The social network Pinterest is growing quickly–users post images and links to a virtual pinboard and share visual thoughts with other readers.

Check it out: “Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”

Follow this link to request a Pinterest invite. We spent some time exploring the network to find out how writers, readers and publishers could use the new site.

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Do negative reviews stop people from reading your books? Over at her blog, novelist Shiloh Walker disputed that claim in a passionate essay.

Check it out: “That negative review isn’t going to kill your career. Will it stop a few people from buying your book? Possibly–because that book may not be right for them. And FYI, one of the rants lately was that negative reviews discouraged people from reading … readers aren’t discouraged by ‘bad’ reviews. And guess what–that negative review may be the very thing that entices another reader to buy your book.”

We were so inspired by her post that we checked negative reviews of ten authors at Amazon–follow the links below to the many one-star reviews received by bestselling authors. Twilight topped the list with 669 one-star reviews. Read this list before you complain about your next bad review.

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Horrific tornadoes ripped through the south yesterday, killing 151 people in Alabama. Author Shiloh Walker has launched a fundraiser to help the communities hit by tornadoes in Alabama yesterday.

Leave a comment at her blog, and the author will turn your comment into a donation to United Way of Central Alabama.

Here’s more from the post: “yesterday massive storms hit the south. A tornado nearly a mile wide was reported to tear through Birmingham. I read somewhere that one entire town was wiped off the map. Because I want to do something to help, I’m going to make you help me do it. For every comment I get up to 100, I’m donating a buck to the United Way of Central Alabama. Comments must be made here at my blog, though, not via FB-just makes it easier to keep up.”

This week novelist Shiloh Walker sealed the deal on three new paranormal novels with Berkley. Irene Goodman from the Irene Goodman Literary Agency sealed the deal, and Cindy Hwang at Berkley bought the books.

The first title is Thrill of the Hunt, a paranormal contemporary romance about a werewolf pitted against a vampire who works as a killer-for-hire. Intrigued by her Twitter posts, GalleyCat caught up with Walker to find out how she landed her most recent deal.

The veteran author outlined her pitching process: “While I spazzed out (spazzing out is my normal MO), the actual pitch itself was easier than the first one, easier than the second … gradually, I think it just gets easier and easier as you get used to working with one particular editor.”

She continued: “Now, last year was a different story altogether. I write paranormal for Berkley, but I’m a fast writer and I wanted to branch out and explore romantic suspense with another publisher. So I put together a proposal for a new publisher. Pitching that one? I think that was even harder than when I’d originally first pitched an idea to Cindy.”

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Over the weekend, romance author Shiloh Walker (author of “No Prince Charming” and 50 other books) made waves with a post knocking some self-publishing companies, addressing a letter directly to the CEO of Author Solutions.

As GalleyCat reported, Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss issued a video statement asking the leaders of the Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America and the Science Fiction Writers Association to meet with him and discuss their standards for self-published authors. Walker’s post went through Author Solutions’ website, criticizing different offerings.

In this excerpt, Walker imagined what would have happened if she used a self publishing company as a young writer: “I probably would have wasted money I didn’t really have to waste…I doubted I would have sold more than 10-15 books, because I am not a salesperson, and with self-pub/vanity pub/assisted self pub, you have to be and none of your marketing choices change that. So after I spent all that money and sold less than nothing, watched as my dreams crashed and burned, I might have given up … the thought of that shiny, sparkly thread of a promise being offered to another gullible, hopeful writer who has a lot of promise? Turns my stomach.”