The author of Silicon Valley satire I Hate the Internet on the evils of social media, and how novelists have failed to tackle itWhen the novel I Hate the Internet came out in the US earlier this year, it had every likelihood of sinking without trace. It was self-published, it was by a young unknown – Jarett Kobek – and its main selling point was naked, gleeful contempt for the devices and technology platforms that are an essential part of all our daily lives. “Nothing says individuality like 500 million consumer electronics built by slaves,” he says at one point. “Welcome to hell.” Hell, for Kobek, a 38-year-old American of Turkish heritage, became daily life in San Francisco, where the novel is set. Along with many of the city’s artists and writers, he found himself driven out by the forces of gentrification, moved to Los Angeles, where he’s now based, set up his own small press, and wrote this book – a scorching satire of how a few hypercapitalist companies in Silicon Valley have come to dominate everything. I Hate the Internet didn’t sink without trace. It found a readership thirsty for its funny, acerbic edge, got a rave review in the New York Times, went to the top of the bestseller charts in Germany and has now been published here by Serpent’s Tail.So, do you actually hate the internet, Jarett?Not particularly. There’s part of it that I find really contemptible. The title is offered like the sneer of a 15-year-old into Twitter, after they’ve just seen a meme of... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
A mobile reading app that offers short original serialized fiction, Radish has raised $3 million seed money from Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and publishing industry investments. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author of Silicon Valley satire I Hate the Internet on the evils of social media, and how novelists have failed to tackle itWhen the novel I Hate the Internet came out in the US earlier this year, it had every likelihood of sinking without trace. It was self-published, it was by a young... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookseller magazine has published analysis finding a ‘shockingly low’ number of BAME authors in the UK top 500 titles of the yearA writer has more chance of making it into the bestseller charts if their name is David than if they are from an ethnic minority, according to new analysis from... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the inaugural South by South Lawn: A White House Festival of Ideas, Art and Action on Monday, Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield explained that it's easier to implement diversity in hiring practices when companies are small, and by doing so, companies are more likely to be aware of a... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the inaugural South by South Lawn: A White House Festival of Ideas, Art and Action on Monday, Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield explained that it's easier to implement diversity in hiring practices when companies are small, and by doing so, companies are more likely to be aware of a... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A look inside the organizations advocating for the non-dominant voices in technology.Silicon Valley is a world of mirrors and myths. Every company has a creation story; most have an eccentric leader; some have had entire books written about them. The most pervasive myth out there, however, is... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2016-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Free food, sleep pods and graffiti walls. Few places are so enshrined in urban myth as Facebook, Google and other companies of their ilk. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2016-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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SILICON VALLEY — Ellen Pao, who rocked Silicon Valley with a gender discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers last year, signed a book deal that will detail her experiences with the tech industry’s “toxic culture.” Pao’s memoir, titled “Reset,” was acquired by the... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2016-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Born in India and bred in Silicon Valley, the matchmaking service for authors and publishers has already earned 130 authors $464,000 in pre-orders, produced six Amazon #1 bestsellers and secured $100,000 funding in its quest to become "the world's first true crowd-publishing platform". The pitch Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Curalate, the image monetization software provider based in Center City, just tacked on $27.5 million more in venture funding through a Series C round. Local firm First Round Capital joined the round, which was led by NEA in Silicon Valley. Curalate is now backed by more than $40 million as it... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2016-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eight years ago, we featured the 22-year-old creator of a site with 19 million users. 1.5 billion members later, the adventure continues.In early 2007, Fast Company senior writer Ellen McGirt got a rush assignment from the magazine's editor, Bob Safian. Both were newcomers to the publication,... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From The Girl on the Train to Gone Girl, badass women rule in today’s blockbusters. Author Kate Mosse picks her favourite justified sinnersThis year has been, in fiction at least, the year of the wild woman. Novels driven by vengeful, unreliable female narrators and psychopathically flawed... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-10-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After 600k personalised picture-book sales, London firm secures investment from Silicon Valley firms Google Ventures and GreycroftChildren’s storytelling startup Lost My Name raised its first $100k of funding in 2014 on TV show Dragon’s Den. Now the London-based firm is turning to Silicon Valley... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pre-orders of E L James’ new Fifty Shades of Grey novel, Grey (Arrow), have leapt to the top of retailers' bestseller charts in both physical and digital formats. The novel, which will be released on 18th June, will tell the story of Fifty Shades of Grey from the point of view of Christian... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The California mini-chain will add its 12th location in July 2016 in Santa Clara. In Pittsburgh, Natalie Sacco and Trevor Thomas purchased the Raven Award-winning mystery bookshop. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Collected selfies from reality star hailed both as ‘Catcher in the Rye of the Instagram generation’ and ‘an anthology of what is wrong with American culture’Whether it is “a nail in the coffin for artistic photography” or “strangely liberating”, Kim Kardashian’s collection of hundreds of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The paperback of Caitlin Moran’s fiction debut How to Build a Girl is the UK’s 11th number one of 2015, earning the author her first UK bestseller and her publisher Ebury its first Fiction number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Michel Houellebecq’s controversial novel Soumission, which featured in satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, tops France's bestseller charts in the wake of the Paris attacks. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2015-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tencent and Baidu are only non-US digital media companies in top 10 by revenue, but country has four of top 10 fastest-growing firms, report saysChina is eroding Silicon Valley’s pre-eminent position as the home of the world’s largest internet businesses, with two companies making the top 10 by... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital publishing needs a lifeline. But as The New Republic debacle has showed, mixing tech and media cultures is a tricky combination. The post Why Silicon Valley and media don’t mix easily appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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