Twitter opened its Twitter Fiction Festival today, showcasing writers from more than 20 countries that will “push the bounds of what’s possible with Twitter content.”

Even if your proposal wasn’t chosen for the festival, you can still share your Twitter fiction. If you need inspiration, explore our Twitter Fiction Prompts (reprinted below). Here’s more from Twitter:

“As the stories chosen by the panel are showcased during the Festival, we invite everyone else (whether you submitted or not) to tell your stories on Twitter during the Festival too! We’ll highlight a number of your stories from the @twitterbooks account … Make sure to use the #twitterfiction hashtag so that readers can find your work.”

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As we near the end of National Novel Writing Month, we’d like to remind all the marathon writers to exercise. You should check out AppNewser’s collection of 5 Free Fitness Apps for Writers to make sure you stay healthy while writing.

If you want to put more exercise and movement in your life, the free Writers on the Move Facebook group can help.

Check it out: “We are a low-pressure, low-commitment group meant to assist members in inspiring ourselves first in an effort to inspire the group. WOTM is an open, private group and anyone can ask to join. Unlike most groups for writers, we don’t talk much about writing. Instead, we all contribute to a context that helps keep us accountable to our exercise goals. What kind of exercising do we do? All kinds. What kind of writing do we do? Who knows we never talk about it. We are too busy checking in about how we are doing getting and staying moving.”

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The J.R.R. Tolkien estate and HarperCollins have filed an $80 million lawsuit against the makers of the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, alleging that the filmmakers had breached merchandising contracts for the film.

Despite the suit, Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson and his crew are putting the finishing touches on the first installment of The Hobbit film trilogy.

United States fans have to wait until December 14th for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to hit theaters. The world premiere will take place within the next 24 hours in New Zealand (November 28th).

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When Simon & Schuster opened a self-publishing service called Archway Publishing, GalleyCat readers began to debate one question–how much should self-publishing cost?

Add your thoughts in the comments section, including editing, design, marketing and other costs. We will continue to share experiences and estimates from other self-published authors as this conversation continues.

For your reference, here are links to the major digital self-publishing alternatives that let you sign up for free: Kindle Direct Publishing, Barnes & Noble PubIt, Smashwords, iBookstore and Kobo Writing Life.

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Did you ever wish for a different ending in William Shakespeare‘s iconic play, Hamlet? Writer Ryan North has raised more than $160,000 on Kickstarter for a “chooseable-path” illustrated version of the famous play, To Be or Not to Be: That is the Adventure.

North promises that his book will contain jokes, sword fights, ghosts and “awesome as a mass noun.” We’ve embedded a video about the project above–what do you think?

Here’s more about the project: “If we reach our goal for the book, I’ll be able to release the book as a professionally-edited, professionally typeset, professionally-designed beautiful volume with a single illustration commissioned from each of these artists, each rendering a different way your story can end. And the more money we raise, the more deaths get illustrated, until we have all 110 deaths done!  You can die a lot in a book like this, and I want to make each time something to look forward to. I want it to be a treat.”

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AMC has just ordered a pilot for a scripted drama based on  Alexander Rose‘s book, Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring.

The script will be written by showrunner Craig Silverstein and Josephson Entertainment’s Barry Josephson will be the executive producer. The cable network also ordered a pilot about computer pioneers in the 1980s.

Here’s more about the show, from AMC: “Turn is set in the summer of 1778 and tells the story of  New York farmer, Abe Woodhull, who bands together with a group of childhood friends to form The Culper Ring, an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America’s fight for independence.”

Half Price Books has opened a special holiday hotline this year. Readers can call 1-855-HPB-FONE to celebrate Halfy Call-A-Days, choosing from a long menu of holiday greetings.

Callers will be presented with this list of options:

Press One to hear a holiday greeting from the Half Price Books Santa Claus
Press Two to hear “Twas the Night Before Christmas in the Bookstore,” an original parody poem written by Lease Renewal Manager Elizabeth Elkins and read by Tim Jernigan, our Human Resources Director
Press Three to hear “Up on the Housetop” performed by Steve Leach, the Half Price Books “Buy Guy”
Press Four to hear a holiday joke from Stephen Danby, our Corporate Customer Service representative
Press Five to hear “Auld Lang Syne” performed by “Caroling Marketeers” (aka Becky Gomez, Marketing Communications Manager and Cecily Gordon, Marketing Temp)
Press Six to hear an original song performed by Jim Swayze

No matter where you live, don’t forget to shop at your local bookstore this holiday season. You can find your favorite independent bookstore on our Best Indie Bookstores on Twitter directory.

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This week, Quirk Books is hiring a writer/editor, while DC Comics needs a publishing operations analyst. Brightline is seeking a director of business operations, and Interweave/F+W Media is on the hunt for an editorial director for its Craft Books division. Get the scoop on these openings and more below, and find additional just-posted gigs on Mediabistro.

• Writer/Editor Quirk Books (Philadelphia, PA)
• Publishing Operations Analyst DC Comics (New York, NY)
• Director, Business Operations Brightline (New York, NY)
• Editorial Director, Craft Books Division Interweave/F+W Media (Loveland, CO)
• Assistant Managing Editor, Editorial Office John Wiley & Sons Inc. (Hoboken, NJ)

Find more great publishing jobs on the GalleyCat job board. Looking to hire? Tap into our network of talented GalleyCat pros and post a risk-free job listing. For real-time openings and employment news, follow @MBJobPost.

Are you an introvert (or an introvert pretending to be an extrovert)? The short video embedded above urges introverts to take pride in their personality in a culture that doesn’t always value them.

Take this quick quiz to see if you are an introvert or extrovert. The video is based on the book Quiet by Susan Cain, a nonfiction book that should appeal to the many introverts in the GalleyCat audience. Check it out:

Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects. She talks to Asian-American students who feel alienated from the brash, backslapping atmosphere of American schools. She questions the dominant values of American business culture, where forced collaboration can stand in the way of innovation, and where the leadership potential of introverts is often overlooked.

Simon & Schuster has created  Archway Publishing to help writers self-publish fiction, nonfiction, business and children’s books.

They will run the new service with help from Author Solutions, the self-publishing company acquired by Pearson for $116 million in July.

Archway Publishing will include “editorial, design, distribution and marketing services” for its authors, all these tools coming from Author Solutions. Fiction options range from $1,999 Author package to the $14,999 Publicist package. The business book options start at $2,199 and go as high as $24,999.

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