Archive for the ‘General’ Category

DailyLit Readers Had a Literary Halloween

In our Question of the Week before Halloween we asked if you’ve ever dressed as a literary character for Halloween (or would like to) and encouraged you to send us pictures if you had. Here are two of our readers who took the plunge:

Here’s Asparagusqueen as a very dapper Edgar Allan Poe (check out the Raven in her arms):

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and emilyyoung–complete with fake nose-ring–as the edgy Lisbeth Salander from Steig Larsson’s The Girl Who Played with Fire:

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Thanks for sending in the photos! Hope you–and all our readers–had a happy Halloween.

Reading DailyLit in Google Reader

We recently discovered a bug that affected folks reading DailyLit by RSS using Google Reader. The problem prevented new books from auto-starting when they should–for instance, if you have a To-Read list and finish your current book, the next book on your list should automatically start, and for Google Reader users this wasn’t happening.

We’ve now fixed the bug. If you’re in the middle of reading a book in Google Reader you won’t be affected. If you’ve finished books in Google Reader, it’s possible you might receive an installment from those books, which is unfortunately an unavoidable consequence of our fixing this bug.

If you previously finished a book and expected another book to auto-start and didn’t see it, you can correct the problem by unsubscribing and resubscribing to the feed in Google Reader. Then the feed will update properly and bring you up to speed.

Happy Veteran’s Day

Today we thank our service men and women for their bravery and sacrifice. It’s because of them that we can live freely and safe from harm. Soldiers have been making life possible for thousands of years–the most famous veteran of them all might be, as this New York Times article suggests, Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey. After a long fight in the Trojan War, Odysseus longs for his home, Ithaca, and his wife Penelope. That promise of family and love, peace, and home sustain Odysseus through his long, arduous journey back. And it’s the promise of those things–for all of us–that soldiers fight for today. Thank you.

DailyLit Extern Projects Launch

I’ve always been a believer in internship and externship programs, particularly since I’ve been lucky enough in my own life to have greatly benefited from strong and supportive mentors.

We’ve started mentoring others here at DailyLit through both an internship and externship program.  It’s been wonderful to see the passion, insights and dedication that interns and externs have brought to DailyLit.  And these programs wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the programs’ overseers, Maggie Hilliard and Laura Kelly.

Today marks the launch of the initial projects from our DailyLit Extern Program.  We created this Externship Program for those interested in learning the digital publishing space – and there were only so many interns we could have working in our office at one time.  There were also a number of talented people working at large and small publishing houses who didn’t have the opportunity to learn the digital space in their current jobs. Incredibly talented people eager to learn was a resource we were eager to tap into.  And their projects show this talent.  For externs to complete their projects, they needed to dive into the world of social media, tap into on-line communities, start a blog and begin to tweet.  They also learned the basics of HTML (we gave them an introductory HTML class). The final projects are being launched on DailyLit.

You’ll see the fruits of the first externship projects  – “Authors in the Kitchen” by Megan Halpern here, and “The Ghost in the Pantry” by Erin Ferretti Slattery here. I hope you’ll join me in congratulating these externs on a job well done.

And I hope others will follow suit by starting their own mentoring programs.

Maintenance

We will be upgrading some systems tonight to be able to provide you an even better service in the future!  We expect DailyLit to be offline from 11pm Eastern for about 30 minutes.

For status updates please follow DailyLit on Twitter.

Update: 11:20pm Maintenance is finished and DailyLit is back online.

DailyLit Scheduled Maintenance

DailyLit and the DailyLit blog will be offline for scheduled maintenance from 3am to 4am EST on the morning of Thursday, July 30. Don’t worry: nothing will be lost, and your installments will still be delivered. If they’re scheduled for delivery between 3am and 4am, you’ll get them after the site goes back online at 4:00. Since this blog will be down during maintenance, check our Twitter account (@DailyLit) for updates.

Cory Doctorow’s “Little Brother” On Stage

The play’s the thing for one of our (and your) favorite DailyLit authors, Cory Doctorow.  His sci-fi novel Little Brother (which is free on DailyLit!) has been adapted for the stage and is currently being performed by the Griffin Theatre Company at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago. Boing Boing recently featured a few clips from the play, so everyone can checkit out. If you’re lucky enough to live in Chicago, you can see the play live–it runs through July 19. (And Cory himself will be stopping by on July 9!)

DailyLit News: June 2009

Dear DailyLit Reader,

Can you identify books with colors in the title (think: Red Badge of Courage); birds in the title (think: The Raven); or where the main character’s name is the title (think: Anna Karenina)? Those of you who’ve been participating in our forums know about those fun mini-challenges. Come play!

Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO, DailyLit
susan@dailylit.com

CLASSIC SHORTS: EIGHT STORIES FOR SUMMER

We’ve teamed up with Poets & Writers again to offer (for FREE!) Classic Shorts: Eight Short Stories for Summer. This will launch DailyLit’s series of short stories that you can enjoy throughout the year. Breeze through tales by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allan Poe, and other master authors. Read FOR FREE.

DAILYLIT’S BIG READ: AMERICA’S GREATEST HITS

Be the smartest person at your July 4th barbeque! Join our Big Read of America’s Greatest Hits: Inspirational Reads that Define a Nation.  From the Declaration of Independence to President Obama’s Inaugural Address, these are works that give voice to the American spirit. Read FOR FREE.

