B.C. BookWorld

B.C. BookWorld aims to take the reviewing process out of the book publication trade, as its founder feels that most book reviews are too highbrow for the average reader's tastes. Founder Alan Twigg writes about B.C. Bookworld: :''With BookWorld we have tried, from the outset, to institutionalize an educational newspaper that favours lively, up-to-date news rather than opinions. To do so, we have essentially taken a high-brow subject - books - and married it with a low-brow format - the tab newspaper. The end result is a middle-brow product that everyone can enjoy and use. It's pretty simple. And yet when I look at most other publications about books, it still seems to be unique.'' :Why cater to ten per cent of the population, the literary aristocracy, when you can reach the 80% of the population who like to read books? The general public is understandably turned off by the traditional book reviewing process, for good reasons. Your average book review consists of one literary aristocrat trying to tell other literary aristocrats how to think. Too often the reviewer is so busy trying to impress the reader with his or her intelligence and writing skill that he or she neglects to pass along basic information about what the hell the book is about. :''At least half of the book reviews I see are corrupt. That is, all too often reviewers, who are usually underpaid or not paid at all, will 'pay themselves' by taking the freedom to abuse the public platform. Some will co-opt the space as an advertisement for themselves. Others will irresponsibly slag their enemies or support their friends. When reviewers are underpaid, it's very hard for an editor to ask for a re-write. The public by and large senses these recurrent failings and shuns the process.'' ==Staff==