Denise Low responds to Death of the Book Review & an article by Sam Eichner

 My long-time friend Fred Whitehead sent me a link to an article that suggests, by its end, 

that both the literary and the journalistic book review forms are dead--or at least greatly altered. Sam Eichner begins his argument in "What's Behind a Recent Rise in Books Coverage" by chronicling the increasing coverage of books in news media, but not through increased book reviews. First, he notes how major news outlets are adding to book articles: “Since the beginning of 2017, The New York Times has continued to expand its already robust book coverage. More recently, New York announced that it would triple its book coverage. In October, The Atlantic launched a Books section and a newsletter.” Eichner adds that BuzzFeed has a new online book club and Facebook group. However, all book news competes with a cacophony of online pop-up ads, video clips, and social media. Books continue to have, nonetheless, qualities like no other medium, even if readers do not have more time. He quotes the NYT book review editor Pamela Paul, who lists virtues of the book: they give historical perspectives, longer-range perspectives, and analysis of all the flotsam of news fragments. Eichner refers to these virtues as he ends his article with a rally to continue to support books: “. . . it may be more important than ever for publications to help books accomplish these goals," but his means to this end is to join the production of bits and bytes: "But the best format for them to do so is likely no longer the traditional, single-book, literary review. To break through the noise, editors must translate old-fashioned book coverage to the lingua francas of today’s impossibly paced media climate: shareable lists, essays, digestible Q&As, podcasts, scannable email newsletters, hashtags, Instagrams, even book trailers.” Oh my, brave new world. The entire article is worth a read. Whether we like it or not, the book review has morphed into a variety of book niblets.

What’s Behind a Recent Rise in Books Coverage? By Sam Eichner Columbia Journalism Review, Dec. 3, 2018.  

Sam Eichner is a writer based in New York, whose work has been published in The Daily Beast, Electric Literature, and The Huffington Post. You can follow him on Twitter @seike17.

How to get books reviewed! Try this Midge Raymond link.



Midge Raymond

I recently found a good piece about how to get reviews of that great American novel you just wrote, or even reviews of a book of poetry. The key is to know your niche. Who is your audience, and what do they read? The other virtue is patience. The long-term goal is to expand readership, not get rich quick, and this takes time. My first review was for the Women's Studies department of Kansas State University, of a feminist book. Maybe the review sold books, maybe not, but it did inform the target audience about a new book. It expanded the readership. News stands have a zillion magazines calibrated for every interest. You can explore that resource, as long as news stands exist--they are quickly becoming obsolete. Googling your niche, like "poetry review blog," can bring up many resources. The online world is essential, including links to your own webpage and other social media. I hesitate to make my personal social media into a self-promotion machine (there are some terrible examples of this out there), but I do use them to announce and link reviews. My own webpage, which is pretty static, is an archive of good news about my writing, and I hope it is useful when an editor or reading curator asks for a biography or introduction to my work. This article by Midge Raymond has many good suggestions:

 http://www.ashlandcreekpress.com/blog/2011/11/28/tips-for-authors-on-getting-or-not-getting-reviews/