''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade
news magazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or new ...
targeted at
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
s,
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,
bookseller
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of libra ...
s, and
literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling". With 51 issues a year, the emphasis today is on
book review
__NOTOC__
A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit.
A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...
s.
The magazine was founded by
bibliographer
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
Frederick Leypoldt
Frederick Leypoldt (born Jakob Friedrich Ferdinand Leupold; 17 November 1835 – 31 March 1884) was a German-American bibliographer, the founder of ''Library Journal'', ''Publishers Weekly'', ''Index Medicus'' and other publications.
Biography
...
in the late 1860s, and had various titles until Leypoldt settled on the name ''The Publishers' Weekly'' (with an apostrophe) in 1872. The publication was a compilation of information about newly published books, collected from publishers and from other sources by Leypoldt, for an audience of booksellers. By 1876, ''The Publishers' Weekly'' was being read by nine tenths of the booksellers in the country. In 1878, Leypoldt sold ''The Publishers' Weekly'' to his friend
Richard Rogers Bowker, in order to free up time for his other bibliographic endeavors. Eventually the publication expanded to include features and articles.
Harry Thurston Peck
Harry Thurston Peck (November 24, 1856 – March 23, 1914) was an American classical scholar, author, editor, historian and critic.
Biography
Peck was born in Stamford, Connecticut. He was educated in private schools and at Columbia College, gr ...
was the first editor-in-chief of ''
The Bookman'', which began in 1895. Peck worked on its staff from 1895 to 1906, and in 1895, he created the world's first bestseller list for its pages. In 1912, ''Publishers Weekly'' began to publish
its own bestseller lists, patterned after the lists in ''The Bookman''. These were not separated into fiction and non-fiction until 1917, when
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
brought an increased interest in non-fiction by the reading public.
[
Through much of the 20th century, ''Publishers Weekly'' was guided and developed by Frederic Gershom Melcher (1879–1963), who was editor and co-editor of ''Publishers' Weekly'' and chairman of the magazine's publisher, ]R. R. Bowker
R. R. Bowker LLC (trading as Bowker) is an American limited liability company domiciled under Delaware Limited Liability Company Law and based in Chatham, New Jersey. Among other things, Bowker provides bibliographic information on publish ...
, over four decades. Born April 12, 1879, in Malden, Massachusetts
Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people.
History
Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on la ...
, Melcher began at age 16 in Boston's Estes & Lauriat Bookstore, where he developed an interest in children's books. He moved to Indianapolis in 1913 for another bookstore job. In 1918, he read in ''Publishers' Weekly'' that the magazine's editorship was vacant. He applied to Richard Rogers Bowker for the job, was hired, and moved with his family to Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...
. He remained with R. R. Bowker for 45 years.[ While at ''Publishers Weekly'', Melcher began creating space in the publication and a number of issues dedicated solely to books for children. In 1919, he teamed with Franklin K. Mathiews, librarian for the ]Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
, and Anne Carroll Moore
Anne Carroll Moore (July 12, 1871 – January 20, 1961) was an American educator, writer and advocate for children's libraries.
She was named Annie after an aunt, and officially changed her name to Anne in her fifties, to avoid confusion with Ann ...
, a librarian at the New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...
, to create Children’s Book Week.[ When Bowker died in 1933, Melcher succeeded him as president of the company; he resigned in 1959 to become chairman of the board of directors.][
In 1943, ''Publishers Weekly'' created the Carey–Thomas Award for creative publishing, naming it in honor of ]Mathew Carey
Mathew Carey (January 28, 1760 – September 16, 1839) was an Irish-born American publisher and economist who lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the father of economist Henry Charles Carey.
Early life and education
Carey ...
and Isaiah Thomas.
Writers and readers
In 2008, the magazine's circulation was 25,000. In 2004, the breakdown of those 25,000 readers was given as 6000 publishers; 5500 public libraries and public library systems; 3800 booksellers; 1600 authors and writers; 1500 college and university libraries; 950 print, film and broad media; and 750 literary and rights agents, among others.
