Does fan fiction spell the end of the professional novelist?

In popular genres such as sci-fi and fantasy, fan fiction based on the Wattpad model could easily disrupt the publishing industryFor a few years in the mid 2000s, I was the young librarian who got sent to schools to convince kids they really did want to read books. The truth of my experience was that the kids needed no convincing. There’s an odd belief in some parts of the book world that young people have to be made to read, or made to read “good” books. If you want a really telling piece of evidence to counter this strange notion, look no further than Wattpad.With more than 35 million users and over 100,000 stories published each day, Wattpad is staggeringly active community of readers and writers, the vast majority of whom are young adults. When I was working for libraries to engage young people with books, the idea of a website where kids could post and read stories for and by their peer group came up again and again. Wattpad is that vision made real, with the support of nearly $70m (£46m) in venture capital funding. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jamie scores double non-fiction number ones

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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iBookstore joins Fiction Uncovered promotion

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstone's to close 11 stores by end of week

Written By: Lisa Campbell Eleven Waterstone's stores will close by the end of this week. The outlets are spread across the UK and are mostly in locations where more than one Waterstone's store currently exists. Staff at the affected Waterstone's stores have now entered into a period of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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No Dead Ends: Creating the Modern Web Site

While magazine Web sites are starting to take a back seat to other channels that reach readers on a daily basis (such as Facebook and Twitter) they remain the centerpiece for many publishers' digital strategies. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Web Site "Fans" Worth 50x as Much as "Fly-Bys"

If the old adage that 10 percent of your staff does 90 percent of the work rings true, the same could be said for your Web site traffic. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Circalit Seeks Crime Fiction

A year-old social networking and digital distribution platform that aims to bring writers and agents together has created a contest to find "the next big crime fiction blockbuster." Circalit, launched in February 2010 as a place for screenwriters to showcase their work to studios, began inviting... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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