Turning literature into a numbers game makes some sense for the book trade, but none for readersWe may be halfway through January already, but the spirit of new year is still in full swing over in San Francisco, where the 2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge goes from strength to strength to strength. More than 240,000 of Goodreads' 25 million members have already committed to reading more than 14m books this year, pledging to get through them at an average of more than a book a week. And many fans of books will say hurrah for that. I reckon I'm pretty much in favour of books and literature, too, but the Goodreads Reading Challenge just sets my teeth on edge.It starts right there in the name. Since when was reading any kind of challenge? Isn't it supposed to be fun? Maybe not for children still learning to differentiate their Perfect Peters from their Horrid Henrys, or for the one in six UK adults who still struggle with literacy, but Goodreads is a site for people who are already "readers" . I don't think they have schoolchildren in mind when they suggest you should "raise your reading ambitions" and it certainly doesn't look like a scheme designed to help adult learners "make it to the final chapter". All this talk of pledging, of targets, of tracking your progress, is just another step in the marketisation of the reading experience, another stage in the commodification of literary culture.We know that literacy correlates with better social outcomes, that literary fiction... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
Trade publishers contacted by the Society of Authors over the issue of ebook lending are using a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In order to better gauge social media success, and help usher foot traffic into bookstores, SIBA has launched the marketing initiative, "Code Read.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling crime writer Peter James is fundraising for The Reading Agency as he publicises his... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Celebrities including actor Rupert Everett [pictured] will read to children in London’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mexico's digital publishing industry has been hampered by low internet penetration, yet the government and publishers are fighting to move ahead and innovate. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin and W H Smith have partnered for a new summer reading campaign, which will raise money... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When Amazon announced in March that it would acquire Goodreads in the second quarter of the year, there was much handwringing, along with tweeting and Facebooking, especially by independent booksellers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The growth in children’s digital reading is an “opportunity for publishers rather... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dotdotdot imagines its users as one big book discussion group, with everyone wielding the same highlighter. Instapaper and Readability have both found success offering a simple, core interaction: save an article online to read somewhere else later. With both you can also follow what friends... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Like most comics publishers, Archie Comics, home to America’s favorite fictional redheaded teenager, has historically focused its distribution on newsstand sales and the comics specialty market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More than half of the pupils taking part in the National Literacy Trust's Premier League... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amanda Knox's memoir is titled 'Waiting to be Heard' and discusses her life from childhood to her time in prison in Italy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you're still balking at the cost of download-to-own ebooks, and would rather stick to the tried-and-true library lending system, then this Hachette news is for you. Come next Wednesday, the entirety of Hachette's ebook catalog -- over 5,000 titles -- will be made available to nonprofit... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The New York Times is one of the initial major publishers to unveil a Google Glass app, which will allow the currently scant number of users of the wearable device to access stories on the go. The app's audio component reads headlines and story summaries aloud and provides breaking news alerts. ... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Egyptian journalist and bestselling author Ibrahim Issa believes the Arab Spring has added religious oppression to the existing political hardships of the region. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Based on the pre-college reading lists, freshmen syllabi, and core programs of more than 100 US colleges and universities, here are 60 books the experts believe that you should have read by sophomore year of college. How does your own literary experience stack up? Take our quiz and find... Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It has become a truism that “men don’t read women.” The assertion is taken as self-evident by feminist publications like Salon (“while women read books written by men, men do not tend to reciprocate”) and shown anecdotally by blogs. It is also perpetuated by male bastions like Esquire, which... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This article branches off of a longer story we're tracking called Apple's New Technology Partners: What Developers Need To Know.Steve Jobs once said said, "people don't read anymore." He wasn't the only tech pundit pronouncing books dead in the middle of the last decade, as people turned to... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The most-challenged book series of 2012 was the 'Captain Underpants' books by Dav Pilkey. Former list-toppers 'ttyl' and 'The Hunger Games' are missing from the list entirely. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Parents struggle to create time to read at home and view reading largely as a skill rather than... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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