Wednesday, September 12, 2012

What I Think About Michael Chabon's "Telegraph Avenue"

Here's my review of Michael Chabon's new novel, Telegraph Avenue, in the Washington Independent Review of Books. Short version: I like it.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Reviews: Amazon vs. Barnes and Noble

Considering the importance everyone attaches to Amazon, obsessively checking their book's Amazon sales ranking, etc., I find it interesting that in my case at least, I've had a lot more reviews of Tainted Souls posted on Barnes and Noble than at my book's Amazon page. (Also, far more reviews and ratings at Goodreads. Only two reviews at Smashwords, despite almost 200 downloads.) Moreover, reviews continue to come in at B&N, but there hasn't been a new review posted at Amazon in ages.

Curious. This is rather the opposite of what I was expecting (to the extent I was expecting anything). I just assumed that Amazon, being the superpower of retail, would attract more readers. Is it possible that B&N attracts more "real readers" (let's call them) than Amazon?

Does anyone know if this is the pattern, B&N reviews outpacing Amazon ones? Or is this just a case of my life experience, as usual, being outside the mainstream?

Mr. Putin's War

Think of what a great world this would be if Putin had decided to solidify democracy in Russia rather than to go all mini-Mussolini on us. I...