Archive for March, 2011

DailyLit News = Fiction + Happiness

Here’s the latest news from DailyLit:

In short, you’ll find:
-Note from the Founder
-New: Short Story
-Happiness Quotations
-DailyLit Survey: Still Open
-Seeking Experts for Mini-Courses
-Creative Challenge: Spring Incarnated

And here it is:

NOTE FROM THE FOUNDER

Many thanks to all of you who’ve taken our survey. I continue to be blown away by your enthusiasm for DailyLit, and I’ve learned so much, including your appetite for more literary fiction. Just to show I really listen, this month I’m featuring a short piece of literary fiction. If you haven’t had a chance to take the survey, don’t worry, there’s still time. Make your wishes known here. And speaking of wishes, I wish it would turn warm (I suppose “Spring” didn’t get the warm weather memo). So, to get us through these last cold days, a bestselling author on happiness has put together a month’s worth of Happiness Quotations designed to boost your happiness.
Cheers — to a happy Spring!
-Susan

Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO, DailyLit
sdanziger@dailylit.com
Twitter:@susandanziger, @dailylit

NEW: SHORT STORY

I really enjoyed this short story by Urban Waite. It’s about a family in turmoil, dealing with the ups and downs of love. In the course of one afternoon on a desolate beach, two brothers are forced to face the complicated relationship of their parents and find a way to move forward. You can find this story (called “The Life and Death of Seals”) here.

HAPPINESS QUOTATIONS

To cheer us all up on these last cold days, Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Happiness Project, created a month’s worth of Happiness Quotations from writers, photographers, presidents and philosophers. Imagine each day being treated to the words of Virginia Woolf, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Diane Arbus, Walt Whitman, and even Leonardo Da Vinci. Thanks, Gretchen!

DAILYLIT SURVEY: STILL OPEN

Thanks to all of you who’ve completed our survey. There’s still time for those of you who haven’t had a chance to take it; it’s a really helpful way for me to learn what you’d like to read and the kinds of books and stories I should be featuring on DailyLit. You can take it here. Thanks for your help!

SEEKING EXPERTS FOR MINI-COURSES

If you’re an expert in a particular field, perhaps you’d be interested in creating a mini-course for DailyLit. I’m open to your ideas — could be anything from a course on wine appreciation to a mini-language or history course. If you’re interested, please send me an email at: sdanziger@dailylit.com and include “EXPERT” in the subject line. There’s also a place in the survey to express your interest, but please don’t forget to include your contact information (some of you forgot to include your contact details!).

CREATIVE CHALLENGE: SPRING INCARNATED

In honor of the changing seasons, here’s a creative challenge for you: if the season, Spring, were to take human or animal form, what would it be like? You can post your description here in our forum.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

Spring Incarnated

In honor of the changing seasons, here’s DailyLit’s new creative challenge: if the season, Spring, were to take human or animal form, what would it be like? You can post your description here in DailyLit’s forum.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

DailyLit Asks: Fiction or Non-Fiction?

DailyLit’s Question of the Week: fiction or non-fiction? Post your preference here.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

DailyLit Launches Urban Waite’s Short Story

I’ve been listening to DailyLit readers who’ve asked for more literary fiction (thanks to those who filled out our survey!) I’m pleased to announce the launch on DailyLit of Urban Waite’s short story, “The Life and Death of Seals”, which I really enjoyed. Here’s a description of the story:

“The Life and Death of Seals” is a story about a family in turmoil, dealing with the ups and downs of love. Two brothers are forced to deal with the complicated relationship between their parents, a rift threatening to tear the entire family apart. It is during the course of one afternoon on a desolate beach that the boys must sort through their complicated memories and find a way to move forward.

You can find this story here on DailyLit. And there’s still time to fill out DailyLit’s survey to make your wishes known.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

Spring is about to be Sprung

It’s an amazing day here in New York. I can actually taste spring. And given that spring official starts this Sunday, I thought I’d feature this poem by William Wordsworth, “Lines Written in Early Spring”:

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:–
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

-William Wordsworth

In case you’d like Wordsworth poems sent to your inbox on a daily basis, you can sign up for Wordsworth poetry here on DailyLit.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

DailyLit Celebrates St. Patricks Day

DailyLit is wearing green today. To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we’ve just launched our monthly creative challenge to compose a limerick (or share your favorite) here in our forums.

We’re also tweeting out lines on Twitter today from great Irish authors. Feel free to tweet back your favorites as well.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

DailyLit Launches Happiness Quotations (selected by bestselling Happiness Project author)

Today’s my birthday, and as I blew out the candles on my surprise breakfast treats, I wished for happiness for my family and me. Well, OK, there is my broken laptop that badly needs replacing (hint, hint) but second, absolutely, was happiness. So, with that, I’m launching a month’s worth of Happiness Quotations selected by bestselling writer Gretchen Rubin (of The Happiness Project). I’ve known Gretchen for a couple of years now, and she continues to impress me with her curiosity, intelligence, and, well, with just being a basically lovely person. Here’s what she says: “One of the best ways to boost your happiness is to take the time to think about happiness. This month, you can read a short, thought-provoking quotation about happiness every day.”

So with that, I hope you’ll join me in receiving these daily hand-picked happiness-boosting quotations that you can find on DailyLit here.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

DailyLit’s Celebrates Favorite Words this Week

DailyLit is celebrating favorite words this week. The question of the week in DailyLit’s forums is “What’s your favorite word?” and on Twitter, I’m featuring my favorite words.

I was inspired by the writer Colm Toibin, whom I recently saw speak at the New York Public Library. He mentioned that he loved the word “pounce.” I also think it’s a lovely word. And so I thought it would be fun to feature favorite words and find out which words you like. They could be any kind of word — onomatopoeic (hey, that’s a favorite word!), melodic, or just plain fun.

So, what’s your favorite word? Enter them in DailyLit’s Favorite Word Forum here.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.