Dana Kaye
I had a request from a blog reader last week to discuss the glut of book review blogs. And since I always aim to please the readers…
In the past year, I’ve noticed a significant increase in the amount of online book coverage. I’m not just talking about the newspapers shifting their book sections online; I’m referring to everyday readers starting blogs with the sole purpose of reviewing books. These bloggers are librarians, recreational readers, sometimes they’re authors themselves. They update their sites often, read 2-3 books every week, and they have large, loyal followings.
For authors and publicists, this has been great. Book coverage can be hard to come by and, unlike newspapers, book blogging sites offer unlimited review space. Book bloggers can track their click rates, site visits, even if someone purchased the book from their Amazon link. All of this is extremely helpful in figuring out what type of publicity works and what doesn’t. When I contact a book blogger for a review, I know their blog subscribers, twitter followers, sometimes they even share their stats. I can ensure that the review will reach hundreds, even thousands, and is worth my time.
I think the concern addressed in last week’s comments was that there are so many people posting online reviews; how do you know who to trust? Why does their opinion matter?
The integrity of a reviewer, whether they’re writing for the NYT or their personal blog, lies in their previous reviews. If they recommended books you’ve liked and criticized those you didn’t, chances are you can trust their opinion. There are definitely differences between various book blogs in quality of writing and analysis, but overall, book reviewing is subjective. The better the opinion and the more accurate the analysis, the more followers the blogger is going to maintain. Give one too many bad opinions and people won’t listen to you anymore.
So while I think there are hundreds of book blogs and more created every day, I don’t think the additional coverage is a bad thing. No one would say there are too many news outlets or sites dedicated to professional sports, why should the arts be any different? Be discriminatory; look at their previous reviews and see if you agree with their opinion before going out and buying all their recommendations. But there are book bloggers I would trust more than some of the critics at the national newspapers. Here are a few of my favorites:
www.jensbookthoughts.blogspot.com
www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com
For those of you attending the Backspace Writers Conference, I will be speaking tomorrow morning at 10:00am for the “Buying and Selling: From Publisher to Bookshelf” panel. Hope to see you there!
