[Tony_A20]

I've been browsing the web looking at e-book reviewer websites. The first thing I noticed was that I found none, with the exception of Grace Krispy here on MR, who provided any sort of qualifications as a reviewer, other than they liked reading. The second thing I noticed, was that it was difficult to find any reviews they had written except on their own websites.

Quite often the reviews presented were merely reports of books the reviewers had come across; without any prior intention of providing a literary review or critical examination of the merits of the book. If they liked the book: they wrote about it. The reviewers were really people who had a personal website, and liked writing about books they had read.

As well, their reviews seem to include too many platitudes and not enough meaningful criticism to guide readers, or to serve as feedback to writers. It certainly appears questionable whether their reviews serve any purpose. It seems many of the reviewer websites were primarily engaged in generating revenue through advertisements, and attracting visitors by commenting on books kept their numbers up. Finally, the personal writing skills displayed in several reviewer blogs, brought into question the validity of the reviewer's comments.

With the number of writers on the Internet wishing to promote their books and obtain favorable reviews, it is virtually impossible for veritable book critics with a true audience to wade through the mass of books available and provide a genuine and valid review without charging for their time and effort. So, rather than rely on pseudo-reviewers, Internet authors should perhaps provide a direct method of feedback, and listen to what individual readers have to say; if readers can be enticed to take the time to say anything.

Tony