Redesigned 'L.A. Times Book Review' Emphasizes Web Coverage

by Bridget Kinsella, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 3/28/2007

The Los Angeles Times will debut its new Sunday book coverage April 15 as part of a new section called Opinion that will combine the Book Review with the Currents section. "They are two distinct sections, but they will be bound together," explained Tim Rutten, an associate features editor at the paper. One of the sections will be printed upside down and both the Book Review and Opinion will have their own cover and back page, Rutten said. "It's to save money and newsprint."

The Sunday book review will lose at least two printed pages as part of cost-cutting, but Rutten said book coverage will be expanded in the newspaper throughout the week and on the Times's redesigned Web site, which is still in the works.

"Do I regret losing the pages? Absolutely," said David Ulin, editor of the LAT Book Review. "What's more important is how we deal with it." Ulin said to expect a more direct relationship with the Times's print and Web editions. The goal for the newspaper is to have some Web-only content—which may include reviews and columns—that link to the paper version and vice versa. "The Web site becomes the hub and these [the Sunday section and the print coverage throughout the paper] become spokes on the wheel," Ulin told PW Daily. "I think this is how the whole industry is going to go."

In its current version, the LAT Web site is more archival than interactive; Ulin said the redesigned site will provide more space and flexibility for overall book coverage. "We're going to do a book super-site and pull together all the book coverage from across the paper," added Rutten.