JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Where do you look for good books to read these days, besides NPR, of course? But where else do you go for reviews or recommendations? The Washington Post's Book World used to be one of those spaces where a general interest reader could find something new and interesting, but the section was killed a few weeks ago as a part of the wider layoffs at the paper. And as NPR's Andrew Limbong reports, that's going to have a bigger impact on casual readers than the hardcore book lovers out there.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: It was packed at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., on a recent Saturday evening. Shelves had to get moved aside to make room for extra seating, and when they ran out of chairs, people stood along the aisles. There was a spillover section downstairs where people could watch the livestream. Charlie Fontana has been coming to the bookstore for about 12 years now.
CHARLIE FONTANA: But this is by far the largest crowd I've ever seen in this room for any author event or any kind of event.
LIMBONG: He and the rest of the crowd were here to honor and send off Washington Post's Book World section. The mood was a bit funereal. Longtime writers and editors of the section spoke about what it was like working there, reminiscing about the good times and bemoaning the bad times. But the thing about the big crowd that was gathered there that evening is that they weren't all necessarily book people. They were more folks who got the paper open to being surprised. Here's Helen Gonzales.
HELEN GONZALES: For me, I mean, the reason I look at it is 'cause there's a number of different books that where, all of a sudden, I'll read a review, and I think, you know what? I wouldn't even think of picking up something like that.
LIMBONG: The poet Rita Dove wrote a poetry column for The Washington Post for a couple years. Here's how she put it at the event.
RITA DOVE: Once during a dance party, an acquaintance of mine sidled up to me and said, hey, did you read that poem this week? And then proceeded to gush about how much she looked forward to opening the Book World every Sunday for her weekly little surprise as if she were biting into a chocolate without knowing what filling it was going to have - coconut, nougat or raspberry cream.
LIMBONG: But that type of pleasant, quiet surprise is harder and harder to find in media these days. Publishing strategist Kathleen Schmidt understands why the book section was a victim of the massive layoffs at the Post.
KATHLEEN SCHMIDT: The general interest audience is alive and well, but they are also bombarded with information. So it is very hard for them to split screen what's going on in the government and this landscape we're living in and then all of a sudden switch to a general interest article about an author.
LIMBONG: She says reviews do provide an opportunity for writers to get known among the rest of the publishing world, but they don't do much for sales.
SCHMIDT: I hate to say this, but it's not as big of a piece of the pie as people would like to think. There are plenty of books that get critical acclaim, but they don't sell well.
LIMBONG: Schmidt's advice for authors is to lean away from the general audience and more into niche ones, get coverage on smaller podcasts and newsletters. Also, build your own following.
SCHMIDT: We're in a day and age now where authors really have to be advocates for their books, and it's very hard if an author does not have a platform for them to communicate with readers directly. And that's what readers are craving these days because of social media.
LIMBONG: As for the casual reader itching for surprise, looking for something they didn't already know they'd want? Well, there's always word of mouth and public radio, of course. Andrew Limbong, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
