It’s the last installment of Links of Note for 2012 — and while it’s not as lengthy as most, what’s here is worth your time (and sorry no fancy pictures to jazz it up).
- What happened to serendipitous book discovery? I have a lot to say in favor of this at a future date, but go read Stacy Dillon’s really thoughtful and powerful post on the importance and value of browsing for books, “Happy Accidents.” Also, if you missed it, please read Linda Urban’s passionate piece on making and unmaking readers over at the Nerdy Book Club.
- Forbes offers three book-related predictions for 2013. These are really interesting, especially the one about Goodreads. I’m sure if the monetizing happens, there will be a real uproar. I am already enjoying the uproar coming through with Overdrive’s new interface which allows them to monetize their library-related ebook lending services (this is in my sarcasm font and also, I HAVE already seen instances where people purchased an Overdrive book, rather than borrowed it. Sigh).
- Publisher’s Lunch just launched Bookateria. If you’re looking for more information about new releases, about best sellers, and about books getting big buzz and push, this is a great resource to have on your radar.
- Only fifteen million things about new adult in the last couple of weeks. There was the ridiculous New York Times article, which spurred the even more ridiculous Jezebel article, which launched Diana Peterfreund’s really thoughtful post. There was also the insane Guardian article. Jen Hubert over at Reading Rants has been noting books that feature a lot of what people WANT from new adult on her Slacker Fiction reading list (like “Scott Pilgrim”). I’m not commenting further because I’ve blogged this twice already, and my thoughts haven’t changed. These books exist. You have to look for them. Genre fiction is not an enemy. And so on. Liz is talking about “new adult” this weekend, too, so spend some time on this post and the follow ups she’s working on.
- Macmillian is launching “Swoon Reads,” a line of new YA-friendly romances. It’s crowd-sourced, meaning that readers will have a hand in helping make these stories make their way to print. It’s an interesting model, and it’ll be interesting to see what sort of success they might have with this (will people still buy print or ebook copies if they’ve already read it? How much editing will happen between crowd sourcing and final product?).
- Here are the New York Times’s favorite book covers of 2012. Lots of non-people covers and lots that I agree with. I love good design so much.
- This is one of my favorite blog posts all year. Is there gender imbalance in YA and KidLit when it comes to the New York Times Best Sellers lists? This is data! This is charts! This is graphs! This is incredibly insightful and interesting and please go read it. All we hear about women dominating YA and KidLit? I’m not sure that’s the case. Actual data and research shows that ridiculous articles like this one about why women have the power in YA are just that: ridiculous.
- Kurtis Scaletta has a really thoughtful post on boys and reading and the teenage wasteland therein.
- The PEW Internet Research Group has released a new study on the reading habits of people based on the community they’re in. Do urbanites read more? Do suburbanites read via ereaders more frequently? Just what are the differences in how often rural readers are compared to urban readers? Fascinating stuff.
- Looking for a science fiction or fantasy title featuring strong women? SF Signal has you covered.
- Ever wondered about board books? As someone who has purchased them for my library in the past and someone who shuffles through them to buy for my nieces, I was super interested in Jennifer Laughran’s blog post on the topic. Interesting stuff!
- Marge Loche-Wouters has a nice post about creativity and about trying and failing new things. She asks where you fall on the continuum. I think for anyone hoping to try new things this coming year, there’s a lot to chew on here.
- Kate Hart has the year in review — in books, in blogging, in reading and more — over at YA Highway. This is always a favorite.
- Go read Amy Spalding’s blog post titled “On Always Painting the House.” It’s about comedy and about mental health and about creativity and I think anyone who has ever created or thought about the creative process will get a lot out of it. This is a brave and honest post.
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