Thursday, September 13, 2007

How important are book reviews?

Hello friends,

A very good question popped up the other day as I was reading through an article: How important is a review on a book and does it make up your mind for you to purchase the read?
I used to not read any reviews. Honestly, I was often sold by the cover. Whenever I browsed for a new book, online or in a store, and a great book cover caught my eye I read the synopsis and bought the book - or not - depending if I was sold.
Lately, I'm reading lots of book reviews, mainly because I'm always searching for reviews on my own novel 'Relocating Mia'. Of course, I jump through the roof when I receive another positive comment on how one liked my book. (I post the reviews on my site. You can read them here: www.rebeccalerwill.com/pressroom.html )

I was listening to an mp3 online, where a well known author talked about book reviews. He argued on how much influence a reviewer can have over a reader. He didn't agree with reviews. He said he'd rather have one giant website, where every book is available by genre and synopsis to be searched for. It was a very interesting view and I had to agree, a review can influence a reader into the purchase of a book. And even though I didn't read reviews and let them influence me in the past, today I wouldn't want to miss the reviews on my own work.

Rebecca Lerwill
www.rebeccalerwill.com

No comments: