Agent and E-Reads publisher Richard Curtis was interviewed by Gatekeepers Post publisher Jeff Rivera. The two industry leaders explored the emergence of a corps of gatekeepers that is very far from the establishment elite that we grew up with.

You can listen to the podcast here.

You can also read Richard Curtis’s posting about Gatekeepers here . ************************************

The Gatekeepers Post is the leading social media book publishing community on the web Richard Curtis is probably one of the most respected people in the book publishing industry. He’s incredibly smart, wise and a true visionary who foresaw the eBook revolution years before the masses. In today’s audio interview with the veteran literary agent and Publisher of E-eads, he discusses with us the true pros and cons authors need to keep in mind when they are deciding between publishing directly or publishing with an e-book publisher such as his company. If you’re about to load your book on Kindle yourself, you might give serious thought to listening to this interview first.

The subject of gatekeepers – editors, reviewers and other arbiters of literary taste – is on everyone’s mind as we seek a new order to replace the one that is ossifying before our eyes. (See Who Will Replace the Gatekeepers?“) One candidate has just materialized that deserves serious attention.

Two editorial veterans, Patti Thorn and Patricia Moosbrugger, have launched BlueInk Reviews, which their press release describes as “a website devoted exclusively to reviewing and highlighting self-published books.” Though a variety of initiatives have been promoted to validate self-published books, the founders of BlueInk are determined “to become the gold standard in reviews of self-published work.”

The unusual – some may even say radical – fee-based business model they have designed just may achieve their goal. But it will be not be unattended by controversy. “Funding at BlueInk Reviews,” states their press release,”comes from authors, who pay a fee to have their books reviewed. As with print publications, we manage that inherent tension between author and critic by strictly maintaining that firewall between the two parties.”

How will that work?

“Our reviewers will have no contact with the authors funding the reviews. In fact, our authors will never know which reviewers have been assigned to critique their books. Our critics – who come from the traditional publishing world and are well aware of traditional review ethics — will follow written guidelines instructing them to craft objective, honest reviews, noting both the positive and negative points of any book. Editors will oversee all reviews, with an eye toward insuring fairness and honesty.

“Authors pay in advance and will not be refunded if displeased with the reviewer’s assessment. They can, however, opt to remove their review from our website.”

A year or two ago we would have greeted this undertaking skeptically if not cynically. In an article about vanity publishing published in the fall of 2009 I wrote “I draw no distinction between self-publication, subsidized publication and vanity publication.” (See You Got That Right, Ecclesiastes!) But the self-publication industry has evolved so rapidly and dramatically that anyone belittling it as mere vanity will stir a hornets’ nest of righteous indignation. The process has not only become respectable but profitable – and, for some, lucrative.

So, the idea that a self-published author would pay a fee to have his or her book reviewed is no more derisory than paying an editor, a printer and a publicist to produce and release it. Ms. Thorn and Ms. Moosbrugger are not just business people but idealists who think of themselves as gatekeepers. BlueInk, they say, is “more than a simple source for reviews, BlueInk acts as the primary means for readers and industry professionals to find the ‘next generation’ books worth selling, stocking, purchasing and reading.”

For their full press release and contact information, click here.  And for a detailed statement of their business model, read Can a Fee-Based Review Be Credible?

It’s a sign of their commitment that their answer is – “Absolutely.”

Richard Curtis

Can a Fee-Based Review Be Credible?
Absolutely.

All review publications must find funding somewhere. Traditionally, print publications have been financed in large part by advertisements from the publishing industry, and there has always been an inherent tension between the needs of those advertisers and the goals of critical objectivity. The key to ensuring objectivity has been in maintaining a firewall between critics and advertisers.

Funding at BlueInk Reviews comes from authors, who pay a fee to have their books reviewed. As with print publications, we manage that inherent tension between author and critic by strictly maintaining that firewall between the two parties.

Our reviewers will have no contact with the authors funding the reviews. In fact, our authors will never know which reviewers have been assigned to critique their books. Our critics – who come from the traditional publishing world and are well aware of traditional review ethics — will follow written guidelines instructing them to craft objective, honest reviews, noting both the positive and negative points of any book. Editors will oversee all reviews, with an eye toward insuring fairness and honesty.

Authors pay in advance and will not be refunded if displeased with the reviewer’s assessment. They can, however, opt to remove their review from our website.

