Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO, DailyLit
susan [at] dailylit [dot] com

Diane von Furstenberg Brings Favorite Book to DailyLit for Free
Iconic designer Diane von Furstenberg has a holiday gift for you: one of her favorite reads this year is now available on DailyLit for free.  Madame de Stael: The First Modern Woman is a fast-paced biography that tells the glamorous, dramatic story of a woman who was a true force to be reckoned with. Vogue Magazine called it “a timely mediation on female power and an inspiring profile of one woman’s courage.” Thanks to Diane and the publisher, it’s free through the end of January. Read it.

New! DailyLit Kicks off “Big Ideas”
“Big Ideas” is designed to inspire you with new ideas for both work and play.  Kicking off this new channel is inspiration from Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book Crush It! Cash In on your Passion.  He grew his family’s wine business and became a national industry leader, landing him at #18 on AskMen.com’s list of 50 most influential Men of 2009. Read it–FREE.

DailyLit’s Big Read: Short Story by John Grisham
Bestselling author John Grisham just released his first ever collection of short stories, Ford County–and we’ve selected one as this month’s Big Read. “Fetching Raymond” is a simple, powerful story about a day one family knew was coming but still can’t face. Read it–FREE.

Reader Challenge
As bestselling author Daniel Pink wrote, exercising your creativity leads to personal and professional success.  With that in mind, and holiday dinners fast approaching, this month’s reader challenge asks you to imagine a fictional holiday gathering and describe–in no more than 50 words–a character, conversation or event at your holiday meal. Share your mini-stories in our Reader Challenge forum. And to sweeten the pot, we’ll select three winners, each of whom will receive a copy of Mollie Katzen’s new book, Get Cooking.

New reads
–Grammar Girl: She’s on the scene to make grammar easy and fun with her “quick and dirty” tips.  We’ve got a selection from her new book that will make you a better writer. Read it–FREE.
–Jane Perry Returns: In a second piece of original writing, Laurel Dewey’s inimitible heroine Detective Jane Perry returns to DailyLit. Get into her head with “You Can’t Judge a Book by its Cover,” a blog entry by the detective. Read it–FREE. (And if you missed the first installment, “An Unfinished Death,” read it here–FREE.)

Pause Your Books for the Holidays
You’ve always been able to suspend and resume delivery of your books using the links at the end of any installment. Now, with the holidays coming up, when you want to suspend your book, you can set a date for it to automatically resume.  Just click on the “suspend” link at the bottom of any installment to set it up.

Upload Your Picture Now–You May Win a Grisham Book
To make our community a little friendlier, join us for some facetime here at DailyLit.  Help us out by uploading a personalized profile picture. Your face, your cat, your favorite painting–doesn’t matter what you choose. And everyone with a personalized picture uploaded by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, November 22nd will be automatically entered to win one of five copies of John Grisham’s new book Ford County.

We’ve seen some comments from our own readers that show how well-loved Jane Perry is. Recently in our forums Lad525 said “I love the realness and straight talking attitude of her main character, Detective Jane Perry.” And Wildcat1733 was excited too:

“I just signed up with Daily Lit when I found out about them serializing original short stories by Laurel Dewey. Thank you! Thank you! I’ve read both Jane Perry novels (PROTECTOR and REDEMPTION) and devoured them. She has quickly become one of my top ten favorite writers. If you like your fiction gritty, creative, character-driven and thought-provoking, you too will LOVE Laurel Dewey’s stories.”

For her part, Dewey, who has said that Jane came to her, fully formed and “demanded that [Dewey] learn about her,” was surprised by how much her readers responded to Jane:

“I wasn’t prepared for was the massive connection Jane Perry would have with readers who ranged in age from fourteen to ninety. While her impatient, gritty, and often foul-mouthed behavior irritated some people, they also admitted that they couldn’t stop reading. The majority were drawn to Jane’s intelligence, compassion, intuition and brutal honesty, as well as the indelible impression she makes as a survivor….What was intriguing was that readers didn’t so much want to be like Jane; rather, they wanted to hang out with her.”

