Literanista
April 8, 2010
This press release makes me very happy to see such a rich and thriving books/author blogosphere:
Since March 8th over 15,000 people have visited to nominate more than five hundred blogs and microblogs written by authors. The resulting shortlist has been created from the web feeds which received the most nominations, with the last few weeks seeing tech-savvy authors mobilising their fans and followers across many social networks.
The result is a diverse mix of authors blogging from very different perspectives. It includes superstar authors such as Neil Gaiman, newcomers to the publishing world such as Gavin James Bower, and a number of yet-to-be-published bloggers such as Jane Alexander. Please see the full shortlist below.
The awards now enter the voting phase where the public are invited to take a look at the shortlisted blogs and vote for their favourite. The Author Blog Awards aim to recognise and highlight the writers who use their blogs to connect with readers in the most imaginative, engaging and inspiring ways. Winners will be selected from the shortlist and announced at the London Book Fair official Tweetup on 21st April.
The Author Blog Awards are organised by CompletelyNovel.com and Jon Slack, in partnership with publishers including The Random House Group, Simon & Schuster UK, Quartet Books, Penguin, Bloomsbury, Allison & Busby, Faber & Faber, Mills & Boon and Headline.
These publishers are offering hundreds of books as prizes for the people voting for a blog on the shortlist. More information about the Awards and prizes can be found on the Author Blog Awards website at http://www.authorblogawards.com.
The shortlist:
Jenn Ashworth
http://wwww.jennashworth.blogspot.com
I’m a full-time writer and freelance literature development worker. That means I write books, teach creative writing and blogging workshops, organise literature events and projects and edit manuscripts.
Neil Gaiman
http://twitter.com/neilhimself
The tweetings of Neil Gaiman, author of ‘The Graveyard Book’ and many more.
Jackie Morris
http://wwww.drawingalineintime.blogspot.com
The blog follows the progress of my books as I attempt to write, paint and bring up two children, balancing life and work in a strange pattern where I often find that life mirrors art mirrors life. Centred around my studio the blog wanders off onto beaches, cliffs seeking inspiration.
Barry Hutchison
Thoughts on writing, tips & advice, and general rambling nonsense from children’s horror author, Barry Hutchison. Follow his journey from unpublished hopeful, through the publication of his first series, INVISIBLE FIENDS, and beyond…
Tim Atkinson
A blog about a dad in a mum’s world, Bringing up Charlie charts the day-to-day life of stay-at-home dad and author Tim Atkinson, as his wife returns to work – leaving him holding the baby and changing the nappies!
Michael Faulkner
http://www.thebluecabin.blogspot.com
This is the blog of the books The Blue Cabin and Still On The Sound: snapshots of life on the otherwise uninhabited island of Islandmore, Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland..
Alice Griffin
http://www.fancifulalice.blogspot.com
Alice Griffin is a writer living on a boat in England. She also describes herself as a wife, mother, traveller, daydreamer and sometime crafty girl; hopefully her blog reflects all. Author of ~ Tales from a Travelling Mum ~ Alice’s second travel book will be published in November 2010.
Emily Benet
http://www.emilybenet.blogspot.com
I work in my Mum’s chandelier shop where customers come in for therapy and the occasional light bulb. My blog has been published as a book ‘Shop Girl Diaries’ and is coming shortly as a film…
Carleen Brice
htttp://www.welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com
Your official invitation into the african american section of the bookstore! A sometimes serious, sometimes light-hearted plea for everybody to give a black writer a try.
Cleolinda Jones
htttp://www.cleolinda.livejournal.com
The wiki and journal of Cleolilnda Jones, author of ‘Movies in Fifteen Minutes’.
Lucy Coats
http://www.scribblecitycentral.blogspot.com
Slightly eccentric hints and tips on writing, latest news on my books and where I’ll be talking about them, as well as stuff that’s going on in the wider children’s book world.
Suzanne Arruda
http://www.suzannearruda.blogspot.com
This blog is about the fictional character, Jade del Cameron (www.suzannearruda.com), and the historical time period in which she lives.
Caroline Smailes
www.carolinesmailes.co.uk/blog
In September 2005, two weeks before I was due to start a PhD in Linguistics, I watched an interview on Richard & Judy where they referred to someone as a ‘nearly woman’. I can’t remember who that person was, but it was the moment when everything in my life started to jigsaw into place…
Jane Alexander
http://www.exmoorjane.blogspot.com
Diary of a Desperate Exmoor Woman. Juggling work, life, motherhood and marriage – and frequently dropping the balls.
Nicola Morgan
http://www.helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com
Nicola morgan is proud to be the first google result for “crabbit old bat” and offers crabbitly honest expertise to writers with talent and a burning need to be published.
Fiona Robyn
My life as a gardener of words. Visit Planting Words to read about cats, cake, the things I learn, Buddhism, other people’s poems, the things I get wrong, and occasionally I even remember to write about being a writer.
Gavin James Bower
http://www.gavinjamesbower.wordpress.com
I’m a writer, a Northerner and, for now at least, a Londoner. My first novel, Dazed & Aroused, was published in 2009 and I’ve recently finished my second, Made in Britain.
Liz Fielding
http://www.lizfielding.blogspot.com
Blog of an award-winning romance author.
Paulo Coelho
http://twitter.com/paulocoelho
The Portugese and English tweets of the mighty Paulo Coelho, author of ‘The Alchemist’ and many more.
Marcus Chown
http://twitter.com/marcuschown
Writer. Latest books: We Need to Talk About Kelvin, Afterglow of Creation & Felicity Frobisher and the Three-Headed Aldebaran Dust Devil.
Richard Jay Parker
Dark thriller STOP ME by Richard Jay Parker just published by Allison and Busby.
Christopher Fowler
www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog
Blog of a murder mystery writer.
Lynn Flewelling
http://www.otterdance.livejournal.com
Lynn Flewelling Muses on Writing, Living, and Shameless Self Promotion.
Sam Starbuck
http://www.copperbadge.livejournal.com
My journal is informally known as Sam’s Cafe and is read by people of many religions, political beliefs, and ethnic backgrounds. Come in, sit down, and have a pastry. I made them myself.
Linda Jones
This blog was set up in 2006 as a resource for parents of multiple birth children.But it has moved on to include journalism, fiction, media requests and advice.
Nikesh Shukla
http://www.nikeshshukla.wordpress.com/
Nikesh Shukla/Yam Boy is an author, film-maker and poet caught between the cityscapes of Bombay and the low-swinging chariots of London.
Michell Plested
Little is known about the origins of Michell as they are shrouded (or at least covered with a moth-eaten towel) by the mists of time. What is known is largely obscure and often contradictory. Oh and he sometimes speaks about himself in the third person.
Chris Brogan
http://twitter.com/chrisbrogan
Twitter account of the president of New Marketing Labs and social media extraordinaire.
