Turn Your Reading and Viewing Habits into Published Pieces
Let’s face it. It’s tough to break into publishing. Literary magazines, newspapers, agencies, publishers–they’re swamped with submissions, and despite all best efforts, sometimes can’t give original work the attention it deserves.
Even when work gets published, there’s the problem of reaching readers. Some of the work editors are proudest of publishing goes to the remainder shelves or gets overlooked because marketing efforts fall short.
Luckily, in these twin problems is a great opportunity for new (and not so new) writers: to publish reviews. It’s a weirdly overlooked path for breaking into the writing world–but one of the most likely to be rewarding. Why? It answers a need. Think about it: publishers need reviewers. Editors whose magazines and newspapers act as a guide to the latest and greatest books, movies, and series need reviewers. And fellow authors and auteurs need reviewers. You’ll be doing a service.
Even better news: unlike with stories, poems, memoir, and the like–where you write your heart out and only afterwards find out if anyone’s interested, with reviews you typically pitch the idea with a short email (see an example below). You only commit to writing once an editor says they’re interested.
Advantages of writing reviews:
- You have an incentive to read and to make the reading time count. Reading for reviews is reading what’s now. You’ll keep in touch with publishing trends and the apparatus of book publicity. Reading as a writer (Annie has much to say about this), you’ll also gain insights into craft.
- You build relationships with publications publications and editors. Editors will see you as smart, engaged, and helpful even at the pitch stage. Write a stylish and thoughtful review, and they’ll be looking for your next submission of a story or essay.
- You can hone voice and style. Reviews are often short, and take on different voice and tone depending on the project. They’re a creative writing exercise that pays.
- You’re in the game. You’ll have a stream of clippings–and even if you don’t get published, you’ll have developed quality material for social media feeds, newsletters, blogs, and review sites like Goodreads. But with the advice here, you’ll get published.
The Practicalities
There are three steps to this: finding materials to review, finding interested publishers, and actually writing. Let’s take each in turn.
Finding books and movies in time: Magazines and newspapers will want reviews of books, movies, and shows that are just coming out. Literary journals of work that’s come out within the past few months to a year. How will you have read/viewed them far enough ahead of time? Because the publisher will have sent you them, or the distributor will have granted you early access. Why would they do that? Because they need reviews.
Let’s take books first. How will you know which publishers have which books coming out? You can look at sites like Bookwire, Kirkus Reviews or Library Journal, which have capsule reviews of forthcoming books as a service to bookstores and librarians. You can watch spaces like Publisher’s Marketplace, which registers book deals. You can curate a list of the publishers who specialize in books you like, and follow those publishers’ seasonal book lists, follow their social media feeds and newsletters, and–of course–follow individual authors as well.
Once you spot a book you like, pounce with an email to the publisher. I’ve got a sample template below.
For movies and shows, access is less certain–you almost certainly will need credentials of some kind for any sort of major studio release. But there are sites that you can start publishing with (UK Film Review, CulturedVultures, and Pangyrus among them) to develop clippings. And when it comes to indie and small-budget projects and web and social media projects, you’ll find eagerness to have you aboard! Again, email the distributors or promoters or find them on social media.
Finding interested publishers
Newspapers, magazines, literary journals, dedicated review sites, topical and interest-group publications and blogs–many have strong interest in publishing reviews. Some will pay a little, some not. Over time you’ll want to develop a relationship with a handful that appreciate your work–but at the beginning, reach out broadly. I’ve already mentioned UK Film Review, CulturedVultures, and Pangyrus. New Letters and Raintaxi are worth a long look. Below, with the templates, I have a longer (but by no means comprehensive list). Whenever I need more inspiration for possibilities, I look at the Reviews sources column at Arts & Letters Daily, a service of the Chronicle of Higher Education. I always come up with new ideas.
