In Praise of Book Reviews and An Invitation to Review

Did you ever think about how important book reviews are? Jo Parfitt, over at Write Your Life Stories explains just why and how books and book reviews need each other in this post called “The brilliance of book reviews.”

If you love to read, you can help your favorite author by writing a review. Using social media, these reviews can reach many readers. If you don’t have a blog, you can post your reviews on Amazon or other online booksellers. Or if the book is a memoir, send me the review, and I will consider posting it here. I will make the decision to publish or not based on the quality of the writing and the relevance of the book to the subject of this blog.

Writers often decry the loss of review sections in major newspapers and magazines. As the mainstream media constricts space due to loss of subscribers, blogs proliferate and digital space opens. Let’s keep the spirit of friendly critique alive!

Shirley Showalter

6 Comments

  1. Saloma Furlong on September 4, 2010 at 3:24 am

    Love your new design for your blog! The picture reminds me of many walks through the woods as a child. And I love the premise of the blog, too. I miss the picture of you, though. Will you add one at some point?

    Your life sounds really fascinating… cannot wait for your memoir to be published.

  2. shirleyhs on September 4, 2010 at 7:42 pm

    Hi, Saloma, I’m glad you like the new look. I do too and am really grateful to my son for his generosity with his time to fix the problem I had.

    The picture is still there if you go to the “about” section. I’m about to update the picture. The one that is there reaches its five-year-old mark soon!

  3. Susan Heim on September 7, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    Hi Shirley! Do you have an email address? I couldn’t seem to find it on your site.
    Thank you! Susan

  4. Jo Parfitt on September 9, 2010 at 7:06 am

    Thank you for mentioning me and my article here. It has already resulted in me being contacted by Susan Heim and I am going to review a book for her now and put that on my blog. Expat authors, walk this way! Best wishes Jo

    • shirleyhs on September 9, 2010 at 2:01 pm

      Thanks, Jo. I found you via our mutual friend Gutsy Writer, Sonia Marsh. So glad you got a new opportunity here. That’s why social media is so much fun.
      Come back again!

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