Last year, we took a look at the affinity for Twitter in certain quarters of the literary world. A handful of well-known authors have acquired big followings on the platform, a result not just of their name recognition but of their mastery of the tweet, as well. Readers now also turn to twitter for book news and comment from a number of sources who are active on Twitter. Our previous piece looked at the very first tweets of these now-popular practitioners. Nearly all were halting “Hello World” efforts, and none seemed likely to win over those unconverted to the various (and admittedly sometimes maddening) wonders of Twitter.
So, to present literary Twitter in its best possible light, we are returning again to those most widely followed on literary Twitter, but this time, looking at which Tweets got the most favorites, we are highlighting each literary Twitterer’s best tweet. Here you’ll find much wry humor, gossip, lots of politics, Margaret Atwood flirting with a Twitter-famous comedian, and even a surprising amount of insight crammed into 140 characters. They may be enough to win over some fresh converts.
(For the Twitter regulars out there, we found that tweets with more RTs tended to be more about disseminating news to fans, while tweets with more favs captured some essence of the Twitterer, so we went with the latter when compiling this list. Also, if you find tweets by these folks with more favorites than the ones we’ve listed, let us know and we’ll swap them in.)
Why do people keep telling us to "get a room," @robdelaney? What's wrong with our usual dumpster out back of the #etobicoke MacDs? Cheaper!— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) November 13, 2013
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes. We can put a stop to this. Please retweet.— Teju Cole (@tejucole) May 9, 2012
Fox is now like, "What if we took states that Obama has already won and gave them to Romney – how would that change the map?"— colson whitehead (@colsonwhitehead) November 7, 2012
As #AWP13 starts today, it's a fine time for @VQR to post my massive treatise on the biz of lit http://t.co/CpDNN96iOp Thx 2 @JaneFriedman— Richard Nash (@R_Nash) March 7, 2013
Ironic that I am a judge for the Truman Capote award when Capote in a druggy interview said he hated me & that I should be executed. LOL.— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) October 14, 2013
For those curious about the mystery event that happened in my parlor last night, here's a clue. http://yfrog.com/gy3ugpj— Ayelet Waldman (@ayeletw) January 3, 2011
On a positive note, both can pronounce the word "nuclear".— Dani Shapiro (@danijshapiro) October 23, 2012
Kid at our door in a suit and tie. "What are you?" we asked. Him: "The 1 percent."— Dwight Garner (@DwightGarner) November 1, 2011
Next Schoolhouse Rock song is called "How a Bill Becomes a Law and Then Gets Held Hostage by Sore Losers Willing to Destroy Our Economy."— Ron Charles (@RonCharles) October 1, 2013
Thomas Pynchon's new novel BLEEDING EDGE will be published on September 17, deals with Silicon Alley between dotcom boom collapse and 9/11.— Sarah Weinman (@sarahw) February 25, 2013
Wouldn't it be fun to just totally ignore Ann Coulter? It would drive her crazy.— Susan Orlean (@susanorlean) October 23, 2012
A hard essay for me to write, and to publish. On being heartbroken and putting on a good show, on @the_millions. http://t.co/suPkVkkx65— Emma Straub (@emmastraub) July 11, 2013
Because I can lie beautiful true things into existence, & let people escape from inside their own heads & see through other eyes. #whyIwrite— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) October 20, 2011
Goodbye, my beloved friend.
A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops.
Christopher Hitchens, April 13, 1949-December 15, 2011.— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) December 16, 2011
Sad day, man. I never really understood how sad the book is until now. Why did I make it so sad? Why have so many people read it?— John Green (@realjohngreen) September 25, 2013
Found this genius quote on Reddit today: Getting offended is a great way to avoid answering questions that make you sound dumb.— Doug Coupland (@DougCoupland) September 2, 2012
Affordable Care Act means health care for artists, writers, poets, dancers, filmmakers, and others in the arts without insurance now.— Amy Tan (@AmyTan) October 1, 2013
The gorgeous and talented Charlie Hunnam will be Christian Grey in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.— E L James (@E_L_James) September 2, 2013
This Twitter post, from @JohnDonoghue64 last week, still makes me laugh. Sometimes Twitter really does amuse.