While this approach may be a new one, we see it as one solution to the fact that few, if any, mainstream publications have the resources or space to review self-published work, especially in this era of downsizing. In fact, we see a not-too-distant future where even traditionally published authors will seek our guaranteed, fee-based service rather than the uncertainties of a “free” review — which may never actually appear.

Yes, we are following a non-traditional funding model. In the digital world, it has become a necessity to find new ways of supporting editorial ventures. But at BlueInk, we work hard to insure that our reviews adhere to time-honored ethical standards and are worthy of our web audience’s trust and respect at all times.

Publishing Veterans Launch Website Devoted to Professional Reviews of Self-Published Books

NEW YORK, BookExpo America — An internationally known literary agent and an award-winning former book review editor announce the launch of BlueInk Reviews, a website devoted exclusively to reviewing and highlighting self-published books.

The move comes on the heels of industry reports that the number of books released from non-traditional channels doubled between 2007 and 2008. It nearly doubled again between 2008 and 2009. Furthermore, U.S. book sales fell 1.8% in 2009 to $23.9 billion, while e-book sales tripled to $313 million. Many of these e-books are self published.

“Independently published books are increasingly becoming an important part of the publishing scene,” said Managing Partner Patti Thorn. “With BlueInk, we aim to become the gold standard in reviews of self-published work.  We are committed to addressing the urgent needs of the self-publisher for credible critiques without compromising the values of the traditional publishing industry.”

Thorn was books editor at the Rocky Mountain news for 12 years, prior to the newspaper’s closing in 2009. She won many awards for her arts and entertainment criticism and accolades for her incisive column about books and the publishing industry. She joins Patricia Moosbrugger in this venture. Moosbrugger is a former subsidiary rights manager and literary agent who represents New York Times bestselling authors Kate Furnivall and Louise Penny and was formerly with the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, where she worked with bestselling authors Sebastian Junger, Nathaniel Philbrick.and Steven Covey.

While fee-based, all BlueInk reviews are written by professionals whose bylines have appeared in major publications, such as The New York Times and Washington Post, or who have served as editors at well-respected publishing houses, including Penguin, Viking and Crown.

As BlueInk critics discover worthy reads, the best of these titles are then featured in high profile positions on the BlueInk web page and promoted to publishers, librarians, literary agents and booksellers. They are also further vetted by the BlueInk Board or other industry professionals to determine their merit for a BlueInk Best Book Award, our highest honor.

In this way, more than a simple source for reviews, BlueInk acts as the primary means for readers and industry professionals to find the “next generation” books worth selling, stocking, purchasing and reading.

BlueInk offers a host of other services as well, including: articles with self-publishing tips; places for independently published authors to tout their sales successes; lists of important writing resources; classifieds and other ads targeted to authors and more.

In short, BlueInk is a vibrant forum for authors, as well as the go-to source for red-hot reads in the self-publishing realm.

As the world of self-publishing continues its exponential growth, BlueInk Reviews would greatly appreciate it if you’d let your readers know about its arrival on the scene. Meanwhile, check us out at www.blueinkreviews.com!

The Gatekeepers Post, billing itself as “a new social media book publishing community,” has been launched by author and media personality Jeff Rivera. It is hoped that The Gatekeepers Post “will make a significant impact on the conversation of book publishing,” Rivera writes.

The announcement goes on to say:

With the decline in print book sales, the increase of eBooks, the rapid closing of independent bookstores and the boom in young adult fiction, the world of book publishing is experiencing a flux few could have anticipated even five years ago.

Industry outlets have struggled to keep pace with the new developments in publishing but the changes are happening too fast for anyone to cover it all.  The industry and public’s insatiable appetite for fresh news on the rapid changes has only increased.

The Gatekeepers Post hopes to satisfy that appetite.  A cross between Huffington Post and Publishers Weekly, the outlet features some of the most important and respected voices in book publishing.

Joined by an editorial advisory board that includes the likes of print and online magazine editor Neal Boulton; TechSavvy high-tech consulting CEO Scott Steinberg; New York Times bestselling author and Publisher, Zane; Planned TV Arts’ Rick Frishman; Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives Ed Nawotka; Smashwords’ Mark Coker; Thomas Dunne Book’s Brendan Deneen; eReads.com publisher and veteran literary agent Richard Curtis; Editor-in-Chief of Gawker.tv Richard Blakeley; former Writers Digest Books Editor-at-Large Jane Friedman; Authorpreneur Joe Konrath; and Hachette’s Director of Multicultural Publicity Linda Duggins.  The new outlet also features Gatekeepers bloggers that site founder and Editor-in-Chief Jeff Rivera personally handpicked.

