mediabistro.com recently published an interview with Victoria Strauss, the fantasy writer who co-founded Writer Beware, an online resource that keeps tabs on agents and "publishing companies" who are, shall we say, less than scrupulous in their business practices.

"When I first went online in the mid-90s, I found all these forums and message boards about being scammed by charging agents and vanity publishers," Strauss tells Liz Funk."Back then there was almost no information about this ugly underbelly of publishing, and I was fascinated because I didn't know of this experience. I heard that the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America were looking for a volunteer to do a section of the Web site to warn about this kind of thing, and because I was interested and knew something, I volunteered."

Strauss also offers tips for how other writers can develop web sites dedicated to their own areas of expertise, but warns: "The reason to do something like this is not to turn this into a paying career. If you're going to do it right, you have to do it for the right reasons, to help people. Otherwise, why would you devote a huge amount of uncompensated time in the hopes of getting assignments in two years? The only reason to do something like this is if you feel really passionate about the issue."

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