Reading Bestsellers

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Reading Bestsellers

Recommendation Culture and the Multimodal Reader

Literary theory Publishing and book trade

Authors: Danielle Fuller, DeNel Rehberg Sedo

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Collection: Elements in Publishing and Book Culture

Language: English

Published by: Cambridge University Press

Published on: 27th April 2023

Format: LCP-protected ePub

ISBN: 9781108864855


Readers are essential agents in the production of bestsellers but bestsellers are not essential to readers' leisure pursuits.

The starting point in this Element is readers' opinions about and their uses of bestselling fiction in English. Readers' relationships with bestsellers bring into view their practices of book selection, and their navigation of book recommendation culture.

Based on three years of original research (2019–2021), including a quantitative survey with readers, interviews with social media influencers, and qualitative work with international Gen Z readers in a private Instagram chat space, the authors highlight three core actions contemporary multimodal readers make– choosing, connecting, and responding– in a transmedia era where on- and offline media practices co-exist.

The contemporary multimodal reader, or the MMR3, they argue, illustrates the pervasiveness of recommendation culture, reliance on trusted others, and an ethic of responsiveness.

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