Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers

The New York Journal of Books is a new venture seeking to add reviewers. PLEASE REPLY ONLY BY EMAIL TO: nyjb@live.com.

The New York Journal of Books is a new venture seeking to add reviewers. PLEASE REPLY ONLY BY EMAIL TO: nyjb@live.com. If you are an author, this is an opportunity to publish reviews in your own genre, thereby promoting your own name and book(s). We also seek individuals with specific expertise, whether published authors or not, whose writing/reviewing meets our professional standard to review non-fiction books on the topics in which they have extensive expertise. Non-authors must be highly credentialed in field of expertise, have a sharp critical eye, and compelling and professional writing skills. Reviewers’ names will appear at the end of the review with reference to their most recent work if an author. For others your byline and presence as a reviewer is an opportunity to augment your credentials as an expert. (Reviews that include such phrases as “I could not put down this book” do not meet our standard for insight.) We seek uncommon intelligence in the critique and the writing. Many have to date expressed an interest in reviewing books they simply enjoy rather than books within their genre or area of expertise. As much as we would like to accommodate this request, we cannot. The reputation of this new venture will be underpinned by the unimpeachable intellect, insight, and expertise of the reviewer, along with a strong, credentialed byline.
We prefer to review book ahead of publication or very close to release. Publishers typically provide a complimentary reviewer’s copy of the book or a set of bound galleys, delivered to your address. There is no limit on the length of reviews, but we would anticipate as an on-line book review that 3-5 paragraphs of about 400-1000 words at minimum will be sufficient. At times reviewers will be asked to review books they have not selected.
Please note that this venture is in start-up mode. We do not anticipate any material profit until we establish credibility and are able to commercialize. Only then will the Journal be in a position to compensate reviewers. We do not plan to offer reviews for a fee.
Please email nyjb@live.com if interested.
Linked in messages slow down our process and do not always receive replies. Please include as much specific background detail information that establishes your credentials as a reviewer for one or more genres/topics, including names of publications where your writing has appeared, including, of course, any experience reviewing books. Please also indicate the genres/topics you are most interested in reviewing -- listed sequentially according to your preference, if any. It will also be useful to know how frequently you would anticipate submitting reviews. (We favor quality over quantity. Everyone produces quality work at a different pace.) It is also helpful to receive resumes. We will respond to all who apply to become reviewers for this venture.
Finally, the review is in start-up mode. By design, we have not sought publicity or high ranking among search engines. The current website is being run as a beta. We are currently seeking a webmaster to substantially upgrade the appearance and functionality of the website as well as enhance its SEO. (Inquiries welcome.) Once we perfect the website and gain critical mass of reviews we will fully launch the site. In the meantime, in accord with our mission, the beta site does publish reviews of certain books that have not been reviewed extensively, if at all. Like any beta, ours also serves to identify unmet requirements and optimize full launch of the permanent site.
We welcome all comments through the discussion groups.
T. Sturtz, Editor-in Chief, the New York Journal of Books
nyjb@live.com
www.nyjournalofbooks.com

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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on January 5, 2010 at 1:10am

So you'll be allocating reviewers ARC's they don't even want to read for review purposes and not pay them for doing so? With all due respect, that's a lot to ask of someone. Reading books and reviewing them takes many hours if it's done properly. It's hard enough to read a book you don't like, about a subject you have no interest in, but to do so and not even get paid for it is twice as bad.

You also never stated if they could submit a negative review if they don't like the book or who owns the rights to the review. Can they republish their review elsewhere if they want to promote themselves and their site? Thanks in advance.

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Permalink Reply by Ted Sturtz on January 5, 2010 at 4:59am

We absolutely publish rave reviews, entirely negatiuve reviews and everything inbetween. We aim to have published authors review in their own genre. In general we are pleased to have authors review books of their choosing, but to be relevant may at times ask an author to review a book with strong sales that is not their first choice. By no means would we expect reviewers to shoulder a repeated onslaught of undesired books. Even if we were as unfeeling as one would have to be to require that, I cannot imagine that we would retain reviewers. Our hope is that everyone would read books at their own pace. We have reviewers on our insipient panel who voraciously anticipate a review each week and some who may only publish a review once a quarter or less. We want to be comprehensive, but we also want this to be a loabor of love for reviewers -- not an ordeal.

