Bookslut was born in an era of internet freedom. Today's web has killed it

The books community that my site joined was driven by enthusiasm not clicks, goodwill and not money – and that culture has goneI miss the internet. I know that, technically, the internet still exists. It’s the Facebook-, Twitter-filtered series of algorithms designed to put cat videos, think pieces, and advertisements in front of you. But I get nostalgic for the days before money invaded the internet – the early 2000s, in particular, when I created the literary blog and webzine Bookslut.com.Back then, nothing you did mattered. And that gave you freedom. Back then, the online book culture was run mostly by enthusiasts and amateurs, people who were creating blogs and webzines simply for the pleasure of it, rather than to build a career or a brand. I know that nostalgia is a stupid emotion, but still I regret the day money found the internet. Once advertisers showed up, offering to pay us to do the thing we were doing just for fun, it was very hard to say no. Or understand exactly what the trade-offs would be.The most disappointing revelation about the books world: even an intellectual is susceptible to clickbaitYou click on it, you own it. Related: Jessa Crispin: 'We're not allowed to say the Paris Review is boring' Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #books world #jessa crispin #paris review

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VenueBook's special event today: Seed funding

The industry of business events is a veritable growth machine, with publishers, service providers and just about everybody else seeing live get-togethers as moneymakers and can't-miss marketing vehicles. But the details of event planning can be an analogue mess, and a web software startup... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2014-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oyster Now Available Via the Web or Mobile Browser

Subscription ebook service Oyster is expanding its platform, offering subscribers access to the website through any web browser. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chris Colfer Doesn’t Want to Know What the Internet Thinks of Him

Specs Who Chris Colfer Age 24 Accomplishments Star of Fox’s Glee; screenwriter; author of The Land of Stories book series (his latest, A Grimm Warning, was just released) Base Los Angeles What’s the first information you consume in the morning? I immediately turn to my cellphone and look to... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers give Web articles audio options

Digital publishers are moving the battle for audience attention from their eyeballs to their eardrums. The post Publishers give Web articles audio options appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harper Lee's classic, 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' is finally available as an ebook

'To Kill a Mockingbird,' the 1961 Pulitzer Prize winner that often appears on 'most-loved books' lists, has been released as an ebook for a new generation of readers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-07-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Zuckerberg: Basic Internet should be as universal as 911 service

Mark Zuckerberg sees the Internet as a vital service that should be made available to everyone across the world—a service that can be as vital as, say, the ability to call for emergency help on a telephone. In an editorial published Monday in The Wall Street Journal, the Facebook chief outlined... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2014-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why Upworthy Wants To Kill The Pageview

The social do-gooder just released its "attention minutes" source code. You paying attention?Clicks and pageviews are still the standard metric most online publishers use in valiant attempts to convince advertisers to write them checks so that they can keep the lights on. When pageviews are... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook to Use Web Browsing History For Ad Targeting

Through its ubiquitous "like" buttons on publisher sites across the web, Facebook has long been able to watch the web surfing behavior of its 1.28 billion monthly users.Soon it will begin to use that information for ad targeting on Facebook.Facebook already enables retargeting to users who've... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2014-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Serbia Indicts Four for Milosevic-Era Journalist Murder

(Reuters) - Serbia's top state prosecutor charged four former state security officers on Friday over the 1999 killing of opposition newspaper publisher and journalist Slavko Curuvija during the rule of late strongman president Slobodan Milosevic. .. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Viewing a Web page isn't copyright infringement, top EU court rules

Europeans can continue browsing the Web without fear of breaking copyright law, Europe’s top court has determined in a landmark ruling. The legality of this common practice came into question in Europe as a result of a years-long tussle involving U.K. newspaper publishers, a public relations... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2014-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BEA 2014: New Opportunities for Agents and Authors in Today’s Publishing

A panel of veteran literary agents discussed the ways in which they now approach their jobs in the Thursday BookExpo panel “Beyond Authors: Self-Publishing & the 'New' Agents.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why blockbusters survived the web age

Despite endess choice, the books, films and music industries can't escape domination by a handful of monster hitsA monster lays waste to America's cities, smashing skyscrapers and tearing up passenger trains. It's the familiar tale of Godzilla, a mutant lizard last seen rampaging through cinemas... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. Debuts ‘Korak’ Web Comic

Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., the company that oversees the works of the iconic American adventure and sci-fi writer, has launched "Korak The Killer," a weekly digital comics strip devoted to Korak, the son of Tarzan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Burmese Bookseller to Receive Freedom to Publish Award

Dr. Thant Thaw Kaung is the founder of the Myanmar Book Center and executive director of the Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shelly Bond Leads DC’s Vertigo Line Into a New Era

For the past year, Shelly Bond has been working almost nonstop as the newly appointed executive editor of Vertigo, DC Entertainment’s nonsuperhero comics and graphic novel imprint. Bond, who began her Vertigo tenure in 1995 as assistant editor, took over the direction of the imprint following... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London Book Fair 2014: Publishers and Internet Standards

Recently, experts working on ORCID and ISNI, both ISO-standard identifiers, spoke with one of the founders of schema.org to facilitate their use as embedded persona references, particularly through extensions such as BibExtend. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tohti to Receive PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award

Imprisoned Chinese economist and writer Ilham Tohti, who was arrested in his Beijing home in January, is being honored with the 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How USA Today reinvents for the digital world

USA Today is in the midst of rethinking what it’s all about. Gone is the mindset of being a national newspaper; in is the goal of establishing itself as a national news brand on several platforms -- and yes, that includes print. USA Today president and publisher Larry Kramer explained the... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is this the worst site on the Internet?

For legitimate online publishers that rely on display on advertising, it's getting increasingly difficult to make ends meet. That's thanks in large part to long-tail sites that have learned to game the online ad system, and the ad tech middlemen that help them do it.The post Is this the worst... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Press freedom groups urge David Cameron to lay off The Guardian

A group of the world's leading press freedom bodies is calling on prime minister David Cameron to distance himself from the investigation into The Guardian over the leaks by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.The seven organisations also want Cameron to urge parliament to repeal the statute... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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