“The support from the industry has been overwhelming,” says Rivera, “I’m proud of the high caliber of Gatekeepers and guest bloggers who’ll be joining us.”  Veteran agents, major editors, librarians, publishers, publicists and authors such as New York Times bestseller Alisa Valdes Rodriguez will be lending their voice to the community as well. Book publishing heavy weights such as Andrea Barzvi of ICM, Keith Ogorek of Author Solutions, Harvey Klinger of the Harvey Klinger Agency, Bill Gladstone of Waterside Productions, Glenn Yeffeth of BenBella Books, Steve Wilson CEO of  Fast Pencil and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein of Gotham Group have also joined.

A steady stream of book-centric reviews, headlining news, articles, and op-ed pieces, will be incorporated within the outlet along with forthcoming special events such as virtual panel discussions and online conferences.

Gatekeepers Post officially launches on February 1, 2011.

Whatever ugly charges critics may level at traditional publishing, it’s hard to deny that when it comes to branding established authors and elevating new ones, the Establishment reigns supreme. You can talk all you want about the viral validation that the Internet bestows on self-published books, the good old book industry is still the place where literary reputations are made,  And that’s because literary agents, reviewers and book critics for high circulation magazines and newspapers, Big Six publishers and big-name editors remain the taste makers of our literary culture. (You can read all about it in Gatekeepers.)

For this reason, self-published authors have been unable to gain respectful attention in the marketplace, get noticed by Big Publishing and catapulted into fame and fortune and distribution in bookstores.  That frustrating circumstance is about to change.  Publishers Weekly has announced a new program called PW Select dedicated to reviewing self-published books and bringing the best ones (“most deserving of a critical assessment”) to the attention of traditional publishers and the public.

PW president George W. Slowik Jr,  who recent acquired the flagging book industry publication, seems determined to brand it, restore its relevance and bring it into the 21st century. PW Select is one such initiative and certainly one that is going to raise some eyebrows because authors and publishers submitting their books for review must pay a registration fee.

Anticipating the obvious question of whether the fee can influence review coverage, Slowik said “We briefly considered charging for reviews, but in the end preferred to maintain our right to review what we deemed worthy. The processing fee that guarantees a listing and the chance to be reviewed accomplishes what we want: to inform the trade of what is happening in self-publishing and to present a PW selection of what has the most merit.”

Here in full is his announcement:

We are returning to our earliest roots. PW dates to 1872, when it was first known as Trade Circular Weekly and listed all titles published that week in what was then a nascent industry. We have decided to embrace the self-publishing phenomenon in a similar spirit. Call it what you will—self-publishing, DIY, POD, author-financed, relationship publishing, or vanity fare. They are books and that is what PW cares about. And we aim to inform the trade.

To that end, we are announcing PW Select, a quarterly supplement announcing self-published titles and reviewing those we believe are most deserving of a critical assessment. The first supplement will appear in our year-end issue in December. Each quarterly will include a complete announcement issue of all self-published books submitted during that period. The listings will include author, title, subtitle, price, pagination and format, ISBN, a brief description, and ordering information provided by the authors, who will be required to pay a processing fee for their listing. At least 25 of the submitted titles will be selected for a published review. There will also be an overview of the publishing trends that can be identified from among the titles from that reading period. We will also focus on the opportunities that the self-pub world offers. A resource directory will accompany the section offering names of companies providing services in the DIY space.

The entire PW editorial staff will participate in a review of the titles being considered for review, and we’ll likely invite a few agent friends and distributors to have a look at what we’ve chosen. No promises there, just letting some publishing friends take advantage of the opportunity to see the collection.

The first reading period for self-published books will be from September 1 until the end of October. All submitted titles will be registered online by the publisher at www.publishersweekly.com/diy (which will be active before the start of the reading period); a processing fee of $149 will be charged. Once the registration process is completed, shipping instructions and a confirmation code will be issued. Additional copies of the supplement will be available for distribution.

