National Book Critics Circle at the BEA May 30
by Jane Ciabattari | May-30-2009
Today, the NBCC is offering a panel at the BEA: Book Reviews 2010: What Will They Look Like?
As one newspaper towns go to no newspaper towns, as bloggers get sponsors, as networking sites burgeon in content, what is the future of the book review? We are poised now at the juncture; the transition is underway. But a transition to what? For some, the readership created by the internet is something to applaud. We bring together a panel of writers, editors, and professionals, established on the vanguard, to discuss prospects for the review and how it may change, in the near future.
The panelists:
Ben Greenman (New Yorker, writer/reviewer)
Bethanne Patrick (PW blogger, Twitter and more)
David Nudo (Formerly New York Times, PW and Shelfari)
Otis Chandler (Goodreads CEO and founder)
Peter Krause (seems like a brand new thought, syndicates reviews to internet sites through his company, TacticCompany, formerly of Muze)
Moderated by John Reed, Books Editor, the Brooklyn Rail, NBCC board member
Some of the questions:
**With the need to have a credible guide on the wilderness of the internet, there is much talk of the reassertion of the expert. But is it the same expert?
**Is user-generated content evolving too? Or, is it working fine the way it is?
**Increasingly, there is no delineation between content and advertising. Is it the Armageddon?Or can the review retain its integrity? Or maybe establish a new integrity?
**There are plenty of things wrong with the model of reviewing instituted by print media. Are there any elements that our panelists look forward to leaving behind?
**Are networking sites the new magazine?
**How does editorial in a blog—process, result—compare to editorial in print?
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Wish I could be in NYC today for this discussion!
Food for thought here: As both a reviewer and a novelist (The Darkness Under the Water, Candlewick, 2008; another in progress), I’ve taken the easy and direct route of creating a review blog that fits with my third hat, which is a business shared with my husband, promoting mysteries and poetry. It saves time.
But that very factor, time, tends to encourage “reviews” that become merely information about the content of a book, rather than critical consideration. It delights me when I make time to craft a true critical piece—but I’m aware that hardly anyone who reads my review blog seems to notice the difference. Thus, the impetus to do stronger critical work has to be entirely internal.
This, I think, is the drawback to Internet reviewing: that we don’t place ourselves often enough within the net of higher expectations.
– Beth Kanell (05/30 at 30-May 13:08 -05:00)