The Washington Post has decided to stop the print version of Book World, its Sunday stand-alone book review section, opting to shift reviews to inside sections of the paper. The last issue of Book World will appear in a print version on Feb. 15, but will continue to be published online as a separate entity. Occasionally, Book World will appear as a stand-alone print section for special themes like summer reading or children’s books. As one of the last remaining stand-alone book review sections in the country, Book World fell victim to a decline in advertising revenues. While the award-winning staff will remain intact, the pages devoted to book reviews will likely shrink.
After a petition was circulated in an effort to save the section, Marcus Brauchli, executive editor of The Post, justified the move by saying that the paper would experiment with different types of book coverage; for example, one review might cover three books containing a similar subject. Others see this as just one more example of newspapers combining sections and decreasing book coverage.
With the largest remaining Sunday tabloid book section, The New York Times separately sells its acclaimed Book Review to 23,500 subscribers, with an additional 4,200 copies sold in bookstores across the country, thus adding to the paper’s revenues. This might be an option for other papers to follow suit.
So, why cry about a book section that has been left intact online but has been eliminated in print? This move supports statistics that reflect the decline of book reading among younger adults. And the book reviews are still there; you just have to make the effort to go online and find them or hunt them down in the lifestyle section.
As someone who has loved books all her life, I’m not ready to abandon them any time soon. And, I don’t want to do everything online. I have to agree with the idea proposed by Douglas Brinkley, who says, “I think book review sections almost need to get subsidized to keep the intellectual life in America alive.”
Books are to the culture of thoughtful reflection and discourse what roads are to travel; without easy access, our society’s intellectual life is made more difficult and further degraded. The book industry has been hit hard in recent years, and removing separate review sections from newspapers that highlight select books cannot be good for the publishing industry or for authors.
I see the economic difficulties here. But I’m not ready to cuddle up with my laptop while I’m waiting for the doctor, or late at night when I want to get in bed to read. Having a separate print section for book reviews allows me to compare what’s out there for sale far faster than I could online because I can carry the paper with me when I leave the house and have the time to read it. I can take the same section to the bookstore or library, so I don’t forget the names of the books I want. And finally, I just hate to see the already ailing book industry take another hit from a prestigious newspaper in a position to make a difference.
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Very good argument Wendy. I only partially agree because i have had access to the internet for the most of my educated life. Our plummeting economy is extinguishing many elements of the past, especially if they require paper. I would like to believe that it is partly because we are trying to save the environment but mostly it is to cut costs where something doen't have potential to turn a profit. In hard times like these, many people cannot see the importance and impact informative pieces of paper can be and that the internet is not the solution or the next step for everything. Yes i read more articles on the internet than in the paper but like you said, it's not like you want to take your entire computer with you everytime you want to read. I truley fear the day we are left without a paper form of information. There is something indescribable about the feeling you get when your reading a book, and the internet will never be able to replace it.
ReplyDeleteAwesome argument. I don't read a lot of books myself but I agree with you on this. We are a technology crazed, electric media society. So of course most of our time reading something is going to be on the internet or from us watching tv. It's just who we are and that is sad in a sense. But if it is not turning profits, then it should be done away with. I hate to say it but we are fastly approaching doing away with paper goods. Super post.
ReplyDeleteThe digital media is definitly tthe new frontier. it is taking over the newspaper industry and taking over lamost eveyr other industry as well. it has the potetnial to have all the media combined into one. it provides music, news, videos, the list is continous. the impact the internet has on todays society is astounding. people are way more fmamiliar today with its use, and happen to come across things liek the news while seraching for hip items and checking world wide connection sites like myspace and facebook.
ReplyDeleteIt is really sad that they are discontinuing the print version of the Book World. Since everything is either digtial or on the computer most would rather not read. That is why so many in today's society can't read. I guess the company feel they will make more money by eliminating the hard copy version. Great post Wendy.
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