Unfinished Death–published for the first time on DailyLit–drops us into Jane’s world in the dark days before her first novel, Protector. We’ve been able to make this story–and the four novellas that will come out over the next four months–absolutely free thanks to the publisher, Storyplant, who’s counting down to the launch of Dewey’s book Redemption in February 2010. Enjoy!

If you’d like to read more about readers’ reactions to Jane Perry, visit Laurel Dewey’s site.

Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO, DailyLit
susan [at] dailylit [dot] com

New! DailyLit Style Kicks off with Shoes, Bags, and Tiaras
We’ve created DailyLit Style to bring you fashion, art and style of all kinds. Kicking off this line is Shoes, Bags, and Tiaras featuring objects from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London sent directly to your inbox one gorgeous object at a time. Read it—FREE.

New Reads: Recipes, A Rocker, and More
—Get Cooking by Mollie Katzen: The author of the best-selling “Moosewood Cookbook” has just released a brand new collection of recipes, from Genuine Mac & Cheese to Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crunchy Things; we’ve got a taste for you. Read it—FREE.
—Strange Things Happen by Stewart Copeland: He’s the drummer for The Police, one of the most successful rock bands of all time. Find out what happened backstage, pictures and all. Read it—FREE.
—Unfinished Death by Laurel Dewey: In anticipation of the paperback release of Dewey’s detective novel, “Redemption,” each month we’re releasing one original, never before published story featuring her inimitable character, Jane Perry. Read this month’s story—FREE.

DailyLit’s Big Read: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
With Halloween approaching, we’ve made the classic short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow our next Big Read. Join us in following our hero Ichabod Crane into the dark, misty woods. Read it—FREE:

Reader Challenge: Tea with the Queen
As a tribute to the launch of “Shoes, Bags, and Tiaras” from the Victoria & Albert Museum collection, this month’s Reader Challenge will challenge you to invite an unlikely character for tea with the queen.  Describe this encounter in one sentence and post your royal responses in our Reader Challenge Forum. (For those of you who took part in last month’s challenge, winners will be announced shortly.)

Fresh Voices, Fresh Tastes
We’re proud to announce the launch of two series from our very own DailyLit Externs: Authors in the Kitchen by Megan Halpern features bestselling authors, including Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife), talking about cooking and the stories that spice it up. The Ghost in the Pantry by Erin Ferretti-Slattery features recipes and stories that highlight’s her own family’s rich history. Read Authors in the Kitchen or The Ghost in the Pantry—FREE.

DailyLit Selects (This Week: Malcolm Gladwell)
DailyLit Selects is our on-going series of excerpts from new and noteworthy authors. This week we’re featuring an excerpt from Malcolm Gladwell’s new book What the Dog Saw. You can also check out excerpts from Dan Brown’s new book and Oprah’s latest book club pick. Read DailyLit Selects—FREE.

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

New: DailyLit Selects: Excerpt Program–Dan Brown Kicks it Off
You asked for excerpts from noteworthy books, and we’re making them available. To kick off this new program, we’re launching an excerpt from Dan Brown’s new book, The Lost Symbol. We’ll periodically send you excerpts from books we think you’ll enjoy. FREE for you.

DailyLit’s Big Read: Darwin’s On the Origin of Species
Join the world-wide celebration of the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and find out for yourself what all the controversy was about. We’ve taken the first four chapters and made them this month’s Big Read (but don’t worry, you can go on to read the rest of the chapters–or go for it all at once with the full version). Join the Big Read–FREE.

New Reads: 30 Stories in 30 Days; Momlogic; The 50th Law; Defining Twilight

• 30 Stories in 30 Days: A first for DailyLit. We’re joining in the countdown to the publication of author David Wellington’s Frostbite–a tale of werewolves in the frozen north–by releasing one of his short stories each day for 30 days, all for free. But no cheating! One story is released per day–you won’t be able to skip ahead. Read them—FREE.

