Wednesday
October 15, 2008
Advertisement
Advertisement
News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education
April 25, 2007
Critical Mass
This week’s Intellectual Affairs is an open letter of sorts. It is directed in particular to university librarians and to people at academic presses. Even scholars who occasionally try reaching out to the non-academic public may want to read it.
Related stories
- Fight Over a Beloved (and Lucrative) Book, July 15
- Digital Daze, July 2
- University Presses Start to Sell Via Kindle, June 24
- A Press Revolt Against E-Packet Practices, April 17
- A Call for Slow Writing, March 10
Let’s forgo this column’s usual essayistic-shambolic approach and be very blunt. I am writing this as a member of the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), and am mainly addressing people who belong to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Association of American University Presses (AAUP).
On behalf of my colleagues, I am making a plea to you for solidarity. We are in trouble. We need your help.
Over the past several years, the economics of daily newspapers have become much more complicated and many paper owners have felt that their profit margins weren’t large enough. Coverage of books has been one of the easiest things to cut. And the cuts have tended to come early and often. They have taken the form of various measures, including shrinking the space available for reviews and interviews; reductions of freelance budgets; and the increased use of syndicated material. Most book pages have always had very small staffs. Now it is rare that more than one editor handles the reviews full-time, and in many cases the entire section has been closed down.
Such cuts are usually explained as a matter of economic necessity – the decisions framed in terms of meeting the perceived interests of the public. But the reduction or elimination of book coverage has occurred even in cities where readers clearly want and expect it.
Perhaps the most striking example (the case that, for many of us, revealed the shape of things to come) is that of The San Francisco Chronicle. In 2001, the editors decided to shut down its freestanding book supplement – shifting its diminished literary coverage to the back of the paper’s entertainment section. A strong protest went up from readers and bookstore owners in the Bay Area, with its large literary and academic communities.
And so the book section was saved, if on a smaller scale – at least for a while. Last year the section was cut by two pages, then cut again recently. “We used to run something like 15 reviews a week,” said its editor, Oscar Villalon, in August. “Now in a good week we run about 10, but we’ve had as few as six.”
More recent developments elsewhere are equally discouraging. The Los Angeles Times is now combining its book supplement with the opinion section. Last week The Atlanta Journal-Constitution eliminated the position of its book-review editor as part of a “staff reorganization.” It is worth mentioning that Atlanta, which recently hosted the conference of the Associated Writing Programs, is listed the country’s 15th most literate city (well ahead of New York, as it happens). Other examples abound.
Needless to say, there have always been severe limits on the depth and range of literary coverage at newspapers. (After 20 years of reviewing for them, I realize that as well as anyone.) But book pages have a modest but significant role in constituting regional literary communities. They are part of a local public sphere that often includes – don’t forget – scholars who review books as well as write them.
Perhaps online media will take up the slack? Let’s hope so. But the destruction of the remaining “reviewing infrastructure” at American newspapers is a bad thing for authors, for readers, for booksellers, and for publishers.
So I am addressing academic librarians and university-press folks, now, because they – because you, rather – seem well-situated to grasp an important point.
We have something in common: It is very easy for others to take what we do for granted. As far as most civilians are concerned, printed matter is generated by parthenogenesis, then distributed across the land like the spores of a ripe dandelion, transmitted by the wind.
We know better. We do what we can with our shrinking budgets – secure in the knowledge that the work itself is worthwhile, if not always secure in much else.
This week and throughout May, the National Book Critics Circle will be trying to raise some public recognition of where things now stand – and to create some pressure to reverse the trend towards downsizing and elimination. We have about 700 members. Not all of us are editors or reviewers for newspapers. But we do see the book pages at newspapers as part of the cultural ecology, so to speak. Halting their destruction seems like a necessary thing.
What can you do? I asked John Freeman, the outgoing president of NBCC, who responded by naming some very specific actions that would be helpful.
(1) Sign the petition to reinstate the book-section editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
(2) Write to your local newspaper’s publisher to express support for its book coverage. And if your paper doesn’t have such a section, ask why not. “It always baffles me,” as Freeman says, “why university towns like New Haven, Durham, Champaign-Urbana and Iowa City have virtually no book pages in their papers.”
