Back on March 10, the doors opened on the new ManuscriptWishList.com, and since I'm on the board of the site, it sent quite a bit of traffic over to this site as well as making my Twitter followers take a pretty big spike. It came out of nowhere to a lot of people, as fellow writers and others I knew in the writing/publishing community told me that they had no idea I was part of it.
For good reason. This was a pretty secret project, mostly because we didn't want people to know what the new version was capable of.
But if you were curious about how this all unfolded, let's jump in the TARDIS and travel back to mid-2015...
Back then, I was still sending out queries to agents. I was aware of the #MSWL hashtag but I had only just found the actual site they launched at manuscriptwishlist.com. There were a number of agent directories out there, but this was unique because of direct input from agents and editors -- actual profiles instead of just a few genre listings.
I used the site to find a few more agents to add to my query list** and, because I'm a web developer, I poked around with the site's code and CSS. It's pretty easy for me to tell when a site is powered by WordPress, either the free software installed on a host or the free blogging service. As a little bit of a pay-it-forward gesture, I used the contact form on the site and explained that as a writer, I used the site, and as a web developer, I could help tweak the CSS or the general config if they wanted a volunteer.
Manuscript Wish List creator Jessica Sinsheimer answered my note and thus began a conversation about what was really possible. I told Jessica to send me a list of features for her pie-in-the-sky version of the MSWL site. At the same time, I put her in touch with Sierra Godfrey Fong, my main critique partner and graphic design partner at Atmosphere Websites.
Jessica's list was feasible and I proposed that we build a site from the bottom up. Sierra agreed to handle all of the graphic design elements (layout, logo, images, etc.) while I worked on the functionality of the site. The first -- and most important -- feature: give agents and editors the ability to own and update their own profile.
However, almost all of the features could realistically be handled. I suggested implementing it in stages and prioritizing it based on what was most important (seriously, I made massive spreadsheets to keep things organized), and this was something that we'll be building on over the next few months of the site. Once we all agreed on a direction, I built a beta version while Sierra iterated the aesthetic possibilities. This also included a lovely early 2016 meetup at Philz Coffee in South San Francisco while Jessica was out in California.
That led to a whirlwind of testing, bug-hunting, and tweaking, all leading up to the March 10 launch (and one unexpected surprise: there was so much traffic at launch that the server was overwhelmed). From the feedback we've gotten on all sides, agents, editors, and writers alike are excited about the site and putting it to good use. And I'll continue to work on the site, providing tech support and looking at how to implement new features.
My initial offer was a gesture of good faith, of giving back to the writing community that provided me with support, knowledge, advice, and options on my way to signing with a literary agent. Now that it's up and running, I want to help it keep growing, not just in recognition but also possibilities. There are countless brilliant unpublished writers out there, and if I can help some of them get connected with the agents and editors who will bring their work to market, I'm happy to do so.
**Does MSWL actually work? While I wound up signing with Eric Smith of PS Literary, I actually had some competing offers, one of which was from an agent who was closed to general queries but open to those who matched her MSWL. So I would say yes, it definitely works.
