Former GalleyCat editor Ron Hogan has left his post as director of e-marketing strategy at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s trade & reference division.
Hogan joined us on the Morning Media Menu this morning, talking about his departure and sharing thoughts about the future of book blogging. At the Book Blogger Convention on Friday, Hogan spoke about professionalism and ethics for book bloggers, declaring: “the war between book critics and bloggers is over, [and] the bloggers won.”
Press play below to listen.
Here is an excerpt from the interview, looking back at a time when book critics and book bloggers seemed to be at odds: “Book critics were saying, ‘These bloggers aren’t as professional as we are, they aren’t doing as smart of criticism as we are, and basically holding themselves up as a standard of writing about books. What we’ve seen in recent years in particular is that the editors and leadership at these publications have come to the opposite conclusion.”
Hogan continued: “They’ve looked at blogs and seen how blogs can start a conversation and really engage readers in, to use a buzzword, ‘sticky’ way–to keep them coming back and engaged in the day-to-day conversation at the blog. If you look at the NY Times‘ Paper Cuts, LA Times‘ Jacket Copy, and the New Yorker‘s Book Bench–these major publications are saying we should use blogs to engage our readers.”
Hogan also spoke of his former job: “As part of the most recent wave of restructuring, the position that was created for me ([which] was created by someone who left in the previous round of restructuring) [was eliminated]. Once they sat down again and said, ‘Where do we want the business plan to go from here?’ the new leadership essentially eliminated the position I was hired to fill. So, after five whirlwind months, I am available again.”