From cancelled books to ‘review bombing’, it might seem as though the website can make or break a career. But how influential is it really?Something dramatic happens on a social media platform every day. On Goodreads, the anachronistically designed website for logging, rating (out of five) and reviewing books, the dramas are more amusing, and they occasionally even draw attention from areas beyond the site’s supposedly book-loving users. The most recent featured Cait Corrain, the fantasy author who set up an elaborate network of fake accounts to post positive reviews of her own forthcoming book as well as negative reviews of authors she felt were her competitors. When citizen journalists uncovered her plot in December 2023, her book was cancelled, and she lost her agent and a future book deal.A juicy, postmodern story of self-sabotage, or a sad one about the intersection of the internet and mental health. Regardless, its stakes are relatively low: publicly harassing one’s colleagues is a sackable offence anyway, and it’s hard to find someone who really cares about the vicissitudes of the young adult literature world who isn’t part of the subculture. I’m not; I’m a professional critic, and an author of a literary novel. I’m a snob. I care about my book, and the authors I feel are my competitors. And while Goodreads has been around since 2007, its significance to the broader literary world remains steadfastly confusing. Does it sell books? Does it make and break careers?... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-02-17 09:00:10 UTC ]
Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-04 14:17:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-03 14:30:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Queer Beauty of Unfaithful Translations, by paparouna Essay [email protected] Tue, 02/25/2025 - 15:23 Photo by Igne B / Unsplash The author explores some common issues in translation and how they might affect translation of queer texts.... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2025-02-25 21:23:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In Sarah Chihaya’s memoir Bibliophobia, we enter into the moment of her breakdown—an event that she has seen on her horizon since childhood, but also seemed impossibly remote. As a child of Japanese and Japanese-Canadian immigrants to the US, Chihaya’s parents “didn’t really believe in the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-02-06 09:56:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Mayor Eric Adams proposed a $114.5 billion budget for the coming year that dials back migrant spending while ramping up allocations for shelter beds, tax cuts and infrastructure. But he acknowledged uncertainties posed by a sluggish commercial office market and the policies of the incoming Trump... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2025-01-16 18:11:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Sex and the City star says it is ‘the thrill of a life’ to be appointed to 2025 panel alongside Roddy Doyle, Kiley Reid and Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ to pick year’s best novelHer Cosmopolitan-sipping, Manolo-wearing, wise-cracking Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City was a generation-defining star turn.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-12-14 14:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this
After word spread that Costco was planning to sell books in only the final three months of each year beginning in 2025, various sources now say the mass merchandiser has committed to keeping bookstore sections year-round in 100 of its more than 600 locations. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-11-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
I yearn for a literary world where, as readers, we’re familiar with a wider spectrum of narrative traditions and approaches than what we now think of as the canon. We Bengalis love so much to talk, to weave tales, to let our anecdotes tangle with each other’s into a larger collective... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-11-19 12:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
For Robin Wall Kimmerer’s lecture in Norman, Okla., on November 1, the first day of Native American Heritage Month, Scribner arranged an exclusive shipment of her forthcoming book 'The Serviceberry,' which publishes on November 19. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-11-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
As libraries become public stages for social problems — homelessness, drug use, mental health — the people who work there are burning out. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-10-31 09:02:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In “McNeal,” the playwright Ayad Akhtar explores the way artificial intelligence is disrupting the literary world and raising questions about creativity. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-10-26 09:04:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Lack of time, difficulties with scientific rigour, an uninterested public … television meteorologists open up about why they’re so quiet about the reasons for extreme conditionsWhy do TV and radio forecasts rarely contextualise extreme weather events in terms of the climate crisis? After all,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-10-25 14:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In the Central Eastside Industrial District of Portland, Ore., Patrick Leonard has opened Postcard Bookshop, a store featuring global literature and culture, children’s titles, and sidelines including journals and games for people on the move. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-10-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Blizzard is diving into the StarCraft shooter well once again, after two previous titles were canceled. This information comes from a forthcoming book about the developer by games journalist Jason Schreier and was discussed during a recent IGN podcast. This time around, veteran developer Dan Hay... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2024-09-27 15:39:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this
As the literary world is roiled by fights over politics and war, are we losing sight of the writer’s purpose? Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-08-05 09:03:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this
War, Trauma, and Human Courage: A Conversation with Zhang Ling, by Yan Lu Interviews [email protected] Mon, 07/22/2024 - 16:20 Zhang Ling is the author of ten novels, including A Single Swallow (trans. Shelly Bryant) and Where Waters Meet, the... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-07-22 21:20:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this
If you had a sudden urge to review the 2016 memoir for some reason, you might be out of luck right now. Yesterday, former president Donald Trump announced his running mate for the 2024 election: Senator JD Vance of Ohio. Vance, a onetime fierce critic of Trump, is a relative newcomer to... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2024-07-16 12:25:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Dionne Sims, who opened Black Garnet Books in St. Paul, Minn., to sell books by BIPOC authors in response to the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, is selling the store to return to school and focus on writing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-06-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Can We Truly Be Free of Our Past? A Conversation with Wendy Chen, by Xixuan Collins Interviews [email protected] Mon, 04/29/2024 - 15:10 An epic family saga that spans over one hundred years and two countries, Wendy Chen’s powerful, lyrical debut,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-04-29 20:10:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this