Compiled by Rebecca Gillieron and Catheryn Kilgarriff

Comprehensive guide to the top book bloggers on the internet which asks who are these people? What are they writing about? Why? With some book bloggers gaining hundreds of hits a day, this book aims to show all book lovers that these blogs are an informative and fun alternative to literary criticism in the press.

In an industry where the success of a new book can be bought with marketing campaigns that cost thousands, book bloggers represent a new and entirely independent literary force. The internet has granted the reader a voice, and with hundreds returning to particular sites daily to hear what these self-elected reviewers have got to say, literary critics, booksellers and publishers are having to sit up and take notice. But who are these people? Why are they important? Motivated entirely by the love of books, what have they got to say and why are they so keen to say it?

This first ever guide to the top book blogs aims to tempt anyone new to this phenomena to log-on and get reading – including interviews and sample reviews from the leading contributors as well as tips on new book bloggers.

'As with any blog this will prove and addictive pleasure if you're on their wavelength... Often, astutely, allows the quality of the source material to speak for itself... provides helpful summaries of the issues currently exercising the community...This comprehensive, digestible handbook will prove indispensable to anyone in need of a summary of the literary blogosphere as it currently stands.' Times Literary Supplement

'...some blogs, like some poems, reach many thousands. It helps to find a niche and say something expert. In The Bookaholics’ Guide to Book Blogs, two people from the publishers Marion Boyars explain why blogs have influence on book buyers, and thus on publishers. It boils down to bloggers’ resemblance to columnists and critics in weekly publications: the good ones gain a following. Already publishers are sending review copies to some bloggers.' Spectator

'Marion Boyars is, by all accounts, one of the UK's more free-thinking publishers; and a book like this, an investigation of the book blog phenomenon, certainly benefits from coming out of that kind of environment. Kilgarriff is publisher at Marion Boyars; Gillieron is senior editor. There aren't too many publishers, for example, who'll admit: "We never really know if we are making the right choices." On the other hand, this book is described as a celebration: "We didn't want the existence of some of the first book bloggers to come and go without record." The best bloggers, according to Kilgarriff, are the ones who have no motive other than to share their love of books with other readers. The ones who end up getting mentioned are certainly worth tracking down, especially if all their posts are as lucid as the one by Dovegreyreader that gets quoted. Unless you're a blog fanatic, this book is bound to contain something you didn't know about – some oddball site capable of yielding the kind of gem that'll make you think just as carefully as anything you'll find in print.' Tom Boncza-Tomaszewski, Independent On Sunday

'Book blogs have been a burgeoning part of the literary scene for a decade or so,and Rebecca Gillieron and Catheryn Kilgarriff (editor and publisher, respectively, at Marion Boyars) have decided that this a good moment to take account of an enormous and rapidly changing scene...Writers' blogs are central, and can offer more satisfying encounters with authors than pressing the flesh at signings. Along with their takes on their art, the minutiae can be fascinating...The Guide's index of bookblog URLs will tempt many away from Facebook, at least temporarily' Independent

UK Pub Date: 20 October 2007
Price: £7.99/$17.95
ISBN: 978-0-7145-3151-9
Literature/Criticism