Introducing…Glue! (+ a Contest)

Does anyone want a free book?  I am happy to announce that the New Author Challenge now has a sponsor – Glue.  So what does this mean for the challenge?  Easy, every participant in the New Author challenge will be entered to win a book of their choice from the great people at Glue at the end of each month.

I’m still playing around with it, so I’m not too familiar with it, so I’m going to let Laura, from Glue, explain it in more detail.  Make sure you stick around though, as a celebration of this new venture, we’ll be giving away a book as well.  For the celebration, you don’t have to be a member of the challenge, just help us spread the word!

And now, here’s Laura…
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Glue is a Firefox add-on that connects you to friends around the web. As you visit everyday topics, such as books, music, and movies on popular sites, Glue appears automatically to show you friends who looked at the same thing, if they liked it, and even their opinion.

Everyone has their favorite book site, but this isn’t a problem for Glue.  If both Jackie and I were interested in Angel’s Blood, and she visited the book on Amazon.com, and I looked at it on Barnes and Nobles we are still connected.  Glue pulls people together across these diverse websites and pages to connect them around the common thing: an interest in the same book.

You might be confused reading this, but as Wired has said, “using [Glue] is actually much simpler than describing what it does.”  Wired also said the Glue is “the single most useful social networking tool I’ve encountered” :)  So let me show you what I mean.

Glue appears automatically at the top of the page to show other friends who have interacted with the same book around the web.  With a single click you can let your friends know that you like the book. You can even leave a short “2Cent” comment which will appear whenever a friend looks at that book, no matter what site they are on.

Instantly I am able to see that Jackie likes this book. It’s worth pointing out again that Jackie appears on this Barnes and Nobles page even though she visited the book on Amazon.  It also shows other friends who looked at the book, along with other interesting people.  When I scroll over Jackie’s avatar, I can see her “2Cent” comment, which is a link to her blog post.  This is extremely useful to book bloggers since their reviews can be available anytime anyone visits that book, on any site!

By clicking on your friends’ profiles you can also see what other books they enjoy.  This is all without navigating away from the page you are on.

A concern might be, “What if I’m looking at items I don’t want friends to see?” For example, if you are shopping for a gift.  All you have to do is scroll over your picture, and delete that book from your history.

You can watch a short video on http://getglue.com/ to get a better understanding of Glue.

The web is filled with noise, and Glue is able to pull relevant information exactly when and where you need it.

For questions about Glue please email us or Twitter: @adaptiveblue.
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Thank you Laura for giving more information on this new social networking tool that is Glue.

Contest Time!  To start us out, Glue is putting up a prize of one book off of your Amazon (book) wishlist.  All you have to do to enter is to post about Glue and this contest somewhere.  Talk about it on your blog, social network, or anywhere you can. Digg it, stumble it, twit it, share it with the world. Wherever you share it, make sure you add a link to it here.  You have to provide a link in order to be entered.

Join the Literary Escapism blog group and/or Page over on Facebook and you’ll get an additional entry (for each page).  Make sure you leave a comment so I know that’s why you’re joining.  Only new readers to the group will be considered.

For an additional 2 entries, sign up for Glue and share your GlueID.  If you purchase any book from LE’s Amazon store, I’ll double your entries.  In order to get the extra entries, please send a copy of your receipt to myjaxon AT gmail DOT com.

I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer. All entries must be in by midnight on Feb. 11th.