Arts reviews... and how to write them

At the time that this book was published, there was no other guide to writing arts reviews for modern media in print. While critical literature about criticism exists, the concept of criticism as creative work had not been addressed from the writer's point of view. The book re-evaluates the role of arts reviews in the 21st century, when reviewing is a multi-platform activity undertaken by many non-professional writers. It identifies key figures in contemporary review writing and defines guidelines for best practice in this field.

The role of the critic is particularly important as creative work reaches a worldwide audience through disintermediated outlets. The issue of discoverability is key for 21st century artists and reviews are central to the process of finding, building and keeping an audience. Millions of people function as citizen reviewers, posting critiques on retail sites such as Amazon, blog sites and wikis yet the role of the professional critic becomes ever more significant as the volume of such responses increases while the integrity declines. While tracing the history of criticism the book considers the work of practitioners and theorists from Vasari to the Mark Kermode, and quotes from the experience of many other contemporary critics.