(3) Talk to your local independent bookseller. Local literary scenes are often undercut by the power of superstores and the reliance of newspapers on “wire” copy about books (that is, material issued by syndication). Smaller bookshops are rallying points for opposition to these trends.
(4) Review books for your local paper. This requires developing a voice that may sound rather different from the one you might use when reviewing books for a professional journal. An easygoing style doesn’t always come easily. But it can be enjoyable to acquire and to practice, and newspaper ink has addictive properties.(“The more the academy engages with the public through reviews,” Freeman told me, “the better chance we have of connecting tradition with culture, and judging new works of art accordingly.”) And if you already review, consider becoming a member of NBCC.
(5) Whether or not you join NBCC, please make its blog Critical Mass part of your Web-browsing routine. Over the past year, it has become the “blog of record” for literary and publishing news. And insofar as book-folk have a rallying point in dealing with the changes at newspapers, Critical Mass is it. Freeman says it will have updates on efforts to challenge cuts at The Raleigh News & Observer, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The L.A. Times.
At this point, the future of newspapers is very uncertain. It is all I can do to suppress the (admittedly cliched) thought that we are striving to preserve a claim to occupy a few deck chairs on the Titanic.
But uncertainty may also represent opportunity. Newspapers now often gear their cultural coverage at some “youth market” – quite vaguely and patronizingly conceived – that editors treat as having an attention span registering in milliseconds. So you get in-depth reports on “American Idol,” perhaps. The wisdom of directing scarce resources in that direction is not unassailable. Other media can cover such things faster and, if this is the word to use, better.
Newspaper publishers may yet understand that they have readers who expect something else. And it is necessary to remind them, from time to time, that such readers exist. It seems important to do so before it’s too late. Things are now at a tipping point, also known as the point of no return.
Want it on paper? Print this page.
Know someone who’d be interested? Forward this story.
Want to stay informed? Sign up for free daily news e-mail.
Advertisement
Comments
Throwaway papers
My city has a monopoly daily newspaper, but it also has more than one free weekly. The largest and best known of these consists even more heavily of ads than the daily paper. The free weekly has reviews of movies including those recently issued on DVD. It has reviews of live performance, some theatrical but mostly music. It has reviews of restaurants and even video games. But, no book reviews at all. I suppose the reason is that the editors doubt book reviews will attract readers, particularly the young ones looking for advice on entertainment rather than culture. Yet, if that is true, why do they find space for reviews of art galleries?
If book reviews are one of the casualties of the decline of MSM newspapers, then perhaps those who disapprove could find a new channel for them in the alternative weeklies which are opening in response to the increasing monopoly of the dinosaur dailies. To do this, though, they are going to have to convince some skeptical editors that book reviews are worth printing.
Jack Olson, at 9:05 am EDT on April 25, 2007
Someone HAD to say this, so thank you Scott. Increasingly (alas), we don’t get the book coverage we deserve, we get the book coverage we’re willing to fight for. I’m with Scott: this is no time to be passive. Let’s keep our powder dry and start speaking out against diminishing and/or disappearing book coverage.
Chuck Leddy, at 10:00 am EDT on April 25, 2007
Newspapers in decline
In Chicago, the Tribune’s move of the book section to Saturday does seem to be a death knell tolling (my theory is that Sam Zell hates books, and it will soon be replaced with a motorcycle section, or yet another section for billionaire real estate tycoons). Saturday is their smallest and worst newspaper (they don’t even run opinion columnists on Saturday, just letters to the editor), and the Tribune is starting a new weekend edition of their freebie throwaway RedEye, which will be delivered free on Saturdays and cut further into their circulation.
Regarding local newspapers/magazine, some places are continuing book sections. The weekly TimeOutChicago has one, http://www.timeout.com/chicago/ViewSection.do?sectionId=books
The Chicago Reader never had much on books, and cutbacks in page counts have mostly killed it entirely.
As for Champaign-Urbana, the News Gazette doesn’t have a books section because it’s a crappy right-wing newspaper (so much for the theory that small, family-owned newspapers are any better than distant media conglomerates).
The New Republic blog also had some thoughts about a new national book review (perhaps from a neoconservative view), http://www.tnr.com/blog/openuniversity?pid=81547
The freebie weekday commuter paper is the only growth area in newspaperdom, and it strikes me as the best place to mount a counterrevolt. Most of these freebies just run dumbed-down AP stories and entertainment gossip. Why can’t we start an inexpensive daily freebie newspaper that would mix local investigative reporting, opinion writing, and national literary coverage?
