It’s been said “film is a director’s medium,” and the whole notion of a name above the title and possessory credit was a battle long ago given up by the Writers Guild of America. Yet a recent wave of Hollywood films seems to be shifting toward what was unthinkable years ago–acknowledging the screenwriter as auteur.

Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have potential to get adults excited about reading books. Many adult readers enjoy connecting on a personal level with the authors of the books they read.

September is National Literacy Month, and adult educators are always looking for ways to get their students excited about reading books.

Literary history, of a sort, will be made from August 17-25, 2010 as novelist W. John MacGregor leverages social networking platforms to post the events of his novel West of the Gospel to Twitter, Facebook, and a customized blog. The most intriguing aspect of MacGregor’s innovative project is that the fictional events in question took place 100 years ago in the context of Idaho’s “Big Burn.”

The seven-day event is designed to coincide with Centennial commemorations of the catastrophic 1910 hurricane-force forest fire that flattened and burned millions of acres in Montana and Idaho.

To accompany the long-awaited iPad launch, Zondervan is one of the first publishers to release titles in Apple’s iBookstore beginning Saturday, April 3, 2010. More than 1,000 titles will be available for download from all product groups. Zondervan plans to release all its future ebooks in an iPad version and is working to release more than 150 additional books in the next three months.

Users will be able to purchase the books from Apple’s iBookstore, as well as read excerpts, reviews and additional details about Zondervan books and its authors.

AuthorHive – Author Solutions’ professional author marketing and promotional services company for traditionally published and self-published authors – is leading the way in offering social media tool products and services for authors. Social media has become a vital component in building a successful book promotion platform, according to marketing professional Chris Bass, who recently joined AuthorHive as director of author marketing services.

“The marketing world is changing quickly, especially with the emerging popularity of social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.