Quick Pitch: The YouTube of books.
Genius Idea: Write, share and collaborate with authors and book enthusiasts..
Who says social media users don't have the patience to read anything lengthy? A new site called Widbook provides a platform to share books and publish your own.
Book lovers and authors can share stories with others in their social networks, as well as create digital bookshelves to peruse. One of the most interesting features of this site is the ability to collaborate with other authors to create a digital book.
Widbook allows you to invite writers to add the next chapter and continue sharing -- like Mad Libs for books. You can publish the chapters as you write, even if you're not finished with the book, and share those chapters with your network on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
To sign-up for the site, which is currently in beta, create a username and password. You'll then be able to create a profile with photo (optional) and some basic information. Find out which Facebook friends are on the site and connect with them. Then the fun part: pick your favorite writing genres from a number of options, including "technology & the Internet," "sports" and "children's books," to name a few.
Once your profile is updated you can submit a status update to your friends on Widbook. On your profile page you'll see recommendations for books from other authors you might enjoy. The site also functions as a social network for writers: send messages to other writers or "follow" them through the site.
If you do write a book you can't currently export it from the site, but that function will be available when the site launches out of beta.
Would you use Widbook? Tell us in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, AnthiaCumming
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
