Critics ‘Not Infallible,’ Admits One

As critic-at-large for The Times and a columnist who does a monthly roundup of mystery reviews for The Times’ Book Review, Charles Champlin advises authors “to understand that critics are not infallible.”

As Champlin sees it, the true image of the critic is found in a scene near the end of “The Wizard of Oz” where Dorothy “and her pals” are standing in front of the fire-spewing, smoke-billowing visage of the great Oz and Toto the dog pulls back a drape to reveal that Oz is really just a man in the corner pulling levers and speaking into a microphone.

His cover blown, “Oz” nervously bellows, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The great Oz has spoken!”

“I think,” Champlin told his audience at the Chapman College Annual Writer’s Conference last weekend, “that man in the corner is really a critic, and he’s coming out in this big, booming voice and saying, ‘I have Aristotle on one phone and Plato on the other and Demosthenes waiting for me in the lobby,’ but it’s really just a guy who has to remember to pay the rent.”

Added Champlin: “I do think you have to kind of keep that image in perspective, to say to yourself and understand that the critic may well be wrong. On the other hand, (with) a good critic maybe there’s something he or she is going to say that will come as a revelation to you. But I think, in particular, if a review seems vitriolic or petty, I think you have to console yourself that it may well reveal more about the critic than it does about you and your work.”

More than 170 authors and would-be authors turned out for the annual literary gathering coordinated by Irvine mystery writer Robert Ray, who teaches fiction writing at Chapman.

Champlin, one of 17 speakers--all authors, literary agents, screenwriters or editors--addressed the subjects of book reviews and how authors can help publicize their own books.

As it turns out, getting a book reviewed in a major outlet such as The Times may be about as tough as getting a book published in the first place.

First some figures: “We estimate,” Champlin said, “there are something like 50,000 titles published every year in this country and over the years at the Book Review we have decided probably 10,000 of those titles are what you might call ‘susceptible to general reader interest.’ . . . We also have figured out that by running daily reviews and running collective reviews like I do of mysteries once a month, (collective reviews) of children’s fiction and so on, that maybe we can attend to about 3,000 titles a year.

“So that means, at best, we are getting to maybe one in three of the titles that we wish we could review. It’s just really tough to get a book review and, unfortunately, it doesn’t necessarily have to do with the quality of the book.”

What that means to authors--and particularly the vast majority of authors who, unlike the best-selling, highly promoted celebrity names such as Sidney Sheldon and Judith Krantz--is it puts “a certain amount of responsibility” on them to promote their own books, Champlin said.

(As the author of “Back There Where the Past Was,” his nostalgic memoir of growing up in small town in New York, Champlin speaks from experience: ‘Now my book came out from Syracuse University Press and, I mean, their idea of an author tour is giving you a brochure on successful hitchhiking.”)

“It’s really kind of tough,” concedes Champlin, “so those of you who are doing books, I think, are well advised to see what you can do about blowing your own horn. I think you have to be absolutely shameless about it.”

To stand out from the pack, Champlin advises authors--especially first-time authors--to contact newspapers and suggest that a feature story be done on their books or, if they’re an expert on a particular subject, suggest the newspaper do a story on that subject and tie it into their book. When it comes to promoting a new book, he said, “I think features can be extremely helpful.”

And authors shouldn’t just contact a large newspaper such as The Times, he said. They should start with the newspaper nearest to home “and go from there. You get one clipping and you can Xerox it and send it to someone else and say there are these possibilities for feature coverage.

“You just have to be shameless about calling up local papers and saying you’ve got a good feature story here, send copies around, and just push hard.”

In his Bloody Sunday mystery review column, Champlin reviews six to eight mysteries a month. Although he looks at all the books that come across his desk, he said, deciding which ones to review is not easy.

“I think I’ve got a stack of mysteries for December that’s probably between two and three dozen titles, and I obviously can’t read them all and then pick the best. I wish I could. So I’ve got to look at the jacket notes and maybe read the first page and (see if) it looks interesting.”

Noting the “amazing” number of Southern California mystery writers, “particularly down around Orange County and down around the coast,” Champlin said he tries to review at least one “new voice” in each column.

As a reviewer, Champlin said, it is important to be alert to what’s new and different and not become calloused.

“When I was reviewing movies years ago I used to say that the critic lives in constant hope of the Resurrection in the sense that the critic always hopes that the next thing that he, or she, sees is the film that will lift you off your seat and make it worthwhile.

“I think the great obligation for a critic is patience and an abiding love for the medium because you’re always going to confront (more) mediocre and bad art than you are great art and you just have to hope you have the enthusiasm.”

Since he began reviewing books, Champlin said, he has found that people don’t pay as much attention to book reviews in Hollywood as they do to movie reviews.

“Somebody once said writing a book review and waiting for a response is like spitting in the Grand Canyon and awaiting the echo. You just don’t get that much attention.”