The Los Angeles Review of Books will launch its new expanded Web site on April 18 to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the online literary periodical founded by editor-in-chief Tom Lutz.
“The new site will feature a multimedia format, with all the technology of the web in play,” says Lutz. As designed by Taj Tedrow of Tedperez.com, LARB’s new site will include video, enhanced audio, drop-down menus, and 15 places from which to navigate on the home page. “It will be more of a magazine format than before,” Lutz says. The site will include new feature articles, recommendations from LARB’s 20 editors in various genres, and videotaped author interviews. In addition, all facets of the site will be linked to each other for easy browsing.
A print edition of LARB remains on the backburner for now. “It’s not a high priority for us at this point,” Lutz says, adding that he’s more focused on generating more literary coverage on the site. In a move that could bolster LARB’s current fundraising efforts, local NPR station KCRW recently announced that Lutz has joined its roster of commentators, and will be discussing his favorite new books on All Things Considered with Lisa Napoli.
LARB recently received a $25,000 grant from Amazon that Lutz says will be used for operating expenses. “Ninety percent of this money will go towards paying our editorial staff and contributors,” says Lutz. “We’re very happy that it’s going to allow us to pay more writers and editors, and thereby offer more to readers as we go forward. We hope it’s the first of many such corporate grants – they are a necessary part of our financing, along with reader support, gifts, our advertising, and other forms of income.”
