Foreword Reviews is one of the oldest online review sites, having been founded in 1998 as a trade review journal aimed at the independent, alternative, university and self-published markets. It's now distributed quarterly to 7500 libraries and booksellers and has a presence on newsstands as well.
What does it offer the reader? To begin with, of course, it offers reviews. The first menu item is 'Book reviews' and there is a list of recently-reviewed works. The reviews are thorough and show that the reviewers have taken some time to analyse what they're reading instead of simply giving an emotional response to whether they did or didn't like the book.
Interestingly, there appear to be two levels of reviews: the first is a straightforward review of new books submitted to them. The second is a so-called 'Clarion' review of books that are older or haven't been considered for the standard review. This type of review costs an author $499, but from what I see that doesn't guarantee the author an easy ride - the first book currently on the list gets only 3 out of 5 stars and is critiqued for its number of typos. This leads you to believe that the reviewers aren't just giving kudos for money, which is a Good Thing.
Elsewhere the site has Features, a Blog, and an opportunity for writers to enter the site's Indiefab competition. There's lots for both readers and writers to get their teeth into, and the site is nicely designed using large images and a simple navigation system. One criticism I would level is that the site does occasionally take a while to load the next page - something that is acknowledged by the system when it offers a dialogue saying: 'Taking too long? Try again or Cancel this request.' I'm not sure I've ever seen this elsewhere and it suggests it's a besetting problem that perhaps the designers should sort out.
Having said that, it's well worth a visit for the range of honest reviews and interesting book-related features.
The home page for the site is here: Foreword Reviews.
What does it offer the reader? To begin with, of course, it offers reviews. The first menu item is 'Book reviews' and there is a list of recently-reviewed works. The reviews are thorough and show that the reviewers have taken some time to analyse what they're reading instead of simply giving an emotional response to whether they did or didn't like the book.
Interestingly, there appear to be two levels of reviews: the first is a straightforward review of new books submitted to them. The second is a so-called 'Clarion' review of books that are older or haven't been considered for the standard review. This type of review costs an author $499, but from what I see that doesn't guarantee the author an easy ride - the first book currently on the list gets only 3 out of 5 stars and is critiqued for its number of typos. This leads you to believe that the reviewers aren't just giving kudos for money, which is a Good Thing.
Elsewhere the site has Features, a Blog, and an opportunity for writers to enter the site's Indiefab competition. There's lots for both readers and writers to get their teeth into, and the site is nicely designed using large images and a simple navigation system. One criticism I would level is that the site does occasionally take a while to load the next page - something that is acknowledged by the system when it offers a dialogue saying: 'Taking too long? Try again or Cancel this request.' I'm not sure I've ever seen this elsewhere and it suggests it's a besetting problem that perhaps the designers should sort out.
Having said that, it's well worth a visit for the range of honest reviews and interesting book-related features.
The home page for the site is here: Foreword Reviews.