Wednesday, July 01, 2009

The Wednesday Web Browser: Book Review Edition

The literary Internet has been abuzz this week with accounts of a well-known author's (over)reaction to a review of her new novel in the Boston Globe. But for anyone who's still interested in pursuing/expanding a professional book-reviewing practice (possible criticism of your criticism notwithstanding), today's "Web Browser" will point you to a few new resources:

1) There are lots of ways to learn about new books well ahead of publication (which you generally need to do because most review editors aren't interested in publishing reviews of "old" books). One information source I discovered only recently: Library Journal's Prepub Alerts.

2) And once you've targeted a book for review/obtained an assignment, you need a review copy. Sometimes, review editors do the requesting. But if you're the one tasked with that job, be sure to check out the super-useful Book Publicity Blog's advice.

3) Finally, if you're seeking paying homes for your work, do check out a resource that was mentioned here on Monday: the just-revised The Practicing Writer's Directory of Paying Markets for Book Reviewers and its free preview with sample listings!

(I'm happy to discuss more about book reviewing here on the blog. Please use the "comments" section to list questions/issues you'd like the blog to tackle in future posts.)

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