We briefly considered charging for reviews, but in the end preferred to maintain our right to review what we deemed worthy. The processing fee that guarantees a listing and the chance to be reviewed accomplishes what we want: to inform the trade of what is happening in self-publishing and to present a PW selection of what has the most merit.

Titles submitted for our first supplement must have been published in 2010 and have a valid ISBN. We will not accept manuscripts or e-books (this time). Only final bound galleys or finished books will be accepted. Books cannot be returned; once finished the copies are donated to Housing Works Thrift Shop, a worthy local charity.

Please, please send your book in a bio-sensitive package (i.e., no bubble wrap or plastic envelopes). Also, please use packaging appropriate to the book you are submitting: no boxes full of packing peanuts or paper stuffing. We recommend reusable and recycled paper envelopes. An acknowledgment of the book’s arrival will be issued via e-mail upon receipt.

We look forward to finding the gems worthy of attention, the sleeping indie giants—after all, books are our business.

Richard Curtis

About two years ago we asked Do Amazon Reviews Count? and wondered why we saw so few of them quoted by respectable publishers. “We live in an age when peer review is meaningful if not significant,” I noted, thinking about the fabulously successful Zagat restaurant review model utilizing the opinions of our very own next-door neighbors.

If the same group-sourcing dynamic could be applied to books, we could see a revolution in the way books are reviewed to match the way they are digitally delivered. If Amazon could assemble a cadre of reviewers to replace the publishing establishment’s phalanx of critics, endorsers and other brand-bestowing literary Gatekeepers, the 21st century’s paradigm shift would be that much closer to total.

But it all depends on the integrity of Amazon’s reviewers, just as our assessment of a restaurant’s ambiance, service and food depend on the integrity of the men and women who write it up for Zagat. So, it was with no small measure of concern that I read a blog by Scott MacDonald in Quill & Quire calling our attention to a website called readerspoils.com that arranges for authors to pay for reviews on Amazon. “Yes, that’s right,” MacDonald writes, “for just $15 U.S. you can get a completely ‘honest’ review of your book posted to Amazon in mere days!” In fact, he adds, while $15 is the base price, the site “is apparently selling reviews only in bulk quantities: 100 reviews for $1,400 and 500 reviews for a mere $6,500.”

The site’s owner is a self-published promoter named Clark Covington  who describes himself as “a book writing fool. I’ve written several nonfiction books, and have a fiction novel in the works.” For many agents the redundant phrase “fiction novel” instantly identifies the author as a writing fool, but we’ll let that pass. Because when it comes to P. T. Barnum pitch, Covington is nobody’s fool. Here it is:

“Up until now the publishing industry kept a tight lock on their book reviewers, paying them large sums of money and giving them many freebies to urge them to review books for well known authors. The time has finally come where you, the self published author, can get quality, real life book reviews for the price of a couple of tickets to the movies…”

You are then instructed to select how many reviews you want, prepay for them, and enter information about your book, whereupon “You receive an email from us when all of your reviews are posted on Amazon, usually within a week of your purchase.” In case you’re still on the fence, Covington furnishes sample Amazon reviews including video testimonials.”I admit it, this sounds unbelievable,” Covington adds, beating us to the punch. “This sounds too remarkable to be true, this is the type of thing that makes you want to call your local attorney general and tell them a scam is brewing.” Covington claims to have access to 5,000 reviewers. How does he line them up?

“With a few strokes of luck and a hearty bribe, that’s how,” he boasts. Readers interested in reviewing can register on the site, and apparently there is some sort of consideration. I came across one complaint by a reviewer who claims to have gotten stiffed.

This operation is so patently humbug that it would be falling-down-funny if it were not for the stain it casts on the potential honesty and integrity of Amazon’s review system. Yes, it is true that the imperfect old review system is also subject to manipulation and even corruption. But Amazon represents an opportunity to get it right, to hear the recommendations of intelligent peers and neighbors about books that interest us. If we lose our trust in their honesty – the Quill & Quire article is called One more reason not to trust reader reviews – we also lose our literary value system.

Many of us grew up in a world where there were legitimate books and there were vanity books and everyone knew which ones to take seriously thanks to the tastemakers and gatekeepers. If they were biased, if their judgment was flawed, if they sometimes exalted the worthless and trashed the sublime, we lived with it because it was the only system we had. But now there is another way, and as we move into a socially networked future most of us are willing to give it a chance – unless we suspect the game is rigged.

Richard Curtis