pic.twitter.com/yQ5yXrtp3W— Erik Larson (@exlarson) January 4, 2014
Whitney Houston: Yes, somewhere tonight Patrick Bateman is weeping, shocked but not surprised, and ordering three hookers instead of two…— Bret Easton Ellis (@BretEastonEllis) February 12, 2012
People who feel safer with a gun than with guaranteed medical insurance don't yet have a fully adult concept of scary.— William Gibson (@GreatDismal) October 2, 2013
Not doing #twittersilence b/c I don't think the response to those who want feminists to shut up and go away is to shut up and go away.— Jennifer Weiner (@jenniferweiner) August 4, 2013
Want to become a better writer? Then read this free essay: 'Developing a Theme' by Chuck Palahniuk – http://bit.ly/aNRUqk— Chuck Palahniuk (@chuckpalahniuk) October 12, 2010
Via @SciencePorn This is what a child's skull looks like before losing baby teeth. pic.twitter.com/pr7nF7w82G:
[Happy Holidays, Love, Joe]— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) November 27, 2013
I'm going to wash Joe Biden's car tomorrow. With my tears of gratitude.— Gary Shteyngart (@Shteyngart) October 12, 2012
o no i mistook mascara for concealer again! My eye sockets are black and greasy also idk what's going on in Eritrea. Can a website help plz— Emily Gould (@EmilyGould) August 14, 2013
100 Notable Books of 2011 http://t.co/1UtIx68O— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) November 22, 2011
How to write fiction: Andrew Miller on creating characters http://t.co/JpcwgIoO— Guardian Books (@GuardianBooks) October 16, 2011
Sun Ra used to perform for catatonic schizophrenics. One broke a years-long silence to ask, “Do you call that music?” http://t.co/YZuaLW29kZ— NY Review of Books (@nybooks) October 11, 2013
Little, Brown to publish JK Rowling adult novel— Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) February 23, 2012
The New Yorker brings back Haruki Murakami story for Japan issue http://lat.ms/h0rix6— L.A. Times Books (@latimesbooks) March 21, 2011
Library acquires ENTIRE Twitter archive. ALL tweets. More info here http://go.usa.gov/ik4— Library of Congress (@librarycongress) April 14, 2010
Print free 'Go Away, I'm Reading!' book covers for Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games & more: http://t.co/dQjrR0Iz— GalleyCat (@GalleyCat) March 17, 2012
SO FUN: A First Read of @bjnovak's new story collection w/readings by Novak, Emma Thompson, and Mindy Kaling! http://t.co/cP0ggj9mFp— NPR Books (@nprbooks) January 21, 2014
Our average member has read 7 of the #ALLTIME100 Best Non-Fiction Books. How about you? http://t.co/WrdBSlI http://t.co/4OMY4CY #BestBooks— goodreads (@goodreads) August 31, 2011
“Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something, learned something, become a better person."-Nora Ephron #RIP— The Paris Review (@parisreview) June 27, 2012
Incredible landscapes carved into books: http://t.co/jJcvdAAe // @twistedsifter— Electric Literature (@ElectricLit) January 2, 2012
An unpublished shorty story by David Foster Wallace has been posted on tumblr: http://bit.ly/aa7B38— The Rumpus (@The_Rumpus) October 29, 2010
(•_•)
<) )╯I've actually
/ \
\(•_•)
( (> Read
/ \
(•_•)
<) )> Infinite Jest
/ \— The Millions (@The_Millions) January 9, 2014
This picture is so important. pic.twitter.com/aQmlq9XE— Nick Moran (@nemoran3) October 17, 2012
But perhaps the pendulum will swing back towards pocket editions again. HarperPerennial recently introduced the Olive Editions collection. According to the marketing material, “they fit in your back pocket and only cost ten bucks each.” (And eight bucks on Amazon). So far the line includes three titles, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, and Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. At 7 inches by 4 1/2 inches, they are a touch larger than the pocket paperbacks you see in used bookstores, and while their cover design is smart looking, they are not as inviting as the pulpy art that used to emblazon even the classics. Nonetheless, they represent a smart move by HarperCollins, and one hopes that they will announce more titles in this format and that other publishers will follow suit.
Great blog entry! Ties in nicely with my recent post, The E-Book Revolution.
-Warren
I always thought the Penguin Great Ideas Series was a nice start, even if it focused on classic and not modern lit.
Ironically, I just wrote a post before seeing this one about how I find these small-sized editions so annoying.