Subject areas covered by ''Publishers Weekly'' include publishing, bookselling, marketing, merchandising and trade news, along with author interviews and regular columns on rights, people in publishing, and bestsellers. It attempts to serve all involved in the creation, production, marketing and sale of the written word in book, audio, video and electronic formats. The magazine increases the page count considerably for four annual special issues: Spring Adult Announcements, Fall Adult Announcements, Spring Children's Announcements, and Fall Children's Announcements.[
]
Book reviews
The book review section of ''Publishers Weekly'' was added in the early 1940s and grew in importance during the 20th century and through the present day. It currently offers prepublication reviews of 9,000 new trade books each year, in a comprehensive range of genres and including audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
s and e-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
s, with a digitized archive of 200,000 reviews. Reviews appear two to four months prior to the publication date of a book, and until 2014, when ''PW'' launched BookLife.com, a website for self-published books, books already in print were seldom reviewed.
These anonymous reviews are short, averaging 200–250 words, and it is not unusual for the review section to run as long as 40 pages, filling the second half of the magazine. In the past, a book review editorial staff of eight editors assigned books to more than 100 freelance reviewers. Some are published authors, and others are experts in specific genres or subjects. Although it might take a week or more to read and analyze some books, reviewers were paid $45 per review until June 2008, when the magazine introduced a reduction in payment to $25 a review. In a further policy change that month, reviewers received credit as contributors in issues carrying their reviews. Currently, there are nine reviews editors listed in the masthead.
Now titled "Reviews", the review section began life as "Forecasts." For several years, that title was taken literally; reviews were followed with italicized comments that attempted to predict a book's sales success. Genevieve Stuttaford, who greatly expanded the number of reviews during her tenure as the nonfiction "Forecasts" editor, joined the ''PW'' staff in 1975. Previously, she was a '' Saturday Review'' associate editor, reviewer for ''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 ...
'' and for 12 years on the staff of the ''San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
''. During the 23 years Stuttaford was with ''Publishers Weekly'', book reviewing was increased from an average of 3,800 titles a year in the 1970s to well over 6,500 titles in 1997. She retired in 1998.[
Several notable ''PW'' editors stand out for making their mark on the magazine. Barbara Bannon was the head fiction reviewer during the 1970s and early 1980s, becoming the magazine’s executive editor during that time and retiring in 1983. She was, notably, the first reviewer to insist that her name be appended to any ]blurb
A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book, and are now also fou ...
of her reviews, thus drawing attention to herself, to the review and to the influence of the magazine in predicting a book's popularity and salability.
Sybil Steinberg came to ''Publishers Weekly'' in the mid-1970s and served as a reviews editor for 30 years, taking over after Barbara Bannon retired. Under Steinberg, ''PW'' instituted the starred review, a first in the industry, to indicate books of exceptional merit. She also called out particular books of merit by starting the practice of boxed reviews, a precursor to the ''PW'' "signature reviews," boxed reviews that are attributed to the reviewer. The "Best Books" lists were also Steinberg’s brainchild, and these lists are still published annually, usually in November ahead of "Best Books" lists from ''The New York Times'' and other prominent review venues. Steinberg edited the magazine's author interviews, and beginning in 1992 put together four anthologies of them in book form, published by the Pushcart Press
Pushcart Press is a publishing house established in 1972 by Bill Henderson (a one-time associate editor at Doubleday) and is perhaps most famous for its Pushcart Prize and for the anthology of prize winners it publishes annually. The press has ...
.
Formerly of ''InStyle
''InStyle'' was an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith. In February 2022, it was announced that InStyle would cease print publications and move to a digital-only ...
'' magazine, novelist Louisa Ermelino took the reins of the ''PW'' review section in 2005. Under her watch, the number of reviews grew once again, to nearly 9,000 per year from 6,500.
In a sea change for the magazine, Ermelino oversaw the integration of self-published book reviews into the main review section of the magazine. Review editors vet and assign self-published books for review, which reviews are then published alongside the reviews of traditionally published books each week in the magazine.
