Will social media and aggregated preferences sweep away book reviewing and literary culture? There’s nothing new about the death of literatureThe writer Caleb Crain is unhappy about “the intrusion of counting into the life of literature”. He believes that big data and predictive-taste algorithms are cutting humans “out of the loop”, and that social media are undermining our faith in “the mental states of other people” when those inner states aren’t acknowledged in tweets and likes. It seems we are mired in “a new kind of disenchantment”, he says, which is devolving our sense of literary merit. As big data blurs personal opinion into preference aggregates, and as Twitter-propelled article-surfing destroys reviewing communities and the authority of critics alike, Crain contends, we have no choice but to “declare war on counting”. So that, you know, “literature will survive”. Related: Computer says no: Amazon uses AI to combat fake reviews Bad criticism in public is a nuisance. Does it spell the end of days? Hardly [S]uddenly the cosmos seems like one vast plan after all, patterned in such a way that the novel you’re reading at bedtime connects to your astronomy lecture, connects to what you heard on NPR, connects to what your friend discusses in the cafeteria at lunch – and then briefly it’s as if the lid has come off the world, as if the world were a dollhouse, and you can glimpse what it would be like to see it whole, from above – a vertiginous magnificence. Continue... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Digital Book World survey revealed that 54% of “traditionally-published” authors (and nearly 80% of self-published authors) earn less than $1,000 a year. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Xiaolu Guo warns that English-language mainstream has warped a broader 'reading habit', on panel with Jhumpa Lahiri and Jonathan FranzenAmerican literature is "massively overrated", the award-winning author and film-maker Xiaolu Guo told the Jaipur literature festival – and fellow panellist and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Figures show the vast majority of authors, both traditionally and self-published, are struggling to make a living from their workThe publishing industry has never been so sharply divided. In the week when the erotica writer Sylvia Day signed a staggering eight-figure two-book deal with St... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Agent Scully actress will use her 'ingrained knowledge and rhythm' for SF to pen multi-volume EarthEnd SagaAfter delving into the paranormal for years as The X-Files' resident sceptic Dr Dana Scully, actor Gillian Anderson is set to create her own science-fictional universe – but this time in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tasters of the reviews competing for the annual prize that recognises 'the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past 12 months'News: Hatchet Job of the Year award draws and quarters shortlistCraig Brown on Distant Intimacy: A Friendship in the Age of the Internet by Frederic... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thrill to the sight of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker raising a toast in honor of Sir Alec Guiness's birthday!Today in vaguely surreal photographs: Peter Mayhew, the 7'3" actor and mainstay of the traveling sci-fi/comic book convention circuit whose claim to fame is being the man inside the... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Should book publishing be all about profit? The success of OUP, despite its elitism, suggests notOUP is one of Britain's truly great institutions, up there, or nearly, with the NHS and the BBC. As in these other cases, its modern history has been largely dominated by the struggle to preserve its... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Scribd executive acknowledged the problem of pirated content on Scribd and also outlined the company's efforts to prevent unauthorized uploads. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The trailer for Gary Shteyngart's memoir 'Little Failure' features James Franco and Rashida Jones. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The last time The New York Times embarked on a wholesale redesign of its Web site, in 2006, the iPhone wasn't on the market. Tablets like the iPad were still years away. So the new design that The Times is unveiling Wednesday is generating mu ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Academy Chicago Publishers will become an imprint of Chicago Review Press and will expand its publishing program to 15-20 titles per year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Phil Robertson was temporarily removed from 'Duck Dynasty' after he made controversial comments in an interview. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Michael Rosen has said sex in teenage fiction can help young people deal with... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ryan Millman has come a long way since his college days of printing photos from frat parties. Now a full-blown manufacturer, he oversees a suite of four photo-related companies that churn out everything from T-shirts and photo books to canvas prints for major commercial retailers. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A sinking ship of a drama that managed to be neither monstrous nor deep"Thar she blows!" said one of the crew as a whale came to the surface. The cetacean wasn't the only thing blowing heavily in The Whale (BBC1), a 90-minute dramatisation of the sinking of the Essex, a Nantucket whaler, by a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Phil Robertson was suspended by A&E for bigoted comments in GQ. Conservatives cry foul, but it hardly violates his rightsThe right to free speech isn't just a fundamental American value; it's enshrined in the first amendment to our constitution. If only the most loud-mouthed among us... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishing Perspectives' #EtherIssue debate on the allegedly slowing ebook market reveals apparent contradictions in self-publishing interests. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Call on police and prosecutors by women's group EVAW comes as report reveals extent of sexual harassment on social mediaWomen's groups are calling on the police and prosecutors to treat abuse of women and girls online as "robustly" as they do offline, as a report published on Thursday reveals... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Frances Spalding on one of the most revealing accounts of Lucian Freud ever writtenGeordie Greig's book is an unapologetic mixture of intelligent perception and high gossip. It deepens the reader's understanding of Lucian Freud, as both man and artist, but it also connives with the kind of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Following OxTales (2009) and OxTravels (2011), Profile Books will publish fundraising collection... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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