Nevertheless, you underestimate the value of the link, memes, and the networked nature of online discussion. (See Reddit, Metafilter, Fark, et al.) Specific offerings on blogs can be linked and deemed important just as newspaper articles can. What I find is that the newspapers, who really should be linking around in the way that Frank Wilson does, have been pretending as if blogs don’t exist, while openly pilfering many of these new approaches from the blogosphere without credit and even sending bloggers pitch emails begging bloggers to link to them. (Maybe they should actually HIRE the bloggers and other passionate voices instead.)

While there is a certain authority that newspapers have, the trust networks that Persona Non Data alludes to in his very interesting post (linked in his above comment) have created a scenario in which getting WITHIN that trust network is arguably just as important as getting a book review.

As to your suggestion that book review sections are read by more than just plain bibliophiles, I know for a fact (people write to me) that there are people who read this site and who are more curious about my voice than the books that I write about.

Some publicists, like Yen Cheong, who maintains the excellent Book Publicity Blog, really do understand the possibilities of these new conduits. And yes, the work is certainly harder on all fronts — whether you are a freelancer, a publicist, or an author — to justify your existence. But if a publicist wishes to keep her head in the sand about PRESENT developments, then this seems to me a foolhardy way to sell books (and isn’t that the publishing industry’s goal in the end?). For people who read blogs and listen to podcasts ALSO buy books. In fact, because of the specific niche, they may be MORE inclined to buy books. Which means that the time to set up a sustainable revenue model is long overdue.

Lastly, who was reading the reviews in all these newspaper reviews sections anyway? Most people in the US who read (and that’s not many) only read one book a year. That book is likely to be something like the Da Vinci Code, a diet book, Dr Phil or an Ophra pick so what’s the return? It is (was) a mystery. Not so on the web. These evolving trust networks concentrated around people who love books, talk about books and opine about books provide publishers with a window on the community they never had. Stop with the whining and recognise that as a publisher you have a tremendous opportunity to understand your consumer in ways you never could before. Rather than lamenting the demise of the newspaper, publishers should be rejoicing in front of the window to a vibrant community of book lovers and opinion makers.
http://personanondata.blogspot.com/2008/08/trust-in-book-lovers-not-reviewers.html

Some days I just wake up and everything I see on the Internet seems worth sharing. Today is one of those days. What's your deadline? Novelist Catherynne M. Valente has a post that all writers lacking in personal deadlines should……

“April the 4th, 1984. To the past, or to the future. To an age when thought is free. From the……

Is that so much to ask? Let’s not get distracted by the petty finger-pointing, and instead move forward with what’s best in our mediums, take some risks, and go exploring.

Patron, sponsor, subscriber, advertiser: whatever it may be, I wish you luck in the pursuit of rent money…. I know my daydreams are more consumed with notions of cash than my girlish writerly self would ever have guessed they would be…

Thanks for this interesting post, Ed!–Anne