People at work
All week I’m going to be talking about writers I admire, and their new, awesome projects. (Previously: Julie Klam and Colson Whitehead.)
Today I want to talk about Emily Gould and her new project Emily Books. First, go read this. It’s great, isn’t it? I think Emily is smart and soulful and inquisitive and sharpening her skills at the speed of light. I support Emily.
So I believe this project is very interesting because it is looking at something that might be considered a problem, meaning the shift in traditional publishing toward a digital format, as a real opportunity. For example, suddenly books that have been difficult (or impossible) to find for many years are now easily accessible. Hidden gems can be restored to the public consciousness, particularly for a younger generation who is growing up using readers. That’s why the selection of their first book, No More Nice Girls, by Ellen Willis, is right on the money, and a testament to the taste of Emily and her partner, Ruth Curry. It was never available before as an ebook, and now it is. And people should definitely read Ellen Willis.
So if you are, say, a busy person who uses a reader because you don’t have time to shop, and you want to discover books beyond what Amazon keeps shoving in your face everytime you go to the Kindle store, I think something like Emily Books would be of use to you. (Also, you should, of course, feel free to shop at the website of your favorite independent bookseller, many of whom are now offering ebooks.) I suspect there will be more sites like it. Probably publishers will steal this idea, maybe do something like set up stores for their famous authors, or something like that. That’s usually how it works. A good idea is only good if it’s worth stealing. I am really interested to see how it evolves in the next year.
There is an actual real world Emily Books book club event at WORD this Saturday. Hope to see you there.
