Absolute Write Water Cooler

Absolute Write Water Cooler is one of the longest-running writer communities on the internet, founded in 1998 by Jenna Glatzer and operating under current owner MacAllister Stone since 2006. Its roughly 80 boards cover writing craft and publishing across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenwriting. For self-publishing authors, the primary reason to bookmark it is a single board: Bewares, Recommendations & Background Check.

The Bewares Board#

The Bewares & Background Check board is the most comprehensive free scam-warning database in publishing. Maintained in partnership with Victoria Strauss's Writer Beware organization, it contains decades of documented warnings, recommendations, and background checks on literary agents, traditional publishers, vanity presses, editing services, cover designers, and publishing service providers of all types. Before paying any publishing service, searching the provider's name in the Bewares board is standard professional due diligence.

The board maintains pinned index threads covering:

• Agents and literary agencies
• Publishers and publishing services
• "Writer Beware's 20 Worst Agents" — the canonical scam-agent list
• Other writing-adjacent services and resources

What Else It Covers#

Beyond the Bewares board, Absolute Write includes:

• Self-Publishing subforum — dedicated indie publishing discussion with 500+ archived threads
• Query Letter Hell — query critique for authors pursuing traditional or hybrid publishing
• Genre boards — fantasy, science fiction, romance, thriller, mystery, literary fiction, and more
• Tech Tools and Tech Help — software, formatting, and technical questions
• Share Your Work — critique communities across genres and formats

Strengths#

• Bewares board has no equivalent — the most complete free agent/publisher vetting database online, with decades of documented histories for most predatory operators
• Writer Beware partnership — directly connected to the most authoritative publishing scam watchdog organization
• Strong anti-spam moderation — vendor solicitation and self-promotion are aggressively removed from discussion boards
• Zero AI tolerance — AI-generated content (posts, writing, graphics, avatars) is prohibited; violation results in immediate permanent banning

Limitations#

• Trad-pub bias: The community culture skews toward traditional publishing. For self-publishing strategy and marketing tactics, 20Books to 50K or Wide for the Win are better choices.
• Registration friction: Automatic registration is periodically disabled for DDOS mitigation. When disabled, submit a request via the Contact Us link in any forum footer and wait for manual admin registration.
• Mixed moderation reputation: Trustpilot shows 2.0/5 from 11 reviews, with recurring complaints about heavy-handed moderation. Writer Beware attributed some of this criticism to a coordinated 2014 smear campaign, but complaints persist through 2024.
• Slower pace: Forum threads don't support real-time discussion; Facebook groups and Discord servers are more responsive for time-sensitive questions.
• Post-outage recovery: The forum was offline from approximately 2019 through June 2021 for a major server migration, returning to a smaller active base than its pre-outage peak.

Registration#

Registration is free. When automatic registration is enabled, new accounts require email verification and admin approval (typically a few days). When disabled for DDOS mitigation, submit a request via the Contact Us link in any forum footer. AI-generated content of any kind — posts, writing samples, images, avatars — results in immediate permanent banning.

Pricing: Free, with optional voluntary contributions to defray server costs.

Bottom Line#

Absolute Write is not the best place for indie publishing strategy — dedicated communities serve that better. It is, however, an indispensable safety resource. The Bewares board belongs in every indie author's bookmarks as a first stop before hiring any publishing service provider.