Abstract

Genette introduced and defined the concept of paratext in 1987, and applied studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of this methodological approach. However, reviewing the scientific literature shows a lack of studies of a paratext that is essential to the promotion of reading on social networks: public virtual epitext. The first aim of this paper is to review and analyze the scientific literature about virtual epitext. Next, we propose lines of research to advance the promotion of books and reading on social networks. Finally, we show the need to broaden the virtual epitext concept in order to analyze internet-related changes in the dissemination of books and reading.

Abstract

Within the framework of the information society, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in reading characterized by the convergence of analog and digital supports and the consequent challenges. In this context, the illustrated nonfiction book emerges as a format with great editorial vitality. They are open works subject to the reader’s critical interpretation that move away from the traditional encyclopedic discourse and towards a confluence between art and knowledge. As a way of promoting these books, the book-trailer is defined as a virtual peritext that generates meanings, guides the reading, and projects a model of the reader that is immersed in the culture of the social web. To identify the keys that determine this reader, an exploratory study based on content analysis on the characteristics of the book-trailer of illustrated nonfiction books aimed at children was carried out. A sample of 397 book-trailers from 50 publishing houses was selected for the analysis. The results reveal that the promotion of nonfiction books defines a reading model that emphasizes the physical dimension of reading, the artistic proposal, an interactive, fragmented, free reading that is also guided, the solvency provided by the recognition of authorship, and learning linked to the playful and emotional component through hybridization as the axis of construction. It is concluded that the book-trailer of the illustrated nonfiction book corresponds to a curious and reflective implicit reader in line with the needs posed by the digital society of the 21st century in terms of reading.