The programming and pitching work of the Publishing Hackathon takes place this weekend at Alley NYC, and the organizers report that 406 developers, designers and entrepreneurs have registered to participate. Fifteen sponsors have enrolled as well, and the previously-announced $10,000 grand prize has been joined by a series of smaller…

Are you planning a summer vacation but you’d like input from your friends before your book? Check out TripShare, an iPad app that lets you create and share your itineraries before you book them.

Once you sketch out a plan, you can share it plans with friends who can then give you feedback on your plan and make suggestions to your travel plan. You can then make edits to the itinerary based on your friends’ suggestions. Once you have the trip in mind that you’d like to take, you can price and book your trip through various online travel agencies — Expedia, Fly.com, Homeaway and Viator — without leaving the app.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ever since we launched our directory of people looking for writers groups, we have found hundreds of writers looking for different kinds of writing support.

These invaluable groups can motivate you to write more, critique your work or even help you publicize your work.

To help our readers find support, we will occasionally spotlight a writers group looking for new members. If you are looking for an online writing group, you could try Australian Writers Rock! a giant writing community on Facebook.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Jenny Han has inked a deal for her “semi-autobiographical” young adult novel. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers will publish To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in April 2014.

Publisher Justin Chanda negotiated the deal with Folio Literary Management senior vice president Emily Van Beek. Executive editor Zareen Jaffery will edit the manuscript. Here’s more from the release:

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

At the close of Wednesday's Making Information Pay conference, current BISG (Book Industry Study Group) chairman and Hachette Book Group president Ken Michaels addressed the importance of industry cooperation, particularly now that a simple "linear, rational, supply chain that we recognize and understand...no longer exists." He asked, "the most important…

New York Times senior staff editor John Williams will write a new column for the paper’s Book Review called “Open Book,” providing “a window onto the literary landscape.”

You can also follow Williams on Twitter.

This column will replace the weekly “Up Front” column, but the magazine will include occasional pieces about the magazine’s writers and online material.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A teenaged writer in Ireland has been published on stamps around his country. We’ve embedded the special stamp above, containing a complete 224-word story.

Composed by then 17-year-old writer Eoin Moore, the short short story was created in Dublin’s Fighting Words program for young writers.  Kids in the program submitted their work, trying to convey “the essence of Dublin” with just 224 words.

The stamp celebrates “Dublin’s permanent designation as UNESCO City of Literature.” You can purchase the stamp at this link.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Former publisher at Twelve Cary Goldstein will join Simon & Schuster's trade imprint as vp, executive director of publicity and senior editor on June 3. In his new role, Goldstein will supervise the S&S publicity department and acquire a select number of fiction and nonfiction titles. "Cary Goldstein brings great…

The Melon headband is a brain-sensing device that monitors brain activities while you are studying, dancing, or just doing yoga to help you track your progress and productivity.

At Melon we are really interested in the idea of Understood Self, which we are trying to add to the movement of Quantified Self. We want people to have a great feedback system for the data we’re capturing, so it can help with the activities users already do day-to-day, go beyond numbers and scores, and move towards insights and understanding.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Cary Goldstein has been named the executive director of publicity and senior editor at the Simon & Schuster imprint.

Previously, Goldstein had served as publisher of Grand Central Publishing’s Twelve imprint. In his new post, he will manage the operations of the publicity department and oversee the acquisitions of fiction and nonfiction projects.

A number of other publishing houses also announced new hires and promotions this week…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Rodale is hiring! The company is on the hunt for an innovative creative director to join its trade books division in New York City.

In this role, you’ll oversee the visual identity of the brand in print and digital formats, managing your team’s production of over 140 projects each year. You’ll guide the design process from conception to production, while managing an in-house staff and stable of freelance designers, photographers and illustrators. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Hearst Corporation has launched the Elle Glassware app exclusively designed for Google Glass. The publication is the first magazine to launch a Google Glass app, though it joins other media companies including The New York Times and Mashable both of who already have Google Glass apps.

Hearst Corporation worked with Google on the app, which includes content from the magazine’s most widely read and shared sections online. The app features stories from ELLEDispatch, Street Chic and Lookbooks, as well as horoscopes. Users can share articles and photos and create reading lists and shopping wish lists using the app. The app is now available to as part of Google Glass’ Explorer launch.

“Hearst always strives to be on the leading edge of innovation—it is at the core of our company,” explained Phil Wiser, chief technology officer, Hearst Corporation, in a statement. “Across our media businesses, we are working to engage consumers everywhere content is consumed, now and in the future. Google Glass encourages us to think about our content in a new way. We are very pleased at the experience of partnering with Google on this project.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The European and International Booksellers Federation this week upped it lobbying efforts around the threat posed to its members by Amazon (and Apple) in the way they have developed the e-book market.

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Mobile app developer skobbler has updated the Android version of its maps app ForeverMap 2 adding turn-by-turn navigation which is available both online and offline. In doing so, the company has renamed the GPS Navigation & Maps and added a feature that lets users get directions to where they are going with voice guidance.

Here is more from the press release: “The update combines the one-of-a-kind map features users love from ForeverMap 2, with skobbler’s GPS Navigation 2, the internationally renowned mobile navigation solution with over 3.5 million users on iOS alone, while enhancing aspects of both to create a standalone, next-generation orientation solution.”

“By adding voice guided, turn-by-turn navigation to what was previously a maps only experience, we’ve not only evolved ForeverMap 2, we’ve also fundamentally transformed the orientation landscape on Android,” stated Philipp Kandal, co-Founder of skobbler.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

To help readers share stories, tips and secrets anonymously, the New Yorker will use a new tool called Strongbox.

Co-developed by the late Internet activist Aaron Swartz, the open-source code could help more journalists communicate with confidential sources. AppNewser has all the details:

The New Yorker has introduced a new online receptacle where sources can share documents and messages with the magazine anonymously. The tool is called Strongbox and it is accessible using the Tor network, a private and secure online network. The publication will not record the I.P. address or any browsing information from people who share documents on Strongbox. It will also not try to access your computer or operating system, and they will not add cookies to your browser.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A novel recalling childhood sweetshops has triumphed at this year's Romantic Novelists' Association awards.    

Pompeii, Its Life and Art by August Mau is today’s Free eBook of the Day.

The historical text was created by German Archaeological Institute in Rome and originally published by The Macmillian Company in 1899.

Here is an excerpt:

In the construction of columns and many architraves large blocks were used. Previous to the time of the Roman colony these were of gray tufa, or, in rare instances, of limestone; a coating of white stucco was laid on the surface. From the advent of the colony to the time of the Early Empire, the whitish limestone was used; after that, Carrara marble.

Project Gutenberg has the free download.

For more free eBooks, check out our Free eBook of the Day archive.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Phil Earle's YA novel Heroic is a gripping tale of two brothers and the impact on their lives of the war in Afghanistan.    

The award-winning author of novels for teens recalls her favourite childhood reads.