Yet another reason to review books
2008 June 30
The NY Times has produced a slideshow of their collection of “literary ephemera,” which are items sent in usually in promotion attempts. There are even die-hard collectors of this stuff who believe that “ephemera documents history, recording the small, and often subsequently lost, details of events, cultures and lives.” Well, whether that’s true or not, it must be weird and sometimes cool to open a package with a fun little surprise inside. I’d love that job. Take a look at the slideshow here.
This slide show made me smile. Many of those items were very creative. What it demonstrates, however, is that reviewers, agents, and publishers continue to beat the drum that they want something that makes them pay attention to the book, but then they belittle the effort. Bit of arrogance there, not? Set someone up for abuse. Hm…. I’d rather they actually read the letters and books instead of making jokes. http://www.bentpage.wordpress.com.
Well said, Daniel.