About Us
WordHustler is the collaborative brainchild of John L. Singleton and Anne Walls: two writers, dreamers, and cultural insurgents. We’re not some fly-by-night, business-suit-wearing mucky mucks who want to swindle the hard-earned loot out of writers’ wallets. We’re a pair of writers as well who, in the year 2008, couldn’t believe the antiquated ritual of printing out manuscripts, turning your home into an office supplies store, and waiting in line at the Post Office was the only way to send writing out to agents, publishers, editors, and more. Writing is the oldest form of expression….paper cuts and the taste of envelopes is NOT.
Though technology is evolving at a breakneck speed, the tools of writing are still surprisingly primitive compared to AVID editing systems and applications like PhotoShop. Things got so bad that a writer who had retired from programming (that would be John) decided to put his writing on hold to do something about this. Another writer who was busy writing and directing short films (Anne) put her films aside to join him, both determined to make things better, not just for ourselves, but for writers everywhere.
So we made WordHustler. For writers everywhere. And for us…two writers, sick to death of dealing with the chaos and ready for something easy, effective, and cheap enough to be utilized by everyone. Our mission is to integrate our innovative, friendly, smart software into people’s writing life. No more outdated databases and costly trips to Kinkos. No more making spreadsheets to attempt to keep track of all the agents you’ve queried via email. We want to extend the opportunity to be legitimately published to working writers, aspiring writers, and maybe even a few people who jot ideas down on napkins and old receipts, never thinking anything will come of it. That all changes now.
WordHustler adheres to the traditional publishing structure of researching markets and submitting responsibly, but we have digitally updated the process for the 21st century. We’re a small band of dreamers, working with the agents, editors, and publishers who struggle under the weighty strain of deciding what the world reads, and in turn thinks. We want to make their load a little lighter, and help bring books back to the masses.
We want WordHustler to evolve into a cultural experience, a collective consciousness, a place our clients’ brilliance not only passes through, but becomes a source of inspiration. We appreciate your interest in WordHustler. We’re all in this together.
At WordHustler, our philosophy is to be as open-and as transparent-as possible. We have no desire to become the writing market overlord of the Internet, nor exclude writers from reaching their dreams because we’d like to have say, a 1969 TransAM. (Black, tan interior, with the t-tops in case anyone is feeling generous.) For this reason we:
- Never charge for market listings. It’s just annoying. We trust you will find our service affordable and quite frankly, an indispensable tool on your road to writing success.
- Allow community moderation of all markets. The best way to find trustworthy information is the same way the entire artistic and scientific world advances: through peer-reviewed work.
- Never list markets that have received negative reviews, or have been deemed otherwise “predatory” to writers. Each of our markets is hand-reviewed. Really. We’ve gone through each one, kept the best, and left out the ones that require a check made out to “Bubba,” or require hidden fees.
The most important part of writing is getting the words on the paper. WordHustler takes care of everything else so you can do just that. The best part is that it’s already happening. We’ve helped a humor writer find a literary agent, a screenwriter place in a screenplay contest, and a mother of four become a published poet. And this is just the beginning. We appreciate your interest in WordHustler. We’re all in this together.
Best,
John and Anne
For more information…
Take a quick tour, read “WordHustler 101: Submissions Made Simple,” or check out our press page.
