Frank Wilson on How to Write a Successful Book Blog

Frank Wilson has been reviewing books professionally since October, 1964. For most of the last decade that he was Books Editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, he was given to retaining committed bloggers (e.g. Mark Sarvas, Scott Esposito, Ed Champion) to review books. About ten years ago he started blogging at Books Inq. It is one of the most successful blogs in the literary blogosphere.

I interviewed Frank at his home in Philadelphia. We talk about how he established his blog, about the potential and influence of this medium, about the benefits of interactivity and connection and roundtables; Maxine Clarke's crime fiction reviews; the provision of filtering services, shared links and interests; kindred spirits; embedding poetry and essays, and loneliness; about the strange side effects of reading and how passive entertainment becomes unwatchable, how most traditional media eschew feedback; what he looks for in book reviewers; Tchaikovsky's unknown correspondent; the book's connection to life; the nature of discourse; Instapundit and 'instalanches;' and those blogs he goes to every morning.