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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The “Review-Driven” Book Is Not a Thing
There are a lot of reasons to be concerned about the Washington Post closing its book section, but the impact on book sales should be low on the list (if it’s on the list at all, tbh). Longtime book publicist Kathleen Schmidt unpacks the decline of the “review-driven” book and points to newsletters and podcasts as central components of publicity campaigns and word-of-mouth recommendations in the new media landscape. A couple additional thoughts on this:
- Authors’ and publishers’ attachment to reviews isn’t just about sales. It might not even be primarily about sales; it’s about prestige and author care. Historically, positive reviews in big mainstream outlets have provided authors with ego boosts and publishers with a piece of evidence to show their authors that they are indeed working to publicize their books.
- Newsletters and podcasts don’t currently have the aura of prestige of a WaPo review, but there’s no reason that they can’t or shouldn’t. Publishers and publicists would be wise to invest in reframing and redefining prestige and high-value placements for their authors.
- Email and podcasts are two of the last remaining forms of media that allow consumers direct access to content not mediated by algorithms. You sign up for a newsletter or click “follow” on a podcast, and you see everything it publishes. That matters.
- Web traffic is declining and will continue to decline. Having run a media company that produces web content, newsletters, and podcasts for nearly 15 years, I can tell you that if you want a piece of web content to be high-value and wide-reaching, you have to support it with newsletter distribution.
- Similarly, a podcast conversation about an idea or issue is likely to reach thousands (likely, tens of thousands) more audience members than a standalone piece of web content.
Indeed, Book Riot thinks of our content as newsletter- and podcast-first; what you see on the website flows from those sources because they are where the largest and most reliable audiences are.
That’s Gonna Leave a Mark
Having myself weighed in with the take that Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is “cold, wet, and surprising slimy,” I second every emotion in Constance Grady’s review at Vox, which likens the film more to a Nicholas Sparks book than Emily Brontë’s beloved novel. Here’s the money shot, pun absolutely intended:
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“No adaptation must be absolutely faithful to its source text in order to be good, but it has to do something. It has to have an energy, a source of tension, a reason to exist. But having excised the tension of Brontë’s novel from her film, Fennell replaces it with absolutely nothing. Instead, you are asked only to watch beautiful people engage in mild BDSM play upon the beautiful moors, and then die through no fault of their own.”
Books for Avid Toni Morrison Fans
Multiple reasons to celebrate Toni Morrison this week, as she was born 95 years ago today, and Namwali Serpell’s excellent book of criticism, On Morrison, pubbed yesterday. Whatever your approach to fandom, we’ve got a book about Morrison’s work for you.