In the ten years since Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love was published, many people have taken their own adventures. Now she wants to hear from you. Elizabeth Gilbert is organizing an anthology composed entirely of your essays. Use this link to submit your 1,500-word essay by July 31.
What if authors were only paid when readers turned a page? “Amazon will soon start paying authors based on how many pages are read—not how many pages are downloaded, but how many pages are displayed on the screen long enough to be parsed.”
Have you read this lighthearted “Daily Shouts” column from The New Yorker? Two weeks of status updates from your vague friend on Facebook. We’ve all probably read a few like this.
Serena Williams won her 20th Grand Slam title. Incredible dedication!
Ever wonder how the stuff in your recycling bin actually gets recycled? Hank Green explains. (Book fans: Hank is John Green’s brother.)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7GMpjx2jDQ?rel=0]
Receiving compliments with grace. “Many of us find it difficult to accept compliments but easy to believe the slightest criticism. Today, right now, lets make a choice to fully accept compliments as we would a gift.” The Daily Om.
Speaking of grace. My blog friend Tori has grace in spades. This Father’s Day was her first without her dad, who was killed last summer. Her beautiful words moved me to tears. (xoxo, Tori!)
Have a great weekend, and a great 4th for those of you in the US!
That Amazon one is saddening to me. Authors are getting less and less money and it makes me so emo. And so not want to be a writer, which was once upon a dream of mine. But now I’m all “what’s the point?”
But the links overall are great! Thanks!
I’m not sure what Amazon’s goal would be in paying the author per page read. A way to save on royalty payments, I guess?
As a reader, I’d like to pay Amazon per page read, but I doubt they’d go for that!
Have a great weekend!
You can always count on amazon to come up with something . . .
Your friend Tori’s piece is a hearbreaker. So beautiful. So sad.
Tori is a wonderful writer. I really admire the way she was able to write about this heartbreaking experience in such a thoughtful way.
Thanks for these Friday Fives, Jackie. I love your resurrected series.
I cannot believe Amazon and am happy to throw my support to Indie and local booksellers. My family loves tennis and I look forward to checking out Serena William’s link on her 20th title. Thanks! Have a lovely holiday weekend.
Thank you so much Rudri! I wonder if Serena will be able to get another Grand Slam title for Wimbledon. I’ll be watching. 🙂
I’m not wild about Amazon’s idea. Could lead to padding and I would hate that. Also, some shorter books are true gems. Should those writers be penalized? Sheesh.
Your friend’s blog post broke my heart, Jackie. What an incredible writer she is.
That’s a great point, Carole. I wonder if Amazon plans to pro-rate the payments for shorter books by using a percentage instead of a flat rate. All around this seems like a bad idea.
Tori’s post is just one example of what a terrific writer (and person) she is.
How weird for authors to be paid by the page. And creepy from a reader’s standpoint to think of the pages you read being tracked. Same sentiments for Facebook….creepy. I’ve never been able to bring myself to do it. I prefer 3-D books and friends!
Yes! 3-D books and friends. 🙂 That’s the best way to go.
Can’t believe Eat, Pray, Love is ten years old. I worked in a bookstore when it came out and we sold so many copies.
Time flies when you’re having fun! 🙂
Per page??? Really?
Good share(Tori) grace indeed. Very special read.
Happy 4th 🙂
Too bad Tolstoy isn’t alive to collect on “War and Peace.”
Hope you’re having a great weekend.
The only thing Eat, Pray, Love inspired me to do was see the film which I loathed. I did not read the book. (No surprise there, eh?) I so hope that Serena wins her 21st Grand Slam at Wimbledon. I would love to see her won all four grand slams this year at age 33 going on 34.
Looks like Serena is well on her way to another Grand Slam win. Tomorrow’s match is against Sharapova in the quarterfinals. This could be a tremendous year for her.
Tori’s words are beautiful indeed. Thanks for sharing them.
A moving commemoration of a meaningful life. Thank you for reading them.
Dude that Amazon thing threw me for a loop! What is going on there? Elizabeth Gilbert reading my writing and publishing it in an anthology…. Dude that’s like winning the Power Ball … Well maybe. 🙂 thanks for your Fab Five.
Pretty darn close to winning the Power Ball! I can’t even imagine what that would feel like!