>Andrew sent me this op-ed re Kirkus and consumer reviewing whose sentiments I much appreciate, especially this gem: “Too often, the pretense of sharing advice devolves into oversharing the contours of one’s navel.” Meghan Daum is here talking primarily about consumer boards like Yelp and Amazon reviews, and I noticed yesterday while looking something up [...]
>Too damned long
November 17, 2009 By 32 Comments
>I see that PW has followed up on Betsy Bird’s thoughts on the Amazon Vine program; their speculation that membership in Vine might be a perk for good customers is intriguing if not substantiated. What seems oddest to me is that this program–for which publishers and other producers pay for the privilege of having their [...]
>More Meta
November 4, 2009 By 23 Comments
>In Betsy Bird’s SLJ article “This Blog’s for You” (and I thank her for including Read Roger in the list of “Ten Blogs You Can’t Live Without”), she asks a bunch of swell questions: Do kids’ lit bloggers influence publishing decisions? Are library systems basing their purchasing decisions on our recommendations? Should they? And to [...]
>Let’s not forget that the gal had a good point, but
October 29, 2009 By 7 Comments
>The discussion/flamewar over at Betsy’s place about the Amazon Vine program reminds me yet again of the best way to get people to leave comments on a blog post: write something about blogging that implies in even the tiniest way that some practices might be better than others. People love to go all meta on [...]
>WWMMD?
September 11, 2009 By 54 Comments
>When writers attack!
June 29, 2009 By 23 Comments
Publishers and bloggers
June 18, 2009 By 66 Comments
>Blogs and buzz
June 16, 2009 By 44 Comments
>Here and elsewhere, there have been some valuable discussions about children’s book reviewing on blogs and an email I just got has me wondering about the distinction between book reviewing and book buzz. The email, of the multiple-recipients variety, was from Penguin: “Have you read FIRE yet? We want to know what you think! Please [...]
>"The fanboys can be merciless."
June 13, 2009 By 64 Comments
>This Times article about the gypsies invading the castle of professional film criticism has a lot of import to the kidlitosphere as well, as amateur (I use the word in a strict sense) and independent critics join the established professional players in reviewing new books for children. I like what A. O. Scott has to [...]
>Blurring boundaries
May 22, 2009 By 1 Comment
>Kelly Herold (of Big A, Little a) has a new blog with a very promising premise. Crossover “focuses on a rare breed of book–the adult book teens love, the teen book adults appreciate, and (very, very occasionally) that Middle Grade book adults read. I’m interested in reviewing books that transcend these age boundaries and understanding [...]
