Most readers are curious and busy. Our books are for them.
Columbia Global Reports is a new kind of book imprint out of Columbia University that's producing four to six ambitious works of journalism a year, each on a different underreported story in the world. We commission the best authors to do original, on-site reporting around the globe, with the editorial mission of publishing short, timely, accessible and affordable books on significant news stories outside the United States that aren't being covered by mainstream news organizations. Each of our books can be read in just a few hours.
Some of the 2018 titles have included:
"WE WANT TO NEGOTIATE: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages, and Ransom" by Joel Simon who is executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, @Joelcpj.
"SAUDI AMERICA: The Truth About fracking And How It's Changing The world" by Bethany Mclean, a well-known Vanity Fair contributor and author of the bestselling book "The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron," @bethanymac12.
"THE CURSE OF BIGNESS: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age" by Tim Wu who is a policy advocate and cyber-lawyer who coined the term "net neutrality," @superwuster.
"NEVER REMEMBER: Searching for Stalin's Gulags in Putin's Russia" with essays by The New Yorker's Masha Gessen, @mashagessen, and chilling photographs from acclaimed photojournalist Misha Friedman, @MishaFriedman.
Use social media to get people to put down their phones and pick up a book. To do that we're building a unique kind of online community for 2018 that focuses on what usually isn't already trending.
Our followers care about the news they aren't already seeing in the mainstream media and they come to us hoping to continue those conversations with others who know these stories best. Our strategy includes, first and foremost, standing by our authors' reporting in order to encourage a more well-read online community. Though one might find most of our content available for free online —through excerpts, videos, interactive maps, and our successful 'UNDERREPORTED with Nicholas Lemann' podcast—to get the full story and participate in our timely and often fiery debates, our users are encouraged to support the journalism financially through the purchase of an actual, real-life, paperback book. And we do. Columbia Global Reports digital has successfully built a subscription service that allows by holding ourselves and our partners to a high-bar in responsible story-sharing online. We steer completely clear of traditional 'click-bait' tactics promoted so heavily in this industry while publishing our digital content to the same journalistic-standards that are held by our critically acclaimed book series. The new gilded age of fake news is here to stay, we're fighting it at every turn.
The Columbia Global Reports community thrives on the coattails of high-quality narrative storytelling. The result is an authentic digital space for readers of all political persuasions to feel like they are part of the conversation, a constructive conversation about issues that matter. CGR is the place you come to understand and finally demystify the many complex issues involved with globalization.
Our biggest success in 2018 has been our foray into #bookstagram. By utilizing Instagram Stories and Direct Messages, we have been able to aggregate the global news items that our audience cares about most —Trump, human rights, public health and geopolitics—as a gateway to connect them with our own content, often explorations of the wonkier human stories—from the worldwide rise of populism and medical tourism, to Chinese smartphones and Nigerian Cinema.
Where do we hope to grow from here? Going into 2019, we hope to tap into and grow our community on LinkedIn. We're also currently migrating our entire video library to the official Columbia University YouTube channel. This will help create a closer content integration with the university allow Columbia Global Reports to attract their existing audience. one that desperately interested and actively engaged with a large spectrum of global issues. Go Lions!
