Times Spotlights Blogs, Radio-Related Books

IS THIS ANYTHING?

New York Times Features 'Book-Blogging'



Is this anything?

To a New York Times story on 2005's "most-blogged-about books", that's today's official Radio Equalizer reaction, for what it's worth.

Stolen from the David Letterman Show, that's the regular segment where Dave and Paul Shaffer discuss afterward whether on-stage stunts are "anything" or "nothing".

Included in the year-end NYT coverage: 20 books and the blogs that discussed them. Several with radio ties made the list, including The Fair Tax Book by talk host Neil Boortz and Jon Lender, Podcasting: Do It Yourself Pirate Radio For The Masses, by Todd Cochrane, as well as Hugh Hewitt's Blog.

Coming in at 16th, Michelle Malkin's Unhinged, like the other ranked books, includes a breakdown of individual posts, three of which refer to this site:

Blog: The Radio Equalizer -Brian Maloney
By Brian Maloney
Sunday, October 30
Text: . . .In fact, Amazon reviewers are already busy trashing her book. . .
Read More

Blog: Power Line
By Hindrocket
Tuesday, November 8
Text: . . .. . .
Read More

Blog: The Talent Show
By waltisfrozen
Wednesday, August 17
Text: . . .Malkins next book, Unhinged Exposing Liberals Gone Wild, is all about the utter hypocrisy of Democrats who fashion themselves as role models of tolernace and civility?. . .
Read More

Blog: Instapundit.com
By Glenn Reynolds
Wednesday, November 2
Text: . . .HEARD MICHELLE MALKIN on Neal Boortzs show, plugging her new book which seems to be doing quite well on Amazon. . .
Read More

Blog: Instapundit.com
By Glenn Reynolds
Monday, October 31
Text: . . .YOU DONT TUG ON SUPERMANS CAPE Brian Maloney reports that some people, afraid of Michelle Malkins new book, are launching preemptive attacks. . .
Read More

Hewitt, a Salem Radio Networks syndicated talk show host and major blogger, scored especially well, with a 7th place ranking. To determine the "top" blogged books, the NYT's process is rather cryptic.

Does book-blogging help sales? While no light is shed on the subject, we do learn that authors can be quite afraid of Internet feedback:

Years ago, after someone sent Amy Tan a link to a Web site where one anti-fan declared "Amy Tan must die," Tan fired off a prophylactic e-mail message asking friends and colleagues not to forward comments culled from the Internet.

"I think it's great that readers are having spontaneous dialogues about my work online," she said, "but I don't think I should necessarily listen in." She likens looking herself up online to overhearing gossip at a cocktail party. "You might hear some good things about yourself, but you may also hear something devastating."

Also among the blogophobic is Maureen Dowd. "I'm super sensitive and I think I'd get too depressed," said Dowd, whose new book is "Are Men Necessary?: When Sexes Collide." Instead, she employs proxy searchers. "It seems narcissistic to be trolling around looking for mentions of yourself, though I am thrilled to be blogged about," she said. "My sister and my assistant show me things they think I need to see. But I don't want to get too caught up in it myself."

While those of us with blogs take heat on a daily basis, it's hard to imagine just how sheltered from reality some famous authors must find themselves.

Even more peculiar is that many of the books listed in the top 20 didn't seem to the NYT's staff to be worthy of review. I'm not aware, for example, of Malkin's book ever previously being mentioned in the Times. Doesn't this point to the difference between old media and new?

Perhaps by coincidence Sunday, NYT Public Editor Byron Calame attempts to explore that angle, why some books are chosen, while others are ignored by the paper:

WHEN The New York Times Book Review published its list of "100 Notable Books of the Year" earlier this month, calculations from several readers and bloggers soon turned up in my in-box. Of the 61 nonfiction books on the list, they noted, six were by Times staffers - enough to pique my interest in the overall book-review process at the paper.

Readers - and authors - deserve a process that is as fair as possible in both reality and perception. What's fair, however, is particularly challenging in the world of the book section. There, reviewers are expected to express their opinions, but readers also have the right to expect that books are assessed based on their merits, not just on a critic's ideology or personal grudges and preferences. The complications only grow when some of the authors are on the staff of The Times...

...Yet eliminating all connections appears nearly impossible. Mr. Tanenhaus and Dwight Garner, the Book Review's senior editor, are authors themselves and both have the same agent, the powerful Andrew Wylie. This gives me some pause. But they handle that relationship very carefully, Mr. Garner said. "Intentionally," he explained, "over the years I have had the grand total of one lunch with my agent, and one lunch with my editor."

Even if there wasn't a great deal of light shed on these seemingly cozy relationships, thanks to Calame for at least looking into it. We keep expectations of the paper low here at the Radio Equalizer.

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