October Brown Bag Lunch

The Role of the Book Reviewer: Panel Discussion
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Louis L’Amour Room at Random House

This October the YPG learned about the role of the book reviewer with three guests from very diverse publications. The YPG welcomed Ben Dickinson of Elle, Boris Kachka of New York Magazine, and Mickey Rapkin of GQ. (For more information, please see more detailed bios below). Jack Sallay of the YPG moderated the panel with questions provided in advance by the group.

Editorial Mission
When asked about their magazines’ editorial missions, the reviewers had answers that while, different, had similar fundamentals. American Elle tries to differentiate its brand from that of French Elle, a very culturally aware magazine, by focusing on more intellectually aware goals. Ben has to plan his editorial calendar approximately 2-4 months in advance, and chooses titles 6-8 months ahead of their publication dates, stating that it makes his particular job exciting, as he cannot look to book lists and other publications to determine what should be reviewed. He contacts different houses, marks catalogs, and maintains shelves of galleys by publication month. Ben remarked that he looks at about 75-100 galleys for possible review each month. He tries to maintain a balance between literary fiction and general-interest nonfiction, and generally uses excerpts from nonfiction that deal with women’s or social issues. He referred to their credo as ‘intellectual hedonism,’ defining it as the mentality of a reader who wishes to be aware of literary culture, even if they cannot read all reviewed books. Boris noted that the locality of his publication does have influence—they generally consider what they believe New Yorkers are or should be talking about. He also noted the recent attention to nonfiction, and stated that they try to integrate culture into their pages by utilizing a mix of well-known topics with those that his reviewers feel are of import. He plans his calendar seasonally, 2-4 weeks ahead of time. Mickey feels, like Ben, that he should know about a book before a publicist calls to tell him about it. They run about 5 short reviews per month, with a goal that the average GQ reader will buy 3 books each month. Excerpts are usually from memoirs.

Industry Trends
Because of the huge advertising cuts that magazines suffered as a result of the economic depression that followed 9/11, Elle’s book pages were cut in half, although the content stayed the same. As time has passed they have added more content to those same pages, which has made each piece shorter. Ben likes the current format, but finds it harder to freelance out work, since they have little space to offer. Boris and his team still run longer reviews, adhering to the idea that each reviewer must have room to explore their ideas. He finds it most important that their content is idea-generated, and also looks to freelancers because bigger names tend to give weight to a review. However, Boris also said that the sudden loss of interest in fiction makes it difficult to convince even the editors that a certain book is worth reviewing.

When asked if GQ publishes negative reviews, Mickey answered that to do so would be a waste in an already very limited given space. Ben also tries to cover books in new and interesting ways, outside of the typical review format, as well as find other ways to fit book-related content into the magazine.

The Marketplace
Ben noted that memoirs are booming, while literary fiction is still in a struggle. They try to choose fiction titles that they feel have real merit and recommend them to readers, and also use their Reader’s Prize, which awards books to 15 readers 3 times a month. Ben noted that it has been a great way to get feedback. Boris told the group that it is important to show genuine enthusiasm for recommendations, noticing that publishers are trying to start a successful trend in literary fiction. Mickey answered that big names are everywhere right now because of the fall season, but that they like to try and fit in smaller, lesser known writers as well.

Books in the Media
When asked what other books pages the reviewers look to, Ben answered that he typically reads the New York Times, but with general trepidation that he missed a great book that the Times did not, because planning reviews so far ahead leaves them ‘blind’ to the future. Boris reads Atlantic Monthly and Book Forum, and Mickey told that group that he reads Elle, but then noted that he tries to distance himself from other review pages, especially because there are so many out there.

How to Contact Reviewers
The YPG then posed their most burning question of how often the reviewers are contacted by publicists, and how they would respectively prefer to be contacted. After a general consensus that they all get a daily barrage of emails, Ben remarked that he tends to feel a low-level guilt over the fact that he cannot respond to all of them, and hopes that publicists don’t resent him. He says that publicists he most likes working with are those who can telegraph 3-4 books per season about which they genuinely feel strongly. Too often, he has to spend much time trying to divine where a publicist’s genuine enthusiasm lies, and often looks to galley letters for background information and clues as to whether or not they truly believe in the book. While Boris can’t manage to read every email sent to him, he doesn’t want them to stop flooding his inbox. Like Ben, he tries to ascertain where a publicist’s true enthusiasm lies, and likes to hear from them early on—in general he finds that they do have their favorites, and will be forthright about them. Mickey is the exception to the panel’s rule in this case—he reads every email received and any galley letter that accompanies a book. He also doesn’t mind receiving phone calls.


Panelists Bios
Boris Kachka, as Contributing Editor at New York Magazine, helps determine and writes much of the coverage of books and theater in the Culture Pages. Kachka writes and edits features and various other elements of the pages, as well as Q&As and profiles of authors, actors, playwrights, and theater directors. Writing book reviews and news items he has also contributed to Salon and is currently working on a project for Conde Nast Traveler. He has been at New York magazine since graduating from the Columbia Journalism School.

Mickey Rapkin, 28, is a senior editor at GQ where he covers pop culture. His recent stories include a profile of Kevin Federline, a piece on the new James Bond film and a Q&A with the creators of "South Park." He also edited the fall books package. Rapkin was previously a staff writer at Details, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly. He lives in New York City.

Ben Dickinson of Elle started out in magazines (after a severely prolonged adolescence) as an editorial assistant at Esquire, working primarily on its “Man at His Best” section. Following a stint at the late, lamented Civilization magazine, first as book review editor and later as executive editor, he has been a senior features editor and point man for the publishing industry at Elle for the past six years.