

First off is the basic information. You can post your real name; a link to your website; your general location; whether you're a writer, agent, editor, etc.; and a few paragraphs about yourself. There's also space for a profile image, which will appear alongside some of the other content you can create on the site, as well as lists of the content you've created or contributed to. We've also added a status message, similar to the ones you see on Facebook and MySpace, that lets you share up-to-the minute information about yourself, your mood, what you're working on, or anything else that comes to mind.

Your profile also provides some powerful options to help you connect with other users who share similar interests, as well as to help you find experts who might be willing to help you improve your writing. Each user can enter lists for their favorite authors, interests & hobbies, and areas of expertise. Other users can then search on these terms, or click on a term from a user profile, in order to find users with similar interests or needs.

It's a simple thing, but it has some powerful applications. Most obviously, it lets you find users you might want to get to know, because they have interests in line with your own. It also allows you to find users who might be able to help you develop your writing. Need an expert in space exploration for your science fiction novel, or a Civil War re-enactor to help with your historical novel? Just run a search. Looking for an H.P. Lovecraft fan to help critique your new horror story? Look one up. As the site continues to grow and develop, so too will the number of ways that you can meaningfully connect with other users.

Once you find other users, you'll need some ways to contact them. In the next preview, I'll go over the new ways in which users will be able to talk to each other. Until then, have a great Labor Day weekend, and try to get some writing in as well!

Christopher Hawkins
LitMatch.net

Preview #6 - A Commitment to Free

LitMatch has always been a free service. As these previews move forward, and we get closer to launching the new site, I think it's important to note that our commitment to offering a free service will continue.

That means that the new website will be free. Registration is free. The listings are free. Submission tracking is free. The social networking features are free. Simple , right?

But it's a little bit more than that. Being committed to offering a free service means being committed to sustaining that free service, and making sure that the site remains free and available for years to come. But running a website costs money. In the past, we've met our costs (to varying degrees of success) through advertising alone. The new site will still depend, in part, on advertising, but in time it will also incorporate a few subscription-based features that will work in concert with the free bulk of the site to help us pay the bills.

Those features are still down the road a ways. The point I'd like to make here is that any feature that's free now will stay free. Further, all the new features that I talk about in these previews will also be free.

Just as important, everything that's free is going to stay free. We're not going to reduce our feature set or ask you to suddenly start paying for something you've been getting all along for nothing. At it's core, LitMatch is free, and it always will be free.

That's it for now. In the next preview, I'll reveal some more free features, focusing on a few that will help writers connect with each other...

Christopher Hawkins
LitMatch.net