Motoko Rich interviewed me on Monday morning for this article. While my larger points about convergence between print and media and my call for unity were both overlooked (and apparently I wasn’t the only one on this score), I can’t complain because it’s good to see many of my fellow litbloggers well represented — even if Richard Ford displays his ignorance by badmouthing a medium he has never deigned to read.
If you’re new here, please feel free to leave a comment and say hello. Check out the podcasts. Check out the other litbloggers under the links section on the right.
As to the issue of numbers, yesterday, there were 43,865 unique requests for this site. That’s easily matches the circulation of a midsize newspaper. And, like my colleague Mark Sarvas suggests, they came here strictly for the books.
Also, I have the greatest respect for people who write in basements in Terre Haute.
“Some guy sitting in his basement in Terre Haute” — gee, that really hurts.
I find it funny that Ford, who literally spat on a reviewer he didn’t like, is here presented as a champion of book reviews. Then again, maybe he knows he won’t be able to find that basement in Terre Haute to launch his next loogie….
Kudos on the press coverage.
Allow me to point out that the lit underground was far ahead of the curve on these matters (and still is). Most of the points you make, the ULA was making from its beginning in 2000. Then, we were scorned as amateurs putting our zeens together in basements. The zine movement of the 1990s was a precursor to lit-blogs. (Zines like my New Philistine, or others like Bottle Fed, were making these same points more than ten years ago.) The consensus seems to be moving toward US. And so, Ed, you’ll even use ULA-like language (calling book reviews “stodgy”) without “deigning” to acknowledge that someone got there long before you.
Have a good day.