VILLAGE VOICE ON LITBLOGS

LBC gets a mention in a larger piece about litblogs in the Village Voice.  There are a few inaccuracies - most notable of which is the description of the Literary Saloon among the non-participants - but in the main it's a balanced and thorough look at the litblogosphere.

The media have spent so much time gnashing their teeth over the influence of political bloggers that barely anyone has noticed something equally convulsive happening in the book realm. Despite the on-going panic about a contraction in both the audience for serious literature and the amount of mainstream print coverage books receive, literary conversation is erupting all over the Internet in the form of litblogs. Multiplying like the tribbles on Star Trek, these online journals suggest that reading is far from a dying pastime.

Literati are increasingly turning to the blogs for discussion, gossip, analysis, and a sense of community. Inevitably, publishers have noticed the power of these informal networks to generate word-of-mouth buzz—the holy grail of marketing—and are looking for ways to harness it. In turn, many bloggerati are on the verge of becoming that contradiction in terms, the professional enthusiast. So what happens now, when these amateurs are faced with the chance to wield influence and become insiders?

Comments

[none]

This lit blog coop seems more interested in the hype you've generated for it than books. Bleh.

If you really want to make a difference you should make an effort to ignore the publishing and publicity calendar. A start would be to refuse galleys and flattery from Pantheon publicists.

[TEV]

Although I'm generally inclined to ignore tough-talking anonymous posters (something strikes me a bit gutless there), this seems a uniquely foolish suggestion - why on earth would we foreclose any avenue of books? Whatever one might think about publicists, Pantheon is a worthy house publishing great fiction (John Berger, for one), so comments like this are pretty silly at best. Besides, we've all dealt with publicists enough that we're quite practiced at sidestepping hype and making our own decisions.

As for the press coverage, these stories have raised some legitimate and interesting questions about what we're doing, which we assume is of interest to more readers than not.