Books(in140) & Other Things

The other day I received an email from a small American book publisher wondering if I would like a review copy of their latest book so that I could review it on my blog.

I write a whole bunch of other blogs and this particular one is Chic By Nature, a blog about environmentally friendly fashion and designers. The book in question is a book about becoming a more environmentally conscious consumer of fashion.

I jumped at the chance. Not only to receive a copy of a book I’d probably buy anyway, but also to participate in a more streamlined and niche oriented book marketing tactic. A review on a niche blog like mine would ensure the readers reading the review are more interested in the subject matter, and thus, be more likely to purchase the book.

However, there are several, justifiable questions a publisher needs to ask. Is the blog reputable? Is the author trust-worthy? How do they not know I’ll take my free book and run away into the blogosphere?

Here are a list of questions any pblisher should ask before sending a review book to a blogger:

• Is the content original and engaging? (Does the author have a brain?)
• Is there a community built around this blog? (Does the blog have readers?)
• Will the community engage critically with the review and the book? (Will they care about my book?)
• Do the readers of this blog match my target audience? (Will they buy my book?)

Considering the deceasing traditional media space being dedicated to books, the numerous micro-niche blogs out there, and the relatively low risk it costs publishers to ship a book to a blogger, to me, this needs to be a method publishers should consider to get their titles out there. Sure, my review might only translate into 3-4 sales and will never gain the renown of the New York Times, but those sales should re-coup the costs it took to send me the book and will probably result in exposure elsewhere on the net.

The only downside for publishers will be finding the resources to seek out the blogs and other smaller, non-traditional media that will match title for title with their lists. But as publishers become more web-savvy, this should become less and less of a problem.

So, if any other publishers out there are interested, I also write several celebrity and television fan sites. And I’ll happily review books!

Image by robinhamman. Liscensed via Creative Commons.

Descant (one of my favorite literary magazines!) recently wrote a post about cleaning off the bookshelf. Some titles are impossibly hard to part with, no matter how embarrassing. Yes, I’m talking about my entire Baby-Sitters Club series. Others, not so much.

Their suggestions range from the charitable to the communal to the depressing, but they do have a point. You can’t hang onto books forever.

When you’re done with a title, what do you do with it? And what books can’t you part with?

Thanks to Descant, I recently discovered an online service called Book Mooch, where people all around the world can trade and share books.

All you do is sign up, type in the books you want to give away. Once they are given away, you receive a “point” which allows you to mooch a book you’ve been wanting to read off someone else. Read it and then keep it forever or return it to the mooching pile for someone else to enjoy.

It’s great way to meet fellow book lovers around the world, find that elusive out-of-print book you’ve been dying to read and to dispose of books you no longer need or want in a way thats helpful! It even has a handy Wish List feature, allowing you to acquire the books you’ve been dying to read.

Check it out for yourself here.

Papercut, the fabulous NY Times book blog, came up with the “seven deadly sins” of book reviews today–popular words in books reviews, used to sound “intelligent” and “literary.”

The list includes the gems poignant; compelling; intriguing; eschew; craft (used as a verb); muse (used as a verb); and lyrical.

In the comments section, nuanced, subtle, masterful, magisterial, engaging, and luminous, among others, came up.

Would a review saying something like (stolen from Papercut, because it’s way better than the review I concocted!) “Mario Puzo’s intriguing novel eschews the lyrical as the author instead crafts a poignant tale of family life and muses on the compelling doings of the Mob” entice you to pick up the book and read it? Probably not.

If the above words may never be used in reviewing a Sophie Kinsella novel, why should they be used in a review about the latest Ondjaate novel? Wouldn’t doing so further alienate certain readers? I’d argue that not only is this language unnecessary, it can be inaccessible.

I wonder if we need to review how books are reviewed. Who reads book reviews? And why? And, given the changing media and social spaces today, where are book reviews going? How would such elaborate and flowery language translate on Facebook and other social media sites, where you get a sentence to attract readers to your review? Or, more interestingly, Twitter? How would you write an effective book review in 140 characters?

That being said, when such words are used correctly, they’d make for a powerful and persuasive review. But reviewing literature doesn’t mean trying to write literature. Don’t write like you’re smart, just be smart. Then the review will be fantastic.

And if you’re really smart, you’ll show me how to write a review in 140 characters. Or less.

Image by Zephyrinus. Licensed via Creative Commons.

A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about how Borders was going to increase the number of titles they shelve face-out, as to further entice buyers to a wider variety of titles. This article resulted in several very strong letters in protest.

For example, Scott Ehrig-Burgess wrote:

We treat books like books, rather than breakfast cereal, by hiring and retaining great booksellers who take reading seriously and who are passionate about building relationships with our wonderful customers who are great readers themselves. Until Borders realizes that great books begin in the hands of great booksellers and great readers, not in boardrooms and concept stores, we will continue to thrive at the cutting edge of our industry, with this simple, insurmountable, competitive advantage.

Mr. Ehrig-Burges’s letter has lots of valuable things to say that I agree with. I, too, am disdainful of the fact it’s boardrooms and concepts that may drive the sales of certain books titles and not others, and of how certain co-op programs and bookstores favor large publishers and unfairly punishes smaller ones. I value an independent bookstore over a big-box giant and a knowledgeable, helpful bookseller is a priceless commodity.

