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 ]
I’ve never read the ending of a book first, though I do have a habit of flipping to the back before I begin, turning instead to the acknowledgments page. There are stories embedded here. Acknowledgments capture the real-life intimacies of the literary world and lay bare the backdrop of the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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DK has teamed up with the Manchester United Foundation to distribute books encouraging local children to look after their mental health. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-14 08:02:35 UTC ]
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In “Broken,” Lawson is honest about her physical and mental health, but her levity is her buoy and brand. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-01 13:00:00 UTC ]
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In upcoming titles, scholars, activists, and pastors take on racism, climate crises, social change, politics, and mental health. In fiction, love for God is, as always, written into the ending. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-27 04:00:00 UTC ]
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New Octopus imprint Brazen is to publish Grow, the second book from author and TV presenter Frankie Bridge. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-15 17:43:29 UTC ]
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Sari Feldman reflects on how these “wizards of the literary world” can be the key to a lifelong love of reading. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Lauren Oyler’s debut novel brings the reader down a rabbit hole of endless, mindless scrolling, online identities, and conspiracy theories. Fake Accounts follows the journey of a young woman after she discovers that her boyfriend is running an Instagram account spouting dangerous conspiracies... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Lauren Oyler’s “Fake Accounts” and Patricia Lockwood’s “No One Is Talking About This” critique our Internet-attenuated lives. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-10 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Tired of the subtweets? The peevish reviews? The [gasp] indecorous email sign-offs? Do you wish the literary world would just conduct its brawls out in the open for all to see? Well, now you can fight along at home with Street Writer, Maxwell Neely-Cohen’s absolutely wonderful literary homage to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-04 14:06:11 UTC ]
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“Fake Accounts,” Lauren Oyler’s debut novel, considers how social media has reconfigured our behavior, relationships and how we think of ourselves. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-01 10:00:02 UTC ]
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Oyler’s debut novel is about a smart, irascible narrator who is steeped in the concerns and tone of social media. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-26 21:16:27 UTC ]
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Five prominent figures from the literary world discuss the vexed debates surrounding cultural appropriation, authenticity and the growing trend for sensitivity readers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-15 06:28:34 UTC ]
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Ryan Chapman (erstwhile host of Nerd Jeopardy, back episodes of which you can enjoy here) is launching the paperback edition of his novel, Riots I Have Known, tonight, and as a veteran showman of the literary world, Chapman has decided to put together something a little different. Tonight’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-09 20:04:37 UTC ]
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Welbeck Publishing Group has become the majority owner of the mental health and wellbeing publisher, Trigger Publishing. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 22:23:34 UTC ]
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HarperNorth has bagged an audiobook about personal development and men's mental health from Paul Mort, UK Mastercoach of the Year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-30 10:00:16 UTC ]
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This year has been a dumpster fire and we mean that literally. But the shining bright spot in the literary world is an abundance of great new books by Indigenous writers being published in 2020. Since it’s National Native American Heritage Month, we’re focusing on books coming out of the U.S.... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-11-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Specialist mental health publisher Trigger Publishing is launching a new book series next year, focusing on "empowering people to help others with their mental health". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-09 07:44:22 UTC ]
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“We have taken a path of improvisation and experimentation.” How the literary world reinvented the book festival in real time. | Lit Hub “To be forever alone in your own kingdom seems a unique kind of heartbreak.” LA’s resident mountain lion is a lonely hunter. | Lit Hub Nature The age of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-03 11:30:17 UTC ]
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As the literary world moved online in 2020, a central question for many organizations was how to manage the annual festivals that gather thousands of readers from around the world. Here, the directors of five festivals—Sara Ortiz of the Believer Festival, Lissette Mendez of the Miami Book Fair,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-03 09:57:24 UTC ]
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Religion publishers are addressing the modern needs of parents and couples in new books on mental health, LQBTQ issues, addiction, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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