WoM

by Patricia Kay

Word of mouth is the most effective way of passing on to other people suggestions for and recommendations of books to read. That is why the BookChat sessions running in our libraries are so successful. Participants are multi-tasking; getting ready to add their bit to the discussion, listening to what others are saying and jotting down titles and authors mentioned for follow up. At our desks we notice an increase in requests when books have been favourably reviewed on the radio. The Good Word show on TV7 brought books to a television audience and now we have the Youtube version - video book reviews.
A new initiative from Martin Taylor, NZ internet guru, records and disseminates booktalks by three well-known, well-read and personable local booksellers. In a 3 minute video clip they give a sense of the story, a quick run down on the main characters and some reasons why that book is such a good read. The videos are available to everyone from the website BookTV, from Youtube and soon from The Reading Experience section of our very own website.
Here is an example