Google has unveiled a whole new set of tools for video chats on the Google+ social network. As you can see by the Google+ Hangouts dashboard icons embedded above, you have new options. If you select the “Screenshare” icon, you…

Are you a marketing whiz? Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group is looking for a new digital marketing manager to join its New York team. In this role, you’ll help manage and execute all digital marketing initiatives, ensuring that deadlines are met.…

Artist Hannah Friederichs has created a beautiful tribute to the late Maurice Sendak, painting The Avengers comic book heroes in the style of the children’s book author. Click the photo embedded above to enlarge. If you visit Friederichs’ page,…

Listen: Jeff Alessandrelli – “‘When the mouth dies who misses you?’ —John Berryman” Today’s poem is taken from issue #23 of InDigest. Jeff Alessandrelli lives in Lincoln, NE, where he co-curates The Clean Part Reading Series. He is the author…

Journalist Edward Klein has a new unauthorized book out about president Barack Obama in which he claims that former president Bill Clinton called Obama an ‘amateur.’ The book, which is called Amateur, claims that Bill thinks so little of the…

Good morning, everyone! It looks like it’s going to be a great day today. I don’t know why, but I will not complain about this beautiful morning. I hope it is the same for all of you. Here is the…

Therese butting in for a second to officially welcome Robin LaFevers to Writer Unboxed as a regular contributor. So glad you’re with us, Robin! In the comments of my guest post last month, a number of people wanted to know…

Over at the fan blog dedicated to his work, director Joss Whedon wrote a letter thanking his fans for their dedication. His powerful community of fans delivered last weekend, as Whedon’s The Avengers shattered box office records and earned $207…

Here are some handpicked titles from our New Books section. Want to include your book? Just read our Facebook Your New or Upcoming Book post. Don’t forget to include your title’s exact release date and a link. The Great Peace by Ryan …

Google’s been pissing people off lately. Panda, Penguin, Parakeet (okay, I made that last one up), who knows what’s next … Then there are the social networking evangelists whose entire fortunes are deep in Zuckerberg’s asset. And finally, the faithful…

A guest post by PJ Reece of PjReece.ca “Wow!  This looks awesome, PJ.” That’s Mary Jaksch getting all excited in a March 11 email.  I had sent her my newly hatched eBook called STORY STRUCTURE TO DIE FOR.  Mary continues: “Do…

One of the amazing things that happens when you start self-publishing is a certain kind of evolution. Almost all self-publishers start off as writers, of course. But it’s what happens next that’s really interesting. Follow along here and see what…

Authors’ representatives – otherwise known as literary agents – have done some writing on their own this week. In a missive to the US Department of Justice, the board of the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR) conveyed “in the strongest…

Is comment spam one of the things that gets you down? Are you taking it personally? Are you confused by comment spam and how to handle it? I’ve been speaking at a variety of meetups lately on web publishing, blogging,…

Display date on blog post Upon publication of a book, many authors begin to fantasize about the wildly successful book tour they wish to embark on, envisioning miles of lines of eager readers and hours of engaging conversation. Unfortunately, that’s…

Jaclyn sent me this photo from a convenience store that recently changed from a White Hen Pantry. Perhaps Jia couldn't decide which direction an apostrophe should face (as opposed to as single quote mark), so she decided to put both.…

Facebook is getting into the app business by opening up its own app store called the App Center, which will include apps for free as well as for sale. AppNewser has more: “The App Center will feature all kinds of apps,…

Amazon has negotiated an “exclusive license” with Pottermore, adding all seven Harry Potter eBooks to the Kindle Lending Library. J.K. Rowling‘s major bestseller will join more than 145,000 books that Amazon Prime member can check out for free (a…

I want to tell you about a late-blooming author, Behcet Kaya. Like many authors, he has dreams of a literary agent selling his novel to a major publishing house, seeing his screen-play adaptation produced as a major film, and selling…

Ann Coulter has landed a book deal with Penguin Group’s Sentinel imprint, scheduled to publish an unnamed book “directly relevant to the presidential election” in October. William Morris Endeavor agent Mel Berger negotiated the deal with Sentinel publisher Adrian Zackheim…

Percy Jackson series author Rick Riordan plans to work on a new series inspired by Norse mythology, but his fans will have to wait for the series. According to Courier Press, Riordan will be spending next year working exclusively on…

In the latest episode of mediabistroTV’s “My First Big Break,” we hear from author, publisher, radio personality and GBTV founder Glenn Beck. While he has found tremendous success across many different forms of media, did you know that he…

Consumers are taking to e-books fast – almost as fast as they have taken to the readers and tablets where e-books live in the digital world. A February 2012 report from the Pew Research Center found that one in five…

Shane Stanford is a pastor, author and teacher. He is the Senior Pastor of Christ UMC in Memphis, TN, one of United Methodism’s largest and most influential congregations. Shane is a former church planter as well as the Director/Host of…

E. L. James‘ bestselling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey has been pulled from some library shelves in Florida. The book is being removed from Brevard County Public Libraries for its graphic depiction of S&M and bondage. Library services director…

Good morning, everyone! How are you doing on a Thursday? Just one more day, and the weekend is here again. Let’s rock work today, shall we? Here are your freelance writing jobs. Freelance Writing Jobs Content Writing Content Writer (Coquitlam)…

Therese here. It’s the second Thursday of the month, which means it’s #IndieThursday—a day dedicated to independent bookstores here at Writer Unboxed. Today’s guest is historical author and creative writing coach Cynthia Morris, a former bookseller with Denver’s Capitol Hill Books–a…

The Reading with Pictures nonprofit hopes to raise $65,000 on Kickstarter to fund their graphic novel project, The Graphic Textbook. Above, we’ve embedded a video about the project–what do you think? Printz Award-winning graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang has agreed…

If you’re building a business through content marketing, you’ve probably noticed that the attention span of your audience is shrinking by the second. With the mushrooming of social networking and the growing number of mobile users surfing the web on…

Driving on the expressway recently, I passed a truck bearing a particular phrase. Most drivers would probably write it off as an eponymous company name and not give it any more thought. My language-loving, word-playing brain wouldn't let it go…

Which comparative adjectival term meaning “more advanced in age” is more correct in usage? Many people still prefer to use elder and its superlative eldest, but they tend to be, well, older; the choice of that last word is becoming…