Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
July 1, 2010/in Editorial /by Richard Hill
This article is featured in BfK 183 July 2010
This article is in the Editorial Category

Editorial 183: July 2010

Author: Rosemary Stones

How independent are online book reviews? The bizarre case of historian Orlando Figes who at first denied (with threats of legal action) and then admitted posting anonymous reviews on Amazon praising his own work and rubbishing books by fellow historians has demonstrated how easily impartiality can be undermined.

Figes described his own book The Whisperers as ‘a rich and deeply moving history, which leaves the reader awed, humbled, yet uplifted…’ while describing rival historian Rachel Polonsky’s Molotov’s Magic Lantern as ‘the sort of book that makes you wonder why it was ever published… Her writing is so dense and pretentious, itself so tangled in literary allusions, that it is hard to follow or enjoy.’ Robert Service’s Comrades got similar treatment: ‘…an awful book. It is very poorly written and dull to read… it has no insights to make it worth the bother of ploughing through its dreadful prose.’

While it is hardly news that some writers write and post their own ‘reviews’ on Amazon (and publicists would hardly be worth their salt if they didn’t also seize the opportunity to post the occasional glowing testimonial to the work of the authors they are promoting), it is probable that the book buying public reads these effusions with a sceptical eye. Orlando Figes scandalised not just because he puffed his own oeuvre (surely the over-egging gave that game away…) but because he attacked the works of fellow historians so savagely and then threatened legal action when smoked out.

The salient point here is the issue of accountability whether in print or online reviews. It is not a new issue – book reviews, including reviews of children’s books, were anonymous in the Times Literary Supplement until 1974 when bylines were introduced. It had to be taken on trust that the Editor would avoid, for example, allocating a title to a known rival of the author thereby inviting the kind of territorial malice in evidence in the Figes debacle.

Readers of literary journals, whether print or online (and you are reading the first online only edition of Books for Keeps), want to be able to take it for granted not only that a system of commissioning, editing and publishing reviews is in place but that – while no system can be perfect – it has been devised and is being implemented in the interests of review coverage that is both informed and impartial. Books for Keeps has always valued its editorial independence and plans to maintain it in its new online only guise.

BfK Basics

One of the opportunities afforded by an online edition of Books for Keeps is the opportunity to broaden the range of the articles we publish to cater for parents as well as for professionals involved with children and their books. Our new series, BfK Basics, aims to introduce parents and carers in an informative and practical way to the delights of sharing books with very young children. In the first article in the series, Children’s Librarian Jake Hope explains what libraries have to offer the very young. In our next issue Liz Attenborough who manages ‘Talk to Your Baby’ at the National Literacy Trust, explains how and why sharing books can play a crucial role in helping children learn to communicate.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Richard Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Richard Hill2010-07-01 10:00:462021-12-04 16:43:55Editorial 183: July 2010
Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

Related Articles

Editorial 272
Bfk 272 May 2025
Editorial 271
Bfk 271 March 2025
Editorial 270
Bfk 270 January 2025
Editorial 269
Bfk 269 November 2024
Editorial 268
Bfk 268 September 2024
Editorial 267
Bfk 267 July 2024
Editorial 266
Bfk 266 May 2024
Editorial 265
Bfk 265 March 2024

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Choice and reading relevant to their interests = reading for pleasure

June 11, 2025

Ross Montgomery wins the 2025 FCBG Children’s Book Award

June 7, 2025

Michael Rosen and Emily Gravett IBBY UK nominations for Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2026

June 4, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Rhyme with Reason: Why Nursery Rhymes Matter A BfK extract from Pull Out All the Stops!
Scroll to top