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Tayari's Blog: Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye!

Posted by TayariJones on December 14, 2009 04:16 AM
Filed under The Writing Life

Kirkus Reviews has closed it's doors and I have to say that I am not sad to see it go. Their reviews of both of my books were so scathing that I actually teared up. For those not in the loop, Kirkus of a "pre-pub" review source, which it means that it weighed in on teh book before it even hit the shelves. For new writers, Kirkus often provided their very first review ever. The reviews in Kirkus went unsigned, so you didn't even know where to send the hit man.

One disturbing trend I see is echoed my Michael Bourett at DGLM. (Full disclosure, DGLM represents me.) In his farewell to Kirkus he says,

I don’t think any other publication can make an author cry the same way that Kirkus did. On more than one occasion I have warned an author before the review to be prepared, because if you’ve never read one of their reviews and they go after you, it can be soul-crushing.

But when they did give an author and book a good review, it always meant that much more. Pleasing them wasn’t easy, so doing so was all the more satisfying.

To me, that's giving power to people just for being harsh. It's like the abuse made it all the more important to win thier favor.

I think one of the reason Kirkus failed is because any publication that is known for playing one note-- snarky-- becomes known as an unreliable source for information. A consistently hard review source is just as corrupt as one that is habitually smiley.

For kicks, here's a post I put up a couple years ago after Kirkus savaged The Untelling. And while you're reading it, I'll be pouring myself a glass of prosecco.