There have been a lot of good book reviews on business blogs lately. Brand Autopsy has been looking at BANG! [Here is the first entry; work your way back]. Church of the Customer wrote one on Code Name Ginger. I just got done doing one about Funky Business.
I think these reviews are more detailed than the typical Amazon review. I think various bloggers use the reviews to illustrate a point or highlight the lessons they learned. I think it is a great way to create interesting content for one’s site.
Will Amazon suffer from this? The ability to look at reviews of books is one of the most powerful draws for Amazon. What if people start doing a Google search or check out All Consuming to get more detailed recommendations from blogs?
I realize most bloggers link to Amazon for the books they recommend. Couldn’t you link to anyone though? Why not Barnes and Noble?
Do blogger book reviews hurt or help Amazon?
Today, I doubt there is any effect on Amazon. Longer term, it might matter. If they are smart they could figure out some way to let bloggers who regularly review books and are in their associate program integrate into the site. Maybe use RSS to create links to offsite reviews that will funnel the sale right back to them.
I think in the long term there will be a noticeable effect due to the relative lack of digital indentity conferred on Amazon reviewers. Regardless of how many stars these reviewers have they are one dimensionsal avatars who only have opinions on books. And I’m always suspicious of plants!
On the other hand, bloggers are multi-dimensional fully fleshed digital characters. I’ll give a hundred times more weight to the opinion of a blogger who has recorded an archive of daily brain droppings than any phantom like Amazon reviewer.
In fact, I think that a time will come when having an established digital identity (blog) will be as important for ‘living online’ as having a phycial body is in meatspace. If you’re invisible how can you be trusted?
Isn’t blogging more like publishing…that you are introducing a reader to new information? You aren’t going to find a review of a book on Amazon until you are searching for it.
Over the longer term, bloggers can have a collectively powerful effect on Amazon. Regular readers of various blogs trust the judgement of their favourite bloggers. A good review of a book is similar to a recommendation from a friend.
While most bloggers may not have many readers, and their suggested titles may only have a limited readership, all bloggers taken as a whole can have a large effect. A large percentage of bloggers, reviewing many books, can mean more total overall book sales for Amazon.
It just might not mean a lot of sales for an individual title, unless a reviewing blogger has a lot of visitor traffic.