Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers

List Your Favorite Top 5 Sites

If you are anything like me you have sites you visit over and over again. Let's share our favorites, say why we like them and perhaps help each other discover someplace new!

NPR: National Public Radio - I adore this site because the content is varied, timely and thought-provoking. Don't dismiss public radio as being stuffy and old-fashioned because it's not. We also listen to their radio broadcasts in the car. Authors and new books are often discussed. For example I heard about Redemption by Stacey Lannert via an interview with her on NPR's syndication of The Diane Rehm Show and would love to read this now.

At the age of 18, Stacey Lannert shot her father twice while he slept. He had sexually abused her from the age of 8, but the final straw came when he also began raping her younger sister. Lannert confessed and was found guilty of first-degree murder. The judge later said the mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole was severe for someone her age and somewhat surprising considering the sexual abuse by her father. At age 36, she was given a shot at redemption when the outgoing governor of Missouri commuted her sentence. Stacey Lannert tells the story of how she learned to be free while living behind bars.

(More on that book here). NPR's a great place to discover new authors you may not have heard of and listen or read serious discussions when you're sick of superficial fluff.

Google Trends - Because I write articles on wildly varied subjects, I need to keep up with what the hot topics are in various niches and know what people are talking about. Enter Google Trends. This tells you what topics are currently being searched most. The Trends column is updated daily and the Hot Searches on an hourly basis. It's also handy for inspiring topic ideas.

Feedly Cover page example

Feedly - Feedly is an RSS feed aggregator. It's available as a free add-on for Firefox and Chrome browser users, for Safari and also as an iPhone app, although not yet for IE. What it does is pull together all your RSS feed subscriptions into a magazine style format, allowing you to save, hide or recommend individual articles. You can split your chosen feeds into different folder categories. Feedly also offers suggestions on sites you may like. There are more options but those are the most common I use. I use Feedly every single day.

Thesaurus.com - I am too lazy to pull a book down from a shelf and look it up very time conscious when I'm on deadline and every minute saved counts. That's why I used the online Thesaurus option on those days when my brain can find almost but not quite the right word.

Publishers Weekly - if you want to keep up with all the business news, personnel changes in the industry as well as upcoming releases, this is a good place to do it.

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Permalink Reply by Brooklynn Macey Derryberry on March 16, 2011 at 2:16pm

Facebook.com- Im addicted and can talk to all my friends who dont have cellphones or just to chat (=

Authors.com- I lvoe writing and visiting the Forum very often((=

Yahoo.com Answers- I like putting my questions out there, and answereing some questions.

Youtube.com- So very entertaining, watching people express theirselves(= Is very entertaining.

Music.com- Watching my favorite music videos is totally awesome when im bored(=

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Permalink Reply by Aries on March 21, 2011 at 4:43pm

http://e-shuushuu.net/ Worksafe anime imageboard. I'm a regular contributor when I feel like it and you'd be surprised how often people want to cry on my shoulder

http://www.gensokyo.org/ How I keep up with everything Touhou-related, official and fandom, since I'm a fan of the series myself.

http://kawaii-radio.net/ Owned by the Shuushuu guy, 24/7 streaming music of Japanese origin.

http://consumerist.com/ How I keep up with what companies to avoid

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage Great, there goes my week.

That's the ones I'll admit to anyway ;)

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Permalink Reply by Sally Pomeroy on April 19, 2011 at 9:20pm

Hee-hee, I use Thesaurus.com almost every day too, time concious, not lazy!

Here's another fun one that I just found http://www.phrases.org.uk/index.html fun for lovers of language.

I also like http://www.tastebook.com because I'm too 'time conscious' to find the right cookbook.

Hulu.com to keep up on my favorite tv.

and I visit Authors.com and goodreads every day too.

Thanks for the mention of Feedly, I've been trying to figure out RSS and this looks perfect!

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Permalink Reply by Toby Whaymand on April 22, 2011 at 12:36pm

Because I have friends all over the place, specially in Norway I am very dependent on Facebook.

Because Donkeyboy are the greatest band in the world, you have to visit: http://donkeyboymusic.no/

I love NRK Mp3 for non stop dance music. NRK is a Norwegian BBC (But trendy!) Mp3 is just one NRK's many radio stations. The link is: http://www.nrk.no/mp3/

When I need support with writing Authors.com is cool - I guess I have to say that! :-) hehe