Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times: A Collection of All Original Essays from Today's (and Tomorrow's) Young Authors on the State of the Art -- ... Hustle -- in the Age of Information Overload - Softcover

Smokler, Kevin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465078443 ISBN 13: 9780465078448

Publisher: Basic Books, 2005

Synopsis

An anthology of original essays from our most intriguing young writers, Bookmark Now boldly addresses the significance of the production of literature in the twenty-first century. Or simply, How do we talk about writing and reading in an age where they both seem almost quaint?”The book features authors in their twenties and thirties those raised when TV, video games, and then the Internet supplanted books as dominant cultural mediums and their intent is to examine: (1) how this generation came to writing as a calling, (2) what they see as literature's relevance when media consumption and competition have reached unprecedented levels, and (3) how writing and reading fit in with the rest of our rapid, multitasking world. The result will offer a voyeuristic peek into the private, creative lives of today's writers and shed light on what their work means at a time when the book business is changing, yet almost paradoxically a time when storytelling as a means of both self-realization and community building (be it via e-mail, weblogs, or This American Life”) seems more relevant than ever before.Edited by Kevin Smokler, a Bay Area entrepreneur who has devoted himself to fostering literary culture and cultivating fresh talent, Bookmark Now is a collection that both captures the state of the art and provides inspiration to aspiring writers at all levels.

About this title

Review

Book Description: The sky is NOT caving in on American letters. Far from it. The immensely talented writers in this collection all came of age professionally in the last decade--and all chose reading and writing over another more lucrative and decidedly flashier pursuits. They became producers and consumers of the written word at the most media-saturated time in history, a time when books face greater cultural competition than ever before. Why? How did they come to writing as a calling? What's the relevance of literature when the very term seems quaint? Bookmark Now answers these questions--and many more you probably never thought to ask. Like: What to do when your rabid fans start writing fiction about you? Why don't you have to choose between John Updike and Grand Theft Auto? And, can you really get paid for it?

The end result is not only a voyeuristic peek into the creative lives of today's writers, but a timely glimpse into a changing book business. Storytelling, it will become clear-as a means of self-realization, community building, or simply putting one's point across-is NOW more relevant than ever before.

Amazon.com Exclusive

To promote his book, Bookmark Now, Kevin Smokler took a rather unorthodox approach to the traditional author tour--he conducted it from the comfort of his own home. In an exclusive essay for Amazon.com, Smokler writes about the pros and cons of conducting a Virtual Book Tour.

Read Kevin Smokler's essay on conducting a Virtual Book Tour

Authors Featured in Bookmark Now

Neal Pollack	Nell Freudenberger	Nicola Griffith
Adam Johnson	Tracy Chevalier	Meghan Daum
Glen David Gold	Tom Bissell	Dan Kennedy

Authors Featured in Bookmark Now

About the Author

Kevin Smokler was the founder and publisher Central Booking, which grew to serve nearly 50,000 bibliophiles worldwide and was praised by media outlets such as Wired, USA Today, and Forbes, which referred to it as the "Paris Review of the 21st Century." As a book critic and commentator, Kevin's writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Baltimore Sun, and on NPR. He lives in San Francisco.

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0465078443
• ISBN 13: 9780465078448
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304