Last night, I attended an event co-sponsored by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) and the New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP). Called "Save Our Book Reviews!" the panel met to discuss how newspaper book sections work with independent publishers.

Despite the exclamation point, not much exclaiming went on, so I took copious notes. It's a strategy best employed in situations when audible snoring and free-form drooling are considered tacky. Don't get me wrong, many interesting points were raised and need to be further discussed by those interested in the future of print reviews. Maybe it's a character flaw, but I generally find book events boring. Stodgy. Overly serious.

Rather than attempt the nearly impossible task of deciphering my own handwriting, I will point you first to a post on Richard Grayson's MySpace blog. He has written an exceptionally thorough recap which includes all of the topics discussed. Ed Champion has also posted thoughts and photographs. In Ed's first picture, the panel looks even more bored than I was, probably because they weren't able to furiously scribble in notebooks. Other familiar audience members were Levi Asher of Literary Kicks and Ami Greko of Folio Literary Management.

For my contribution to the discourse, following is what stood out most to me:

John Freeman - NBCC president, panel moderator

• The printed word is embattled due to three issues: space, quality of writing, and what's covered.


• There is a lot of promise for book reviews on the Internet; there is no war between critics and bloggers.


• One of his favorite critics is Adam Kirsch. [Note: Kirsch has recently brought some litblogger scorn on himself by writing an article called "The Scorn of the Literary Blog" which states, "bitesized commentary, which is all the blog form allows, is next to useless when it comes to talking about books." Ahem.]

Dan Simon - publisher of Seven Stories Press

• Reviewers are considered publishers' "ideal" readers.


• Indies make up 3% of the book market and, percentage-wise, get more books reviewed than corporate publishers. [Note: Very true because certain people gravitate toward anything "independent." Authors needing the most help, in terms of spreading the word, are no-names at big houses.]

Sarah McNally - of McNally Robinson Booksellers

• Younger readers don't come into the store with print reviews; they buy books based on Internet buzz.


• In-store placement (e.g. face up on tables near the front) sells more than reviews, but books without quotes on the cover don't move no matter where they're located.

Hannah Tinti - editor of One Story

• Word of mouth is her literary journal's best mode of advertising.


• Online reviews and book blogs are exploding.

M.A. Orthofer - managing editor of The Complete Review

• Although the Internet has potential, it is not a substitute for the print review even if the critics are doing a bad job.


• The Literary Saloon, the weblog component to his site, gets only 10% of his total traffic. The rest goes to the reviews. [Note: And I'd guess that most of those people land there from search engines.]


• Orthofer couldn't come up with the name of a single print reviewer he liked.

Tim W. Brown - freelance reviewer, NYCIP Executive Committee member

• There is a sick symbiosis between a dying art form (criticism) and a dysfunctional industry (publishing). [Note: Brown, in my opinion, was the most interesting person on the panel. His candor was refreshing.]


• Journalists are lazy and much of what appears in reviews is spoon-fed to them by a publisher's press release.


• Review sections cover the same handful of books each week, so reviewers should be more proactive in seeking out diverse titles.

The Audience - assorted and sundry

• A soon to be self-published author asked something—I'm not sure what—but I understood immediately why he plans to self-publish.


• An academic flatly stated that fiction coverage in The New York Times was boring, had no style, and needed more pizazz. She gets her recommendations from bookstores and "god forbid" Oprah. [Note: I don't understand why there's so much stigma attached to reading an Oprah selection. She moves books, which is a good thing, yet even those reading along with her are embarrassed.]


• Ed Champion asked why we should bother saving reviews when the critics are doing a good job themselves of killing them. Simon said that Ed was speaking "provocatively."


• In front of me sat an author with a book coming out soon from a small press. He had a copy of Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics. His companion held pages—probably information on the event and its location—that had been printed off of Galleycat.


• Two people clutched spiffy Moleskines, so I felt a tiny bit self-conscious about my notebook: a vinyl-clad school-year calendar that a teacher friend got for free from an educational salesrep but didn't want and was about to throw away.


• During the afterchat, Brown mentioned that the founder of the African American Literature Book Club, a fabulous niche site, was also there. Had I known, I would have said hello.