Culture Industries Archives

Toward the Next Literary Mafia

Those excluded from the publishing industry can ultimately overwhelm its bigotry—if they all work together.

For its scale and internal complexity alone, the literary genre of “romance” warrants more study than it has received.

The most tweeted about show of the decade, “Euphoria” provoked viewers to gossip about its teenage characters. What did they say?

The videos of TikToks can easily reach billions. But because the app won’t share what’s popular, we don’t know just what the world is watching.

“We can ask why Squid Game was so popular. But really we should be asking how any show becomes a global success at all.”

We may never know what goes on in the rooms where literary prizes are decided, but thanks to data, we know exactly who was there.