{"id":4741,"date":"2015-08-18T07:28:49","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T11:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4741"},"modified":"2015-08-31T06:45:31","modified_gmt":"2015-08-31T10:45:31","slug":"separating-the-wheat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4741","title":{"rendered":"Separating the Wheat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_4725\" style=\"width: 273px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4725\" class=\" wp-image-4725\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/8727759029_da83b55058_z.jpg?resize=263%2C198\" alt=\"chalk outline, body\" width=\"263\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/8727759029_da83b55058_z.jpg?w=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/8727759029_da83b55058_z.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 263px) 100vw, 263px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-4725\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(image: pixabay, creative commons license)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>With more than a million new books a year being published in the United States, readers have to look harder than ever to find the book perfect for them. Book reviews work, if they\u2019ve found a reviewer whose opinions they trust; best-seller lists reveal what other people are buying (or do they?); and online consumer recommendations can help, too. Even in my mystery\/thriller niche, the number of new books is overwhelming. I need help!<\/p>\n<p>Blogger <a href=\"http:\/\/livingonthepage.blogspot.com\/2015\/06\/three-top-reviewers-tell-all.html?showComment=1435797746329#c1803237809635956757\">Sandra Parshall<\/a> recently reported on an excellent panel discussion involving three top book reviewers. The reviewers and samples of their reviews in the mystery genre are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Maureen Corrigan, who reviews for NPR\u2019s <em>Fresh Air<\/em> and is a contributor to <em>Mystery and Suspense Writers<\/em>; she recently reviewed Vu Tran\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2015\/08\/04\/429318091\/dragonfish-offers-a-noir-vision-of-an-american-dream-gone-rancid\"><em>Dragonfish<\/em><\/a>, a crime drama she calls a noir vision of an \u201cAmerican gone rancid\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Dennis Drabelle, crime fiction editor at <em>The Washington Post<\/em>, who recently reviewed the \u201cmesmerizing\u201d Malcolm Mackay <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/entertainment\/books\/a-thriller-trilogy-that-thrills\/2015\/07\/07\/f81ed4aa-1dab-11e5-aeb9-a411a84c9d55_story.html\">thriller trilogy<\/a> featuring freelance Glasgow hit man Calum MacLean and<\/li>\n<li>Bethanne Patrick, creator of twitter\u2019s popular #FridayReads hashtag, who reviews for multiple venues. She recently reviewed Mary Kubica\u2019s psychological thriller <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2015\/07\/30\/426741481\/baby-is-a-pretty-feat-of-misdirection\"><em>Pretty Baby<\/em><\/a> for NPR.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Every week, these reviewers wade through hundreds of advance review copies of new books in search of gems, including those in the crime\/mystery\/thriller genre. They have a few groundrules that make it easier: no self-published books; look at those by well-known authors while keeping an eye out for new talent, such as Vu Tran, mentioned above, or \u201csomething unusual\u201d; and look at the books from publishers with a good track record. Ultimately, it\u2019s the quality of the writing that makes a book stand out, they said. (My decision rules for book reviews are described <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vweisfeld.com\/?p=4575\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vweisfeld.com\/?p=4579\">here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Parshall quoted Corrigan\u2019s distaste for market-driven gimmicks\u2014no \u201cvampires living in Downton Abbey with dogs.\u201d I\u2019m guessing she didn\u2019t review any of the vampire versions of <em>Pride and Prejudice<\/em>. Zombie ones, either.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, they said best-seller lists are not a reliable guide to finding quality books. Marketing expert Tim Grahl, posting on Hugh Howey\u2019s blog <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hughhowey.com\/the-nyt-and-wsj-best-seller-lists-must-die\/\"><em>The Wayfinder<\/em><\/a> last year, would agree. Grahl says, \u201cI\u2019ve become incredulous at the complete disaster that is the major best seller lists.\u201d And he feelingly describes how the two biggest-impact lists\u2014those of <em>The New York Times<\/em> and <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u2014are created. Not how you think they are.<\/p>\n<p>George Orwell was a frequent, but cranky, book reviewer, saying it was like \u201cpouring his immortal spirit down the drain, half a pint at a time.\u201d Now, new legions of book reviewers are rising up to cope with the massive numbers. They\u2019re the \u201cconsumers\u201d whose reviews and recommendations we can read on Amazon and other book-buying sites, the social networks Goodreads and Library Thing, and others. While many consumer comments don\u2019t rise above a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down, some are thorough and thoughtful. They\u2019re updating the most popular strategy people use for selecting a particular book, the recommendation of a friend.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, aggregator sites like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crimefictionlover.com\/2015\/07\/interview-meghan-tifft\/\">Crime Fiction Lover<\/a>, for which I am one of a dozen reviewers, have appeared. Similar specialty shops for reviews of romance, science fiction\/fantasy, and other genres exist. And hundreds of websites like this one, that regularly review books of all types.<\/p>\n<p>What are You reading?<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=victoweisf-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=0778317706&amp;asins=0778317706&amp;linkId=WE4DA7SS4PYIWEJD&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=victoweisf-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=0393077802&amp;asins=0393077802&amp;linkId=DQECCGWM7TL4MSPJ&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=victoweisf-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=0316337307&amp;asins=0316337307&amp;linkId=LYJC7TMPWF2NV377&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With more than a million new books a year being published in the United States, readers have to look harder than ever to find the book perfect for them. Book reviews work, if they\u2019ve found a reviewer whose opinions they &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4741\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Separating the Wheat - how to find a good book","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[122,68,4,104],"tags":[89],"class_list":["post-4741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book","category-publishing","category-readers","category-the-morgue","tag-reading"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-1et","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4744,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4741\/revisions\/4744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}