Reviews can end up running months later–when there’s room–but the harm is often done by then. As with films, initial sales can make or break a title because cash-strapped publishers are quick to kill marketing dollars for books that fail to make a splash fast. “Our window [for media attention] is three weeks,” says Eisemann.
Editors at the TBR share the book industry’s heartbreak. “We’re trying to spread the pain around so that it’s not just first-time authors and the small publishers that get neglected,” says longtime TBR editor Charles McGrath. “It’s almost a triage situation.”
But that’s little comfort to snubbed authors. One prize-winning novelist, whose recent book failed to garner a TBR mention, is bitter. “The Times is the touchstone for the success of any book,” says the writer, who asked not to be named, ever wary of TBR clout. “For a well-received and widely read book to not be reviewed is a slight.” But in these economic times it is a slight that even established writers might have to grow accustomed to. Sunday mornings aren’t what they used to be.
