'Reader's Digest' Wants Your Life Story in 150 Words or Less

Oh boy, do I have a contest for you long-winded Facebookers and personal bloggers. It's called, "Your Life: The Reader's Digest Version." The venerable magazine is willing to shell out $25,000 if you can keep The Story of You to a crisp and compelling 150 words (words, not characters—this isn't Twitter). Hell, I'd fork over that much if certain "friends" would stop sending me six-page family missives disguised as Christmas cards. Short and sweet, people! You are not that interesting. Jane Lynch, star of Glee and host of next month's Emmy Awards, gets the ball rolling with her own abbreviated life story on the magazine's Facebook page (see it after the jump). Shame, it sounds nothing like her caustic Sue Sylvester character from the Fox musical. Rather, it's an earnest promo-within-a-promo for Lynch's memoir, Happy Accidents, dropping in September. More celebrities with books to hawk will follow. But if Lynch, a sought-after, award-winning actress (Best in Show, Role Models, Party Down), can give a snapshot into her psyche within just a few sentences, so can you. I'd be even happier with a haiku. Jane Lynch's entry: "At the tender age of 50, I realized that I had the family, friends and the acting career I had always wanted. I had suffered on the way, feeling out of place, overcontrolling and drinking too much, but all that suffering had not fueled anything useful. The good things were a result of happy accidents that I had been willing, and let's hope smart enough, to... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2011-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #award-winning actress #role models #tender age #acting career #good things #stay open

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Scholastic Promotes Diversity in Books for Young Readers

The Scholastic Reading Club and We Need Diverse Books are promoting a list of 75 titles for middle-grade readers featuring diverse characters and plots. The post Scholastic Promotes Diversity in Books for Young Readers appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Audio Book Club Weeps Over A Little Life

To listen to the Audio Book Club discussion of A Little Life, click the arrow on the player below. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2015-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bringing the Qur’an to Life in America: Sandow Birk

In ‘American Qur’an,' graphic artist Birk illustrates the Qur'an in renderings that blend Islam with Americana. The result is a book he hopes changes readers' minds about the sacred text. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nativity story re-told for War Child

Nosy Crow is publishing a retelling of the nativity story to raise money for War Child, a charity that supports Syrian refugee children. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Journalist Alex Mar: 'A Reader’s Guide' to Witchcraft and the Occult in America

After spending five years researching the occult in America, Alex Mar draws parallels between witchcraft and her childhood Catholicism. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonathan Franzen tells Stephen Colbert a bedtime story

This week, Jonathan Franzen's latest book, "Purity," tops the Los Angeles Times bestseller list after seven weeks on the chart. Franzen is among America's most high-profile novelists, and he likely reached many new readers with an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." In a sketch... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-10-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Audible releases Halloween story starring David Tennant

Audible has commissioned a dramatization of Carmilla, a 19th century gothic vampire novella by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, starring David Tennant and Rose Leslie. The story, first published in 1872, pre-dates Bram Stoker’s Dracula by over two decades. The story is about 18-year old Laura (played by... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Derek Lin Shares Taoist Wisdom for Modern Life

'The Tao of Happiness' author says that Taoism is 'really just for human beings,' making it a religion fit for a secular humanist. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Penguin Books story laid bare (even the naked board meetings)

Allen Lane, while knighted for services to literature, was never much of a reader. Were brothers Richard and John written out of their own bestselling story?Eighty years ago, three brothers – Allen, Richard and John Lane – founded Penguin Books in London. The brothers planned the venture in... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jane Friedman on bringing books 'back to life'

Jane Friedman, c.e.o. of Open Road Integrated Media, on ebooks, backlist and drinking "the Kool-Aid very early on digital". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Short story vending machine promises old-school distractions

In the French city of Grenoble, there are unusual vending machines that don't dispense soda or snacks -- they print out short stories that look like paper receipts instead. These machines were built by a publishing company called Short Éditi... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2015-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Morpurgo donates archive to Seven Stories

Michael Morpurgo has donated his archive, including a handwritten draft of Private Peaceful (HarperCollins Children’s Books) and material relating to the stage and screen adaptations of War Horse (Egmont), to Newcastle based children's literature centre Seven Stories. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Life-Changing Magic of Translations

The buzz at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year is that more translations are finding their way into English language markets through indie publishers. The post The Life-Changing Magic of Translations appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ted Hughes book incites war of words

An unauthorised biography of Ted Hughes is attacked by the English poet's widow just days after being shortlisted for a prestigious literary prize. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2015-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Unseen Aleister Crowley writings reveal 'short-story writer of the highest order'

Anthology of uncollected writings should secure a reappraisal of notorious occultist, says publisherAleister Crowley, the occultist once dubbed the “wickedest man in the world”, is due for a reassessment as a short-story writer, according to a new anthology of his uncollected writing which... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Axel Springer Tells Bild Readers to Turn Off Ad Blockers or Pay

Axel Springer has told the readers of Germany's most popular online news site to turn off their ad blockers or pay a fee as Europe's biggest newspaper publisher steps up efforts to protect advertising income.Readers of Bild.de, the Web version of Europe's top-selling newspaper, have to disable... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'100 Years of Best American Short Stories' is vital yet flawed for loading the canon

When sickly Bostonian Edward J. O'Brien put together the first "Best American Short Stories" anthology in 1915, short stories were considered junky pop culture. He was hoping that his project would elevate the short-story form. He had no idea he was launching a series that would last a century... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google Is Making the Mobile Web Faster for Publishers and Their Readers

Every second counts with often impatient mobile users, so Google wants to help publishers reduce the time it takes their articles to load when viewed on smartphones. On Wednesday, Google launched a program called Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP, which speeds up load times by plugging a piece... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Buckley wins BBC Short Story prize

Jonathan Buckley has won the  £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award for ‘Briar Road’.   This evening (6th October) he was presented with the prize of £15,000 by this year’s Chair of Judges Allan Little at a ceremony held in the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London. The news was announced live on BBC... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BAMB buskers to bring high street to life

Books Are My Bag has teamed up with The Busking Project to launch The Bookshop Buskers. The initiative will see buskers and street theatre bring “high streets to life” on Saturday 10th October as part of the industry-wide Books Are My Bag (BAMB) campaign. The partnership’s aim is to provide... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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