While there were many interesting speakers present at the Bookseller Children’s Conference this year, there was one speaker and topic which immediately interested me. Dominique Raccah is the CEO of Source Books, one of the fastest growing women-led book publishers in the United States. It was refreshing to hear her speak at the conference and to see her represent women in roles of power in an industry that feels male dominated. Her presentation acknowledged the palpable effects of fans and fandoms on book culture and how book discovery has changed in a society which relies so heavily on technology.
I felt a close connection to the topic of her presentation because growing up during the 2010s, I was able to see the rise of social media as well as feel the effects of its increasing popularity. The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Twilight series are all notable examples of how book culture and fan culture are closely intertwined and how fan influence has only progressed in recent years.
Book discovery and book culture as a whole have changed drastically over the past few years. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the quarantine that accompanied it, people are reading more and Raccah believes that the pandemic may be responsible for this expansion in reading. One of the main focuses of her speech was the rise of BookTok during this time. While BookTok hasn’t drastically affected the printing process of books, it has affected the popularity of books which go viral on the platform. Raccah argues that social media platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, have changed the book industry dramatically within the past three to four years but I would argue that although this is true, social media has been one of the driving forces in the publishing industry for much longer than that. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown’s book A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, sparks a conversation about how important digital spaces can be, “[…] learning flourishes in these online worlds through the dynamics of play, games, and imagination, like a culture in a petri dish.” (Jessen, 2022). Social media has helped to spark a conversation and spread information regarding books much quicker than was possible in the past and it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that this has influenced book culture as well as popular culture.
Millennials are one of the first, if not the first, generation to use social media to stay connected with one another in ways that haven’t previously been utilized by previous generations. Raccah’s reasoning behind mentioning millennials as parents was to shed light on how differently they were raised and how differently they’re raising their own children. One example given by the speaker focused on the fact that millennial parents ask questions to one another on social media. They form online communities which is not entirely dissimilar to how fans create communities to stay connected. Whether it be fan communities or just communities in general, like millennials as parents, social media has allowed us to stay connected since its inception and will no doubt do so for years to come.
References:
About sourcebooks – book publisher (no date) Sourcebooks, LLC. Available at: https://read.sourcebooks.com/about-us.html (Accessed: 15 October 2023).
Jessen, C. (2011) ‘A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change’, American Journal of Play.
Raccah, D. (2023) The new age of discovery: how authors and fan communities are driving book culture, and what that means for booksellers and publishers. The Bookseller Children’s Conference. Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/broadcast/event-streams/watch-the-childrens-conference-live-stream-here-2023 (Accessed: 02 October 2023)
Image Credit: https://publuu.com/knowledge-base/what-is-digital-publishing-short-guide/ [Accessed 09 October 2023]
MSc Publishing – Industry Accredited Postgraduate Degree 