Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Death of the American Newspaper I: The Book Section
Thursday, March 8, 2007

More evidence (as if we needed any) of the severe challenges facing the newspaper industry. The great Jeffrey Trachtenberg of the WSJ reports: Publishers are no longer buying ads in book sections, which means fewer and fewer authors will the get the oxygen of exposure in daily newspapers. Coming on the heels of an AP announcement that it's no longer sending out a package of book reviews, this news is devastating -- especially for fiction. You simply cannot buy a book if you've never heard of it.

Sometime this spring, the Los Angeles Times is expected to announce that it is folding its highly esteemed Sunday book review into a new section that will combine books with opinion pieces. That would reduce to five the number of separate book-review sections in major metropolitan newspapers still published nationwide, down from an estimated 10 to 12 a decade ago. The reason: not enough ads.
Book publishers in recent years have moved away from buying ads in standalone book-review sections in favor of paying to stack mounds of books in the front of chain bookstores. Some small literary publications, such as the New York Review of Books, are showing growth, but the book review as a separate section is endangered not only at the Los Angeles Times but at other major newspapers like the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and San Diego Union-Tribune.

The New York Times Book Review is an exception. "In 2006, our [ad] revenue from books was up almost 10%," says Todd Haskell, vice president, business development, for the Times. (The figure refers to the book-review section plus the paper as a whole.)

"Our book review is a vibrant part of the Sunday newspaper and will continue to be," says Mr. Haskell. "We aren't backing off an inch."

In an era of targeted marketing, publishers say the best time to reach readers is when they are in the stores with money in their pockets looking to make an immediate purchase. But with a sea of titles in the stores -- the average 25,000-square-foot store in the Barnes & Noble Inc. chain now stocks between 125,000 and 150,000 titles -- the only way for publishers to stand out is to pay for real estate in the front and pile those books up high.

Labels: Books

Posted by B Feiler at 7:06 AM
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