“If I could wish for one thing in media, it would be for more publications to train their readers to want to read reviews & to give their books and culture editors the time and the space to develop."
This is a gorgeous piece. I think I will revisit it again and again to fully digest all the wisdom shared! I do the events and marketing at the indie bookstore where I work. This piece has given me some new ideas for ways to engage our local literary community. I’m so grateful!
A lot to take in here! Honestly? I wish the internet would disappear…okay, maybe fade away as that would be less disruptive. I’ve been remembering a world with daily newspapers, print magazine subscriptions, AM/FM radio, and TVs going off air at 12 midnight—ok I know this is nostalgia and foolish, but maybe there is something to be valued and rescued there. (If anyone mentions scrolls or horse and buggy to me, I may implode.)
As a Collection Development Librarian (I buy the adult fiction), I depend on reviews and lists to help me purchase books for my library, especially mid-list titles. Colleen Hoover and James Patterson have readers built in, but my patrons really like it when I can recommend authors like Robin Sloan, Jane Harper, Becky Chambers (before she became so popular), etc... Nothing pleases me more than someone saying they read a review about a book in the NYT or other publication and when they checked the library catalog, I had already purchased it. While TikTok/BookTok can drive some author's titles, many of those books don't resonate with my readers. This discussion was very informative; I put a hold on Audition by Katie Kitamura after reading this.
Tremendous amount of knowledge and insight here. This piece simultaneously scares me about the future of book media and fills me with admiration that there are folks still fighting the good fight. Thank you for putting this together!
Thank you, Blake. I *hate* being a downer, but I'd be lying if I said it isn't tough out there. My hope with this was to help authors understand why it's hard to get coverage so they don't feel so bad when it is tough but also to encourage all of us inspiration on how to engage with media. So many of us are really, really trying, though!
My first bylines were mid-list book reviews at the A.V. Club (pre-sales debacle/massive editor layoffs). I recently got around to (finally) PDFing my articles, in case all the websites disappear, and had a chance to revisit my earliest work. What stood out to me about the book reviews was that they're some of my most literary writing because book reviews allow for that kind of aesthetic attention to language and abstract thinking that a lot of reporting puts to the wayside. I honestly think part of my writing ability became atrophied once I started making inroads in other beats. Thanks for the roundtable! I really enjoyed it.
This was fascinating and SO generous, thank you! I've made a commitment to attend more events at McNally Jackson this year. I love that most of them are at the Seaport location 😍
This made for fascinating, if somewhat depressing, reading about the state of play of book-reviewing from a career writer's perspective (authors and reviewers alike). While Leslie Blanchard mentioned in the comments about TikTok/BookTok reviews benefiting some book titles, I think book-reviewing/rating sites like Goodreads also do the same. The quality of the reviews will vary considerably - and some are perfunctory - but they must have some impact.
Mainly genre authors can also benefit from reviews in general fanzines (many of which are hosted at https://efanzines.com/), but these reviews are unpaid, which is also the case for those in the majority of lit mags that publish them. It is sad that, as Maris Kreizman and Adrienne Westenfeld point out, book reviewers/critics can no longer make a living from writing reviews alone.
thank you all. someone should do a substack called MidList with multiple authors…
Love this idea!
This is a gorgeous piece. I think I will revisit it again and again to fully digest all the wisdom shared! I do the events and marketing at the indie bookstore where I work. This piece has given me some new ideas for ways to engage our local literary community. I’m so grateful!
Thank you so much, Nell! It's been great to see what different members of Book World take from this and how they will use it. Keep us posted!
A lot to take in here! Honestly? I wish the internet would disappear…okay, maybe fade away as that would be less disruptive. I’ve been remembering a world with daily newspapers, print magazine subscriptions, AM/FM radio, and TVs going off air at 12 midnight—ok I know this is nostalgia and foolish, but maybe there is something to be valued and rescued there. (If anyone mentions scrolls or horse and buggy to me, I may implode.)
Cheers!
A Gen X Reader/Writer (who loves lists.)
As a Collection Development Librarian (I buy the adult fiction), I depend on reviews and lists to help me purchase books for my library, especially mid-list titles. Colleen Hoover and James Patterson have readers built in, but my patrons really like it when I can recommend authors like Robin Sloan, Jane Harper, Becky Chambers (before she became so popular), etc... Nothing pleases me more than someone saying they read a review about a book in the NYT or other publication and when they checked the library catalog, I had already purchased it. While TikTok/BookTok can drive some author's titles, many of those books don't resonate with my readers. This discussion was very informative; I put a hold on Audition by Katie Kitamura after reading this.
I hadn't thought of lists from a librarian's perspective, and this makes a lot of sense. Thank you for reading!
Good insight 😌 Can i translate part of this article into Spanish with links to you and a description of your newsletter?
Salvador, that would be amazing! Thank you!!
Many thanks, Alia.
Tremendous amount of knowledge and insight here. This piece simultaneously scares me about the future of book media and fills me with admiration that there are folks still fighting the good fight. Thank you for putting this together!
Thank you, Blake. I *hate* being a downer, but I'd be lying if I said it isn't tough out there. My hope with this was to help authors understand why it's hard to get coverage so they don't feel so bad when it is tough but also to encourage all of us inspiration on how to engage with media. So many of us are really, really trying, though!
My first bylines were mid-list book reviews at the A.V. Club (pre-sales debacle/massive editor layoffs). I recently got around to (finally) PDFing my articles, in case all the websites disappear, and had a chance to revisit my earliest work. What stood out to me about the book reviews was that they're some of my most literary writing because book reviews allow for that kind of aesthetic attention to language and abstract thinking that a lot of reporting puts to the wayside. I honestly think part of my writing ability became atrophied once I started making inroads in other beats. Thanks for the roundtable! I really enjoyed it.
Thank you, Ines!
This was fascinating and SO generous, thank you! I've made a commitment to attend more events at McNally Jackson this year. I love that most of them are at the Seaport location 😍
Really insightful! Thanks to all who took part!
Loved being a part of this conversation.
What a generous conversation. So much insight and wisdom. Thank you all!
Great conversation - thanks!
This made for fascinating, if somewhat depressing, reading about the state of play of book-reviewing from a career writer's perspective (authors and reviewers alike). While Leslie Blanchard mentioned in the comments about TikTok/BookTok reviews benefiting some book titles, I think book-reviewing/rating sites like Goodreads also do the same. The quality of the reviews will vary considerably - and some are perfunctory - but they must have some impact.
Mainly genre authors can also benefit from reviews in general fanzines (many of which are hosted at https://efanzines.com/), but these reviews are unpaid, which is also the case for those in the majority of lit mags that publish them. It is sad that, as Maris Kreizman and Adrienne Westenfeld point out, book reviewers/critics can no longer make a living from writing reviews alone.
This is such a helpful interview!!