Writing the Review
At least we get to the interesting part–writing! The first thing to keep in mind is that publications often have specific guidelines. It’s important to know and adhere to them. What word count? Is it a lengthy ideas essay, or a capsule summary? Can you use the personal voice, throw in that funny anecdote about your nephew–or should you stick to the work at hand? Compare and contrast two works, or focus in on one? Look up the guidelines so you know what you’re getting yourself into–and so you can sound professional to the editors when you pitch them an idea.
When you read, or watch, the work you’re going to review, you’ll want to do so with heightened attention to the details and impressions that will be the lifeblood of your review. Afterwards, you’ll want to spend some time thinking things through, coming up with an interpretive line you believe in and can help the reader see. Some considerations:
- Read/watch with pencil and notebook—keep a running log of thoughts & choice quotes
- Spend time thinking about the larger picture of the work: what is it saying, what sorts of artistic conversations is it part of? What feels like it’s at stake?
- What new things is it bringing, either in terms of message or style?
- What are key terms or images, and how do those relate to ideas or to other works?
- What kinds of predecessor works does it draw on, what unexpected connections does it make?
- How would your life or thinking be diminished had you not read it?
- Do its artistic choices succeed–that is, do they support the work’s apparent intentions, and the audience’s needs?
- Who would benefit from reading or viewing it? Are they likely to? Why/why not? How does it compare to other works trying to address similar subjects?
Structuring the Review
There is, of course, an art to this–but there’s also a scheme that offers the newcomer a sturdy starting point. It’s this:
- Find an opening that connects to your reader’s concerns–the problems and questions and social phenomena that generated the work.
- Lead into a nutshell characterization of the work–in a sentence or a short paragraph, convey what its main idea and style and approach is, what the experience of it is like.
- Write an artful summary of the work that gives us a sense of its structure or major characters or episodes.
- Bring in some evaluative interpretation of it—what feels like it’s working, what are some of the weaknesses, what are the good parts, where are there trade-offs and shortcomings?
- Close out by returning in some way to the concerns you connected the reader to at the beginning, and asking: where has this work gotten us? End with a call to action–can be as simple as a “go buy a copy” or as complex as an analysis of shortcomings of a whole genre, a hope for future works….
Making It Artful, Making It Yours
“The essayist arises in the morning and, if he has work to do, selects his garb from an unusually extensive wardrobe: he can pull on any sort of shirt, be any sort of person, according to his mood or his subject matter—philosopher, scold, jester, raconteur, confidant, pundit, devil’s advocate, enthusiast.”
E.B. White, The Essayist and the Essay
As a reviewer, you’re necessarily present in the review essay as an “eye,” conveying a distinct way of seeing things. You also convey your distinctive presence by:
- Speaking as an “I,” a character with a viewpoint, if that adds context or authority, or speaks to the kinds of critical points you need to make.
- Choosing the framing the review—what sorts of issues and assumptions you show are at stake.
- Bringing in contextual, comparative, and researched information that adds references, associations, and perspective.
- Employing a particular vocabulary and diction, whether from the realm of literature and movies, or some other realm.
- Involving your audience and playing to their intelligence: showing awareness of cliché and common knowledge and what doesn’t need spelling out.
- Transitioning and developing your ideas, articulating original ideas and judgments.
In short, you’re writing, in however short a form, an ideas essay. Make it yours–but make it work with the style of the publication.
Templates
Note to publishers/distributors:
Dear ___: I’m writing to request an advanced review copy [or: get early reviewer access to] of [work in question]. This is for a review that I’m writing for -magazine x-. [or, if you haven’t gotten the okay yet: have just pitched to -magazine x-].
I was drawn to review this work for [very short reason that will flatter publisher/promoter]. My previous publications include: x, y, z. [Or: whatever else might give you credibility as a reviewer, either in terms of your involvement as a writer, or your engagement with the subject of the work to be reviewed.]
Pitch to magazine editor:
Dear [Specific name of editor–look it up on the masthead or about page]:
Readers of [target publication] are familiar with [the work of author x, or certain popular works, or some issue of public concern].
TK
Last
Hope to hear from you at Pangyrus! Pitch us your reviews at Submissions. No guarantees, of course–but you’re here. And that says a lot.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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