Week 5 Prompt Response

It's hard for me to call any part of the literary industry "fair." While writers and publishers are making a lot of admirable effort to reduce inequalities that have long existed in publishing, I still don't think a fair process exists to ensure that all writers and books have equal opportunities for success. Currently, there is a huge and important push for more representation and opportunity for authors of color, queer authors, and women. But, the publishing houses are ultimately businesses that need to make a profit, and therefore they are largely ruled by trends and popular demand. So, books on topics that are currently popular and likely to please a broad audience right now will be given more publicity than others. Librarians generally do an awesome job of making sure to have variety and diversity in their collections, but if they depend on review sources and popular publications in order to make decisions about books, they will have a harder time knowing whether less popular (less-publicized) books are going to add value to their collection. Thus, a lot of really great books probably go unseen or unchosen because no reputable source has reviewed them.

Regarding review sources that only accept positive reviews, I don't think I have an opinion. It doesn't seem like a problem, because it's not like there are no options available for people who want to write scathing reviews. In fact, it's probably a good thing that I would know where to look if I specifically needed to see positive reviews. If I were trying to decide whether or not to buy a book, and most of the reviews on say, Amazon, were negative, I might check Booklist to see some balancing viewpoints. 

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