People who love reading love to talk about the books they have recently read, just as people who love reading love to hear from others about good books. Word of mouth has always been the most effective means of book promotion. And now with the help of technology, especially  the Internet, spreading the word about good reads is easier and more achievable than ever.

Authors and publishers compete for book reviews from professional reviewers in magazines, journals, newspapers, and on web sites for the readership those forms of media command and for the accompanying increase in status a review in those publications can bring. But taking into consideration the long tail of marketing theory, there is another very effective alternative to draw attention to products you are marketing. And that phenomenon occurs when many small independent consumer reviews appear. One major review reaching several hundred thousand people can be matched in impact by several hundred reviews, each reaching several hundred or a thousand people.

This is of course where the Internet comes in. Almost every newspaper, blog, and retail site on the Internet offers the opportunity for reader and user comments.  Most book retail sales sites and book lovers' sites include an opportunity for readers to voice their opinions on books they have read. These third-party reviews are particularly valuable because they represent varied and neutral voices offering honest and impartial comments. People like reading these reviews because they trust other buyers with whom they can identify, folks just like themselves.

When creating a promotion plan for your book, be sure to include exposure on sites where readers can post comments. Some of these are:

• Amazon.com

• Anobii.com

• Barnesandnoble.com

• Bookarmy.com

• Borders.com

• Goodreads.com

• Librarything.com

• Shelfari.com

• Weread.com

In addition, you can create a blog or web site about your book and invite readers to comment there. It's smart to provide a link from your web site to an online store where the book may be purchased so those who read positive comments can click through to buy the book.

Dorrance Publishing has created a Book Review Team to encourage independent, third-party reviews of all their books. They invite people who have purchased books from the company in the past or have done business with them in any way to join the team and benefit by receiving coupons for free books in exchange for posting reviews. This gives every book published by Dorrance a chance at receiving widespread support from people whom buyers trust when making book buying decisions.

Whether you publish your book with Dorrance or by some other means, it is important to consider and take advantage of all the opportunities for book promotion and exposure that exist in today's highly technological world of book publishing.