Thursday News: Canada Reads, China’s mobile reading culture, an international bromance, and Ellis Island photo chronicle
Canada Reads: Where Celebrities Battle for a Book’s Honor – This is like the coolest thing ever. Five books, five celebrities, five stand-offs in this annual Canadian television series, “Battle of the Books.” Each representative defends the book against its competitors, and day by day, books are eliminated until only one volume stands. One of the books in contention this year is from a small publisher, Coach House (And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier), and it’s big business:
“It’s a three-year-old translation,” said Alana Wilcox, editorial director at Coach House, “and we originally printed 1,200 copies of the book. When it got picked for Canada Reads, we had to print another 12,000.” Considering that Coach House prints its own books on site in its offices in Toronto, this was no small commitment. Needless to say, Wilcox would really like to see the book win. “It would be great for sales and we really don’t want to take back those returns…” –Publishing Perspectives
China’s mobile reading phenomenon – The level of tech use in China is staggering, with almost 90% owning a mobile phone. But beyond that is the tremendous breadth and success of the mobile reading environment, cultivated in part by “Online Literature sites” that publish and sell a variety of digital content, almost mostly “long-form serialised fiction.” Wattled (Canada) claims it has the largest reading and writing community in the world, but China is certainly a contender:
In December 2014, the number of Internet users in China reached 649 million, of which the number of mobile Internet users had reached 557 million (85.8%), according to the 35th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China [1]. Nielsen data [2] has put the percentage of Chinese consumers aged 16+ with a mobile phone at 89%. . . .
In the past ten years, these Online Literature sites have grown substantially: a parallel publishing system operating seemingly outside of the traditional Chinese publishing industry. The China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) reported that China had 293 million Online Literature readers in 2014, an increase of 7.1% over the previous year, [5] with this fast development attributed to the rise in mobile phone use in China, and the platforms being widely supported by mobile companies. [6] –The Literary Platform
How I Became A Minor Celebrity In China (After My Stolen Phone Ended Up There) – The previous story may give some context for the odyssey of BuzzFeed’s Matt Stopera, who is currently in China, where he is visiting the man whose pictures appeared, out of the blue, on Stopera’s U.S. phone. How that happened, and how Stopera’s original story on the coincidence, are only a small part of this international “bromance,” that highlights the insecurity of our technology, and then subverts that narrative with a heartwarming (if, at times, intrusively public) story of how two strangers met over a stolen phone and a handful of pictures featuring oranges.
I was sitting on my couch in the living room looking at my photo stream, you know, looking for something to Instagram. That’s when I noticed a bunch of pictures I hadn’t taken. Like, a lot of them. They were mostly of this man taking selfies with an orange tree. To be honest, it was pretty funny but also fucking terrifying because I didn’t take the pictures. –Buzzfeed
The Immigrant’s Journey Through Ellis Island In 30 Stunning Photos – Ellis Island served as the gateway for immigrants coming to the United States from 1892 to 1954, and this photo chronicle of the long, difficult, invasive, and uncertain experience of just a few of those who passed through is poignant and provocative. Although some of the photo captions are questionable at best, the photos themselves suggest myriad complex and diverse narratives. –All Day
Cool! I looked online, and you can watch the episodes of Canada Reads here if you like: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2015/03/canada-reads-2015-watch-all-the-shows.html
I think a few years ago it was a radio-only program, because I seem to remember listening to the debates on a podcast.
@Jo: Canada Reads started on CBC Radio, but as it grew in popularity, they also began to broadcast it on television. It’s a lot of fun and a great way to promote books. Maybe one year they will even include books by our excellent genre fiction authors.
Canada Reads is awesome and always a huge boost for bookstore traffic in general — a lot of people like to read the winner, but most people are interested in all of the finalists. A couple of years ago a graphic novel (Essex County) made the finalists and did very well, so I definitely have high hopes for genre fiction!
In general, CBC radio drives a fair amount of book sales, which is always fun as you never know what they’re going to recommend (and then people come in saying “Well I’m looking for a book, it was on CBC this morning, um…”).
I really liked both articles about mobile reading in China, fascinating! I just can’t manage reading on a mobile screen or tablet, but I think I’m very much in the minority.
One of the Canada Reads finalists this year, When Everything Feels like the Movies, is YA — I believe it’s the first YA to make Canada Reads.
I’ve been following the Canada Reads broadcasts during my daily commute. They are fun, witty, and a lot of fun to listen to. If you can’t see the cbc radio posts above, I think that the show might be broadcast on NPR as well or on Sirius satellite radio.