The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, our local newspaper, has decided in its infinite wisdom that it no longer needs a book editor. Presumably (although it hasn’t been said) this means that the paper will run reviews/stories from the wire services rather than locally written pieces. That sucks - especially considering that the paper has an American Idol/”local radio station drama” beat in its online edition.
Zach from Wordsmiths’ is leading the local response. His recent blog post details why a local book editor matters and what you can do to help. Don’t just wish that we had a better local book scene - make it happen.
Point of order: Zach’s post quotes an NBCC blog post that calls Atlanta the 15th most-literate city in the U.S. If the NBCC had checked with us first, they’d know that we’re #3 (tied with D.C.)
April 18th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I shiver thinking that the only local book coverage in our premier, pulitzer-winning newspaper, would be an AP feed posted online.
here’s hoping there’s a turn in the tide.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
There will always be BGB andWordsmiths’ blogs to shine a light in the darkness. And maybe, to a lesser extent, Creative Loafing….
April 19th, 2007 at 10:53 am
I stand corrected. Actually I got word from our Pulicity rep at Hachette after I posted about the difference in Literary City Standings. We are 3rd (tied actually) in cities over 750,000 in population and 15th amongst all cities. Basically we are close to tipping the scale with the major metro’s and a move like this (by the AJC) only serves to diminish all we have gained.
It’s going to take a lot of work and maybe the AJC is just naive enough to believe they are justified, but we have to do it. We have to holler and scream and be as visible to Atlanta as we possibly can.
April 19th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
My letter to the decision makers went something like this…
Dear Ms. Wallace and Mr. Mellott,
I was very disappointed to learn of your recent decision to eliminate your Book Editor position currently held by Teresa Weaver. I believe that a strong local editorial presence in books and literature is required and not an optional position in a city or our size and stature. Eliminating this position, I feel, is a disservice to your readers and your city.
These are exciting times in the Atlanta literary community. Emory University has begun to recreate itself as an international leader in literature. They have begun to purchase world class collections, positioning themselves as a center for literary study and research. One of their professors, Natasha Tretheway, just won a Pulitzer Prize. Emory alum Olga Grushin has been named one of Granta’s top American authors under 25. Their recent addition of Salman Rushdie as a Writer-in-Residence underscores their commitment to literature and books while your commitment appears to be waning.
Other highlights of the recent literary scene have included a standing room only reading by Dave Eggers and Valentino Achang. Pulitzer winner Richard Ford was recently here. Your own Pulitzer winner, Hank Klibanoff, gave a wonderful reading that served as an opportunity for thoughtful people to have an inspiring book/history discussion. The next two weeks will feature reading/lectures by non-fiction giants like Walter Isaacson and David McCullough.
While the collapse of Chapter 11 is a blow to our community, other book sellers are thriving. New players like Decatur’s Little Shop of Stories and the soon-to-be Wordsmiths’ Books are bringing new life with them. Wordsmiths’ Books and the Georgia Center for the Book have also been bringing exciting new authors, as well as best-sellers and old favorites to town for readings and events. A recent (and well attended) group reading by small, independent Brooklyn-based publishers is just one wonderful example of the type of events that new players are bringing to our community.
It is rumored that you are planning to re-focus your book page(s) to your on-line presence. I believe that this is a tremendous mistake for several reasons, not the least of which is that I do not believe that your web presence, as it exists now, is effective/competent at providing your readers with the books/literary news and stories that they want.
I am a writer/editor for a small group book blog (www.babygotbooks.com). I rarely rely on AJC online content for several reasons. It is often difficult to locate a particular story, even if I’ve read the article in the paper that morning. Your web site gives no indication of where one should even begin to look for book news. You have to intuit that clicking on the “Arts” subheading under “entertainment” will take you to a crowded and aesthetically dismal page where you might find book stories. Once there, clinking on the “Books” link doesn’t actually take you to a book page, rather the reader is directed to a crowded text only page where some book information might eventually be found.
Your “search” capability is among the worst I’ve ever seen. Often searching for key words in stories that I’ve recently read in print will yield a “no results found” response. I have largely abandoned your search feature as an effective means of locating anything on the web site. As an experiment, I challenge you to find your “Literary Scene” event listings from Sunday’s paper by following links on your web site or using your search feature. It took me several minutes to do. Once I found it, I learned about a few readings that I had no idea were happening, but I am not likely to repeat this exercise on a regular basis.
Further, your lack of RSS links (of any kind) that allow readers to subscribe to your online content demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of how the Internet is used in 2007. If I miss a story in your written edition or don’t accidentally trip over it in your poorly designed home page, I will have no idea that a story that you’ve run that I would have been deeply interested in ever existed. It is a missed opportunity for you. You should correct this situation immediately. My web site is able to provide this service to our readers, and we have approximately 3 Million+ fewer visitors.
Given the level of effort that your web site puts into ensuring that readers are on top of the latest American Idol news and what is happening with the staffing dramas at 99x, I would have hoped that a serious paper would devote at least equal resources to what is becoming a thriving literary scene.
I hope that you will not come to rely on reviews/stories from the wires, ad hoc coverage supplied by free-lancers, and limited coverage by staff reporters. I believe that a strong editorial hand is required to provide leadership for your coverage and, hopefully, to provide a guiding hand in building and supporting the existing literary community. I hope that we won’t find the AJC on the sidelines as we continue to build our community in Atlanta. I hope that you will do the right thing and give our local literary community the attention, commitment, and thoughtfulness it deserves.
Thanks for your time,
——
April 19th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
This just confirms the AJC’s continuing slide into joke status. It would be an embarrassment of a newspaper even in a city half the size of Atlanta. As you said, it’s entire focus is on silly celebrities and the locals who, on occasion, may get to rub elbows with them. On a typical visit to the online edition, it’s a challenge even to find a legitimate news story, much less one that wasn’t pulled from a wire service. I applaud your efforts, but if other developments at the AJC in recent years are any indication, I fear they will fall on deaf ears.
April 19th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I’m not expecting them to read my e-mail and suddenly realize the error of their ways and institute sweeping reforms. As Stipe said, “silence is approval.” The Man needs to hear from us from time to time.