Summer reading giveaway!

Who doesn't love a free book?

Easily one of the best parts of my job is the free books.

I’ve written reviews, interviews, and essays pegged to books for various outlets, including Refinery29, The Washington Post, The Cut, this newsletter, and elsewhere, and because of this (and because I wrote about motherhood, feminism, and culture more generally), I’m often sent galleys (copies printed in advance of the on-sale date) of books to consider for coverage. It’s the absolute best, and something my bookworm 10-year-old self didn’t even know was a thing that could be dreamt.

Often, once the book in question is published, publishers will send along finished copies, which means I end up with two copies of the same book, which my book-hoarding self loves, but which my practical self doesn’t actually need.

So, to thank you, my beloved paid subscribers, without whom I wouldn’t be able to invest the time necessary to researching, writing, and editing this newsletter, I’ll be hosting three book giveaways this summer. All paid subscribers are automatically entered in the giveaway, and if you’d like to upgrade in order to be eligible, I’m offering a flash sale. By upgrading below, you’ll be entered in the giveaway, which will close on Friday, June 15th.

And now, for June’s free book offering!

Stephanie McNeal has covered influencer culture for several years, both for Buzzfeed News (RIP), and now, for Glamour, and I can’t tell you how much of her work I referenced for Momfluenced. Well before the cultural criticism of influencer culture had gone mainstream, Stephanie’s been thoughtfully covering how the rise and prominence of influencer culture has impacted our bank accounts, our identities, and our world.

Here are a few of Stephanie’s pieces I’ve particularly loved:

Why Beige is the Preferred Color for Rich Woman

Millennial Women Made LuLaRoe Billions. Then They Paid The Price

The Most Obnoxious—And Enviable—Mom in Your Facebook Group May Be Fake

And here’s a little sneak peak from Stephanie’s book, in which she tries to unpack the power of momfluencer culture, noting not only the moral thorniness of incorporating children in content creation, but also her longtime fascination with “mommy blogs.”

As a single woman in my early twenties, [I] started reading them in my spare time. In fact, I read mommy blogs more than fashion blogs. Is it that I have always been interested in motherhood, as many young girls are, getting excited when a character on a television show becomes pregnant? Am I some kind of sick voyeur, constantly craving the intimacy of this content? Was I just really, really bored and lonely, and watching women who looked like me make happy families for themselves gave me comfort? Maybe all of it. But if wasn’t just me. In 2009, around the peak of the mommy blog obsession, a study found that twenty-three million women were engaging with blogs, by either reading and commenting on them or writing their own, every week.

The fact that young children were at the heart of these accounts has always been a source of shame–for me as a reader, and for the industry as a whole. The subjects of this content are real children . . . who are starting to realize their entire childhoods, or at least large swaths of it, have been documented on the internet. And that means they are at the mercy of the internet’s judgement.

If you loved Momfluenced but found yourself wanting more practical accounting of an influencer’s daily life (and thoughts, feelings, experiences), or if you wanted a deeper dive into the ethics of children’s participation in social media, or if you simply want to better understand why influencer culture matters, like, really, really matters, this is the book for you. And if you want to hear Stephanie and I chat about all things social media and influencer culture, mark your calendars for June 23rd at 7PM when we’ll be doing an Instagram Live together. Very excited!

And here’s that upgrade button one more time if you’re not a paid subscriber but want access to the full archives of In Pursuit, commenting privileges, weekly Let’s Discuss posts, and, of course, automatic entry in giveaways like this one!