Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2012 - The Winners When we asked you to nominate your favorite writing blog as one of the top 10 blogs for writers, we got a huge response! Great to see how passionate readers are about their favorite writing blog. As you’ll see there are some previous winners, as well as some talented new bloggers in the top 10 of 2012. How were the winners selected? Initial qualification: A site must have been nominated more than once by multiple individuals. Jeff Goins Writer Positive Writer The Creative Penn Make a Living Writing The Write Practice Live Write Thrive Moody Writing The Romance University The Renegade Writer The Writers [Inner] Journey Congratulations to all the winners! The badge of distinction: If you are a winner, display the badge you see above on your blog and link the badge back to this page. Readers, be sure to check out these awesome blogs! And please help spread the word. We’ll be inviting the winners to guest post on WTD so that all our readers can get to know and enjoy these excellent bloggers.
Story Starters: Creative Writing Prompts for Kids If you’re looking to inspire your students’ writing and creativity, turn to these fun and exciting writing prompts. Perfect for overcoming writer’s block or even starting a brand-new short story in a different narrative, creative writing prompts can help students begin a new piece with confidence. Plus, these story starters can also encourage students to explore different genres while honing their writing skills. There are a lot of ways you can use writing prompts in your classroom. Reading a book in a genre, then having students use a story starter in that same genre. Take inspiration from classics like Treasure Island and newer popular series like The Bad Guys to explore how to write thrilling adventure stories. You’re part of a pirate crew in search of a long-lost storied treasure trove. Get students excited about adventure stories with these great books: If you’re looking to inspire your students’ writing and creativity, turn to these fun and exciting writing prompts.
Reading Is Alive And Well At Social Reading Site Goodreads, Which Just Hit 10M Members Goodreads,the site that lets you share the books you’ve read, are reading, and want to read, says it has just hit the 10 million member mark. That means the company has doubled its registered user base in a little more than a year — 15 months, to be more precise. It took Goodreads four and a half years to reach 5 million members back in May 2011. Co-founder and CEO Otis Chandler tells me the “main accelerant of our growth this year” has the company’s new Facebook Open Graph app. He also says Goodreads’ book recommendation engine, which it launched in September after acquiring Discovereads.com, has played a big role in the growth. Chandler notes that “the publishing industry has a huge discovery problem, because books are going digital” and brick-and-mortar bookstores are disappearing. Goodreads claims to have more catalogued 360 million books, with 22 million (and climbing) added per month. The company also just moved into a new 6,000 square foot office in San Francisco.
Welcome to CrowdMed Book of Imaginary Beings Book of Imaginary Beings was written by Jorge Luis Borges, published in 1957 under the original Spanish title Manual de zoología fantástica, and expanded in 1967 and 1969 to the final El libro de los seres imaginarios. The English edition, created in collaboration with translator Norman Thomas di Giovanni, contains descriptions of 120 mythical beasts from folklore and literature. In the preface, Borges states that the book is to be read "as with all miscellanies... not... straight through... Rather we would like the reader to dip into the pages at random, just as one plays with the shifting patterns of a kaleidoscope"; and that "legends of men taking the shapes of animals" have been omitted. Creatures mentioned[edit] Á Bao A Qu A creature that lives on the staircase of the Tower of Victory in Chittor. Abtu and Anet Two identical fish that according to Egyptian legend swam in front of the prow of the sun god's ship on the lookout for danger. Alicanto Amphisbaena An Animal Imagined by Kafka Burak
Ganxy offers an easier way to sell and market ebooks The problem that Ganxy solves should be a simple one: How can authors and publishers market and sell books directly online from one central hub? But this question hasn’t had a simple answer until now — partly because of the many ebook retailers out there, and partly because many publishers still don’t understand direct marketing. New York-based startup Ganxy provides an easy solution. Ganxy also allows authors and publishers to track where their sales are coming from. It’s free to create a showcase, but Ganxy makes money in two ways. Ganxy also wants to appeal to readers. So far, a few clients are using Ganxy in beta: Diversion Books (the publisher of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the Washington Post ebooks, among others), romance author Barbara Freethy (who’s achieved huge success self-publishing her out-of-print titles as ebooks) and author and Cracked columnist Robert Brockway. Ganxy is entirely self-funded.
Amid Lawsuits From Publishers, Boundless Launches A Free, Open Alternative To Textbooks Since it first appeared earlier this year, Boston-based educational startup Boundless has been on a mission to ensure that college students have a free alternative to the pricey and bulky world of physical textbooks. The startup believes that an oligopoly of textbook publishers has been driving up costs for years (as the four top publishers currently control the lion’s share of the market) and so it set out to change that. Naturally, as a result, Boundless has found itself on the receiving end of litigation — courtesy of three of those top textbook publishers. Leaning on the $8 million it raised in April from Venrock, Nextview, Founder Collective and Kepha (and nearly $10 million total), the startup has since gone on the offensive, filing a motion to dismiss two of those claims last month, as it buckled down to fight its accusers. But to give you some quick background on Boundless: During its private beta, the startup emerged as a product (or proponent) of the Wikipedia Era.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Crowdsourcing: Aliza Sherman: 9781615640928: Amazon.com: Books Fuck Yeah Character Development! Quality eBook Writer and eBook Design Specialists - We Write eBooks - Writing eBooks Made Easy StoryBundle Pay-What-You-Want Book Sale Launches With Sci-Fi Titles StoryBundle is just one of a few new “pay-what-you-want” book deals blossoming from the ashes of traditional publishing like ferns after a forest fire. This service, run by former Gizmodo pop star Jason Chen, is one of the cooler offerings out there right now and they started out with the Big Bang package featuring up to seven sci-fi books for your perusal and purchase. You can donate as much (or as little) as you want and a portion of your cash can go to a charity. You can also stiff StoryBundle itself, giving all the cash to the author. Your choice. “My dream is two-fold,” wrote Chen in a blog post. Services like this closely mirror similar services in the gaming and media space including the Humble Bundle aimed at raising awareness of indie games and music. We covered competitor Snug Nugget last week but I think StoryBundle is definitely a bit prettier on the surface and the book offerings seem a bit more polished.
Forensic Psychology Back to Main Index / Back to Forensic Index / Back to Psychology Index Forensic Psychiatry / Profiling Important note: This whole section has been compiled from books and websites, with occasional help from people working in this field. Like the rest of Deep Background (of which this is only a small part), this information is designed for writers of X-Files fiction, and covers only those things that they might be expected to need. It is not a comprehensive guide to the subject. Forensic Psychiatry Forensic psychiatrists work with prisoners and criminals to assess their mental condition, treatment, and whether they are fit to plead or to be released. In particular, they establish: Is the defendant fit to plead? For the defendant to plead insanity he is admitting guilt - sauing that, yes, he did the crime, but here are the mitigating factors. Psychological Profiling As we all know, this is what Mulder did before the X-Files. For further information, read "Mindhunter" by John Douglas. Stress
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