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Nicely done. They wanted to be able to show off the mass of great content already on the site, plus new features, and that they have. The relaunch comes with a call for voluntary memberships to help pay for the online review. Los Angeles Review of Books
From the flackage (added to post):
"The complete Los Angeles Review of Books website is designed to revive, and reinvent, the literary and cultural arts review as we know it,” said Tom Lutz, the founding Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books. “Our editorial mission is to curate and deliver the best that is thought and written, with a commitment to public service, intellectual rigor and the power of the written word.”On April 18, 2011, LARB launched a temporary preview site to showcase the kind of outstanding content the public can expect from its complete online publication. Since then, the Review has already become one of the most talked about new literary publications on the Web, establishing a dedicated readership in all 50 states and over 150 countries worldwide.
“With our new online publication, we’re making a statement about the relevance of book reading and the literary arts in the age of new media,” said Tom Lutz. “We understand that in a rapidly changing environment for reading and publishing, the cultural conversation, and the means through which that conversation takes place, must fully utilize all the interactive and multimedia potential of the Internet and the full range of digital environments.”
The new Los Angeles Review of Books website combines the great American tradition of the serious book review with the evolving technologies of the Web, offering readers in the United States and around the world a complex and multidimensional online literary experience.
Just some of the online literary features of the new site include:
- Reviews and essays from LARB’s award-winning contributing editors, writers and essayists, curated by the Review’s senior editorial staff.
- An online discussion forum in which readers can comment on reviews.
- A “Reader’s Reviews” feature, in which any individual can submit a book review of their own to be considered for publication on the site. LARB editors will curate the submissions and publish the best ones.
- Audio and video of author interviews and events, as well as clips of everyday readers talking about their favorite authors and books.
- A regular podcast series hosted by LARB Editor-in-Chief Tom Lutz featuring interviews with authors of all genres.
- A database of books and authors that empowers readers with a robust archive for the book world.
Reviews of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir, philosophy, art, science fiction, young adult, children’s and more, will have multiple links leading through the site, allowing readers to follow their inclinations into new territories, finding new books, authors, and genres.
