From a GalleyCat reader who would prefer to remain anonymous, again on the subject of the tribute paid the National Book Critics Circle by the Association of American Publishers:
“Surely you must see this declaration as little more than an embarrassingly transparent effort to curry favor with the nation’s book critics? That seems apparent that that’s what’s motivating the publishers.”
Honestly? That thought hadn’t occurred to me, but only because I haven’t really seen the nation’s book reviewers as a class that anybody needs to curry favor with. I mean, what are they going to do if they’re unhappy with publishers, hate everything that comes in the mail? That’s not going to happen. Consider, too, the widely held belief that newspaper and magazine readers don’t especially care for a steady diet of negative reviews unless they’re really, really entertaining… Even if book reviewers were foolish enough to believe that book publishers were their enemy, it would be self-destructive of them to act upon that belief.