But when it comes to the average reader, buying an average book, the liklihood they are going to Borders and not that quirky bookshop downtown is pretty high. I doubt the book-buying population that drives the publishing industry are those who consider themselves “great” readers who read “great” books. While I am taking the term “great” in the most pessimistic light possible, there exists an undeniable pretension in some aspects of publishing that can’t be ignored.

Therefore, claiming that the publishing industry is built on “great booksellers” and “great readers” is the same pretentious attitude that scares a lot of people off of reading. Shouldn’t booksellers care more about getting more people to read more books than caring about what attracts people to certain titles?

Putting the issues of corporate culture and the struggling publishing industry aside (and Borders’ own problems!), if a reader buys a book because the cover is pretty, we shouldn’t scorn them for it. We should just be glad that person is reading.

Image by Austin Tolin. Licensed via Creative Commons.

In defense of (or in solidarity with) his Wired editor, Leander Kahney is giving away his two books, Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod for free as downloads.

Bill Pollock of No Starch Press has some interesting things to say about this project here.

“I think there’s something to this and logic tells me that if we increase the visibility of our titles, we’ll sell more books,” Pollock writes.

I can’t help but wonder how much the genre of the books–non-fiction books about technology–will not only affect downloads, but also affect perception of this project and actual book titles. Getting your title out there is always a good thing. But will a book about Apple Inc. by Leander Kahney (who is awesome, by the way) be treated the same way by consumers as, say, the latest literary fiction by Margaret Atwood? I highly doubt it. While technology will play a huge factor in how publishers reach audiences, these avenues will become narrower and more streamlined. A good thing for readers but a more complicated thing for publishers.

You can download the books for yourself here.

A few days ago, Slate posted an interesting article about the history of the phone book. Titled “Why Won’t Phone Books Die?” it chronicled their inception, increasing success and current demise of this information service.

Given the various methods people have to communicate now beyond public land lines–cell phones and email, to name a few–let alone those who have private numbers or no land lines at all, the death of the phone book is a natural thing. Yet, according to Slate, the Yellow Pages Association is refusing to let it die. I know they are worried about their livelihood and their employees, but it’s hard to argue for the preservation of something that is little more than an information service. (Although I did enjoy the historical elements of the Slate article!)

It only makes sense that services that merely provide listings and information move to a digital an more interactive format than an alphabetical index as it’s only search method. Instead of fervently holding on to a dying medium, Yellow Pages should look to the future and capitalize on the technologies people are using to find information. They already have a website I go too far too often for information. Why not grow from there?

This is a tune I sing far too often, but I found this Slate piece really interesting, and it’s well worth a read. Check it out for yourself here.

Image by mdumlao98. Licensed via Creative Commons.

Thanks to Joe Wikert, I came across Podiobooks, a website that offers serialized audiobooks for free.

Users can subscribe to a book or books and download the chapters to listen to as they are released. They let you get your books through iTunes, Juice and Transitor. They currently have over 190 titles and 42,000 users. Pretty crazy stuff.

Joe makes the great suggestion of Podiobooks joining forces with the other publishing platforms. Joe’s a smart guy, you should read his blog.

Check out Podiobooks and let me know what you think!

While I fall somewhere in the middle of the “print is dead” and “print will never die” schools of thought, there is one book medium which completely confuses me and always will–the hardcover book.

Not necessarily the hardcover per se, but the hardcover with dust jackets. They are bulky, difficult to transport, difficult to store, and make for difficult upkeep. I successfully rip all my dust covers within minutes of purchase, then store them somewhere for “safekeeping” while I read the book, only to find it three months later, half-chewed by our resident mouse under the couch.

In today’s mobile, fast-paced, disposable, multi-tasking world, where do hardcovers fit? Reading is happening on subways, on airplanes, in small snippets while doing other things. Gen Y is the generation of multi-tasking and reading is no exception. This is not a bad thing, but books need to evolve with how people are reading them–digital or not.

Hardcovers are bulky and just annoying. I know not every publisher and every book follows the hardcover-paperback-mass market lifeline, but I think it’s a cycle worth reconsidering. How are you going to attract new readers and younger readers, readers who grew up in a culture of disposability, instant gratification and choice when the current buzzed about book is a $40.00 hardcover and they’ll need to wait six to eight months for the paperback version?

Hardcovers. I hate them. Except for a few niches–school and library markets, textbooks, large-print editions, coffee table and art books–I don’t see their point.

I’m sure there a valuable reasons to print in hardcover. The current ones I get at school–”tradition” and “the media”–are whack. Why do publishers let media outlets dictate how and when they’ll publish books? With the rise of new media, media is bigger and more diverse than ever before. You just need some resilience and some creativity.

As for tradition, I’m not saying kill the hardcover completely. I’m just saying that readers deserve choice. Choice in where they read, what they read, how they read, and the format they read it in. Book publishers shouldn’t punish readers for wanting choice.

And I cant think of a single reason we should ever use dust jackets. Ever.

Image by betizuka. Licensed through Creative Commons.

I wish I could say something more profound about this list. But I can’t. Except that it would have been more fun to read if they counted them down instead of listing them in order.

100 Greatest Last Lines from Novels (via kottke)