For the love of the game
Orange Blossom Ordinary is officially two years old. It’s a small review, but it’s our small contribution to the world of citizen humanities. As we say on our about page: “Orange Blossom Ordinary is a review with one foot in Florida and one foot in the life of the mind. We are a forum for learning about new books and hearing from authors. We believe books can help us ground our conversations about the world and ourselves.” And “we only publish human writing.”
In 2024, I started this review because I wanted to start something new. I wanted to create a space that was focused almost exclusively on books and ideas. And I wanted a website you could visit without encountering any culture wars content. It was really just about the love of the game.
It’s still just for the love of the game. I’m open to changes, but, right now, no money changes hands. No one gets paid for writing. I pay for the website myself. Publishers send us books for free, but there’s no money coming in. The reviewers write out of the goodness of their hearts. Most of the interviews are not suggested by publicists or authors. I like to look through university press catalogs, because there are more interesting books coming out of university presses than most people realize. I believe that university presses make good neighbors.
Orange Blossom Ordinary plays the game with a small team. From day one, Joel Tannenbaum has been a contributing editor who has offered wisdom and judgment and reviews. Sarah (Selden) Linville was a regular writer from the start and now she is also our book club editor. Brody Eldridge went from regular reviewer to contributing writer and frequent flâneur. Grace Mackey was my first intern and now she’s a contributing writer with her own interview series focused on journalists, “Beneath the Byline.” Orange Blossom Ordinary wouldn’t be what it is without all these talents combined.
So far, we’ve stayed true to our mission. We post twice a week. We edit everything before we publish it. We avoid the culture wars. Quite a few people have written for us. And we’ve improved on the original concept. The website is much sharper than it was in 2024. Author interviews are a more important part of what we do. We have book clubs. We have a flâneur page now. And we just started offering some downloads. You can keep up with these things if you subscribe to our substack.
Doing things for love doesn’t bring in good money, but it is good. Whether it is successful or not, the stakes are the right kind of low. As long as I can pay Squarespace the annual fee, we’ll be ok. Orange Blossom Ordinary does not have to chase clicks. We are not beholden to advertisers or donors or a board, we are only accountable to the passion and the vision behind the project. We can try anything we’d like and set our own timelines and expectations and enjoy the ride. If Orange Blossom Ordinary was a person in a polis, it would be freed from the necessities of life and therefore capable of engaging in the public realm.
Our goal for the next year is the same as it was for the first year. We want to post twice a week, avoid the culture wars, and engage the world of ideas. We want to publish thoughtful, edited reviews. We want to foster good conversations. We want to cover a wide range of books. We plan to keep at it for the same reason we started it, for the love of the game.
—Elizabeth Stice
