Does Every Book Deserve a Review? Who Do You Trust?

By Jeff Severns Guntzel
Published on July 7, 2009

Last year there were more than 275,000 new books published in the United States. That got Virginia Quarterly Review‘s Jacob Silverman thinking: does every book deserve a review? His answer, in short, is a resounding no, which begs a better question: how does a reviewer find the books best suited to her tastes and critical talents?

The challenge for book-review outlets is to sort through the mass of unsolicited books that arrives every day, the e-mails from authors and PR reps, and the various other articles and notifications announcing the publication of new and interesting titles. Of course, the large publishing houses have an advantage in getting their books into the hands of reviewers and assigning editors, but even they struggle to get their authors the attention they very likely deserve.  With that in mind, what is the best way to connect editors and writers with the books that interest them?

And that conversation begs a better question still: who do you trust in the vast but receding world of book reviews? What publications? What critics?

“Most writers put a lot of time, heart, passion, and effort into their books,” writes Silverman. “Editors and critics should do the same when considering what and how they review.”

Source: Virginia Quarterly Review

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