Twitter

To protest the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) and “Protect IP Act” (PIPA) bills in Congress, Wikipedia has shut down for the day. As readers around the world cope with the loss, Facts Without Wikipedia has become a trending topic on Twitter.

We’ve enjoyed reading these fake facts all morning, and we collected our favorite encyclopedia flash fiction below–what have you learned without Wikipedia? Author Ben Greenman has published a helpful essay at McSweeney’s.

Here’s more about the protest:  “Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time … SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively … In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet.”

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Curtis Brown literary agent Jonny Geller created the book product placement hashtag today, polluting classic novels with brand names. Here is our contribution to the genre: “The Picture of Dorian Grey Poupon.”

What product will you add to a book title? Follow this link to read a free copy of Oscar Wilde‘s The Picture of Dorian Gray without ads. Oddly enough, with public domain eBooks you can actually make a quick eBook loaded with product placement.

In the initial tweet, Geller added a British supermarket chain to the famous first line of Daphne du Maurier‘s novel, Rebecca. He wrote: “Last night I dreamt of Morrisons.” We’ve collected some of our favorites below…

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How to build a Book Christmas Tree & show support for print books & bookstores this holiday: mbist.ro/vm3CA8

— GalleyCat (@GalleyCat) December 12, 2011

All the Twitter-obsessed authors have a new tool: embeddable tweets. As you can see by the Tweet embedded above, it is a slick way to share your favorite Twitter posts on your blog.

As Twitter unveiled its newest redesign (see below), it included a simple “Embed this tweet” feature in the architecture of all posts. Once you learn the five steps, it is an easy process. We’ve outlined the embed steps below, with pictures.

Check it out at 10,000 Words: “The end result is an embedded tweet that looks cleaner and is more enhanced than before (it even allows you to follow directly from the embedded tweet!) … The embed code is versatile: It works in Tumblr (a big surprise) as well as other content management systems that frequently reject embed code.”

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Pay with a Tweet allows writers, publishers, musicians, artists and companies to set up social network exchanges. Readers simply click on the “Pay with a Tweet” button on the website, downloading book excerpts, eBooks, music and other goods in exchange for a promotional tweet (video embedded above).

Over at Keyhole press, readers can “buy” three books with tweets. As you can see on the site, companies have used the service to sell book excerpts, articles, white papers and beer. What do you think?

Here’s more about the company: “More than 400,000 people paid for something with a Tweet or a post on Facebook … Journalists and Publishers: Sell your leading article for a Tweet to promote your magazine, newspaper or charged online service. Authors: Sell a teaser version of your book with a Tweet to boost your sales.” (Via Jennifer 8. Lee)

Three hours ago, Penguin Press ruined the productivity of readers around the country with a distracting Pop Music Lit hashtag on Twitter.

On Twitter, hundreds of readers have combined the names of pop bands with classic literary titles. Here is an Elvis-themed example from this GalleyCat editor: “The Hound Dog of Baskervilles.” You can also read a free eBook edition of the classic novel.

Here’s the original tweet: “Please help us, @FSG_Books, @doubledaypub, @wwnorton and @AAKnopf start #PopMusicLit. e.g. What A Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Wants”

Colleen Lindsay from Penguin’s Book Country launched an inspiring hashtag this morning, urging readers to share their literary thanks at the #readerthanks hashtag.

What are you thankful for? We’ve collected a few of our favorites below…

Here’s the original tweet: “It’s Thanksgiving; which writers or books are you thankful for? Share with Twitter! Use #readerthanks hashtag to participate.

Today Doubleday launched a Thanksgiving Twitter tradition, asking readers to combine three classic book titles in a crazy new book. Follow the Literary Turducken for some funny ideas.

Here’s the original post: “The Literary Turducken combines not one, not two, but three classic works into one, in the spirit of the turkey+duck+chicken creole classic.”

We combined into a single title: The Art of War of the Worlds in 80 Days. Follow these links to download free eBook copies of the books: Around the World in 80 Days, Art of War and War of the Worlds.

HarperCollins has created the official C.S. Lewis Twitter account. The Twitter feed will include famous quotes, future opportunities and news about his books. As of this writing, the account counts 6,775 followers.

Currently, anybody who tweets about the Twitter feed will receive a free e-Booklet. On November 16th, Lewis’ stepson, Douglas Gresham, will be hosting a live twitter event.

The publisher will also host a book giveaway. Winners will be selected through a random drawing and will receive one of the following books: The C.S. Lewis Bible, A Year with Aslan, A Year with C.S. Lewis or The C.S. Lewis Journal. Follow this link to learn more about the official rules. (Lewis picture via)

To celebrate the once in a lifetime coincidence of a 11/11/11 date, the community writing site Book Country has a quick writing challenge on Twitter.

Here’s more about the challenge: “Writers! In honor of 11/11/11, tell us a story in exactly 11 words. Use hashtag #11words. GO!”

Add your 11-word story on Twitter. If you want to add something longer to Book Country, check out our article: “How to Post Your Novel on Book Country.”

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, a distributor of books from independent publishers, has launched an Indieview chat on Twitter.  Visit the #indieview hashtag to read today’s chat.

Independent publishers are invited to discuss and debate issues related to independent publishing. The chats occur on a weekly basis on Wednesdays starting at 9:30 a.m. CT. Today’s chat focused on the topic book discovery. Questions included: “Can Twitter specifically help with discoverability? If so, how?” and “Do you think it’s harder for indie publishers compared to the Big 6 to have their books discovered in store or online?”

Here’s more about the chat: “The first #indieview chat launched Wednesday, October 19^th with a discussion on ‘curation’ and how focusing on specialized or niche areas can be an advantage (and sometimes a curse!) for independent publishers. Last week’s chat was about the ‘risks small publishers are able to take,’ sparked in part by the Man Booker award committee organizer noting that big publishers had missed out on winning the award this year, because they are  ’no longer taking risks’ on authors and only publishing  ’the tried and trusted.’”