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Burning Questions
Wondering what happened to your favorite author? Gosh, so are we. Ask away: Send your cards and letters to Burning Questions, 2143 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212. Or better yet, send us e-mail. When you write, please include your full name and the city and state where you live. Sadly, personal replies are not possible. And if your question is too hard, we'll simply put it in our big file labeled "We dunno."
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Response to the first-ever BookPage reader survey has surpassed our
wildest expectations. At last count, more than 7,000 readers from across
the U.S. had answered our questions about their reading and book-buying
habits, favorite genres, most-read BookPage features and more. We
learned that BookPage readers are a loyal and appreciative group, with
strong opinions about books and how they are reviewed. Since many
readers included questions and comments about our publication, we're
devoting this Burning Questions column to our favorite
subject—BookPage itself! Read on for an inside look at America's
Book Review.
I really enjoy BookPage and wonder how you decide which books to feature.
Virginia Bever,
It would be nice to see some negative reviews if appropriate. If everything you review is "good," are you just not writing about the junk or are you saying good things about books you really didn't like?
Jane Ippel,
We're glad you asked, since this is a question on the minds of readers, publishers and authors. BookPage is a selection guide, recommending the best in new books each month. We don't waste valuable space telling readers about books they won't want to read. Instead, using the process described above, we choose and review books that our staff can honestly recommend. If a BookPage editor or reviewer has concerns or objections about a book, the review is cancelled. It's that simple. Though readers may not always agree with our choices, they can be sure we're devoting our energies to finding the best new books.
Since copies of BookPage are offered free at libraries, why is a subscription $25 a year? I think that's a little steep.
Florence Montanino,
Bookstores and public libraries subscribe to BookPage, purchasing anywhere from 50 to thousands of copies each month. Then they offer it free of charge to their patrons as a valuable and informative service. The price of individual subscriptions is largely due to mailing costs; copies are sent by first-class mail to assure prompt, reliable delivery.
I wish your paper were available in more places. I have to go out of my way to get it each month.
Barbara Nield,
We wish we could do more to help. BookPage is available at more than 3,000 subscribing libraries and bookstores in 48 states. (A full list of locations is available at BookPage.com.) We hear that demand exceeds supply at many locations—one library even reported starting a waiting list for BookPage. We suggest that you talk to bookstores and libraries in your area and tell them exactly what you want—more BookPage!
I think you should review books that are done by non-traditional publishers, as well as small press/private press novels.
Rachel Lynn Holt,
Although we try to cover books for a wide range of reading interests, we do limit our review coverage to books that are available nationally from major book distributors. This ensures that all the books we recommend are available to our subscribing bookstores and libraries.
IT'S ELEMENTARY
Dear Burning Questions,
Rita Salzman
Like Russell, Laurie R. King is a student of theology, earning a B.A. in comparative religion and an M.A. in Old Testament theology, as well as an honorary doctorate from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. Since her 1993 debut (with the Edgar Award-winning Grave Talent, the first in a series featuring contemporary San Francisco cop Kate Martinelli), King has written 16 novels. According to her blog, King is working on a new Martinelli book "which somehow manages to contain traces of Holmes' and Russell's passage through the city 80 years earlier."
WINNERS' CIRCLE To mark the publication of Cassandra King's novel, The Same Sweet Girls, we asked readers to tell us about their special friendships. Three winners were selected from the many who shared their stories. All three will receive "Girls Night In" kits, with signed copies of The Same Sweet Girls, T-shirts, pins and a collection of King's books. Congratulations go to Leanne Carmany of Tyler, Minnesota, who recalled cruising around town with her friends; Susan Edwards of Sycamore, Illinois, who sent a photo of her former dormmates at Iowa State; and Teri Byrd of Macon, Georgia, who wrote a poem dedicated to her five pals.
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The eighth novel featuring Mary Russell and her husband, the legendary Sherlock Holmes, will be published June 22. Locked Rooms (Bantam) finds Russell and Holmes traveling to San Francisco to dispose of property Russell inherited after her family's sudden death 10 years earlier. Cleaning house, however, proves to be far more difficult—and deadly—than either sleuth is prepared for.