Dream Catchers and Goodreads
by Mike O’Mary
Two news items this week, one for writers, one for readers:
1. Dream of Things launched a “Dream Catchers” section of its website to highlight authors whose work has been selected for future publication in a Dream of Things anthology. We get lots of great stories at Dream of Things, and our editors are constantly reviewing new submissions. The best creative nonfiction will be published in our anthologies. But putting an anthology together takes months.
Meantime, we’re sitting on all these great stories. Not anymore! Each week, we plan to feature a new story on the Dream Catchers section of dreamofthings.com. This week’s story is “Forever Sharp” by Terri Elders of Colville, Washington, and it will be published in an anthology about great teachers later this year.
2. Goodreads.com: I’m not sure the world needs another online social networking site, but if we have to make room for one more, goodreads.com looks like a pretty good one. It’s basically a place to rate books that you’ve read, share that info with others, and learn about new books you might want to read. Billed as “the largest social network for readers in the world” with 2.9 million members, Goodreads says, “Somehow, reading books seems to have gotten a bad rap. People are working too hard and not making time to read. But every once in a while you run into a friend who tells you about this ‘great new book I’m reading.’ And suddenly you’re excited to read it. It’s that kind of excitement that Goodreads is all about.”
Goodreads also looks like a good place for an author to set up shop. Take a look at the Goodreads Author Profile of yours truly for an example of what an author can do on their site.
Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, a book publisher currently accepting creative nonfiction stories for anthologies on 15 topics.
@Mike, we can always use another social media site
Seriously tho, I think maybe the more targeted social web tools are really valuable for reducing the signal to noise ratio…am checking out Goodreads.com now.
I’m waiting for a service that gives you a dashboard to see/manage/coordinate all of your social media activities. Perhaps it already exists…just haven’t found it yet.
Try Tweet Deck Mike….it even will do LinkedIn, but it’s a bit of a learning curve….I’m still a novice…
As a former English major, I absolutely love Goodreads.com! I’ve finally found a way to keep track of what I’ve read, and importantly, what’s on my ever-growing to-read list. One of the best things about the site is that it allows users to access others’ reviews of books, which can be quite informative and entertaining.
If you’re an avid reader or aspiring author, it’s definitely a worthwhile site to explore.