John K. Wilson, at 11:20 am EDT on April 25, 2007
Chicago Tribune Book Reviews
Dear Wisconsinite, Scott, and Others: I too noticed that the Chicago Tribune is moving its book review section to the Saturday paper. But my impression, based on the snippet in last weekend’s paper on the move, is that the review section is actually expanding. Am I wrong?
I hope this doesn’t come across as a shameless plug, but I want to add that at one of my online endeavors, U.S. Intellectul History, we’re making book reviewing a priority. We’re not yet a well-established venue, but we’re trying get the word out on new books related to U.S. intellectual history. Some presses have taken note and are feeding us relevant books. In fact, we can’t quite keep up with the new books being presented (I’m two-deep on that list already). This is probably further proof of the phenomenon noted by Scott above. — TL
Tim Lacy, at 12:05 pm EDT on April 25, 2007
Alt Weeklies
I agree with the poster above about alternative newsweeklies picking up the cultural and entertainment slack being sliced away from the dalies. As a writer for an alt weekly in a large city, I can say that the reason why most weeklies don’t offer book reviews (as mine doesn’t, though we recieve stacks of books from publishers)is that coverage at such papers has an intense local focus. That’s the niche established as an “alternative” to large dalies. Local restaurants, local bands coming to town, local, local, local. The only way I can get an editor to allow a review or mention of a book is if there is a local hook, such as an author is coming to town for a reading. This isn’t to say that I don’t find the shrinking outlets for genuine reviews troubling, however. I forsee online as the next main medium for reviewing.
Jared, at 12:05 pm EDT on April 25, 2007
Excellent Work
An excellent column. McLemee makes it clear why those whose calling and occupations predispose them to care about the defense of the book and literary culture should care about the demise or decline of review sections in daily papers. But it would help to have a follow-up column about exactly why editors of mass-market papers should care about retaining book sections. The reasoning could appeal to their higher natures — the public trust — while also explaining why it is in their self-interest. In the latter category, I can see long-term self-interest (that if readers of books decline, so will readers of newspapers, so newspapers have a vested interest in making sure a general culture of reading is perpetuated) and short-term self-interest (that readers tend to be women, educated, and affluent, therefore the very demographic that most advertisers cherish). In any event, bravo to McLemee and IHN for attempting to put finger in the hole in the dike, even as all around us new leaks are springing. I am forwarding this to the book editor at the Cleveland paper, which for a modest city paper has a decent book section—still.
Christopher Phelps, Department of History at The Ohio State University, at 12:30 pm EDT on April 25, 2007
One more thing
Hi, Scott. You missed one. The best way for university presses to support book reviewing is to buy ads in book reviews.
Caleb Crain, at 1:20 pm EDT on April 25, 2007
Cutting book review sections
As a former longtime newspaper editor who works today as a publicity expert, I can tell you that newspaper editors hate petitions and organized letter-writing campaigns.
The decision to cut or remove book sections is purely economic. The entire newspaper industry is in a state of upheaval right now, and publishers are looking for anything and everything to cut.
Because reviews take up so much space, I’d be surprised if newspapers reverse their decision.
Instead of concentrating on reviews in the printed paper (which costs money to produce), concentrate instead on getting reviews into the newspaper’s online edition which, in comparison, costs very little to maintain.
Many papers use their website for articles that didn’t fit into the newspaper. Some of the bigger dailies have online versions of the paper that are very different than the printed versions.
Ask for a meeting with your local editor. Volunteer to recruit book reviewers and provide one or more reviews every week or month to the newspaper. Make it easy for them to say yes.
Don’t forget these other arenas:
—Craigslist. This is one of the top 10 most popular websites. Why not post book reviews at Craigslist in the city nearest to where you live? I’ll bet more people in your city read Craigslist than read the local papers.
—You can also review books, CDs and anything else at Amazon.com
—Don’t forget to pitch influential bloggers who blog about a certain book’s topic. They’re always looking for content and mightly gladly link to your review
Joan Stewart, Publicity Hound, Publisher at The Publicity Hound, at 1:20 pm EDT on April 25, 2007
What the suggestions about blogs, etc., miss is the need for cultural ratification of book reviewing as a worthwhile task. That is, I can write all the book reviews I want and post them on the telephone pole — no one is stopping me — but that is obviously not “official” recognition of reading and of book culture generally. The idea that posting reviews on Craigslist or Amazon can make up for the loss of review space in major cultural institutions is extremely, extremely naive.