''Publishers Weekly'' does not charge for self-published book reviews, bucking a trend within the industry led by ''Kirkus Reviews'' and ''Foreword''s Clarion fee-for-review service, both of which offer independent book reviews in exchange for fees in the hundreds of dollars.
''Publishers Weekly'' does syndicate its reviews to a variety of online retail venues such as Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
, Apple Books
Apple Books (formerly known as iBooks between January 2010 and September 2018) is an e-book reading and store application by Apple Inc. for its iOS and macOS operating systems and List of iOS devices, devices. It was announced, under the name i ...
, Powell’s Books, Books-a-Million
Books-A-Million, Inc., also known as BAM!, is a bookstore chain in the United States, operating 260 stores in 32 states. Stores range in size from 4,000 to 30,000 square feet and sell books, magazines, manga, collectibles, toys, technology, ...
, and others. The reviews are also carried by library database services such as Baker and Taylor
Baker & Taylor, a distributor of books to public and academic libraries and schools, has been in business for over 190 years. It is based in Charlotte, North Carolina and currently owned by President & CEO Amandeep Kochar. Before being acquired ...
, ProQuest
ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...
, Bowker Bowker is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Alan Bowker, Canadian diplomat and educator
*Albert H. Bowker (1919–2008), American educator
*Aldrich Bowker (1875–1947), American actor
* Art Bowker (born 1961), American writer
* ...
, Cengage
Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...
, EBSCO
EBSCO Industries is an American company founded in 1944 by Elton Bryson Stephens Sr. and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The ''EBSCO'' acronym is based on ''Elton Bryson Stephens Company''. EBSCO Industries is a diverse company of over 40 ...
and others.
Magazines and mergers
For most of its history, ''Publishers Weekly,'' along with the ''Library Journal
''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
''-related titles, were owned by founding publisher R. R. Bowker. When Reed Publishing
Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd (formerly A. H. Reed Ltd and A. H. and A. W. Reed Ltd) was one of the leading publishers in New Zealand. It was founded by Alfred Hamish Reed and his wife Isabel in 1907. Reed's nephew Alexander Wyclif Reed joined the fi ...
purchased Bowker from Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...
in 1985, it placed ''Publishers Weekly'' under the management of its Boston-based Cahners Publishing Company, the trade publishing empire founded by Norman Cahners, which Reed Publishing had purchased in 1977. The merger of Reed with the Netherlands-based Elsevier in 1993 led to many Cahners cutbacks amid takeover turmoil. Nora Rawlinson, who once headed a $4 million book selection budget at the Baltimore County Library System, edited ''Library Journal'' for four years before stepping in as editor-in-chief of ''Publishers Weekly'' from 1992 to 2005.
Sara Nelson era
Beginning January 24, 2005, the magazine came under the direction of a new editor-in-chief, veteran book reviewer Sara Nelson, known for her publishing columns in the ''New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' and ''The New York Observer
''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...
''. A senior contributing editor for '' Glamour'', in addition to editorial positions at ''Self'', Inside.com, and ''Book Publishing Report'', she had gained attention and favorable reviews as the author of ''So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading'' (Putnam, 2003), in which she stirred a year's worth of reading into a memoir mix of her personal experiences after a New Year's resolution to read a book each week.
Nelson began to modernize ''Publishers Weekly'' with new features and a makeover by illustrator and graphic designer Jean-Claude Suares
Jean-Claude Suares (March 30, 1942 – July 30, 2013) was an artist, illustrator, editor, and creative consultant to many publications, and the first Op-Ed page art director at ''The New York Times''.
Biography
Suares was born on March 30, 194 ...
. The many alterations included added color (with drop shadow
In graphic design and computer graphics, a drop shadow is a visual effect consisting of a drawing element which looks like the shadow of an object, giving the impression that the object is raised above the objects behind it. The drop shadow is of ...
s behind color book covers), Nelson's own weekly editorial, illustrated bestseller lists, and "Signature", longer boxed reviews written by well-known novelists. The switch to a simple abbreviated logo of initials effectively changed the name of the magazine to ''PW'', the name long used for the magazine within the book industry.[
She also introduced the magazine's ]Quill Award
The Quill Award was an American literary award that ran for three years in 2005-2007. It was a "consumer-driven award created to inspire reading while promoting literacy." The Quills Foundation, the organization behind the Quill Award, was support ...
s, with nominees in 19 categories selected by a nominating board of 6,000 booksellers and librarians. Winners were determined by the reading public, who could vote at kiosks in Borders
A border is a geographical boundary.
Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film
* ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
stores or online at the Quills site. Reed Business dropped the Quill Awards in 2008.
In the past, the front covers of ''Publishers Weekly'' were used to display advertisements by book publishers, and this policy was changed to some degree in 2005. Although new ''PW'' covers now feature illustrations and photographs tied to interior articles, these covers are often hidden behind a front cover foldout advertisement. The visual motif of each cover is sometimes repeated on the contents page.[
The Nelson years were marked by turbulence within the industry as well as a continuing trend away from serious writing and towards ]pop culture
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* Pop (Gas al ...
. ''Publishers Weekly'' had enjoyed a near monopoly over the past decades, but it was getting vigorous competition from Internet sites, e-mail newsletters, and daily newspapers. The industry was consolidating. Many independent booksellers, who had been bread–and–butter clients of ''Publishers Weekly'', were going out of business.[ Paid circulation dropped by 3,000 to 25,000 in the mid-2000s,][ Nelson pushed for significant changes towards modernization, greater use of the Web, and more focus on analytical reporting, but she was contending with economic forces working against the book buying market,][ problems she addressed in a 2005 interview:
]
Advertising downturn and sale
In 2008, faced with a decline in advertising support, Reed's management sought a new direction. In January 2009, Sara Nelson was dismissed along with executive editor Daisy Maryles, who had been with ''PW'' for more than four decades. Stepping in as editorial director was Brian Kenney, editorial director of ''School Library Journal
''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...
'' and ''Library Journal''.[ The dismissals, which sent shockwaves through the industry, were widely covered in newspapers.]
In April 2010, George W. Slowik Jr., a former publisher of the magazine, purchased ''Publishers Weekly'' from Reed Business Information, under the company PWxyz, LLC. Cevin Bryerman remained as publisher along with co-editors Jim Milliot and Michael Coffey.[
On September 22, 2011, ''PW'' began a series of weekly podcasts: "Beyond the Book: PW's Week Ahead".
]
Archives
''PW'' maintains an online archive of past book reviews from January 1991 to the present. The earliest articles posted in ''PW''s online archive date back to November 1995. A redesigned website was unveiled on May 10, 2010.[
]
See also
* ''Publishers Weekly'' list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 2010s, or the decades before
* ''Booklist
''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...
''
* ''Editor & Publisher
''Editor & Publisher'' (''E&P'') is an American monthly trade news magazine covering the newspaper industry. Published since 1901, ''Editor & Publisher'' is the self-described "bible of the newspaper industry."
Originally based in New York City, ...
''
* ''San Francisco Review of Books
''San Francisco Review of Books'' (''SFRB'') was a book review periodical published from the mid-1970s to 1997 in the Bay Area, California, United States. Founding editor-publisher Ronald Nowicki launched his publication April 1975, a time when th ...
''
* Books in the United States
As of 2018, several firms in the United States rank among the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: Cengage Learning, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Wiley.
H ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
* Hathi Trust
''The publishers weekly''
Digitized issues 1873 – .
Interview on magazine's history
20th Century American Bestsellers
Sybil Steinberg discusses ''Publishers Weekly''
BookLife official site
Finding aid to the Publishers Weekly records at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
* Publishers Weekly 1903 https://archive.org/details/publishers_weekly_1903/1903-01-00/page/n7/mode/2up[{{cite web , url=https://archive.org/details/publishers_weekly_1903/1903-01-00/page/n7/mode/2up , title=Publishers Weekly 1903 , year=1903 ]
1872 establishments in the United States
Book review magazines
Literary criticism
Magazines established in 1872
Magazines published in New York City
News magazines published in the United States
Professional and trade magazines
Weekly magazines published in the United States