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Readerville 2000-2009, Thanks for the Memories
Karen Templer // 09:10 pm, Friday, 05 June 2009
Every year when June rolls around, I try to find some way to mark the anniversary of the official launch of Readerville. I’m sorry to announce that this year, instead, I’m suspending operations. That is, with one notable exception: Note:books lives on, under a new name and new management.
It’s been an exceptional nine years. In June of 2000, the web was a very different place than it is today. Online resources for readers were comparatively few but pretty terrific, and Readerville was proud to be among them. Back then, if you told someone you talked to people on the Internet, they still looked at you funny, and most in the book industry couldn’t really grasp the idea of readers handselling books to each other in forums such as ours. These days, I’m thrilled at the vast assortment of tools for people to connect online—from blogs to Facebook and Twitter, to the many social book cataloging sites, and beyond. Readers have resources nobody could have imagined nine years ago, and it’s a joy to see books being talked about in every corner of the Internet. I like to think Readerville helped set the stage for that in some small way.
To the people who’ve made up the Readerville community over the years, I want to say that I am eternally grateful for your enthusiasm, your humor, your knowledge, your generous recommendations, and your friendship. I had no idea when I launched Readerville that it would mean so much to so many people, including me. It’s been an honor.
To all of the authors who’ve participated in Readerville Events over the years, thank you for lending so much to the experience this has been. Thanks especially to Elizabeth Strout for (unknowingly) being a magnificent and generous last guest.
And to my regular contributors—co-bloggers Gayla Bassham and Lisa Peet, 8-year partner in Most Coveted Covers (among countless other things) DG Strong, the inestimable new-release hound Kat Warren, and events coordinator Leah Kenworthy—as well as Ben, Daniel, Pat, Katherine, Marge, Howard, Karla, Doug, Randall, Mignon, Michael, Richard, Bob—most of all Bob!—and supporters and contributors too numerous to name, there are no words to express my gratitude.
The many successes of Readerville are all attributable to you.
So now what? I’ll continue to post about my reading at the new Noting:books and I hope you will too—I still want (need!) to know what you’re all reading. Aside from that, I’ll be blogging at Collapse and Delight, and I’ll still be on Twitter as @karentempler. Gayla’s blog is Beautiful Screaming Lady; she’s on Twitter as @Sophronisba and on Facebook. Lisa’s blog is Mappa Mundi, and she’s on Twitter as @lisapeet1. DG’s blogs are Six DGs of Observation and The Psychopedia, and he’s just joined Twitter. Kat will be continuing the wonderful @new_books feed at Twitter, entirely under her own direction and discretion. And Leah can be found at Twitter and at Facebook. Please do look us up. I’m counting on this being not so much goodbye as see you around.
So that’s it then. Thank you for coming. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
—kt
Important legal notes:
1) The site will remain live for a period of time and you are free to copy anything you like for your own personal, private use, but every word posted/published on the site belongs to the person whose name is at the top of it. You may not repost or republish, in any form, anything with anyone else’s name on it without their permission.
2) The name “Readerville” is a registered trademark owned by Readerville Inc., along with the domain, and may not be used.
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