I am a writer living in a time when passively issuing books into the world is a foolish thing. Someone, everyone, needs to attend to the social space of reading, or the books could die without meaning a thing. All my ancillary work attends to that.

[…]

Slow is the right pace for books. A smart review in a visible journal feels great, especially for the writer, but we’re aiming these things at some curious kid who isn’t born yet, rummaging in a bookstore 30 or 100 years from now. If we put our efforts into seducing the reviewer, it takes our attention away from the important long-haul work of getting all the books into the hands of readers. That long-haul work starts when we ship and is continued by attending to the conversation around the books.

~ Matthew Stadler @ Rosa B (via Seedcake)