WaPo Makes It Official: Book World to Die Around Valentine’s Day

Newsroom leadership of the Washington Post just sent out a memo on the death of Book World. Didn't have much choice in the matter, considering that the New York Times's Motoko Rich had the scoop all over the news earlier today.

See the announcement after the jump.

The announcement makes a glancing reference to a product that City Desk reported on a while back: a special Washington Post book digest that would be sold to struggling papers everywhere.

Former Book World Editor Marie Arana reports today via e-mail that this digest took flight this past Monday.

Here's how it works, according to Arana: "Select BW content is being syndicated in a fully designed broadsheet page, using shortened versions of BW reviews. The idea was to sell book publishers' ads into it as a revenue building engine, but with publishers in such disarray it wasn't possible to sell enough committed ads in advance. So that model was dropped at the end of last year. What was launched was a "soft" version, which will send BW Digest out with the expectation that local papers who subscribe will fill the ad space themselves. Eventually, it is hoped that book publishers will want to sell ads into it. But, as I don't have to tell you, the book publishing industry is topsy turvy right now."
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