How Has the Internet Changed Book Culture?

If there was one major takeaway from the evening, it was that all of the panelists believed that the internet has served to expand literary culture and its reach. Straub described literary activity on the web as "a good cocktail party, where it's always busy and you're not the only one there," and Lee noted that readers who might have had a hard time finding others with similar tastes before the age of social media no longer have that problem. "You can really find your tribe online," she said, adding that this makes the internet an ideal tool for "having a one to one conversation with the people who love to talk about books" in a way that allows authors, publishers, and others to really "zero in on readers."