Penblock - the future Pinterest of the bookworld

[Adam Copeland]

Hey folks,

One of our contacts at the Home & Garden Show suggested we check out a new place on line called Penblock.com.

The place rocks. It is like a Pinterest for books. That is, it is like a virtual bookstore where you browse shelves and look at the covers of books, then click on them to see what they're all about. You can make your own "shelves" by category and write reviews. In a sense it is very much like Goodreads, but focuses on browsing the books visually (initially anyway).

What is really cool for us indie authors is that you can upload your own book and add it to your own profile's specialized bookshelf dedicated to your books. I see Greg Zschomler already did it and I just now did it. I created a "NIWA Books" shelf on my profile too and added Greg's and Roslyn McFarland's "See No Sea". I'll get to the rest of you as soon as I can.

So, if you have a book, this is another venue to show it off.

Check it out at http://penblock.com/

[Amber Cook]

Thanks.  I signed up and added my books and a few favorites to start with.  

I can go to the NIWA shelf on your profile and view the books there, so they start getting some View numbers.  

[Caitlin Diehl]

Awesome, Adam. Good find. Thanks for sharing.

Caitlin Diehl

[Pam]

Thanks Adam!

[Bob Boyd]

Hmmm....

I set up an account and loaded a couple books to see how the system works, but they haven't appeared in my bookshelf.   Do they hold submissions for review?

Also, if NIWA sets up a bookshelf, I'd like to take part in that.

Best to all,

Bob

[Adam Copeland]

They don't hold submissions for review that I'm aware of. It isn't 100% intuitive how you get your books on your shelf, but it's doable. I'll go take a look again soon and re-remember how to do it. 

We don't have an official NIWA shelf yet, so I've been putting as many NIWA authors on my shelf listed as "NIWA" for now. I'll put yours on there as soon as I see them.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Northwest Independent Writers Association" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to niwahome+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to niwa...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/niwahome.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Adam Copeland]

Bob, once you "add" a book to Penblock you need to "bookmark" it to a shelf you've created in your profile (probably titled your name, or perhaps after the book's series name). 

I just added a bunch more of NIWA people and there are now 17 NIWA books on by NIWA shelf on my profile.

 

On Mar 16, 2014, at 4:51 PM, Bob Boyd wrote:

[Amber Cook]

I wonder if someone could sign up for/as NIWA and then we'd have an official account/profile there, and it could have different bookshelves, like one for all members, one for NSQ, one for the anthologies, etc.  

[Adam Copeland]

Great idea Amber!

On Mar 20, 2014, at 8:44 PM, Amber Cook wrote:

I wonder if someone could sign up for/as NIWA and then we'd have an official account/profile there, and it could have different bookshelves, like one for all members, one for NSQ, one for the anthologies, etc.  

[Amber Cook]

I could set up the NIWA account on PenBlock, and populate the bookshelf.  Is there someone I should contact, or propose this to?  Having seen some of the books I put up on my personal site repinned by strangers, makes it look as though there is some traffic on the site.

[Bob Boyd]

Amber, I am in the (lengthy) process of getting all that downloadable stuph organized, and as soon as my books are loaded to penblock, I would welcome your adding them to the NIWA bookshelf.   I'm not sure how to do it, but if I can establish a link from my account to NIWAs, I will be happy to do so.

Bob

[Tonya Macalino]

Amber, you'd talk to Maggie Lynch, Director of Social Media.

Thanks!

--Tonya

[Michael Wilson]

Hi,

I am the founder of Penblock.com and recently came across this group thread. If you have any questions about the site feel free to reach out to me directly at mi...@penblock.com. I am also available to review the website with your group to provide assistance in person. I live in the Portland area.

Thanks for using Penblock.com!

Mike

[Tonya Macalino]

Thanks for the note, Mike! I remember meeting you at the Home & Garden show. Take care and best of luck with your venture!

--Tonya