Here’s an article on how the idea of ‘positive review’ is changing, and the Internet’s role in that change.
Short version: with so many niche sources of reviews available, ‘big name’ reviews are becoming more and more meaningless. Look hard enough, and anyone can find a positive review. Putting the blurb on your book/movie/whatever is no longer considered A Good Thing ™. Who cares if the NYTimes thinks this book is good? Or the Denver Post? Or the Seattle P-I? What does Joe Friend think, whose opinion I know and value?
Viva niche reviews on the Internet!
Who reads that stuff anyway? The cover blurbs always read like they’ve been paid for, and literary reviewers annoy me by trying to out-clever the authors and one another. When I want a new book, I ask my friends, or browse till something looks halfway interesting and has a good lead paragraph.
Comment by Scothia — February 16, 2006 @ 2:13 pm
Yeah, exactly. That’s the whole point of the article: what was once considered vital for a book is now not seen as such. The only reason I read the blurbs is to see if I or someone I know has been blurbed. None of the former, but lots of the latter, so far.
I think that the ‘niche’ reviewers function a lot like ‘word of friend’ recommendations. If it’s a reviewer I have followed and know has good recommendations, I’ll be interested in the book. If it’s a big-name reviewer from a paper, I ignore it.
Comment by bluewoad — February 16, 2006 @ 2:58 pm