World Biz Info
The source of the best business, financial and legal news
web www.worldbizinfo.com
Business Informations

Comments From A Book Reviewer


For the past several years I have been reviewing books for my own site, Bookpleasures.com, as well as many other sites. I am also a regular contributor to the Canadian Book Review Annual. As editor of Bookpleasures.com, I would like to make a few comments about book reviewing and what to expect, particularly from Bookpleasures.com.

Today, with the advent of the Internet, there has been a proliferation of book reviewers, whom I shall classify as the good, the bad and the ugly.

Those falling into the last category are those that you have to be particularly on the look out for, as their only interest is to receive complimentary books without bothering to review them, or if they do review them, their reviews are very short and without substance. On the other hand, there are many serious and excellent reviewers who devote a great deal of their time and energy in reading and writing a review.

Sometimes, I admit, the reviews are not exactly very complimentary. However, it is to be noted that it is not the objective of a reviewer to be a salesperson or a public relations representative for the author. If the criticism is constructive, a great deal can be learned from the review, particularly if the reviewer is also an author.

From the point of view of a reviewer, what I find most annoying is receiving a book without first asking me if I would accept to review it. Bookpleasures receives on average about 10-15 email requests per week. Generally, I personally accept a few to review, others, I forward onto Bookpleasures' international team of reviewers.

In all probability, there is a 20%-30% chance that a request to review will be accepted by a reviewer.

The reason why a book is not accepted is wide and varied. Many of our reviewers have a backlog that they would like to clear before accepting new assignments, or the subject matter is not one that interests any of them.

What I like to see in a request is not "hype" but rather a brief resumé of the contents of the book, who the author is, if the book is published by a main stream publisher or is it self-published, and if the book is available on Amazon.

Bookpleasures also conducts e-interviews with some authors, and if the author is open to have himself or herself interviewed, please indicate.

If you are a publicist or publisher, don't be afraid to put Bookpleasures as well as other book reviewing sites on your emailing list. You never know when something catches our eyes. Sometimes you may be publicizing a particular book, and our reviewers will look to your site and see something else that interests them.

As for the time frame, this all depends on the reviewer. Anywhere from one week to three months is the norm. You can ask the reviewer to give you some idea as to his or her time frame. You can also inquire as to his or her credentials. Bookpleasures does provide links to the reviewers' site that should give you some idea as to their experience.

I do hope this is of help to some of you.

Norm Goldman is a free lance travel writer and book reviewer. His articles appear on his own sites, bookpleasures.com and sketchandtravel.com, as well as many other Internet sites.


MORE RESOURCES:

Publishers eye online sales in digital era
Jakarta Post, Indonesia - Jul 2, 2008
Erik said there were various forms of online book marketing available on Google, including author or book websites, contextual advertisements, author blogs ...


Immigration Issues, Baseball, and the Queen Discussed on Podcast ...
PR-CANADA.net (press release), Montenegro - 5 hours ago
Writers in the Sky Podcast has all three components covered as four guests are interviewed on this writing, publishing, and book marketing show. ...


CNET News

Retaggr is Your Online Business Card
WebWorkerDaily, CA - Jun 24, 2008
To really enhance your card, you’ll want to add in all of your sites, blogs, microblogs, bookmarketing, social network pages, and more and Retaggr will link ...
feed readers, CNET News
all 2 news articles


eFluxMedia

Is Powerset And The Semantic Search The Right Choice For Microsoft?
eFluxMedia - Jul 4, 2008
In the past few years, Microsoft has tried everything in the book: marketing campaigns, promotions and it even tried to tie up Live Search to its Internet ...


Creating a best-selling book
Chicago Tribune, United States - Jun 16, 2008
By Ann Meyer | Special to the Tribune Best-selling author Steve Kaplan credits his business acumen for the success of his books. "Your book is your product ...


NewsReleaseWire.com (press release)

Barack Obama Should Offer “Audacity of Hope” as a Free Download
NewsReleaseWire.com (press release) - Jun 8, 2008
But in this case “Audacity of Hope” has a chance to plow new ground in the book marketing and promotion business, sort of like what Obama has been doing all ...


Random House launches online book promo
Netimperative, UK - Jun 19, 2008
UK publishing giant Random House is supporting the launch of Nick Harkaway’s debut novel 'The Gone-Away World', with a digital push through creative digital ...


CBS News

Milk Jug Gets A Makeover
CBS News, NY - Jun 30, 2008
"We're estimating it could be up to 11000 trucks we're reducing on the road this year," said Daniel Book, marketing manager for Sam’s Club. ...


Huffington Post

Is Greener Packaging Worth a Little Spilled Milk?
Huffington Post, NY - Jul 3, 2008
"We're estimating it could be up to 11000 trucks we're reducing on the road this year," said Daniel Book, marketing manager for Sam's Club. ...


New hi-tech milk jug stores 50% more per cubic foot
TECH.BLORGE.com, Australia - Jul 1, 2008
Daniel Book, marketing manager at Sam’s Club says that using the new jugs could result in a reduction of 11000 trucks out on the road. ...

Book-Marketing - Google News

home | site map
© 2006
web www.worldbizinfo.com