Frequently Asked Questions:

What is Zirdland?

Within Zirdland, writers will be able to connect with publishers, producers and agents in a private and practical way. There is no public access to Zirdland. Literary works are not "on-display" and writers need not worry that others may borrow their ideas or capitalize on their literary property.

Zirdland uses a proprietary software system (patents pending) which actually reads creative works, will highlight what's working and what isn't, where writing is brilliant and where it falls flat. It also derives a genre classification, market categorization, and opens up a path for creating market partnerships.

Our system also tracks the publishing and film markets for trends in acquisition and development that can help place a book or script proposal into the right hands at the right time. There are many more features coming...

Is this an online agency or management company?

No. Zirdland is a place to develop market-ready literary works and present those properties to literary agents, editors, producers and the publishing industry. Zirdland was created to end the miserable experience of query letter shuffling and form-letter rejections and slush-piles of unwanted, unread manuscripts.

Zirdland collects no commissions. Membership is free. It's not a "display site" or a community-based site. Our goal is to help writers achieve marketability in their work, then to provide a conduit to the marketplace that is filtered according to preferences and search trends of those in literary acquisitions. It's more a matchmaking service, but also a private place where writers can work with some advanced editorial and story analysis tools, find jobs, compete with other writers in sponsored writing competitions, and focus on the craft while our e-marketing systems track down the most appropriate targets and query them on your behalf. If a publisher, film producer or agent takes an interest, we'll put you in direct contact with them. From there, it's up to you.

We know that fostering healthy demand for literary works, art, music and film is an equally important endeavor, which is why Zirdland supports non-prrofit organizations dedicated to literacy development and arts education.

Why would a writer be interested in this?

There are industry professionals looking for quality content - in publishing and in the media - and they're resorting to sequels and re-releases of old, tired concepts, and familiar formats, because it's absurdly difficult to find good new material - largely because there's no efficient way of managing the acquisition process. We're going to change that. The only writers we can think of, who would not be interested in a new method of marketing their work, would be writers who are already published. If that's you, congratulations, thanks for stopping by. If not, keep reading...

Why would an editor, film producer or agent be interested in Zirdland?

They know why. Everyone in the industry knows why. The slush piles of unread manuscripts are mountainous. Few companies can keep up with the back-log. Fewer still are able to respond to submissions - even by agents - in any reasonable amount of time. Market opportunities are being missed. Worthy material is being squandered. Potential top-list authors are left sitting on the sidelines because this hundred-year-old process of manually vetting out the good from the bad is too time-intensive, laborious and reliant on inefficient processes.

Contributing to this inefficieny is the fact that writers generally do not know who to submit their works to - often make inappropriate queries and unsolicited submissions which gunk up the system further, and then pester the editors and agents in defense of a rejection which forces the market to build barriers to unrepresented writers. Zirdland is changing that business model.

While there have been attempts to "matchmake" writers witb the market in the past, Zirdland provides a way to help writers create more market-worthy material through our Arc Angel manuscript analysis which is calibrated to the current bestseller market (based on the latest Neilsen Bookscan data). Works are scored alongside existing published bestsellers, and submissions by Zirdland members that score in that realm are then linked to the marketplace and carefully-targeted automated queries are sent out on the writer's behalf.

Each work in the Zirdland submission database has a profile or "zPage" which provides all the information a prospective buyer or agent would need in order to consider reviewing the manuscript. Because we maintain the privacy of our professional members and have limited releases from those submitting works, publishers, producers and agents reduce their liability, diminish their slushpiles, and don't even have to produce a rejection letter.

If they find something of interest, Zirdland then connects the potential buyer or agent directly with the writer and negotiations may move forward. Our job is done.

The submission process is not limited to writers. Producers can submit scripts for analysis, editors can submit manuscripts to see potential market ranking, and agents can track writers who are generating the highest rankings. Zirdland is a useful tool for electronically sifting the slushpiles. And rather than flatly reject a query or unsolicited submission, industry professionals now have a place to refer writers - an open channel to the market, rather than a dead-end rejection. It's better Karma all around.

What kinds of works can I submit?

BOOKS - manuscripts or self-published editions of:
FICTION: novels, novellas, short story collections, graphic novels, comic books, short stories.
NON-FICTION: poetry collections, how-to guides, trade manuals, educational books, almanacs, text books, specialty books, coffee table books, photograhy, art, and anything else you can think of.

SCRIPTS - all forms:
SCREENPLAYS (feature film)
TELEPLAYS (television features or series)
TREATMENTS
DOCUMENTARY SCRIPTS or OUTLINES
STAGE PLAYS or MUSICALS
CONCEPTS- pitches and ideas for new works:
WORKS-IN-PROGRESS - be it a book or script.
AN IDEA, premise or outline for a book, a film, a TV series or documentary.

