The New York Journal of Books is Looking Good

Yesterday, the New York Journal of Books launched its completely revamped website. The old startup-stopgap-wordpress look is out and a new custom-built and completely awesome site has taken its place.

I've been a contributor to NYJB for some months now – almost from inception. When I saw their request for reviewers, I was immediately won over by the concept: reviewers needed to be qualified in the genres they would be reviewing, and preferably published in those genres, reviews would therefore be well-informed and authoritative, and they have in-house editing to ensure quality. Later, they added this extra bonus for publishers: as often as possible, reviews would appear on the same day that the book is launched.

I've written lots of reviews in my life, but I have never before worked with a professional review magazine. I have to say it is a pleasure. I work hard when I write a review. I read carefully, I re-read as necessary, I do a lot of research, and I strive to be fair, accurate, informative and interesting. The New York Journal of Books is the kind of place I like my reviews to appear; I know they will be in good company and that they will be treated with the same seriousness with which they were created.

If you want to see all my reviews on NYJB, you can visit my reviewer's page (they're not all listed yet but will be soon.) And the site has this great feature: you can subscribe to individual reviewers to be notified when they write a new review. You will need to register to use this feature but it is well worth it. NYJB has a review panel of 130+ expert reviewers and some of them will be covering just the genres you are inetersted in hearing about.

Although it is only just starting to make an impact and to get the respect it deserves – with readers and with publishers – the New York Journal of Books has all the signs of a publication that is going places. It has been fascinating and exciting to be a small part of it as it has grown and to watch it's vision bearing fruit. The new site is a big milestone on that journey.