• Momlogic Recession Survival Guide: Times are tough. The experts at Momlogic have created this guide to help you and your family get through the downturn. And it’s completely FREE–a price any budget can handle. Read it–FREE.

• The 50th Law: Robert Greene’s book The 48 Laws of Power was aimed at business types, but it deeply moved one fellow you might not expect: rapper 50 Cent. Greene and 50 teamed up to write The 50th Law, a book for everyone who believes that if you fear nothing, you will succeed. The publisher has made the entire book available to our readers. Read it–FREE.

• Defining Twilight: Studying for the SAT or ACT or know someone who is? Defining Twilight uses the blockbuster novel to teach vocabulary words and test-taking skills. We’ve got four weeks’ worth of words. Read it–FREE.

Reader Challenge: Crime-Noir in 50 Words with Guest Judge James Ellroy
Best-selling author James Ellroy is known for his intense crime-noir novels. He’s even been called the Demon Dog of American crime fiction. Venture into the world of hard-boiled cops and criminals and come up with your own 50 word mini-crime-noir. Don’t forget to create an intriguing title. James Ellroy himself will judge the entries and select three winners, each of whom will receive a signed copy of Ellroy’s new book (to be released on Sept. 22nd), Blood’s A Rover. Post your mini-crime-noir no later than October 4th at 11:59 p.m. in our Reader Challenge Forum.

Classics by Request–The Brothers Karamazov
Thanks to requests from “jogrebe,” “wsimpson,” “psycheinaboat,” and others, we’ve just launched The Brothers Karamazov on DailyLit. Experience the intense story of love, death, betrayal, and faith that makes this Dostoyevsky work–his last–a true classic. Read it–FREE.

Thanks again for all your support.

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

NPR’s List of “Best Beach Reads Ever”
Our usual Big Read is on vacation this month (it’s August, after all!). Instead, we thought we’d highlight books on DailyLit that made NPR’s list of “Best Beach Reads Ever” (as determined by its audience). Here they are—all available for FREE on DailyLit:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen;
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain;
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy;
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas;
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott;
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll;
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte;
Dracula by Bram Stoker;
and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. FREE for the taking.

Get Organized, Get Away, Get Thrills: New Books on DailyLit
—Get Organized: Staying organized doesn’t come easily to most kids—or to most parents for that matter. I’m definitely signing up for this series on Organizing the Disorganized Child: Tips and Tricks. It’s being made available for FREE on DailyLit thanks to HarperStudio, which is coming out with Organizing the Disorganized Child this fall.

—Get Away: August may be a popular vacation month, but if you can’t get away, escape with our Travel Books. Check out the 100 Places Every Woman Should Go or head out on safari with Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide.

—Get Thrills: If you’d rather read for thrills, we’re offering more short stories from best-selling author Jeffery Deaver in More Twisted and a pulp sci-fi classic, Star Ways, by award-winning author Poul Anderson.
Reader Challenge: Summer in 6 Words
With summer starting to wind down (ugh, can’t believe I said that!), this month’s reader challenge highlights a favorite back-to-school assignment. Tell us what you did on your summer vacation in—you guessed it—six words, and share your odes to summertime in our Reader Challenge Forum.
Tips and Tricks on DailyLit

Here are some useful tips you may not know that can help make DailyLit even easier to use:

—Customize: You can completely customize the delivery date, time, format (HTML or plain-text), and length (normal, 2X, or 4X) of your installments. Click on “Advanced” while you’re signing up for a book or click on the “Manage Your Book Settings” link at the end of any installment—then click on “More” next to the name of the book you want to edit.

