Professional reviews are one of your best resources. Why? Because those of us who get paid to review books are not there to tell you are personal opinion, rather our goal it to asses the book, its merit aa a presentation of its category and peers, and to articulate who the best reader for that book will be.
Even a tepid or negative professional review of a book will be able to be used as a resource to match it with a potential reader. Sometimes, the reason a book doesn't;t work is exactly why someone else would enjoy it.
As opposed to average reader reviews, which can be filled with why that specific reader loved or hated a book (information which is also useful since you are helping actual readers find books), professional reviews are an excellent collection development resource while they also allow you to stay on top of books as they are coming out.
That is what I love to recommend Book Marks because it aggregates the professional book reviews for you.
I love resources that aggregate other resources. Not only do these types of resources save all of us time, meaning we can go to one place for lots of similar information, but also, this aggregation means we get a broader picture, with representation from multiple resources in one place.
How It Works
Every day, the Book Marks staff scours the most important and active outlets of literary journalism in the US—from established national broadsheets to regional weeklies and alternative litblogs—and logs their book reviews. When a book is reviewed by at least three outlets, each of those reviews is assigned an individual rating (Rave, Positive, Mixed or Pan). These ratings are then averaged into a result and the book becomes part of our Book Marks database.
Each book’s cumulative rating functions as both a general critical assessment, and, more significantly, as an introduction to the range of voices and opinions that make up the world of American literary criticism. These opinions are accompanied by pull quotes representative of the overall stance of each individual review, and readers can click through to the full review at its source.
Readers can express their own opinions alongside those of the critics in each book page’s What Did You Think Of… comments section.
Book Marks exists to serve as a consolidated information resource for the reading public and a link between the worlds of literary creation, criticism and consumption. We hope it will bring more attention to great books and great criticism.
The writing community benefits from a multiplicity of voices. We’re eager to hear yours.
Now full disclosure before I move on, my reviews for Booklist and Library Journal are included in this resource with my name attached. However, I honestly use it for every genre EXCEPT horror, so I can stay up to speed on the titles I need to know about.
I like that they classify reviews as "Rave," Postive," "Mixed" or "Pan" to give an overall view of the book's critical status before you even click through. Also, you need serious "Rave" reviews to get more than a positive.
Too often, one review, be it positive or negative, from an influential source can define the book for the majority of readers. Yet, with Book Marks, you can easily get a full picture of the professional book reviewers' opinions on a title in one place. And even if everyone loved it, the one of two who did not, will get their voice on equal footing.
Here is a great example of a book I know you all have, The Hunger by Tana French, which has a review in each category.
Also a plus with Book Marks, genre titles are placed on an equal footing. Click here to see all of the categories they have created including all genres, formats [poetry and Graphic Novels, for ex], and multiple categories of nonfiction.
You can use the site to help readers, by providing them with multiple viewpoints on a specific title without reading the book for yourself or being forced to share your personal opinion], for collection development [you can search newest titles and they make lots of best lists], and for displays [the categories and lists are there for the taking].
I personally like the "Best Reviewed" carousel, on the homepage. I often find titles there that I have missed. Maybe they didn't get the biggest buzz or publisher support, and yet, critics are still noticing them.
Finally, in at the end of each title entry there is a list of "similar books." Click here for the entry for a backlist book I gave a star review as an example. The readalikes are updated with new titles all the time. I am not sure how they make those lists, but you can click through into the titles to see more information.
In general, I advocate for aggregated resources. I love crowd sourcing too. Check out Book Marks, yes, but also think about the resources you are using, how they are created, and if they give you everything you want or need.
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