As far as rights are concerned, we are a start-up and we are not paying reviewers until we are able to commercialize this business. As such, I don't see how we could exert a copyright over what we receive. And so what we ask is simply that if an author is publishing reviews for another site or two - no problem. However, we would prefer that reviews that appear on our site are not plastered all over the internet. Assuming we begin to generate revenues, the first people to be paid will be the reviewers - not the staff that currently receives no pay. The only revenue we may see initially is from Amazon clicks and that will certainbly not come close to covering start-up expenses. If incredibly it does, we will pay our reviewers sooner than expected.

I completely understand that some are wary of our proposition. Being 100% honest, if all goes well, reviewers will make top dollar for their reviews and the owners of this business will make even more. On the other hand we may make nothing at all - any of us.

I myself am a published author (under another name), itself a risky venture. What I quickly learned was how difficult it is for first-time authors to gain recognition. I did not write a bestseller, but I was tenacious in opromoting my book, released this past Autumn, and given my anonymity and other obstacles it has done better than expected. Yet, I see what a challenge it is for the great majority of authors to gain recognition. Many books of great worth find themselves mired in obcurity as soon as they are released. We hope that we can use the internet to over time assemble a vast number of reviewers who can cover both books that we must to remain relevant, but also many that would otherwise go unnoticed. And to do this, we need credentialed reviewers; published authors and people with expertise who can write solid reviews, so that it's not just a dozen or so books that get reviewed each week by a respected journal.

Going completely against my core nature I will not reread this and fix any typos, etc. lest what I've written sound canned.

We are immensely in debt to all the authors and experts on our panel. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by scribbler on January 6, 2010 at 4:53pm

Ted, this was far clearer than your original post and makes your proposition more enticing. I'm glad you left it as it was and didn't go back and change anything because it reads as being sincere. Good luck with your venture!

Ted Sturtz said:

We absolutely publish rave reviews, entirely negatiuve reviews and everything inbetween. We aim to have published authors review in their own genre. In general we are pleased to have authors review books of their choosing, but to be relevant may at times ask an author to review a book with strong sales that is not their first choice. By no means would we expect reviewers to shoulder a repeated onslaught of undesired books. Even if we were as unfeeling as one would have to be to require that, I cannot imagine that we would retain reviewers. Our hope is that everyone would read books at their own pace. We have reviewers on our insipient panel who voraciously anticipate a review each week and some who may only publish a review once a quarter or less. We want to be comprehensive, but we also want this to be a loabor of love for reviewers -- not an ordeal.

As far as rights are concerned, we are a start-up and we are not paying reviewers until we are able to commercialize this business. As such, I don't see how we could exert a copyright over what we receive. And so what we ask is simply that if an author is publishing reviews for another site or two - no problem. However, we would prefer that reviews that appear on our site are not plastered all over the internet. Assuming we begin to generate revenues, the first people to be paid will be the reviewers - not the staff that currently receives no pay. The only revenue we may see initially is from Amazon clicks and that will certainbly not come close to covering start-up expenses. If incredibly it does, we will pay our reviewers sooner than expected.

I completely understand that some are wary of our proposition. Being 100% honest, if all goes well, reviewers will make top dollar for their reviews and the owners of this business will make even more. On the other hand we may make nothing at all - any of us.

I myself am a published author (under another name), itself a risky venture. What I quickly learned was how difficult it is for first-time authors to gain recognition. I did not write a bestseller, but I was tenacious in opromoting my book, released this past Autumn, and given my anonymity and other obstacles it has done better than expected. Yet, I see what a challenge it is for the great majority of authors to gain recognition. Many books of great worth find themselves mired in obcurity as soon as they are released. We hope that we can use the internet to over time assemble a vast number of reviewers who can cover both books that we must to remain relevant, but also many that would otherwise go unnoticed. And to do this, we need credentialed reviewers; published authors and people with expertise who can write solid reviews, so that it's not just a dozen or so books that get reviewed each week by a respected journal.

Going completely against my core nature I will not reread this and fix any typos, etc. lest what I've written sound canned.

We are immensely in debt to all the authors and experts on our panel. Thanks.