In a link from Dec's blog Crime Always Pays, I found my way to Adrian McKinty's blog yesterday. He wasn't happy with a review of his latest novel in The Irish Times and decided to say so. Having read the "review", I felt the need to make some comments on McKinty's blog. The reason I have employed inverted commas is that I don't think it's a review; it's more of an academic essay. It certainly does not serve to effectively notify the potential readership of the novel's story and merits and perhaps, warn of its possible downsides in the context of its genre and the current market.
[You can find Adrian McKinty's blog here. Alas, the post does not have a permalink, so you'll have to scroll down for entry on 7/7/08 entitled "Oh My Command Unleash Hell!"]
In my comments, I referred to the diminishing copy in the main stream media for book reviews and suggested that said MSM needed to review their objectives in publishing this matter. Lo and behold, I came home this evening to find an article in The Guardian's book blog, by Professor John Sutherland, entitled "So farewell then, lit-crit". It is well worth a read, and may I suggest "essential reading"?
Sutherland referred to an article in The Guardian that talked about criticism in MSM, discussing and adding pointers for anyone who chooses to do it. TV, pop, architecture, theatre, art, dance, classic music and film were all covered. But books and the dying embers of lit-crit were not. That was his starting point.
Prof Sutherland ended his article with these comments:
"Lit-crit lives, but not in print. The most plausible explanation for hard-print lit-crit melting faster than the Arctic icecaps is flickering on the screen in front of you. On being leaving the LA Times, for example, the former literary editor, Steve Wasserman, joined a web-journal, truthdig.com. Steve can write, as well as edit, and he doesn't have to fight for space, or mind his mouth, any more. Free, free at last. One hears the echo on every truthdig lit-crit webpage. As literary pages have withered, literary blogs have bloomed. Everyone will have their favourite lit-blog. Mine, until he took a sabbatical at the end of last year, is grumpyoldbookman.blogspot.com. There are, literally, hundreds to choose from. Free of charge. When you come down to it, lit-crit is opinion. The liveliest opinion and the sharpest exchanges are currently to be found on the weblog. One's only reservation is that, writing against the clock, bloggers often write hastily and thoughtlessly. The blogosphere, under pressure, is doing for literary style - the elegance, for example, of a John Carey or an AS Byatt - what texting has done for punctuation. There, you'll realise, speaks grumpyoldlitcritman. An endangered species, I fear."
[The addition of bold for emphasis is entirely my own.]
One last thing to add here. When it comes to books, I do not write hastily and neither does my occasional contributor ScotKris. Book posts on It's a Crime! arrive after some reflection. For example, I may start or indeed write a whole post about a novel immediately after reading it, but I will go back and edit at least once or twice before the book post is released. I want to ensure it's as good as can be, so haste does not feature here.
There are other sites I read for which I assume the same is applied. Why? Because these readers take their book reading and their thoughts seriously and it's obvious. They don't skim. They don't read a part and not the full book in hand. They embrace the author and the book and do some research too. They assimilate the subject matter, while enjoying the novel and bring to their comments what other like readers would seek to find in the novel.
While there are a few clueless sites out there - I once found a site with a book "review" that gave away the whole plot, I kid you not, so what was the point in reading it after you'd read that page? - there are more than a few that make the target. I, for one, believe that these are amateurs who display distinct professionalism. They don't get paid for their thoughts, just as at this blog, but they take their output seriously as they enthuse about reading and the books they have enjoyed. My own links encompass that community and I'm more than happy to be part of it. As Prof Sutherland said "The liveliest opinion and the sharpest exchanges are currently to be found on the weblog".
This is because people of like minds and interests link via the net. If the MSM feel that the last days of lit-crit have arrived, it's because the powers that edit have missed the boat and a hook-in to the main artery of enthusiasm that thrives elsewhere.
Always, always, when providing a product or service, think of your customer first. What does he or she want? How can you meet that demand?
I come back to this again and again. Over 20 yrs ago, I studied marketing as one module in my degree. Then, I was inspired by it and consider it a seminal text to this day: Marketing Myopia by Theodore Levitt. He once asked "Are you in the coal/oil business or the energy business?" (My memory is flakey after all those years.) Today his thoughts resound even more. But he also understood the meeting of customer needs for long term growth and profit. So where does that leave the new novel or book from an author in today's world?
In the hands of enthusiasts who will use the net to express themselves and write about that book. The tip of the iceberg may comment, but many, far more will read and outclick to the purchasing option. Even more are checking out the comments before they buy elsewhere.
Where there is vibrancy in blogging, the MSM may like to check out "why". There may be a lull in readership for MSM book reviews, but what is your customer looking for? And do you really understand their needs?
Answers on a postcard please, in the digital ether that is "comments". I'm wondering if I'm alone in my thoughts or someone who is meeting the trends and developments.
[The last caveat: I did write this post "on the hoof". Forgive me, please.]
Recent Comments