READER CHALLENGE: CLASSICS IN 6 WORDS

Reader “auistinblan” originally suggested this idea, and we loved it so much we thought we’d make it this month’s Reader Challenge. Take the biggest, most literary, or most “important” book you know and summarize it in 6 words–no more, no fewer–and share your micro-masterpieces in our Reader Challenge forum.

NEW BOOKS ON DAILYLIT

- Mary Higgins Clark: Best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark comes to DailyLit with Where are the Children? This thriller will take you to Cape Cod, a summer paradise that becomes one woman’s nightmare. TRY FOR FREE.

- Indulge yourself: Feed your spirit with Chocolate for a Woman’s Soul, a best-selling collection of inspirational essays that make for decadent summer reading. TRY FOR FREE.

- Money Money Money: Instant Income can give you tips and ideas to help get you through this recession. Best of all you can TRY FOR FREE.

- Waiting by the phone? Why Hasn’t He Called? can help you figure out why the phone isn’t ringing. TRY FOR FREE.

- More Seth Godin: Marketing guru Seth Godin returns to DailyLit to share how his unique business strategies can help non-profits in Flipping the Funnel: Non-Profit Edition. You can read it FOR FREE.

FORGET YOUR USERNAME OR PASSWORD?

We’ve just made logging in to DailyLit that much easier by enabling “third party identity.” You can now use your username and password from Google, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, AOL, Yahoo, Windows Live ID and OpenID, and you’ll be all set to go. Read more here.

DailyLit May Newsletter

Dear DailyLit Reader,

This month marks 2 years from our official launch – happy birthday to DailyLit!   What better way to celebrate than with free food – well, free recipes that is. Check out our launch of DailyLit’s Cookbook Tastes with Emeril at the Grill, just in time for Memorial Day. We’ve also got free essays by Toni Morrison and Nadine Gordimer from Burn This Book and a fun creative challenge that can help support the National Book Foundation. Oh, and your “To Read” list just got a lot smarter. Check out our new feature below.

Happy Memorial Day!

Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO, DailyLit
susan@dailylit.com.

DAILYLIT’S BIG READ
By popular request, we’ve named one of Sherlock Holmes’ most famous mysteries, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, as our next Big Read. With only 13 installments, it’s elementary, my dear Watson. READ FOR FREE.

NEW READER CHALLENGE
Imagine a sequel to your favorite book (think PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 2). Create a title and write the first sentence of that book. Then share your title and sentence in our Reader Challenge forum. You can read sample sequels FOR FREE via DailyLit to get your creative juices flowing. And, if you enter your sequel at www.bookthesequel.com as well, your creation could be selected for Book: The Sequel, to be published by the Perseus Book Group, with proceeds going to The National Book Foundation.  Deadline for entries: Thursday, May 28th at 4pm. Here’s one to get you going: “Call me, Ishmael!” from Moby Dick’s Guide to Dating at Sea.

FREE ESSAYS FROM BURN THIS BOOK
Read essays by Nobel Prize winners Toni Morrison and Nadine Gordimer that celebrate free speech.  READ FOR FREE.

FREE RECIPES FROM EMERIL AT THE GRILL
We’re launching DailyLit’s Cookbook Tastes (that is, a line of recipes from new and noteworthy cookbooks), and chef Emeril Lagasse is kicking off the line by making recipes from Emeril at the Grill available for FREE to DailyLit readers – just in time for Memorial Day. Check out his take on classic barbeque chicken or yellowfin tuna with pineapple salsa. And for dessert? Grilled banana split.   READ FOR FREE.

NOTEWORTHY BOOKS JUST LAUNCHED
- By popular demand, we’ve added another book by marketing master Seth Godin. Check out his Flipping the Funnel: Company Edition. READ FOR FREE.
- An award-winning journalist goes behind diets to find out from 21 women how they stay motivated, happy, and healthy in The Secrets of Skinny Chicks. TRY FOR FREE.
- If you blow off work to read your DailyLit installments all day, maybe it’s time to switch careers. Three Signs of a Miserable Job shows you what you can do to get back on a track you love. Just don’t give up your DailyLit! TRY FOR FREE.

TIP FOR BLACKBERRY USERS
In case your installments aren’t rendering properly on your Blackberry (or other mobile device), switch your format to plain text. Here’s what you need to do: click on the “Manage all your book settings” link in any installment, select the “More” option, and change the format from HTML to plain text. Or, you can visit DailyLit on your computer, log in with your username and password, and click on the “Manage the books you’re reading” link on your Settings page.

NEW: YOUR “TO READ” LIST JUST GOT A LOT SMARTER
We’re happy to introduce the new “To-Read” list auto-start feature. Now, when you finish reading a book, the next book on your “To-Read” BookList will automatically start arriving in your inbox. Learn more.

Join Etsy Book Club’s Discussion of Walden

DailyLit recently teamed up with Etsy to support their book club’s read of Walden by making it DailyLit’s Big Read. Tonight the book club will meet virtually and discuss their thoughts on this classic work by Henry David Thoreau. Readers are “gathering” online at 7:00pm EST tonight (May 20) at Etsy’s Virtual Labs. It’s the book club, 21<sup>st</sup> century style.

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