Connect with Editors

Writing and publishing can be a lonely and frustrating pursuit, filled with mystery and suspense. Creative Byline is here to give you whatever coaching you'd like along the way, and then to help you get your work in front of editors you know are interested in your genre and qualifications. You'll know what they're seeing and when they see it. We make it easy to see exactly where you stand and what you can do next.

Get Started
It costs nothing to get started with Creative Byline. Just sign up for an Introductory Membership, and you can start to assemble the parts of the project package you'd submit to an editor. Our web site leads you through what you'll need to submit to get serious consideration in your genre. Adult fiction? A chapter outline and your first three chapters should do it. Nonfiction? The editor will require some additional information about the market.

Your manuscripts are safe on Creative Byline. You can consider it a back-up for your hard work on your hard drive.

Personal Home Page Tells You What's Where
You'll have a personal home page (below, Inclusive Member page shown) to help you keep track of your projects, their status, and the next steps or possibilities for each.

Writer's Home Page with Overview of Projects

	Your home page will also tell you how many editors are interested in your genre as you develop each project. The number of subscribing publishers continues to grow, covering more genres and markets. Creative Byline's "Words on Writing" will inspire, instruct, and encourage you along the way, linking you to additional resources, too, to help you polish your writing and think about readers.

	Help Editors Find You Editors look for writers, just as writers look for editors. As an Introductory Member, you can create a basic personal portfolio (below) so when they're searching for someone with your qualifications, they find you! (An expanded portfolio is part of Inclusive Membership.)

Get a First Reader Endorsement for Editors
When you're ready to move on to publishing, upgrade your membership to Inclusive (of course, you can also start out that way!). Part of the value of Creative Byline for editors is that manuscripts are assured, by our First Readers, to be ready for their review. Inclusive members can choose the level of support they'd like: a Basic, Intermediate, or Consultative Review, ranging in cost from $15 to $199. "I like people to tell me what I do wrong before I submit it," one of our members said.

Some of the most enthusiastic feedback we get from our members is about the positive, valuable, and constructive feedback they receive from our First Readers. And they're delighted that First Reader comments are typically received in a matter of days, not months. Quality of writing isn't black and white. We've introduced star ratings so you can see, beyond meeting basic requirements, how much more attractive to editors you could make your manuscript. Each of the review levels results in up to five stars, using the same scale of attributes.

Choose an Editor and Submit
As an Inclusive Member, you can research interested editors for current or future projects. On the editor's profile, you can see what he or she is looking for and has edited in the past. You can even see an out of office notice so you know how patient to be.

When you've received a rating of at least one star (of five), you're ready to choose an editor and submit your project. You'll see whether the editor has reviewed your manuscript, and you'll hear from them directly if she or he is interested--or with a friendly rejection.

If you hit a dead end (and we know there are a lot of them in publishing!), you can submit to another editor--and another after that, as long as there is another interested editor.

If no editor is interested in your manuscript right now, you can submit it to the Manuscript Library. Editors browse the library for the unexpected, the manuscript they didn't know they were looking for! Or we'll let you know when an new editor's criteria match your project.

Whether he or she finds you through the Library or your direct submission, as soon you've received word of their interest, you're off and running negotiating the future of your manuscript directly with that editor.

Connect with Editors
As an Inclusive Member, you can also expand your Portfolio to include your online activity (as much or as little as you choose), more about your specialties and interests, more published books, and other work samples: journalism, academic articles, screenplays, websites--whatever you've done! Including more information about yourself makes it easier for editors to find a perfect fit when they're looking for a writer for their own project.

Learn the Market
Inclusive Members also receive project-specific information about the market trend for each genre. Are people buying more of these books? Or fewer? And who is it, exactly: men or women? Young or old?

Save Money on Writing
With your membership, you'll also be eligible for discounts on office supplies from Staples, books from Barnes & Noble, and a subscription to Poets & Writers magazine.