Archive for April, 2009

Question of the Week: Lives in Writing

You’ve created some great mini-memoirs in response to our newest Reader Challenge. Tell us: which “regular size” biographies and autobiographies are your favorites, and why? Jump to our Question of the Week forum to weigh in.

The 6 Word Autobiography: Whose idea was it, anyway?

I just learned from Mark Hurst (of Good Experience and Gel conference fame) that the idea for the 6 Word Autobiography – our new reader challenge – came from the  folks at SMITH Magazine, where they dub it the “six-word memoir.” Thanks so much to Larry Smith and his crew for the inspirational idea. Check out SMITH Mag for lots of fun examples of six word memoirs.

DailyLit’s April Newsletter

Message from the CEO

We’re all crazily busy this time of year so I’ll get right to it: this month we’re featuring Who is Mark Twain? — a never-before published collection of essays by Mark Twain; our new Big Read of Thoreau’s Walden; a series of poems by late, great poets; and books by such bestselling authors as Nicholas Sparks, Eudora Welty, and Seth Godin.

We’ve also got a new creative challenge for you — to write a six word autobiography. That’s right — only 6 words!

Oh, and if you want to offer DailyLit titles on your website, join our new, free affiliate program (each installment will include a link back to your site); details are below.

As always, if you have any ideas for ways we can improve DailyLit, it would be great to hear from you. You can contact me or include your comments in our feedback forum.

Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO
susan@dailylit.com


DailyLit’s Big Read

In celebration of Earth Day, DailyLit’s next Big Read is Thoreau’s Walden. We got our inspiration from Etsy, which we’re working with in support of its virtual book club. Oh, and did I mention Walden is FREE?


Poems by Late, Great Poets — Exclusive to DailyLit

To celebrate National Poetry Month, we’re offering for FREE Masters of Verse, a lovely selection of poems (one a day) by late, great poets that was compiled by Poets & Writers, the non-profit organization that supports creative writers.


Bestselling, Prize-Winning Books

- Bestselling author Nicholas Sparks comes to DailyLit with The Lucky One. You can check it out by reading the first 5 INSTALLMENTS FOR FREE.

- By popular demand, we’re releasing another Seth Godin book: Unleashing the Ideavirus gives tips and strategies for building a viral and successful business. COMPLETELY FREE.

- We’re pleased to add Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginnings, a book USA Today called “a rare gift for us all.” Everyone can TRY FOR FREE.


Who is Mark Twain?

A first for DailyLit: courtesy of HarperStudio, we’re offering (for FREE) Who is Mark Twain?, a never before published collection of 24 essays written by, who else, Mark Twain! Here’s one of my favorite Twain quotes:
“My books are water; those of the great geniuses is wine. Everybody drinks water.”

And here’s a fun exchange with the editor of Who is Mark Twain?:
Question: The blogger Ben Sutherland said Mark Twain’s spirit “lives as a garden gnome in Stephen Colbert’s pants.” What do you make of that?
Answer: Doesn’t Sutherland have that backwards? Colbert is clearly the offspring of Mark Twain, not the other way around.
To find out what Mark Twain would have said about Barack Obama, read more here.


Affiliate Program

DailyLit is getting out there! We just launched our free affiliate program so that you too can offer DailyLit titles on your site. As an added bonus, DailyLit books found on your site will include a link back to your site in each installment. For more information, shoot us an email at affiliate@dailylit.com.


New Reader Challenge: The 6 Word Autobiography

Write a 6 word autobiography — that’s right, in exactly 6 words (no more, no less), tell us the story of your life. This is another inspirational idea from author Daniel Pink, who highlighted the importance of exercising your creative muscle for personal and professional success. And no fair making up words-that-don’t-exist-

normally-as-hyphenated-words so as not to exceed the limit! Post your autobiography here so we can all enjoy.


50 word Challenge Favorites

Remember, the challenge was to write a short story in exactly 50 words. We’ve had some great entries (over 100); check them out here and let us know which ones are your favorites.

