Thursday, February 12, 2009

Free Books for Review!

"Authors in search of reviewers. Reviewers in search of authors. Free books. Free reviews. Free communication. BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ."

Ara 13, an author whose books I have reviewed on this blog (look here and here) has started a new blog called Free Books for Review. It's pretty self-explanatory: authors can go there offer bloggers copies of their works to review. I think it's going to be a great resource for people just starting out in the literary blogosphere.

It is also a great example of the Internet 2.0 at work. Time magazine made YOU their Person of the Year in 2006 due to the populist nature of the ever-expanding Web, which has provided ordinary people with new avenues of self-expression, rewarded individual innovation, and created innumerable opportunities for Average Joes without industry, business, or political connections. Time interviewed Amazon's #1 reviewer Harriet Klausner (although it should be noted that there is some serious controversy surrounding her) and basically said that the Internet has made pretentious professional reviewing obsolete. Personally, I think they went way overboard there and looking at Klausner's 18,303 poorly-written fauxreviews should disillusion even the most ardent anti-elitist. It is still quite obvious, however, that blogging has definitely given a voice to bookworms everywhere and allowed us to network and become legitimate players in the literary world. In short, think something like Free Books for Review is long overdue.

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