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 ]
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The father of Jeffrey Dahmer, he wrote a memoir that one reviewer said sought to “peer not just into the soul of his son but into his own.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-13 00:00:21 UTC ]
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Good book criticism is booming right now. I have at least some degree of confidence in saying this because for the past six years, I’ve been keeping track of my favorite reviews to prepare for these annual roundups, and my 2023 longlist was by far the biggest and most difficult to narrow down.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-11 12:47:20 UTC ]
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Keong Sim reads the audiobook version of the author’s second posthumous collection, “Songs on Endless Repeat.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-08 13:52:17 UTC ]
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Perdita Weeks reads the audiobook version of Megan Barnard’s debut novel, reimagining the Israeli queen as a source of mythic, feminist anger. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-01 10:00:14 UTC ]
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New York book publisher Casey McIntyre's health insurance allowed her to receive cancer care without saddling her family in medical debt. But as she navigated the health-care system, she met other patients who weren't so fortunate. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-11-29 22:49:53 UTC ]
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Larry Hughes, who began his publishing career as an assistant editor at Pocket Books in 1949 and rose to become chairman of the Hearst Trade Book Group some 40 years later, died on November 14. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A new feature on Apple Books gives users Spotify Wrapped–style insights into their reading habits in 2023—a year in which Jack Carr, Prince Harry, Britney Spears, and Rebecca Yarros topped the Apple Books charts. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A founder of the St. Mark’s Bookshop in the East Village, he prided himself on stocking titles that were not “too popular” and stayed in business for four decades. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-23 01:12:36 UTC ]
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Our Children’s Starred Reviews Annual features nearly 400 reviews of exceptional books for young readers, a selection of interviews with some of today’s top authors and illustrators, our 50 Best Books of 2023, and a cover by Vashti Harrison. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-22 05:00:00 UTC ]
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If you use Goodreads at all, you’ve likely noticed that the platform allows you to “rate” your “reads” using “stars” (those are scare quotes). If you use Goodreads regularly, you probably know that the ratings system is, in a word, fucked. Why does literally every Colleen Hoover book have over... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-21 17:28:32 UTC ]
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He emerged in the 1950s as a promising young writer exploring the emotional lives of ordinary men and women and the complexities of Jewish identity in America. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-20 23:46:03 UTC ]
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In the anthology “Critical Hits,” gamers like Hanif Abdurraqib, Alexander Chee and Larissa Pham explain what the medium means to them. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-20 10:00:28 UTC ]
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British author A.S. Byatt, who was known for award-winning works including 'Possession' and 'The Children's Book,' has died. She was 87. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-11-17 17:18:21 UTC ]
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Celebrated British author A.S. Byatt—a scholar and novelist whose 1990 novel, Possession, won the Booker Prize and brought her international renown—has died at the age of 87. A statement released this morning by her longtime UK publisher, Chatto & Windus, reports that Byatt “died peacefully... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-17 16:46:10 UTC ]
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Academic and intellectual British novelist A.S. Byatt, author of POSSESSION, has died at 87 in her home due to unknown causes. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-11-17 16:23:21 UTC ]
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“Going Infinite” may have missed the big takeaway, but it offers at least one undeniable pleasure: deep access. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-17 14:25:02 UTC ]
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Jennie Allen, a bestselling author and founder of an annual gathering of evangelical Christian women designed to charge them up to disciple others, discusses her forthcoming book, 'Untangle Your Emotions: Naming What You Feel and Knowing What to Do About It' (WaterBrook, Feb. 2024). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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After executive roles at Grosset & Dunlap and Simon & Schuster, Artenstein launched RGA/Lowell House in 1984, and sold the company to the NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group in 1998. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-13 05:00:00 UTC ]
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After nearly 40 years as a professor, he began a new career writing poems and translating classics. He won a National Book Award when he was 86. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-11 18:29:17 UTC ]
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The bibliophiles in Christopher de Hamel’s lavishly illustrated book ensured the survival of medieval texts over centuries. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-11 10:00:39 UTC ]
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