I see editions of literary fiction in this format occasionally here in Buenos Aires under the label "export" or "open market" edition.
It's better than nothing, but I certainly am willing to pay a few more dollars for the trade paperback edition. (BTW, abroad the editions are not necessarily any cheaper than the trade editions).
Interesting post indeed, though the question of quality arises: are consumers who are used to the space and cleanliness of trade paperbacks going to go for smaller type and lesser production typically found in these cheaper editions? The question of production and design is ever present in forecasts for e-books too, of course. Haven't readers become savvy about how books are presented to them visually?
Interesting post. As for the Kindle, alas, three months on, mine is still sitting in its box. The whole hook-it-up-to Whisper Net thing… One day…
In Australia we seem to get TPB very quickly as the overseas hardbacks are priced so ridiculously. It's cheaper to personally import titles from Amazon US than to buy the same edition from a local bookstore (even with airmail costs factored in).
I find the mass market-size paperback a handy size to hold, but usually much too bulky to put in any pocket.
In order to cut down on bulk, the publisher has to reduce the size of the type face and spec very lightweight, cheap paper. I prefer a 6" x 9" trade paperback, which, after a lot of indecision, was the size I chose for my first book as an independent publisher this summer. The Cure for Jet Lag was originally published by Berkley Publishing Group in a 4.25" x 8" format with print so tiny it was barely readable. Page count 160. THAT edition could fit into your breast pocket and it did sell hundreds of thousands of copies. My new edition is still 160 pages, but in a 6 x 9 trade paperback format. Nice, colorful cover on good paper stock. Still slim enough to slip into a case beside a laptop, and not falling apart and difficult to read.
So, sure, if you want a disposable book and to wear your strongest prescription reading glasses, go for the "mass market" size.
Lynne W. Scanlon
PS I have a kindle and I love it, even though the back panel is always falling off. My big disappointment came, however, when I wanted to pass a great read on to a friend. That's not going to happen with a Kindle! Of course, perhaps the friend went to the bookstore and bought it! That's good for the author and the publisher and the bookstore.
Ultimately, the size of the book matters less than the quality of the words inside. I think we'd all do well to remember that and focus less on how we're sending those words out to the world. If the story warrants a good read, readers will find it.
That being said, nothing helps a product more than being portable. I suppose the question is one of preference. Do you want a book that's short, squat, and fits in your pocket (though not your back pocket unless you want sciatic nerve damage) or would you prefer a thin, lanky edition that could slide into a briefcase, laptop, or messenger bag? Either way, I support the end of the hardcover. I read them from libraries, but haven't bought one in years.
And as for the Kindle…
Thanks for this post.
Ironic, isn't it, that Allen Lane founded Penguin Books to provide pocket-sized quality books for train commuters?
Since Penguin is run these days by accountants with little regard for literature, or their own history, you now need a dedicated backpack to carry around their 'product'.
I did this when I published my first novel four years ago and it was a big success for me. People indeed responded positively to the smaller size, and many bookstores that offered to carry it said it was specifically because they loved the form factor. If financial constraints hadn't forced me to use POD/trade paperback for my later titles I'd have used the mass market size for all of them.
I grew up on the pocket paperback and was sorry when it died. For the past five years I've been trying to convince an editor that now is the time to return to it. Some books won't work as pocket editions (too unwieldly) but the vast majority will.
All I know is that I'd love to see a return to the pocket size paperback; nothing beats it for cheapness and portability.
Only 42 percent more expensive than the books that Hard Case Crime has been putting out for about four years now. But then, that's just genre fiction.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Wonderful article you have written here.
Personally, I find myself satisfied with the size of all of my pocket paperbacks. They easily fit inside of my purse so I find it very easy to read on-the-go.
Also, environmentally speaking, these books are a much better option all around.
One of my easiest reading experiences ever (even while standing in a moving subway car) was with a truly portable edition of Vanity Fair published in Thomas Nelson and Sons’ New Century Library. Dimensions: 6 1/4 by 4 1/4 by a half-inch thickness. The pages are Oxford India Paper—opaque, thin, and durable. The entire book fit in the palm of my hand and was lightweight, even at 784 pages. The type size wasn’t reduced and there are still margins. This is a true pocket book.
Postscript on the Nelson m: the book is c. 1909.