Showing posts with label Announcements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Announcements. Show all posts

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Announcement--Reviving Some Forum Threads

Readers may have noticed the General Forum Threads and Book Review Threads at the top of this page; for the time being, I have decided to revive some old Poets.net blogger threads.

I'll be the first to admit that a Blogger forum does not offer an ideal platform for spontaneity; it has its technical limitations--for example, if you want to edit or delete your comments, you cannot, and you cannot start threads or post articles, unless you have been invited and been accepted as a member of this blog.

However, after my experience on the last version of the Poets.net forum, I have become somewhat skittish about reviving it on a standard forum platform. As some readers may know, it was a nightmare, one that I do not wish to repeat (trolls, creeps, spammers, porners, etc.), so I thought I would try using Blogger again, which now offers a lot of cool widgets and templates. And as I have become much more adept with the Blogger format, the threads should be be fairly easy to navigate.

Admin is still very much dedicated to freedom of expression in the literary arts, believing that opposing views ought to be heard; however, in the end, as admin/owner, I decide what is appropriate for posting.

Having said this, I tend not to have a twitchy finger when it comes to the delete button. I don't mind controversy and disagreement among commentators, but I do expect two things: basically staying on topic and being respectful of others.

What will be deleted from this site:
--Comments with outside links.
Sorry, but I have no way of knowing where that link will take readers.
--Off topic comments

--Advertising and general spam

--Hate speech

--Name calling

--Bad language

--Accusations (false and/or unproven)

--Pornography
One final item:
You must be signed into your blogger/gmail account in order to post a comment on this blog.
Happy commenting!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Announcement: Ban My Book -- BanMyBook.com


What better way to get your book noticed than to ask your audience to ban it?

Nothing is more delicious than a well-publicized banned book, particularly to "reluctant readers" of all ages.

When you hear that a book is too controversial for school libraries, what is your first reaction?

Quite likely, you want to find out what the all the hubbub is about--at least that is what I suspect.

So I have set up Ban My Book, a site dedicated to giving voice to under-represented writers (translation: writers out of the traditional publishing loop, those of us who refuse to kiss connected/corporate/foet A$$).

Books can be "banned" in many ways, which I explain on Has Your Book been "Banned"?

As under-represented writers, we need our voice out there as well, which is why I have established Ban My Book.

Ban My Book may also develop into a publishing company; I'm still looking into the intricacies of e-book/POD publishing. For this to work, Ban My Book would need to adopt a low-cost method of getting books out there, and the new website, with its jarring title and domain name, is the first step.

There can be much irony in the words "ban my book": a powerful in-your-face statement and a call-to-action declaration, an implicit "I dare you to silence my voice."

At the very least, Ban My Book will offer a public space for promoting well-written, under-represented books that have been self-published and/or have been effectively silenced by the traditional publishing industry and distribution channels.

Right now, my own under-represented book is featured on the home page, but once the site is fully functional and other writers come on board, I plan to feature other books.

For more info, email Jennifer [at] BanMyBook.com

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Poets.net Forum Has Been Modified and Now on Blogger

The Poets.net forum is now here on this blog.

It will offer a limited forum platform.

For more info see Announcement: Reviving Some Forum Threads.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Short Announcements via Twitter

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I have added a Twitter widget to the left panel; from now on, short announcements will be via Twitter.

Longer, more complicated announcements will still appear on this thread.
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Saturday, November 7, 2009

ANNOUNCEMENT: Admin Currently On Sabbatical

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As you may have noticed, I have not been posting much here lately.

Currently, I am on a sabbatical, serving as a Fulbright Scholar in Skopje, Macedonia, which does take significant time.

I haven't forgotten about Poets.net; in fact, I'm thinking about ways I can improve the site, although such improvements must wait until I return home in July 2010.

Meanwhile, I'm maintaining two blogs:

MacedonianJournal.com (my online journal)

and

MsSiegel.com (my academic site for my students)


In the near future, with my University of Skopje chairperson, I will be working on an online journal for Macedonian Literature in English translation.

I'm also writing a novel, tentatively titled Corpus Delicious, which I'm posting online as a first draft.

This is an exciting time for me--I'm having a great time in the Balkans--but it also means that some projects must be placed on the back burner for now, and Poets.net is one of them.

From time to time, I will post works here that catch my fancy, perhaps some stories by my Creative Writing students.

I have already read some pretty impressive work by them, even though English is their second language.

Until later!
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