Newspapers may be dying (Part II): The Birth--and power--of the Online Book Review

By Corinne Liccketto

It should not come as a big surprise that the decline of newspapers has sparked the downfall of the printed book review. But, as Dan Smith mentioned, ‘when one door closes, another door opens.’ Today, with social networking sites, wire services and blogs on our side, it’s crucial for authors to stay on top of online book review trends. Who knows? We just might find that online book reviews will pull their weight more than any printed book review ever could.

Advantages of the online book review:

• Most bloggers and online reviewers will post their review of your book directly on your Amazon profile. When consumers and media contacts click through, they’ll have an informative review to provide further insight into your product.
• When a book review is printed in a newspaper that is where it stays; however, there is no denying how quickly things spread online. An online book review opens the door for other authors, bloggers and readers to easily pick up the review to share with their own network of followers.
• The author has the power to direct traffic to the online book review by posting it on their website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter profile and other social media networks.
  

How to search for pertinent online book reviewers:

• One of our favorite websites is BookConnector.com (www.bookconnector.com). This free service allows you to enter the criteria of your book (genre, format, publication date, etc) into a database. BookConnector then narrows down a list of book review sites that are fitting for your book.
• Google. Whether you’ve published a business, fantasy, novel, religious or self-help book, simply Google ‘YOUR GENRE book review sites’ for pages of sites that seek your genre of books for review.