Debut novelist Jenny Shank brings her affection for the American West to The Ringer, a searing tale of racial and class tension set in contemporary Denver. As the Books & Writers Editor at NewWest.net, Shank champions stand-outs of the current Western-lit cannon.
Last week, a personal book-review blog called BigAl’s Books and Pals posted a review of a self-published novel by Jacqueline Howett. Howett took exception to the review and posted a series of ranting comments, eventually deteriorating into obscenities—but not before the thread had gone viral, and not in a good way. Some insist [...]
The news lately is almost always about book review sections folding—but the Wall Street Journal will soon be LAUNCHING a review section of its own. Reports GalleyCat:
Former Atlantic editor Robert Messenger will helm a brand new pull-out book review section at The Wall Street Journal.
According to the New York Observer, Messenger will edit the [...]
he Los Angeles Times Book Section reported back in May that the top 10 e-books on Kindle are all free. Not surprisingly, Steig Larsson now holds the top three slots with his Millennium Trilogy, which range between $7.15 and $9.99.
That still leaves plenty of free books in the top tier. The current top of [...]
Lit journals fold if no one subscribes, and in the digital age, the same goes for podcasts. For the Washington Post’s Book World series, it’s get subscribers, or get the ax. Ron Charles, deputy editor of the section, explained the dire situation in an interview with Washington City Paper:
[T]he paper’s top brass [...]
For NPR, Dick Meyer’s “Literary Death Sprial: The Fading Book Section” is definitely worth a read, especially together with FWR’s recent essay on this topic, “A Review of One’s Own,” by Lee Thomas.
Over the past decade, book reviews and newspaper book sections have faced, and continue to face, serious danger of extinction. Lee Thomas explores what our culture stands to lose if the edited book review is in jeopardy, positing that book lovers, writers, and critics might yet find a way to profit–rather than suffer from–the sea changes of the publishing industry and online review forums.
Sadness.
Book World was one of the last remaining stand-alone book review sections in the country, along with the New York Times Book Review. The Washington Post’s move comes as the company, like most other newspaper businesses across the country, has been hobbled by a protracted downturn in advertising. [...] “This is disheartening,” said Jane Ciabattari, [...]
