BookBrowse
BookBrowse is an online magazine and website that provides book reviews, author interviews, book previews, and reading guides.[2][3] The magazine is independent of publishers and does not sell books that it reviews.[4] The site offers both free and premium content that is available by subscription.[5]
Official BookBrowse logo from website | |
Screenshot of BookBrowse website (May 2015) | |
Owner | Davina & Paul Morgan-Witts |
---|---|
URL | www |
Alexa rank | |
Launched | 1997 |
History
BookBrowse was founded by Davina and Paul Morgan-Witts in 1997.[3] The idea for the website came from a trip to a bookstore the same year. The visit to the bookstore was cut short and they decided to look on the internet for book information, finding very little at that time.[3] This brought on the idea to create something that allowed readers to flip through various pages of a book similar to at a bookstore. BookBrowse was launched allowing visitors to view excerpts of books, later evolving into publishing of book reviews.[6]
The website grew in popularity and in 1998 was featured by Yahoo! as its Incredibly Useful Site of the Day.[4] In the early 2000s, it started publishing its own reviews of various books as well as publishing reader reviews. BookBrowse also launched an online magazine that is published twice-monthly, containing reviews, previews, articles, book club recommendations, and author interviews. It also provides a book club section for those seeking advice on starting a book club and finding suitable books to read, as well as book reviews by active book clubs.[7]
The site generates revenue by offering subscription access to premium features outside the content it publishes for free, including offering subscription access for public libraries.[8] One feature of the website is that BookBrowse does not sell books that it reviews.[9] BookBrowse also conducts and publishes author interviews. Published interviews have included Jennifer Egan,[10] Elisabeth Tova Bailey,[11] John Twelve Hawks,[12] and Kathryn Stockett.[13]
In July 2015, BookBrowse published a white paper titled Book Clubs in the USA [14]
Awards and recognition
In 2015 and 2017, BookBrowse received a Modern Library Award from LibraryWorks in recognition of it being a top product in the library industry.[15][16]
References
- "BookBrowse site ranks". Alexa Internet. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
- Long, Sarah (22 October 2002). "Teen Read Week Seeks to Cultivate a Crucial Skill". Daily Herald (via Questia Online Library). Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- "Book Site Gives Online Buying That Old Store Feel". Publishers Weekly. 6 January 1999.
- "Incredibly Useful Site for 8/25/98". Yahoo!. 25 August 1998.
- Novak, Tanya; Teysko, Heather (28 February 2015). "New Product News January/February 2015". Public Libraries Online. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- "Caught in the WEB". Family Circle. 5 January 1999.
- "Join the club - the Book Club to Go". The Telegram. 14 September 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- "New Product News". Public Libraries. Jan 2015.
- Villalon, Oscar (7 March 2000). "Readers Find Their Niches". San Francisco Chronicle.
- Donnelly, Elisabeth (5 September 2014). "The Eerie Prescience of Jennifer Egan's Fiction". Flavorwire. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- Haven, Cynthia (1 August 2012). "Authors Daniel Orozco, Elisabeth Tova Bailey win Stanford's 2012 Saroyan Prize for Writing". Stanford News. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- Huff, Steve (10 September 2007). "Who is John Twelve Hawks?". Blogger News Network. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- Hendin, Robert (22 November 2011). "Face the Nation on Sunday: Books & Authors show". CBS News. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- "Shelf Awareness for Tuesday, July 28, 2015". www.shelf-awareness.com. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
- "2015 Modern Library Awards". Modern Library. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- "MLAIssue17_2". cld.bz. Retrieved 2017-07-20.