Launched in the summer of 1994, SPECTRUM.ORG was one of the first 500 sites built on the World Wide Web. We started out offering free classes on creative writing and holistic living. In the fall of 1995, Spectrum helped launch Virtual University, the first online learning community, which became a popular destination on the Web. During its glory days from 1995 to the mid-2000s, Virtual University served more than 1,000 free and low-cost clases to a global audience of millions. Many of the learning technologies VU developed are still used today by prestigious universities and e-learning sites.

After languishing for a few years, we relaunched as Spectrum 24/7 Network in 2013, and today we host an ecclectic mix of websites, e-journals, and apps, with an emphasis on writing, publishing, and e-learning. Our featured websites include:

• Spectrum Ink Books, an independent publisher of contemporary non-fiction and fiction e-books, paperbacks, and hardcover editions.
• Virtual University Press, an educational publisher of literary classics, textbooks, interactive study guides, and quality non-fiction. Additionally, VU Press hosts virtual classrooms with self-assessed practice quizzes, discussion prompts, and study resources devoted to understanding the world’s great classics.
• Write Life, a web journal brimming with helpful advice, inspiration, and resources for aspiring and published writers.
• Life Reimagined, a new project launching this summer. This unique and deeply inspiring web journal is being created by two people who faced life-changing upheaval but eventually charted a new course to a tranquil life on California’s scenic central coast.
• Beauty Scoops, a contemporary web journal offering a delightful mix of beauty tips, insights on cosmetics, money-saving offers, and advice on how to stay beautiful at any age. The site is curated by Karen De A’Morelli, author of 35 Quick & Easy Tips for a Beautiful You! and a former cosmetics manager at one of America’s leading high-end retailers.
• Weird News, one of our earliest websites, features offbeat news stories that have grown progressively stranger over the years. Almost everyone loves weird news, and with a planned Summer 2023 relaunch of a new website, our editors will bring readers the most absurd, ridiculous, hilarious, and outrageous weird news stories on the planet.
• Spectrum 24/7 News launched in the mid-1990s as an automated headline aggregator. When Google decided that only Google could aggregate headlines and penalized smaller competitors, we converted to manually curated news stories. In 2020, the Covid 19 pandemic became the headline of the century, and we focused exclusively on that topic. Now, we are gearing up for a Spring 2023 relaunch and will again deliver curated major news shaping the world and our lives.
• Writing & Publishing News, a source of up-to-the-minute headlines of interest to writers, editors, books designers, marketers, and others in the publishing industry. Reputable news sources include Book Business Magazine, Lit Hub, Pew Research, Journalism UK, Book Riot, Self-Publishing Review, and other popular trade journals.
• Trivia Wave, launched in the late 1990s, was a popular Web hangout for students at Virtual University. The site remained popular even after VU faded into history. According to GQ magazine: “Trivia games have become a staple of the way we entertain ourselves, and reward ourselves for what we know, even if, by definition, the things we’re being rewarded for are of no use for anything but trivia games.” A Summer 2023 relaunch of Trivia Wave will introduce a bold new look, exciting new topics, and thousands of new trivia questions.

We hope you enjoy browsing our websites. Visit us often, and please share https://spectrum.org with others. If you have questions, suggestions, or feedback, feel free to contact us page.