I've talked about LibraryThing before and I'm still a big fan. See the randomly generated list of 6 covers down the left panel of my blog for proof -- that's the LibraryThing widget at work.
The folks at LibraryThing recently announced a new program called Early Reviewers and I think it's a great idea. In essence, LibraryThing is going to help publishers distribute early/review copies of their books to interested readers. Random House is the first publisher in the program and this blog post notes that eventually the program will be open to other publishers. (I hope someone from the Wiley PR team hooks up with Tim Spalding at LibraryThing and gets us signed up for the program!)
Why is this a great idea? As a result of the book reviews I write on this blog I've gotten to know a lot of PR people at different publishing houses (thank you all for the comp copies you continue to send!). Despite their best efforts and intentions, most of them don't have the resources to identify, contact and coordinate shipments to all the bloggers and other community members who could read/review their books. LibraryThing tends to attract rabid book fans, including plenty of reviewers your typical publishing PR person simply doesn't have the time to hunt down.
If you're not using LibraryThing yet, you should be. If you're interested in joining the Early Reviewers program, sign up here.
Hi Joe -- check this link out
HarperCollins Canada has been running a similar program to the above.
The main benefit of doing it in house is you could potentially use the readers' review (with their permission of course)on other sites. Not so if you let a third party own the program.
cheers
Posted by: | May 29, 2007 at 02:00 AM
Actually LibraryThing users are encouraged to report their reviews:
"You can post your review elsewhere too—on your blog, Facebook or even Amazon. In fact, we hope you do! "
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Early_Reviewers
Posted by: test | July 02, 2009 at 08:08 PM