On the Value of Book Reviews

Much has been made recently of the demise of the book reviewer position and possibly the book review page at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, ostensibly because of the rise of availability of reviews on the Internet. First, let me explain that most newspapers haven't really had the luxury of a dedicated reviewer. When I was at The Indianapolis News and The Indianapolis Star, we had an individual who was responsible for unpackaging the book -- or sometimes the glorified galley -- and putting it on a shelf or in a box for the taking of his colleagues. If we had time and felt particularly moved, we wrote a review. Otherwise, he coordinated the Sunday books pages using wire service reviews and photos. There was no rhyme or reason as to what got reviewed, though many of us gave preference to books about Indiana or written by Hoosiers.

There are several reasons why I am less alarmed than many others appear to be at what the industry makes out to be an enormous loss:

• Newspapers are businesses that are losing ground to the Internet and are trying desperately to find ways to remain competitive. Yes, I was president and avid supporter of The Star's Newspaper Guild Local for a short while, but I don't believe in protectionism. I fully believe in letting the market run its course. And newspapers often conduct studies to determine how best to serve their readers ( read get them to spend their money). The newspaper review may just be a feature that's run its course -- at least in the print format.

• Some have expressed a concern for the loss of the literary voice to the newspaper. That's not necessarily so. Writers can be quoted and their works mentioned in the course of regular reporting. In fact, the first day we arrived at the Algonkian Pitch Conference, presenter Sally Koslow, author of Little Pink Slips, arrived late because she had been doing media interviews about Rosie O'Donnell's departure from The View. The talk show host/comedian figures in Koslow's book, making it a timely release.

• As I've been writing my thriller The Nubian Codex, I relied on reviews to avoid the pitfalls faced by other popular books. What I found as I perused the reviews was that the media reviews were less useful because they failed to be critical. For instance, with a couple of exceptions, a survey of reviews of Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian on Publisher's Marketplace reveals mostly positive comments. However, looking at the reviews on Amazon.com, I think we get a little more honest assessment: it was long on pages and short on vampires. I looked through reviews of books, including Labybrinth, The Rule of Four and The Book of the Dead, at several sources. The real readers always were more candid.

The Internet has the ability to democratize the review process. There are wonderful books that never receive the benefit of publicity on a review page limited to three fully discussed books once a week. But the Internet allows the breadth of available books to receive comment. In addition, it takes the process out of the hands of an anointed few who may or may not be representative of the public's tastes and allows for broader discourse. And at $25 for a hardback, I'm looking for all the input I can get.