so, good news. i joined the fledgling authoring website www.bookrix.com in december, after a friend tipped me to it. the site was created by german Bookrix:
"BookRix is an internet portal and the first book community where anyone can place their own books, short stories, poems etc. to be promoted on the web, just like a published piece. The massive Web 2.0 - Projects, which have been hugely popular with music, video and photography fans, now have a sister platform, which will delight literature fans around the world: BookRix."
(from the website)
a free community offering writers of all stature an avenue to expose their work on the internets. writers get to pretty up their virtual manuscripts, choosing cover design, layout and fonts. the virtual books operate like "real" books, flipping pages as you direct, including title pages and forward. it's pretty darned cool. i'm still nervous about the first e-rights, but since i've published only specific works i don't plan to publish elsewhere, i'm happy with the public outlet.
since the english side of the site is still very new, and membership (free!) is still scraggly, the site held a contest in january for writers and readers. writers post their virtual books for the contest, and the works with the highest recommendation counts on feb 15th win. first prize: $2000, second prize: $1000, and third through fifth places: a new kindle. i placed fourth!! the kindle2 will be shipped in march, when amazon refills supply. woohoo!!!
the contest wasn't my favorite type, focusing on popularity and networking rather than writing ability, but i remind myself that networking and getting others excited about my work is a huge part of being a published writer. a successful one, anyway. i'm not so great at it, tending to shy away from conversations about my writing aspirations, what i write about, why people would enjoy my stories, etc. this contest showed me i may need to work on stretching that comfort zone, but also that i'm not at the lowest schmoozing rung, either. i don't know a lot of people, but at least i'm aware of the importance of reaching out.
also, i gotta give credit to my friend and cohort stewart--he won first place, and also garnered several recommendations for my contest entry along the way.
so, long story short: i won a kindle2!!!!! woohooo!!!!!
check out www.bookrix.com if you're interested in finding a writer's community on its ground floor--it's still small enough to gain significant attention, but developed enough to offer several different viewpoints and levels of talent. plus, it's got that kicky european sensibility. some of the navigation buttons still respond in german. :D
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well done laurie. so did you actually win money? great stuff if you did.
ReplyDeletethe blog address you gave me was wrong: it's not www. it's http;// but i worked it out and found you. going for a little read now. x
woops! glad you succeeded despite my directions, irene--thanks for stopping by. :)
ReplyDelete(money? naw, no money. but the kindle's plenty exciting for me.)