A few years ago I worked for a newspaper on the East Coast. It was a very small town paper with not much news to report but it was owned by a huge media company. The media company sent us to various educational seminars about the internet. One of the most important things I learned was that everyone educates themselves via the internet before shopping.
A few years ago I worked for a newspaper on the East Coast. It was a very small town paper with not much news to report but it was owned by a huge media company. The media company sent us to various educational seminars about the internet. One of the most important things I learned was that everyone educates themselves via the internet before shopping.
If you want to buy a new mobile phone or switch to a new carrier you are probably going to ask for recommendations from your friends, then look at plans and phones online before you ever set foot in a store. The days of the hard sell are over and the consumer is changing.
This same thing is happening in publishing. Newspapers, like the one I worked for before let go of their reviewers or have so few reviewers that they don’t want to and can’t possibly keep up with every book or genre that people want to read. Consumers turn to book bloggers to learn more before they purchase a $25 hardcover.
To blindly assume that publishers have no literary merit anymore and that bloggers are on the rise because all we can do is wrangle our kids while we blog about books that only feature pop culture and vampires are all ludicrous statement to make.
Small presses and imprints of the Big Six are still publishing intense literary fiction, one only has to look at Rebecca Joines Schinsky’s http://www.thebookladysblog.com/ to see this.
Other Press, Unbridled Books and imprints from major publishers like Knopf who took a chance on a literary werewolf novel by Glen Duncan titled “The Last Werewolf” are some of the go to sources for immensely eclectic literary fiction.
To lump a whole group of people into one category is never a situation that is going to work well. I can say “everyone who reads Jane Austen is a woman between 15 and 45” but that just isn’t the case. The same can be said for Hurezanu’s statement that all book bloggers are mommy bloggers and their age range from 20-50. Again that just isn’t the case. I know boys who blog that are fifteen and women who blog who have no children. I know men and women alike that blog while holding full time jobs, or obtaining a college degree, or interning so that they can obtain a position in publishing later on in life. Book bloggers are as diverse as the colors of the rainbow, so yes not every blogger is professional, some are hobbyists, some post diary like entries online… The main motivation to blog stays the same; we all love books! Some of us just happen to also enjoy marketing and enjoy getting the word out on Twitter, and Facebook, and any other outlet we can. We are passionate, we are partnering with indie bookstores, we are in libraries and publishing companies and anywhere we can be near books and talk about them. Surely that is not a major problem for publishing.
Jennifer at http://literatehousewife.com stated in a recent article “I’m Not a Housewife But I Play One on My Blog:
“I began my professional career as a technical writer after completing my Masters Degree. While I may daydream about the prospect of staying home all day and reading, my husband and I both work very hard to support our family.”
Shanyn from http://chickloveslit.com had this to say:
“Had the author done her research she would know that “mommy bloggers” are different from “book bloggers,” the genres she has listed don’t even cover half of blogs, and “housewives” certainly is not the term that should be used to describe book bloggers”
Laura from http://blog.imbookingit.com talked about her goals for her blog:
“Sure, I read more books, and in a wider variety of genres. But I’m not trying to be an expert, telling you what’s good for you. I’d like to encourage you to read, maybe more than you would have otherwise, and maybe a wider variety. I’d like to encourage you to talk books with me, and with your other friends, whether in book clubs, on-line, or in casual conversation.”
The place of the blogger in publishing is here to stay, and while we are tweeting up a storm about literary or vampire fiction the most important thing is we are reading, we are challenging others to read and we are a viable source of criticism that helps consumers allocate where to spend their precious dollars.