It’s like telling someone that it’s okay they couldn’t get into grad school, because they can always research in their free time and start a blog — it ignores the extent to which people (rightly) desire “official” recognition and status for what they’re doing. Without support from “the big Other,” people have to waste a lot more energy reassuring themselves that what they’re doing is worthwhile.
It’s possible that blogs will become cultural institutions similar to daily papers, and some are arguably cultural institutions on a certain scale now. But Craigslist and Amazon are never going to be that kind of thing.
Adam Kotsko, Doctoral Student at Chicago Theological Seminary, at 4:55 pm EDT on April 25, 2007
book review size — Not
When the SF Chronicle finished it’s gyrations around the book review, it ended up in a regular section of the Sunday paper. But there is always a ridiculously oversized picture on the first page which is supposed to have something to do with a book review.
Not only is the illustration usually stunningly pointless (insulting the book writer, book reviewer, and the artist), but other reviewed books which revolve around visuals then have no illustrations in the book review section. Way to go!
I’ve pointed this out to the Chronicle. I guess for Book Review month I will again point out the obvious.
b-man, at 9:25 pm EDT on April 25, 2007
Book Reviews in Local and online papers
If the reason weeklies don’t publish book reviews is because books aren’t “local,” then how do you explain their publishing movie and video reviews? And don’t say it’s because those are things people can do on the weekend- people can go to bookstores too.
And here’s the thing: they do. For fun. It’s hard to understand the rise of the mega-bookstore (Borders, Barnes and Noble), and the screaming popularity of Amazon (remember, before it started selling whatever, it sold just books), when at the same time professional book reviewing is down. What gives?
Let’s back up to weeklies: I’m not buying that local bit. Their “local only” niche was carved out back in the days when dailies ruled. Dailies have been dethroned, so this idea that weeklies should stick to their safe little local is outmoded. Stop whining and tell your editors to wake up! While you were busy being local, your niche got bigger. Do something!
Publicity Hound’s suggestion that reviews go to the online versions of the dailies is on target. The internet *is* where it’s at. Despite the one writer’s sniffiness about Amazon and blogger reviews, they are (Amazon especially) good (if bloated) sources of info about books. There are a lot of very serious people writing about books out there on the Web, even if you have to wade through the gushers and the kooks and the boobs to get to them. And with its communities and links to all a particular writer’s reviews — in other words its streamlining of access — Amazon is cultivating the next generation of influential reviewers and their audiences.
And by the way, weeklies, *you* have websites too...
Anne Pushkal, at 4:25 am EDT on April 26, 2007
weeklies response
Sorry for the newsflash, Anne, but weeklies are under strain from the same economic forces that are stripping profits away from the dalies. Everytime someone mentions Craigslist a weekly publisher loses a month off his life. Free online sites gobled up personals and sex ads, the bread and butter of most weeklies. So weeklies are looking to trim pages and the first to go, usually, are in-house movie reviews — at least ones penned by an actual film critic and not some harried member of the news staff. So with that in mind, no, I do not think I’ll be storming into by editor’s office demanding they carve out a new section of the pie away from local investigative stories or city-focused music features for a critique of a new novel that I absolutely loved. Yes, our online edition would be an obvious place to post lit criticism, but this presents an obvious conundrum people seem to forget: once readers are on the computer, why would they read a book review authored by a local weekly writer when they could just as easily head to salon.com or bookslut.com? They wouldn’t. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go hack out a few news postings for our paper’s new blog, because apparently that where the future is. . .
Jared, at 4:30 am EDT on April 27, 2007
Reconsiderations
Jared gives a good feel for the internal logic in a weekly, but I wonder if the categorical ruling out of book reviews is warranted.
1) It costs almost nothing to put more stuff on the web.
2) A books section on the web might bring sponsorship from a local bookstore, etc.
3) It would bring good will and loyalty from local writers and bookstores.
4) For a local weekly’s web site, some people might be willing to write for free who would otherwise charge for their services.
