The Shrinking Book Review Space

Space in printed magazines and newspapers for book reviews continues to shrink. In my local Arizona Republic newspaper, I have to search to find the information about books. They are not alone as the same pattern is happening across the country.

Publishers and book authors use the reviews for additional promotion. I've found some of the sentences from my book reviews show up in future press releases and even on book covers. It is a shame that such information in print continues to shrink.

In the August 25th issue of Publishers Weekly, Laurence Hughes write an interesting Soapbox column about this matter.

There is little the individual can do to combat the shrinking book review space. Instead they will have to turn to other sources for recommendations related to books such as blogs, online newsletters, online forums, and other means of promotion. It's just one more encouragement for every author to continue building that one on one connection to their audience.