Booksology Schmidt draws out her distinction based on the information people use to decide what to read. There are people who care about literary criticism. And there are book consumers who choose books based on social media, word of mouth, and everything that isn’t traditional book reviews. That distinction makes sense to those who advise authors and publishers on where to concentrate copyright. But I think that more useful questions to read culture more broadly are the ones that readers are actually looking for when they choose a book.
If Booktok’s trends are any indication, they may be drawn to literary criticism and those relying on society may seek fundamentally different experiences. Literary criticism prioritizes works (“Is this good art?”), but algorithms based on social media and recommendations prioritize the consumer experience (“Do I enjoy this?”). Both are valid questions and I put most readers at risk of adopting them both in their reading life. Good art can be fun too. A fun book also has literary benefits. That’s a dream! The review was by no means a major draw. By comparison, there is an addictive dopamine fuel app, so it’s hard to ignore that fact.
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As a reader who cares about books as art and wants to continue sitting on the shelves alongside the pop culture phenomenon in which literary gems take on their existence, I am not sharing Schmidt’s suggestion that publishers should focus on “writers whom they consider to be the ultimate authority.” Consumer verification and critical verification are not mutually exclusive. A healthy book culture requires both.
From where I sit, it’s not a book that needs to be changed, it’s a way of thinking. Criticism and consumerism are complementary ways of engaging in literature. If our readers and publishers can maintain space for both, our literary landscape will be all enriched for it.
Romance is the ban target for the next big book
Kelly Jensen reports that romance is the next censorship target on the far right.
Last year, it was revealed that there is another far-right target in a merciless assault on the intellectual freedom of those who are not registered in their strict, biased, morals: The Book of Romance. The same tactics deployed here to create a number of laws and policies governing books available “for children” in public schools and public libraries.
