| How many people read the New York Times | | | | mouth then it makes perfect sense that the |
| Book Review? Raise your hands. Hmmm...small | | | | middleman paid reviewer would become |
| crowd. How many people go and buy the books | | | | antiquated in age of the Internet. We now have |
| after reading a NYT Book Review? Extremely | | | | the direct links for readers to click on to find out |
| small crowd. My novel was reviewed in the New | | | | to what the most relevant class of reviewers |
| York Times and I did regard it as a benchmark, a | | | | think--other readers. |
| status symbol of the novelist finally arrived. I do | | | | The obvious site for this well of reviews is |
| read the New York Times Book Review. | | | | Amazon where readers post directly to the book |
| Religiously. Every Sunday. But I must confess to a | | | | they just read. A book with fifty some reviews |
| feeling akin to reading short stories in The | | | | will give the reader a more balanced view of a |
| Saturday Evening Post and that is I am reading | | | | book then the opinion of one Ivory Tower reader. |
| something that belongs to a different time. The | | | | Consensus is the word of the day in cyberland. |
| books reviewed are of a certain staple: fiction, | | | | Other sites like Library Thing, Shelfari, |
| international fiction with protagonists who | | | | Goodreaders all work off consensus reviews. A |
| overcome incredible odds in war torn regions. | | | | hundred people read a book and rate it and then |
| Biographies of long lost literary figures or Teddy | | | | you get an average. The fringe reviewer who |
| Roosevelt. Alec Baldwin's diatribe on his divorce. | | | | doesn't like anything and the over the top |
| Up and coming novelists on the back pages. | | | | reviewer who loves everything are marginalized |
| Literary lions no one has heard of outside the | | | | by a healthy discerning middle. No one is getting |
| literary lion circles. Historical fiction. Not that this is | | | | paid and yes you will have the author friends and |
| bad content....but it is no secret that book sections | | | | enemies weighing in, but in there also will be |
| in the major newspapers are vanishing. | | | | people with honest opinions. The result is much |
| The Chicago Tribune's book section was | | | | more democratic and that makes sense in a |
| marginalized to the Saturday edition. The | | | | democracy. Art by the people and for the people |
| Washington Post Book World was practically | | | | and reviewed by the people. It doesn't matter |
| eliminated. The New York Times Book Review is | | | | really if we like it or not because it is here. The |
| one of the last holdouts and thank God for that. | | | | argument for a paid reviewer is one that he or |
| So, the question is where are people going to find | | | | she is trained to review. Maybe. But don't you get |
| out about books now? An answer might be they | | | | a skewed viewpoint by a single rarefied person |
| are going nowhere to find out about books. Or | | | | reading books they prefer? Getting through the |
| we might believe what Steven Jobs said who | | | | literary gates of most heavy hitter review |
| proclaimed no one reads anymore--a self serving | | | | publications is reserved for those who catch an |
| observation from Mr. IPOD. But the fact is people | | | | editors whim who is literally deluged with books. |
| are still reading and reading a lot. I know. I have | | | | We can't expect a fair and judicial process from |
| been to land over the rainbow and it is a bit like | | | | harried overworked reviewers or editors who |
| OZ. Strange new munchkins called Citizen | | | | have even less staff today. So, by default, we |
| Reviewers are reading and writing the reviews in | | | | end up with a polyglot of books being reviewed |
| cyber land and this is what people are reading. It | | | | by a polyglot of readers. The New York Times |
| is not only the big Book Blog sites that are | | | | Book Review will always be the benchmark for |
| claiming the attention of the reader, it is the | | | | the literary world and I think that is a good thing. |
| ordinary posts of the ordinary reader. If books | | | | But the Citizen Reviewer will certainly be a second |
| are still sold in the fundamental way of word of | | | | opinion...something everyone should have. |