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.