23 April 2009

FiledByAuthor, another online book network

It's not safe to get back in the water yet: I just discovered, via Read Street, another social networking site, FiledByAuthor, marketed as for authors but I think readers might enjoy it too, despite a plethora of existing social sites and online groups for readers. The hook for readers is that you can "connect with your favourite authors" - but although J. K. Rowling has a page, I am not sure what "connecting" with it does in that regard (James Patterson and Stephanie Mayer have pages that are featured prominently, also). FiledByAuthor could, however, be a way to connect with other people who like reading a particular author's books. Some categories include Women sleuths, Police procedurals and Hard boiled - or you can search by an author's name. Here's Stieg Larsson, for example.

What's in it for authors? Well, apparently you can have a profile, promote your work, "add content" etc. I am not sure if that is significantly different to social sites such as Book Place or Crime Spaceon Ning, but if you are an author I suppose it is another venue for getting known. (More about the site is here.)

I think I will check out FiledByAuthor as a reader, to see if there is any crime-fiction discussion on offer. I will let you know if I find any! I have set up a group for crime and mystery fiction readers, so please join it if you want. (I have not put anything in it yet, but contributions are welcome.)

There is also an associated blog, FiledByBlog, which looks to be a useful source of publishing news.

23 Apr 2009 18:51:00 | Websites

3 Comments

Bernadette in Australia

The site looks interesting but they have committed one of my pet peeves - on the registration form for readers the drop down list for country offers three options - USA, Canada then other. I really, really hate that.

Posted by: Bernadette in Australia | 24 April 2009 at 01:33

Maxine

Me too, as a fellow "other"! I slightly excuse them as they are so far geared up only for books "published" in the USA and Canada - so this might be related. When they begin to index ISBNs from other countries, they may add them to the list. I hope that's the reason, in any case.

Posted by: Maxine | 24 April 2009 at 07:22

Dorte H

I keep my eyes closed - please don´t send all these time-consuming temptations my way (I haven´t peeped a lot, but fortunately it doesn´t seem to be as catching as ´our room´).

Posted by: Dorte H | 24 April 2009 at 14:28

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Science editor who likes reading crime fiction

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