Faux Magazine Final

by Jordan Davidson
Is Good Reads Bad News for

Literature?
Fears arise that book review websites may lead to a decline in literary quality.
Once upon a bygone era, reviewing

books was considered a specialty, the
responsibility of a select few well-read
and educated people. It was a viable
career, pursued by an elite that
catalogued their reviews in physical
print. In order to obtain copies of these
reviews, consumers had to consult
journals such as Kirkus and Booklist,
which were usually exclusive to
publishers and educators and therefore
unavailable to the general public.
In recent years, however, the ubiquity
of the Internet has provided readers
with an outlet through which they can
review books themselves via usergenerated profiles. It only stands to
reason, then, that these new venues
have provided an arena for opinions
that run the gamut from overly critical,
to indulgently praising, to somewhere
Faux Magazine 252
solidly (and, some would say, blandly) in

between the extremes.
A New Era of Criticism

One of the most popular websites for
reviewing books is Good Reads, which
functions as a sort of Yelp for books.
The websites database spans thousands
of books, which users can summarize,
New venues have

provided an arena for
opinions that run the
gamut from overly critical,
to indulgently praising, to
somewhere solidly (and,
some would say, blandly)
in between the extremes.
Davidson
review, and rate on a scale of one to five

stars. Users can also place books in
virtual bookshelves they create and
name themselves. These names (often
of the snarky variety) can get very
creative: my own profile lists over one
hundred titles, split up into bookshelves
such as tastes like diabetes, oh the
melodrama, and gave me the feels.
Other users Ive seen on the site have
christened their bookshelves with
names like so boring I ate my own
face, you invented bad decisions, and
what the falafel. At last reporting,
Good Readss membership boasted over
20 million members worldwide.
This vast membership has resulted in a
widespread and very vocal community,
which has in turn led to free marketing
for a few lucky authors. 21-year-old
Emma Wolsey, an avid reader and a user
of Good Reads, told me that websites
such as Good Reads help to promote
Faux Magazine 252
books because they speed up the

process of word-of-mouth marketing.
Citing the notorious erotic novel Fifty
Shades of Grey as an example, she said,
[books like that] are written to be
shocking, which gets people talking
about them, which then gets people
reading them. The Internet makes word
about them spread even faster. *
Talk Isnt Cheap

She isnt wrong at last check, Fifty
Shades of Grey boasted nearly seventy
thousand Good Reads reviews. Though
not all of those reviews were positive
in fact, many of them were seething
with hatred its impossible to argue
that the titles notoriety hasnt helped it
to sell more copies. Theres no such
thing as bad publicity, after all, and in
the case of Greys author E.L. James,
that publicity has earned her a net
worth of $80 million.
Davidson
This publicity can be problematic when

it compounds the already-present issue
of aspiring authors concerning
themselves more with financial success
than with literary quality. Returning to
Fifty Shades of Grey, its literary quality
isnt just questionable it is quite
definitively not there. The book is rife
with problems, from simple grammar
errors to inconsistent characterization
to writing that is juvenile at best and
laughable at worst. Concerns have also
been raised about the abusive nature of
the relationship that is at the heart of
the novel, as well as its portrayal of
nontraditional sexual relationships.
Yet there are many aspiring writers
sitting behind their keyboards at this
very moment, and they are not
dreaming of becoming the next Khaled
Hosseini or Alan Lightman they are
instead imagining themselves as the
next E.L. James, finding themselves
millionaires practically by
accident.
When literature ceases to be an

art form and instead becomes a
product, holding no more
creative integrity than a Big Mac,
it loses what necessitated its
creation in the first place.
and similar websites may have value for

a discerning reader, but their value
becomes compromised when aspiring
writers look to it as a how-to guide for
fame and fortune.
Wolseys words echo this sentiment.
She noted that any opinion one might
have on the publishing industry might
soon become irrelevant anyway, due to
the exit the publishing industry at large
may soon be making. I think a lot of
smaller publishers might go out of
business [soon], she said. While there
From Creativity to
Commodity
When literature ceases to be an
art form and instead becomes a
product, holding no more
creative integrity than a Big
Mac, it loses what necessitated
its creation in the first place.
Its beauty, emotion, and
relevancy become lost to a slim
chance at profit. Good Reads
Faux Magazine 252
Davidson
will still be a lot of new books coming

out, it might not be to the extent that it
used to be. [People]usually arent
interested in books anymore.
When asked about her opinion on the
direction the publishing industry is
currently taking, she mourned the fact
that authors have begun writing what
they believe others wish to read, rather
than what they themselves wish to
write. At the end of the day they want
their books to get sold, she said, her
voice taking on a tone of grim
resignation. To get their books sold
they have to listen to what reviewers
say no matter who those reviewers
might be.
And who might those reviewers

be, you ask? They could be
anyone. Good Reads has taken
a role that was traditionally
reserved for trained, educated,
and discerning critics and
placed it in the hands of the
everyman. There are no
requirements for membership
other than passing a Captcha
test and being at least thirteen
years old. Barring monitors that
remove things like spam and
hate speech, there are no rules
governing the reviews users
post, or ensuring the quality
thereof.
Obviously, such a setup has its benefits.
It allows for opinions on literature to be
heard from a heretofore unheard
demographic. But one has to ask is
this demographic really the one we
want deciding the future of the
publishing industry? Do we want an
industry once known for creativity,
artistic integrity, and emotional realism
to become trite and derivative? Do we
want a world filled with more Fifty
Shades of Greys, more Twilights, more
Nicholas Sparks novels?
I definitely dont.
*Faux interview
Pay No Attention to
the Man Behind the
Computer Screen
Faux Magazine 252
Davidson

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by Jordan Davidson

Is Good Reads Bad News for

Once upon a bygone era, reviewing

Faux Magazine 252

solidly (and, some would say, blandly) in

A New Era of Criticism

New venues have

review, and rate on a scale of one to five

Faux Magazine 252

books because they speed up the

Talk Isnt Cheap

This publicity can be problematic when

When literature ceases to be an

and similar websites may have value for

Faux Magazine 252

will still be a lot of new books coming

And who might those reviewers

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