And don’t forget to submit your 6 word autobiography for the new reader challenge.

DailyLit Collaborates with HarperStudio

We’re thrilled to announce an exciting collaboration with HarperStudio. I’ve been continually impressed by HarperStudio’s creative energy and excitement for digital initiatives, with Bob Miller and Debbie Stier leading the charge.

We’re launching this collaboration with Who is Mark Twain?, a collection of never-before-published-essays by—you guessed it—Mark Twain. And thanks to HarperStudio, this collection is being made completely free to DailyLit readers.

Question of the Week: Literature, Naturally

Earth Day is April 22, but we’re getting a jump start on thinking green with this week’s Question of the Week. Literature often features nature in striking, interesting ways–think of Thoreau’s connection to nature in Walden, for instance, or the sea in Moby Dick.

What’s your favorite book or passage about nature? Share your response in our Question of the Week Forum.

Question of the Week 2: Pick Your 50-Word Favorites

A few weeks ago, inspired by Daniel Pink’s book A Whole New Mind, we hosted our first reader challenge: write an entire story–with a beginning, middle, and end–in exactly 50 words. No more, no less. Lots of our readers rose to the challenge, posting more than 100 creative and concise mini-sagas.

For this week’s Question of the Week, we’d like to know: which one is your favorite? Check them out in our 50-Word Challenge forum, and let us know in the Question of the Week forum which mini-story you like best and why.  We’ll announce your favorite in our April newsletter.

DailyLit Launches Affiliate Program

DailyLit is getting out there! We’ve just launched an affiliate program, which allows third party sites to feature individual DailyLit books so that folks can sign up to read books via that site. The neat thing about this program is that each installment of the book includes a note that says “You found us through [name of site]” with a link to that site. Since a book may have over 100 installments sent to a reader’s email inbox each day, it’s a nice daily reminder of that affiliate site–and it’s completely free for the affiliate. The program is up and running on Poets & Writers’s website pw.org–check it out!

If you’re interested in being a DailyLit affiliate, write to us at support@dailylit.com.

DailyLit Teams Up With Etsy’s Book Club

We’re excited to announce that DailyLit has teamed up with Etsy’s Book Club for a group read of Thoreau’s Walden. You can join the thousands of folks who will be reading this classic book during April and May 2009. At the end of the group read Etsy will be hosting a virtual book club meeting at 7:00pm EST on May 20 at their Virtual Labs. In the meantime, you can share your thoughts and questions in our Walden forum. Head out into the woods and join us at Walden pond!

National Poetry Month Celebration with Poets & Writers

DailyLit is celebrating National Poetry Month together with Poets & Writers in the launch of 30 poems by late, great poets. This collection of poems, created exclusively for DailyLit, will be sent (one a day) to your email Inbox (or via RSS feed). Sign up here to start receiving them (for free).

Here’s a description of Masters of Verse: 30 Poems by Late, Great Poets:

Whitman and Yeats, Dickinson and Stein, Eliot and Frost. We all know their names. We’ve all read (or, in some instances, been forced to read) the poems that made them famous. But in their dusty tomes lie poetic gems to be uncovered, unexpected lines to be read, and new favorites to be found. This collection, compiled in celebration of National Poetry Month, offers some of the best-known poems—together with a few uncommon selections—for readers who want to revisit, reconsider, or even rediscover the lasting power of poems by the masters.

In case you’re not familiar with Poets & Writers, here’s a brief description:

Poets & Writers, Inc., is the primary source of information, support, and guidance for creative writers. Founded in 1970, it is the nation’s largest nonprofit literary organization serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. Their mission is to foster the professional development of poets and writers, to promote communication throughout the U.S. literary community, and to help create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public.

And DailyLit is all about appreciating literature by the widest possible public!

P.S. Don’t forget to tell us your favorite poem in this week’s Question of the Week!