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Midwest Book Review, established in 1976, produces nine book-review publications per month.


Organization

Midwest Book Review was established in 1976. The
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of the organization is James A. Cox. The review puts out nine publications on a monthly basis, with a focus on community and academic library organizations, booksellers, and the general reading public. The organization maintains a website at www.midwestbookreview.com. Publications produced by the organization include: ''The Bookwatch'', ''California Bookwatch'', ''The Children's Bookwatch'', ''Internet Bookwatch'', ''Library Bookwatch'', ''MBR Bookwatch'', ''The Midwest Bookwatch'', ''The Reviewer's Bookwatch'', ''Small Press Bookwatch'', and ''The Wisconsin Bookwatch''. ''The Children's Bookwatch'' is a newsletter made as a resource for
librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...
s. Some reviews from ''Reviewer's Bookwatch'' are provided in greater depth at the organization's website. ''Midwest Book Review'' is made up of volunteers, and frequently seeks additional individuals to serve as book reviewers for the organization. The organization is located in
Oregon, Wisconsin Oregon is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County, Wisconsin. As of the census of 2020, the population was 11,179. Oregon is part of the Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Madison, Wisconsin metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The ...
. It has a motivation of increasing
literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
, public utilization of libraries, and fostering
small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...
, to which it gives priority. Of the 1,500 books submitted to ''Midwest Book Review'' for consideration per month, the organization chooses to review approximately 450 of them. A visitor to the website
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
emailed Cox in 2006 and asked about the organization's practice of giving all reviews posted to the site a five-star recommendation. Cox replied explaining that he disagreed with the star-rating system in general, and noted, "If a book isn't good enough to pass our initial screening then it doesn't get reviewed in the first place." In 2007, an author asked Cox about the organization's position with regard to Amazon.com ratings. Cox explained, "for a book to make it all the way through the Midwest Book Review process. ... it merited the highest recommendation available under the Amazon rating system. Inferior books, flawed books, substandard books are assumed to have been weeded out and never made it to the 'finish line' of publication in one of our book review magazines." In a 2001 interview with ''
The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...
'', Cox stated that ''Midwest Book Review'' considers submissions from
print on demand Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...
(POD) publications. "When 1st Books, iUniverse and other POD titles cross my desk, I make sure to look at them, not out of regard for these publishers – but out of regard for the authors," said Cox. Cox does not believe that book reviewers should be fee-based, and said, "Any reviewer that wants money from you for any purpose whatsoever is operating a scam, engaging in unethical behavior that is in violation of the publishing industry etiquette norm." In 2008, ''Midwest Book Review'' had gained reviewers as a result of cutbacks in print media publications. Cox noted, "The drastic cutbacks in newspaper and magazine space for reviews has redounded to the benefit of the ''Midwest Book Review'' and other online review sites. These displaced reviewers have turned to us as an outlet for their reviews previously published in print sources. Over the past few years we have gained at least ten reviewers this way." After stating that charging fees is a scam, Cox began charging a reading fee in 2011. However, those fees are sent directly from the author to their assigned reviewer. Mr. Cox, nor does any of his MBR employees/volunteers, collect any fees for themselves. Initially fees were only charged for e-books, but since then has expanded to include any "ebooks, pre-publication manuscripts, galleys, uncorrected proofs, ARCs, and pdf files".


Impact and reputation

Every review produced by ''Midwest Book Review'' is indexed to the review index maintained by
Gale Research Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale G ...
. ''
Book Review Index ''Book Review Index'' is an index of book reviews and literary criticism, found in leading academic, popular, and professional periodicals. It has been published since 1965. For most of its history it has been owned by Gale and is based in Detro ...
'' indexes reviews for the ''Midwest Book Review'' publications ''Bookwatch'' and ''Children's Bookwatch''.
Online Computer Library Center OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...
described the website of the ''Midwest Book Review'' as "a resource to locate book reviews, resources and advice for writers and publishers". ''Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook'' published by the
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
recommends ''Midwest Book Review'' as a resource for information for writers. ''Midwest Book Review'' is listed as a resource, in Doris Booth's ''Writer's Handbook of FAQs''. According to ''The Complete Guide to Self Publishing'' by Tom Ross and Marilyn Heimberg Ross, the reviews of the organization "are welcomed and respected". In ''Book Design and Production'', author Pete Masterson listed the organization as a resource. He noted that the website for ''Midwest Book Review'' has "lots of useful information" for authors. Mayra Calvani of ''
Blogcritics Blogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn. Blogcritics features more than 100 original articles every week, and maintains an archive of all its published con ...
'' noted that the organization is "popular among small publishers, self-published authors, and academic presses".


See also

*''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' *''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' *''
The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
''


References


Further reading

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External links


The Midwest Book Review
{{Authority control 1976 establishments in Wisconsin Book review magazines Companies based in Wisconsin Magazines established in 1976 Magazines published in Wisconsin Publishing companies established in 1976