Inkubate is New...is it helpful to writers?

Inkubate is a new breed of writer-agent mediation. Seemingly born from the frustrations of writers and agents alike, Incubate seeks to bring fun back into writing again. The truth is writers will always have fun writing—we just get weary with the publishing business: its inefficiency, its lack of profitability.

But Inkubate may just prove that the hard-copy publishing industry is interested in changing to better serve writers (and agents alike). It's true, we writers do get frustrated from time to time. We get frustrated when agents ask for our partials and then never get back to us. We get frustrated that now our queries are no longer even replied to, even by automated responses of “no.” Agents get just as frustrated with us writers...sending in poor quality work or proposals that don't describe a project in detail…and just thinking about the mounds of queries that say "this is the next twilight!"  well, this makes we feel sorry for all the agents out there. So, that being said, I have hope that Inkubate can streamline and organize this mess of query letters that clogs in-boxes across America and that it can better serve writers so that when we do send out a query or proposal, someone actually responds to us. This is a business, after all...to all of us.

So how does it work? Inkubate, unlike agentinbox (which merely allows writers to upload queries and proposals to a small number of agencies) allows writers to upload writing samples, bios, and relevant information—that, wait for it…agents PAY to read. That’s right, I said “agents pay to read.” So be forewarned, if you want an agent to pay to read your work, your excerpt better be good. 

Inkubate is a writer’s portfolio on-line. It’s an organized data-base of writing, author bios, and new voices. It’s E-Harmony for the writing world.

But it’s not up and running yet…so take some time to examine the site and begin to create your portfolio. It may be worth your time.