5) There could be local hooks, as Jared originally suggested, such as interviews with local authors or with books that have local pertinence (regional gardening, travel books, history, etc.).
Just some thoughts.
Christopher Phelps, Department of History at The Ohio State University, at 9:10 am EDT on April 27, 2007
A More Complicated View
As a trained scholar (Ph.D. in History) who subsequently “retrained” as a writer (M.F.A. with fiction focus); as someone who reads (and has reviewed for) both “scholarly” journals and more “popular” venues including newspapers, magazines, Web sites, and literary journals; and as someone who regularly teaches book reviewing itself, I’ve been thinking about this post since I read it earlier this week.
I am a fan of this column; it’s linked at my blog, and I respect Scott’s work enormously. That said, there are a few things I’d like to mention, especially for those who may not be familiar with how book reviewing works outside the “scholarly” arena.
First, unlike scholarly journals, newspapers typically pay their reviewers (it’s no way to make a living, but it sure can help pay the bills). The NBCC does not seem ready to acknowledge, let alone embrace the fact that there are plenty of venues out there providing smart, intelligent book coverage in print and online—but they don’t all take freelance contributions and they certainly don’t all pay their reviewers.
As a writer-reviewer-scholar, I’m all for healthy attention to books and authors. I just don’t believe this campaign is necessary to maintain it. And while I’m sure the Atlanta Journal-Constitution book editor whose job loss has sparked so much of this new campaign is a very nice person (I’ve never had any interactions with her; as far as I understand she is a former NBCC board member; my guess is that many NBCC members have published [and been paid for] reviews in her section), the idea that the decline of newspaper book sections signals the end of worthwhile discourse about books seems more than a little alarmist and highly inaccurate.
Finally, some disclosure: I parted ways with the NBCC last fall, when I found the politicized nature of the organization’s blog, and John Freeman’s numerous anti-Israel posts in particular (not to mention the treatment I experienced when I spoke up about the situation), terribly distressing to me as a dues-paying NBCC member. So I resigned. It’s unlikely that I’d support any campaign spearheaded by the NBCC under John Freeman’s leadership. But it’s also unlikely that unless scholarly journals, literary journals, and Web sites (for example, InsideHigherEd.com) cut back on their book coverage that I’d be likely to worry much about not participating in this one.
Erika D., at 8:55 pm EDT on April 27, 2007
Advertisement
Jobs Related to Critical Mass
or search for jobs directly.
Web Communications Manager
Cornell University
Located in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University is a bold, innovative, and inclusive teaching and research university of ... see job
Student Media Coordinator
University of Texas, Brownsville
Position Number: FY 08-191 Reports to: Student Media Director Scope: To supervise, plan and coordinate the activities of the ... see job
Staff Writer for Gannett Health Services
Cornell University
Located in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University is a bold, innovative, and inclusive teaching and research university of ... see job
Editor, External Communications
Oberlin College
The Oberlin College Office of Communications invites applications for the position of Editor, External Communications, with ... see job
Technical Writer II
University of Texas, Brownsville
Position Number: FY 08-146 Reports to: Director of Environmental Health & Safety Scope: To provide skilled assistance in ... see job
Publications Asst III
Cornell University
Located in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University is a bold, innovative, and inclusive teaching and research university of ... see job
Editorial Assistant
Cornell University
Located in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University is a bold, innovative, and inclusive teaching and research university of ... see job
Audio Archivist
Cornell University
Located in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University is a bold, innovative, and inclusive teaching and research university of ... see job
Program Manager, Cornell.edu
Cornell University
Located in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University is a bold, innovative, and inclusive teaching and research university of ... see job
Copy Editor
Harvard University
Division of Research & Faculty Development
Duties And Responsibilities: The Case Services ... see job
Home
| Sign up | Log in
| About us
| Work for Us
| Press Releases
| Rights and permissions
| Contact us
| Advertise
| Partners
| RSS 
| Podcasts
| Links
| Privacy
| My Account
© Copyright 2008 Inside Higher Ed
Chicago Tribune is moving book section
I was alarmed this week to see the announcement in the Chicago Tribune that the Book Section is moving from Sundays to Saturdays in May. Is this lower profile day the first step on the way out? I do not live in Chicago and get only the Sunday paper. How many more are there like me?
Wisconsinite, at 8:05 am EDT on April 25, 2007