The Book Review in Quarantine

There is an article I liked in today's Times about how the process of reviewing books works. It starts with a description of how things worked prior to March of this year:

Before the coronavirus, the Book Review would receive hundreds of books and galleys (a printer’s uncorrected proof) in the mail every week. Books were entered into a database and divided between bins and shelves for preview editors, who look over galleys more thoroughly and decide if they warrant a review or some other form of coverage. Specific genres were set aside for columnists, like crime novels for Marilyn Stasio. The rest would head to a big blue dumpster.

By contrast, here is what has happened with all those books and manuscripts since coronavirus:

In the absence of shelves, desks and bins that are overflowing with galleys, preview editors now download the proofs from a handful of online platforms for the book industry.

“We comb through all the publishing catalogs, we go through our emails and we scour news stories to try to create a list that replicates that physical bookshelf,” Ms. Jordan said.

Despite the adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” there’s actually a lot that editors can pick up from a printed book. It often arrives with press materials that provide context, and its cover — whether finished or temporary — can convey a strong message from the publishers. Blurbs from other authors and notable people situate the book in a larger cultural conversation.

These days, all of those materials are delivered in separate digital files, which makes it harder to present as a package.

“I liked a physical galley because I liked to underline things, dog-ear the pages and put stickies in it,” Ms. Jordan said. “I’ll be really honest with you: I’ll be very glad when we’re back in the office.”

With a digital database, every book is just a cell block on a spreadsheet. Everything looks the same.