Does Zirdland guarantee I will sell my work?

Nope. We can help connect you with editors, producers and agents who may be in the market for material similar to yours. Provided you describe it well when you list your title and create your zPage, it could attract some attention. You can track who is looking, and in the event that they are interested, they will initiate contact with you directly. You should consider having a qualified literary agent negotiate any offers. Fortunately, when the market begins to take an interest, you will likely be presented with proposals by agencies hoping to sign you as a client.

At no time is Zirdland "representing" you or your work. This site is strictly a development and promotional service for writers...and along the way, by cutting out the query letter, manuscript printing and mailing process, we're hopefully saving you money, the industry's time, and perhaps some forests. As with any marketing endeavor, results are not guaranteed, and you can never be certain what the response will be.

Market trends shift and cycle, so what may be in-demand today, could differ from what's hot tomorrow. The key is to remain visible in the market so when the trend shifts your way, you are there.

How many titles can I list?

As many as you want - completed works, works-in-progress, concepts, as long as it is your original work, and hasn't been sold (or indicate what rights are available). You will catagorize each so that industry people can more easily find your work if it matches what they've designated they're looking for. It's like a creative search engine.

Do I get a list of publishers and agents I can contact?

No. Because of our promise to industry professionals to maintain their privacy, we are not permitted to release their contact information. We will report to you which companies have looked at your listing or have received an e-mail query about your work. If a particular editor, agent or producer is interested, they will contact you. Keep in mind, that market interests change and cycle. Being visible to the right people at the right time with the right product is the key to success.

Can I limit who can see my work?

Yes. As you enter a new listing, you will have an opportunity to specify whether you want only publishers, or agents, or producers, or any combination to be able to view your work. Other writers are prohibited from reviewing your information or listings.

What is the Arc Angel Story Analysis thing I keep hearing about?

It's an online story analysis program which scans your novel, script, poem, or article and generates an in-depth guidance summary - helping you understand where your work needs editing to make it attractive to the market. It goes beneath the words and digs into the sub-text, looking for contextual meaning, can graph the emotions of your characters as the story unfolds, chart out your arcs and show you gaps in your plot-line, climaxes, vectored sub-plots, and thematic content. It sounds overwhelming, but when you see the Arc Angel in action you'll be amazed.

The Arc Angel is calibrated to the current book market. Remember, we're sifting the database for material that will sell based on what is currently selling and on our trend-tracking research. The ranking and scores produced by the Arc Angel are meant to direct future bestsellers to the market. It rewards great prose, dramatic content and good character development and resolution. Is it a perfect system? No. Writing styles are widely varied and some truly great literary properties may not get the score they deserve based solely on the writing. But the system is remarkably efficient in filtering out books that pique the interest of publishers and screenplays that actually get read by producers.

The tools are constantly evolving and we rely on feedback from our members.

So, I have to upload my book to use the Arc Angel tools? Is that safe?

Of course we recommend that you copyright your work. Our system uses a secure site protocol to prevent unauthorized access to your material. We will never display your work. Our marketing engine produces a one-page summary of your literary properties for querying purposes (similar to what you would create if you had to mail query letters out to prospective publishers), but we do not submit your manuscript or distribute your work in any way. That's something you will work out directly with anyone who indicates they'd like to know more about you or any of your works. You're under no obligation to upload anything. Membership is free and you're welcome to simply come in and browse the job postings if you'd like or shop in our store or contribute to our blog.

What's in the Zirdland store?

In addition to some cool toys, we allow our members who have self-published a book elsewhere, to sell their books in our webshop and receive 100% of the retail price. If you've ever tried to sell your books on amazon.com, you know how much they take. Here, you get it all.

I heard there's a Writer's Desktop environment in the works...when will I get to use that?

The Zirdland Writer's Desktop is an amazing set of tools for writers that converts your computer into a management center where you can work on your projects, receive real-time analysis on-the-fly, and for the first time anywhere actually see graphic representations of your story plot and character arcs. Writers and editors will be able to locate problem spots in manuscripts and screenplays and make revisions to the text from within the desktop environment. It's coming. If you register, we'll let you know when it's ready.

Okay, I have to know: what's a 'zird?

We get that a lot. It's actually a slang term for the little green lizard in the novel "The Zirdhunters" (by one of our founders) which becomes the objective for the story's hero. It's the book from which we derived the underlying philosophy of Zirdland: that the marketplace is like a jungle and it's far easier to lure the editors, producers and agents with a good work than to chase them through unfamiliar territory.

If you have a question that we haven't answered here, please write us: info@zirdland.com