I worked at The New York Times, and the Book Review would get hundreds of unsolicited books. There were bins of them, many quite good, and just to get some elbow room the Book Review would send piles around to other departments if they weren't slated for a review. Great picking for reading at lunch, but I did feel sorry for the authors, who never knew that this was the ignominious end to their pearls of wisdom.
Absolutely correct. The other thing people don’t seem to realize is that even a NYT review doesn’t provide the “bump” it used to. I’m grateful for the organic support of readers who remember to rate/share/get word of mouth going, and I do the same for others whenever I can.
It’s been years since I was the poetry reviews editor at The Rumpus and I still get at least 100 books a year, most of which wind up in my little free library where hopefully they find good homes. And that’s not counting the books I get addressed to other editors, some of whom haven’t been at the site in years, and who have never lived at my address. And that’s also not counting the e-galleys I’m offered access to weekly. I wish I could give one percent of them the time they deserve.
I recently received a book to review (it's about Myanmar politics, a subject that I've written about for a few national publications). I've probably pitched a review to at least 10 different magazines, some of whom were kind enough to say they already had a review for the book scheduled, others never got back. There's a whole lot of labour when it comes to reviewing!
The NYT best sellers list has always been controversial but today looks hopelessly corrupt. As an Australian, I’m shocked by how books are curated by their woke staff.
That said, I’m also glad that James Patterson and big names are calling out the junk science algorithms. These lists and others demand more scrutiny.
I read alot, like about 50 books a year. Since a few years, I also write down notes on nonfiction books to enter into my Zettelkasten and I write like a diary with some of the entries for the books I read. I do this because I want to remember what I read much more than I already do (and this is one of the kinks of MY brain, I can even remember certain scenes from books I read 15 years ago).
Anyway, reading is much more fun when one communicates about it with other readers during or after the reading. I really liked Yiyun Li's Tolstoy together (unfortunately, I was reading War and Peace before I heard of it, but then read it right afterwards). I love reading groups. And of all the reading history websites like Goodreads I prefer https://bookrastinating.com because that is where I got into the best discussions of books and reading so far ( ➜ https://bookrastinating.com/user/gregorgross is my profile).
What I was trying to say is I'd love to review certain types of books because I review most of the books I read, anyway. My favourite topics for fiction are SciFi and WWII with all its facettes. My favourite topics for non-fiction books are how to transform our society for the future and mankind's early history.
My biggest problem with reviewing: I don't really focus only on modern books. I really prefer classics, because they have shown for a long time to be good (whereas new books have to show it first). The next biggest problem is a review for a new book needs to come out soon after its publishing. I really have a long list of books waiting for my attention.
Appreciate the perspective here. Knowing this does make it easier to take the quiet of sending out story and hearing nothing.
I'm also going to make more of an effort to recommend/promote books and stories and poetry, especially from writers who aren't known. We have to be here for each other.
Studios would send us (a newspaper in California) invitations for screenings and press junkets, but with an extortionist's eye. If we didn't send a reporter and review it (favorably) we were not invited back. That put a little bit of a slant on things.
I hope I have better luck with my book. I have not written it, yet, but a guy can dream can't he?
Interesting post. I’ve reviewed books in the past and would post my thoughts on my blog (in the days when blogging was a thing)! And I realised then how freely books could come my way. It’s all about time. I couldn’t give a considered review without spending a whole amount of it.
What a wonderful piece. Thanks so much. Too busy to do anything but glance this busy Monday, but will savor this tonight as bedtimr reading. Nothing makes my blood boil like book-pirating!
I worked at The New York Times, and the Book Review would get hundreds of unsolicited books. There were bins of them, many quite good, and just to get some elbow room the Book Review would send piles around to other departments if they weren't slated for a review. Great picking for reading at lunch, but I did feel sorry for the authors, who never knew that this was the ignominious end to their pearls of wisdom.
I’m starting to believe that getting reviewed on Substack where my following is growing is THE best way to boost KDP sales of my next book.
Absolutely correct. The other thing people don’t seem to realize is that even a NYT review doesn’t provide the “bump” it used to. I’m grateful for the organic support of readers who remember to rate/share/get word of mouth going, and I do the same for others whenever I can.
It’s been years since I was the poetry reviews editor at The Rumpus and I still get at least 100 books a year, most of which wind up in my little free library where hopefully they find good homes. And that’s not counting the books I get addressed to other editors, some of whom haven’t been at the site in years, and who have never lived at my address. And that’s also not counting the e-galleys I’m offered access to weekly. I wish I could give one percent of them the time they deserve.
I recently received a book to review (it's about Myanmar politics, a subject that I've written about for a few national publications). I've probably pitched a review to at least 10 different magazines, some of whom were kind enough to say they already had a review for the book scheduled, others never got back. There's a whole lot of labour when it comes to reviewing!
The NYT best sellers list has always been controversial but today looks hopelessly corrupt. As an Australian, I’m shocked by how books are curated by their woke staff.
That said, I’m also glad that James Patterson and big names are calling out the junk science algorithms. These lists and others demand more scrutiny.
I read alot, like about 50 books a year. Since a few years, I also write down notes on nonfiction books to enter into my Zettelkasten and I write like a diary with some of the entries for the books I read. I do this because I want to remember what I read much more than I already do (and this is one of the kinks of MY brain, I can even remember certain scenes from books I read 15 years ago).
Anyway, reading is much more fun when one communicates about it with other readers during or after the reading. I really liked Yiyun Li's Tolstoy together (unfortunately, I was reading War and Peace before I heard of it, but then read it right afterwards). I love reading groups. And of all the reading history websites like Goodreads I prefer https://bookrastinating.com because that is where I got into the best discussions of books and reading so far ( ➜ https://bookrastinating.com/user/gregorgross is my profile).
What I was trying to say is I'd love to review certain types of books because I review most of the books I read, anyway. My favourite topics for fiction are SciFi and WWII with all its facettes. My favourite topics for non-fiction books are how to transform our society for the future and mankind's early history.
My biggest problem with reviewing: I don't really focus only on modern books. I really prefer classics, because they have shown for a long time to be good (whereas new books have to show it first). The next biggest problem is a review for a new book needs to come out soon after its publishing. I really have a long list of books waiting for my attention.
Appreciate the perspective here. Knowing this does make it easier to take the quiet of sending out story and hearing nothing.
I'm also going to make more of an effort to recommend/promote books and stories and poetry, especially from writers who aren't known. We have to be here for each other.
Studios would send us (a newspaper in California) invitations for screenings and press junkets, but with an extortionist's eye. If we didn't send a reporter and review it (favorably) we were not invited back. That put a little bit of a slant on things.
I hope I have better luck with my book. I have not written it, yet, but a guy can dream can't he?
Interesting post. I’ve reviewed books in the past and would post my thoughts on my blog (in the days when blogging was a thing)! And I realised then how freely books could come my way. It’s all about time. I couldn’t give a considered review without spending a whole amount of it.
Homo Imaginari reminds me of the legendary "Homo Fictus." Are they long lost cousins?
What a wonderful piece. Thanks so much. Too busy to do anything but glance this busy Monday, but will savor this tonight as bedtimr reading. Nothing makes my blood boil like book-pirating!