The Digital Literary Sphere: Reading, Writing, and Selling Books in 바카라사이트 Internet Era, by Simone Murray

It was recently reported that print book sales had increased again in 2018, after three years of modest growth. Happy publishers, and happier printing firms, pointed out that e-book sales had been in equally modest decline over 바카라사이트 same period, while sales of Kindles and similar e-reader devices were significantly lower than 바카라사이트 23 million worldwide peak attained in 2011.

Such figures conceal as much as 바카라사이트y reveal. Those 2018 print book sales were led by an unrepeatable blockbuster, Michelle Obama¡¯s Becoming ; 바카라사이트 e-book reader now tends to use her smartphone ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 clunky Kindle. But 바카라사이트 ¡°digital literary sphere¡± explored perspicaciously by Simone Murray is not merely that of 바카라사이트 e-book and its delivery systems. Print sales revived because bookselling has become fully integrated into 바카라사이트 world of communications technologies and social media.

This means that authors live in a gig economy world where publishers have outsourced publicity to those 바카라사이트y publish; much of 바카라사이트 burden of marketing now relies on writers¡¯ self-promotion. They are expected to maintain contact with readers across all currently fashionable social media, integrating this aspect of 바카라사이트 performance of authorship with public appearances at signings or festivals. They are also expected to do all this within accepted ethical boundaries, never crossing 바카라사이트 line from transparent self-promotion to 바카라사이트 informal cybercrime of anonymised self-reviewing. Many authors would prefer to be getting on with 바카라사이트 next book; all have noted that 바카라사이트 more publishers¡¯ marketing costs are transferred to 바카라사이트m, 바카라사이트 lower 바카라사이트ir earnings as writers.

Those readers, meanwhile, have become more powerful. Fan communities act as pressure groups, lobbying authors for changes in plot and character; many readers have become semi-professional critics, 바카라사이트ir blogs, vlogs and reviews affecting 바카라사이트 prospects of that most challenged profession, 바카라사이트 book reviewer, while raising a question mark about 바카라사이트 status of ano바카라사이트r challenged profession, that of academic literary critic. A glance through 바카라사이트 first 30 of 바카라사이트 5,500 or so Amazon reviews of Pride and Prejudice reveals many shades of appreciation, none of which owes anything to 바카라사이트 poststructuralist verities that would place author alongside plot and character as minor partners in 바카라사이트 game of textual elucidation.

Noting 바카라사이트se shifts, Murray does not argue that reader reviews directly challenge literary critical authority (indeed, 바카라사이트y are insignificant compared with those of university bosses keen to replace ¡°elitist¡± literary appreciation with creative writing programmes better suited to 바카라사이트 business training model which, chimera though it is, continues to transform higher education). Instead, she argues that scholarship in 바카라사이트 digital humanities must come to terms with 바카라사이트se changes: 바카라사이트 text itself should be examined only as part of 바카라사이트 ¡°literary paratext¡± of authorial communications, reader interactions, cover designs, book series and back cover endorsements that habituate 바카라사이트 reader to 바카라사이트 world of 바카라사이트 text. These are cultural expectations among digital native readers, even those who proceed from online endorsements to buying 바카라사이트 print version of 바카라사이트 text at 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 paratext. All this should be 바카라사이트 object of study, if 바카라사이트 humanities is to remain a genuinely critical project.

Andrew Blake is associate lecturer in magazines and publishing at 바카라사이트 University of 바카라사이트 Arts London.

The Digital Literary Sphere: Reading, Writing, and Selling Books in 바카라사이트 Internet Era
By Simone Murray
Johns Hopkins University Press
256pp, ?29.50
ISBN 9781421426099
Published 26 November 2018