With online social networking portals such as Myspace and Facebook becoming ever more popular, it was inevitable that niche communities would begin to map out their own territory on the web. The latest to do so is the South African literary community, with the launch of Book SA (http://book.co.za), an online portal for those with a keen interest in local literature.
The site is the brainchild of writer and internet technologist Ben Williams, who says its aim “is to build a large, vibrant community on the web for book lovers”. The portal offers daily news related to South African literature as well as a community of bloggers, from writers to publishers and readers.
“I have always taken a great deal of interest in local literature, and have also been blogging for a while now,” says Williams. “It occurred to me that it would be a shame if the burgeoning South African book scene were to miss the consumer revolution that is happening online.
“Book SA was born out of the desire to help writers and publishers reach new, web-savvy audiences, using the platforms and technologies that these audiences are familiar with,” says Williams.
The portal will be updated regularly with book excerpts, book reviews, authors’ musings, book news and event alerts. Other features include an extensive photo gallery of writers and book events, a calender of readings and book launches, a new book search engine that queries a number of web warehouses at once and Book SA TV with YouTube-type video content.
Most of the social interaction, however, takes place through blogs and the forum where the community can discuss the local book market. Williams says the portal already has more than 20 active bloggers, half with commercial interests and the other half comprising independent writers.
“Current bloggers include writers, publishers, bookstores and book clubs,” says Williams. “Each time a blogger posts an article, it appears on the blog and our front page, which aggregates and displays the community’s output in different ways.
“So Book SA bloggers actually create their own virtual newspaper each day,” he says. Those who don’t want their own blog can still interact with other book lovers via the chat forum.
“Anyone can log into Book Chat and comment on any blogger or article in the wider Book SA network,” says Williams. “Forum participants can also start their own topics, independent of what is being written across Book SA blogs.”
Book SA will be blogging the FranschÂhoek Literary Festival live this weekend. Tune in at http://book.co.za