This was in Publishers Marketplace today:
PW Cuts Reviewers Pay
The price of gold has risen sharply in commodities market, but the "gold standard" for book reviewers is headed in the other direction. The NBCC blog posts this letter received by a member from the Publishers Weekly reviews editor:
"Dear Reviewer,
We are under constraints to reduce our expenses and must reduce the fee we pay to reviewers. Any reviews assigned after June 15 will be billed at $25 per review. However, you will be credited as a contributor in issues where your reviews appear. Please know that we value the work you do for us. Your astute reading and writing are what make our magazine so valuable in the industry and we regret this necessary action. All of us here are also experiencing change but we expect that we will continue to be the gold standard in book reviewing."
I'll kick in another fifty on the reviews of my books . . . maybe even more . . .
1 comment:
For those not clued into the book business:
Publishers Weekly is the key industry trade magazine; subscriptions list at $400 a year (though the rate most pay is around $200). The reviews are considered extremely important by many publishers, with independent bookstores, libraries, etc., basing their decisions to order books based on them.
At least that's the way it used to be.
The reviews are short, so it's conceivable that they could be written in about an hour. But actually reading the book, taking notes, thinking about what you're going to say - obviously that all takes much longer.
The reviewers are being told that their work and time are not very valuable ... effectively the magazine is saying the reason most people read it isn't important either.
By the way, this was a pay cut...
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