1. Every Reader a Reviewer: The Online Book Conversation
- Author
-
Hoffert, Barbara
- Abstract
Over the last 15 years, the book review landscape has changed seismically. Reviewing is no longer centralized, with a few big voices leading the way, but fractured among numerous multifarious voices found mostly on the web. In turn, readers aren't playing the captive audience any more. Undone by economics, many traditional print sources have been shuttered or, like the formerly stand-alone "Los Angeles Times" and "Washington Post Book World" review sections, either collapsed into the rest of the paper or moved entirely online. The "New York Times Book Review" is still standing but is half the size it was a few decades back. Meanwhile, book talk thrives on the web, with eager readers thronging LibraryThing and Goodreads, trading recommendations on Facebook and Twitter, and pushing their own reviews on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com. From the most casual forums to rich and rigorous sites like the Millions, reviews are energetically spun out, then tweeted, rated, challenged, and otherwise subject to endless feedback. Pointedly, a chunk of this conversation comes not from critics picked expressly for their expertise but enthusiasts who may or may not be the best adviser one could find on a particular book. In print or online, traditional reviews still offer something unimpeachable while consumer commentaries have the verve and single-mindedness to do something that traditional reviews cannot. The author asserts that today's raging stream of voices has radically altered the idea of reviewing, with huge consequences for book culture itself.
- Published
- 2010