—Connect: You can link your DailyLit profile to Twitter to let your followers know what you’ve been reading, become a fan of DailyLit on Facebook, and log in to DailyLit using Twitter, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Windows Live, MySpace, AOL, and OpenID. Oh, and you can follow @DailyLit on Twitter, too!

—Keep Track: You can create Booklists on DailyLit to keep track of books you like or books you want to read. And, when you finish your current book, the next book on your To-Read list will automatically start coming to you.

—Show Off: Show your friends what you’re reading by putting the DailyLit book roll onto your blog. Login to DailyLit and you’ll see a link to “Add a book roll to your blog” under the “Your Widgets” heading.

—Keep Up: If sometimes your scheduled installments don’t appear, don’t worry. Check your spam folder to see if they ended up there. If not, you can easily resend installments to yourself by following the directions here.

We have a real treat for you this month. One of my favorite authors, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jhumpa Lahiri, is making a short story available for FREE to DailyLit readers. We’re also offering a spy thriller by best-selling author Joe Finder for FREE. And, for some short summertime reads, check out stories by best-selling authors Jeffery Deaver and Mary Higgins Clark. Oh, and if you appreciate what we’ve been doing, come become a fan on Facebook.

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

DailyLit’s Big Read: Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Jhumpa Lahiri

Our new July Big Read is (drumroll please…) Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story, “Hell-Heaven,” from Unaccustomed Earth. For those of you not familiar with Jhumpa Lahiri, she’s a best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and deserves all the glowing praise there is; she’s simply amazing! Here she tells the story of a family forever changed by one woman’s quiet love. READ FOR FREE.

Featured Free Thriller: Paranoia by Best-selling Author Joe Finder

Best-selling author Joe Finder comes to DailyLit with the spy thriller Paranoia, made completely FREE for our readers. Here’s what you have in store: when a slacker employee crosses his boss, to avoid criminal charges he needs to spy on a rival corporation. Soon he’s in way over his head—and then the real nightmare begins. READ FOR FREE.

Reader Challenge: Summer Love in One Sentence

Inspiration for this month’s reader challenge came from Jhumpa Lahiri, who’s known for her turns of phrase that are short yet revealing. You’ll see what I mean when you read “Hell-Heaven”, this month’s Big Read, which tells the story of an unexpected love. In a single sentence—that’s right, a single sentence—tell your own story of summer love. Share your single-sentence love story in our Reader Challenge Forum.

Short Stories from Jeffery Deaver and Mary Higgins Clark

…are now here! Jeffery Deaver, described as the “grand master of the plot twist,” comes to DailyLit with thrilling crime stories. Get single stories for just $.99 (for a limited time only!) or read the whole collection, Twisted. And we’ve got mystery stories from Mary Higgins Clark’s The Lottery Winner, which spent 12 weeks on PW’s bestseller list.

Inspiring Tips for Your Life

- The Life Plan: Many of us would like to make our lives better but don’t know where to start. The Life Plan: 700 Simple Ways to Change Your Life for the Better offers daily tips and inspiration to improve your life throughout the year. Check it out HERE.

- My Start-Up Life: Here’s a book that will either inspire you or thoroughly depress you! At the age of 12 Ben Casnocha founded a company; by 19 he was a CEO. Just think of him as the Doogie Howser of Silicon Valley. Read it HERE.

Classics by Request

Thanks to requests from readers “Cloward” and “dreamdust,” we’ve just launched an early collection of poems by C.S. Lewis. Spirits in Bondage, one of Lewis’s first published works, is now available for FREE on DailyLit. Read C.S. Lewis for FREE.

DailyLit is on Facebook

DailyLit is on Facebook! Become a fan of DailyLit to see who else is reading with us and show your friends what you spend all your time at “work” doing. Plus, you’ll get the latest from DailyLit and find out about new books and features right as they happen. Become a fan and share your thoughts about DailyLit HERE. (Oh, and @DailyLit is on Twitter, too!)

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.

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.