Tara Robertson is a blogger and book reviewer. Check out her views on books at http://tarasviewonbooks.blogspot.com.

Q: How did you become a book review blogger?

A: I became a book review blogger as soon as I could after discovering they existed! I adore books and the very idea that I could read a book for free and then tell other people about it was VERY appealing to me. The very first reviews I did were for the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance over 2 years ago and I found them through a link on another blog.

Q: How do you decide what books to review?

A: I read the little blurb that the PR rep sends out to me and if it sounds good I say yes! I get sent an average of about 3 review requests per day and I say yes to as many as I can feasibly actually read! I almost always say yes to books by authors I have read before. I also keep an ongoing list of books I read about on other blogs that sound good and if the opportunity comes up to review them I jump at the chance. If an author contacts me personally to ask for a review I basically always say yes. I actually have a pretty hard time saying no to any book! 

Q: What is the demographic of your readership, and do you choose books that are marketed towards them?

A: Most of my readers are women and many of those women are moms. It seems to me that about half of my readers prefer family friendly or Christian based books and the other half would prefer something a little edgier. Some prefer non-fiction but I think the majority read primarily fiction. I don’t tend to purposefully choose books that are marketed towards them. 

Q: Do you ever do reviews to intentionally expose your readers to books they might not otherwise pick up on their own?

A: Absolutely. Those are some of my favourite reviews to do! 

Q: How much does cover design and title influence your decision about doing a review?

A: Not at all most of the time since I often will read a description of the book before seeing the cover at all. I will say the cover design definitely influences me once I have the book in my hands- if 2 books arrive on the same day I will definitely read the one with the better cover first!

Q: When reading a book for a review, do you read as you would strictly for your own pleasure or are you keeping an eye out for certain components?

A: I read it mostly the same as I would for pleasure but I do often catch myself thinking about things I will write in my review as I’m reading.

Q: What is more important to you, quality of writing or the actual story?

A: I must admit that I sometimes find it hard to GET to the actual story if the quality of writing sucks. But the actual story is what draws me in.

Q: Do you compare your reviews of a given book to those of your peers? If so, do you find your views are generally similar or dissimilar?

A: Good question! I DO compare my reviews and I would say that they are similar to about half of my peers but the other half is definitely varied. I read a lot of different reviewers and some of them I read specifically BECAUSE they usually have differing opinions!

Q: Do you think the consolidation of the publishing industry has been positive or negative for the quality and diversity of books that make it to the market?

A: well, I’m not really sure because I have had an amazing amount of quality books make it to ME over the past year… but I don’t suppose I necessarily reflect the market very well!

Q: Do you think e-books are going to make printed books obsolete like CD’s have become in the wake of the ipod revolution?

A: I really really hope not. I think there will always be folks who prefer an actual book to reading on a screen… even if it is a very cool screen like a Kindle. 

Q: What is the best reward for you from blogging about books?

A: I LOVE getting the chance to read so many different books and I love being able to pass them on. It is fun watching others get interested in the books I love.

Q: What are your three favorite books?

A: Wow… that is tough… I guess I will always love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the Harry Potter series is fabulous, and I love The Message by Eugene Peterson.

 Thanks Tara!

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