Good news, starving book critics! In his latest gambit to outdo the New York Times, Rupert Murdoch will launch a weekly stand-alone book-review section at his Wall Street Journal this month, doubling the number of weekly stand-alone book-review sections nationally (America’s only other one is the Times’ Sunday Book Review, following the shuttering of all the other ones). The Observer reports that the section will feature a “significant” number of pages and be overseen by former Weekly Standard editor Robert Messenger, so hit him with your pitches (no word yet on whether Sam Tenenhaus will blacklist you from the Times Book Review if he sees your byline in the WSJ’s). Also, the Journal’s section will be included in Saturday’s paper, meaning it’ll arrive on newsstands a full 24 hours before the NYT’s. Checkmate.
