Reviewing the reviews

Posted by trav in Book Talk, Media, News, Upcoming Titles      No comments

Nov
27

This last weekend I caught a panel of reviewers talking about themselves and book reviews over on BookTV. To be honest, they didn’t say much that hasn’t been said already, just a whole lot of complaining about the “shift in the industry” and how the mega-media companies see no value in printing book reviews.

And then I ran across this story… of one small independently published author named Brunonia Barry. According to the NYCiP, Barry landed a multi-million dollar international deal because of one 4-star review in Publisher’s Weekly.

Now I understand that PW has a pretty focused readership but I’d like some of those mega-media companies to explain how that kind of deal can be on the table for a relatively unknown author, if no one expects to make any money.

Now everyone is going to want their book seen in PW. Which is the kind of demand and ROI that newspapers and magazines could have too, if they worked at it.