ONLINE REVIEWS? YOUR VIEWS?

This time, I am asking for your help. Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking: "Crikey, Nicola, O wise and never really crabbit one, what on earth can we do for you? Ask, ask anything, and it shall be yours."

Well, thank you. Indeed I will.

See, recently I opened my mouth in foolishness and landed myself with a task. I was at a meeting of much cleverer authors than I, such high-brow personages as .... no, I will refrain from name-dropping, except to say that there were among them people who'd written books I am in awe of, including The Millstone ... and I was pontificating about the growing value of respected blogs for serious book-reviewing. I waffled on apparently knowledgeably about how it barely mattered that newspapers were cutting back on review space (except that it does matter a lot to the print journalists) because publishers and authors now look to getting their books reviewed on esteemed on-line platforms. (See, with words like platform, it's not that hard to sound knowledgeable).

And although I only slightly knew what I was talking about, everyone else seemed rather in awe of my bluffing so they asked me to write an article for The Author about it. Ah.

"Ah," because I feel that my modest list of Blogs I Know About That Are Kind Of Widelyish Respected may not be enough, and my opinions may just that - my opinions - so I am asking you, my expert bloggers and readers and general good eggs, to tell me what you think. Yes, I'm interviewing you all in one go. And no, I'm not paying you.

(And yes, views from all over the world equally welcome - that's the thing about on-line: there's no such thing as "foreign". Thanks, Catdownunder, for even wondering if your views counted - of course they do!)

So, writers, where would you most like to find your books reviewed online. Readers, where do you go to be informed about books? What do you trust? Publishers, whom do you send review copies to? Sorry, I mean to whom ...