 Official BookBrowse logo from website | |
 Screenshot of BookBrowse website (May 2015) | |
| Owner | Davina & Paul Morgan-Witts |
|---|---|
| URL | www |
| Launched | 1997 |
BookBrowse is an online magazine and website that provides book reviews, author interviews, book previews, and reading guides.[1][2] The magazine is independent of publishers and does not sell books that it reviews.[3] The site offers both free and premium content that is available by subscription.[4]
BookBrowse was founded by Davina and Paul Morgan-Witts in 1997.[2] The idea for the website came from a trip to a bookstore the same year. The visit to the bookstore was cut short and they decided to look on the internet for book information, finding very little at that time.[2] This brought on the idea to create something that allowed readers to flip through various pages of a book, similar to at a bookstore. BookBrowse was launched allowing visitors to view excerpts of books, later evolving into publishing of book reviews.[5]
The website grew in popularity and in 1998 was featured by Yahoo! as its Incredibly Useful Site of the Day.[3] In the early 2000s, it started publishing its own reviews of various books as well as publishing reader reviews. BookBrowse also launched an online magazine that is published twice-monthly, containing reviews, previews, articles, book club recommendations, and author interviews. It also provides a book club section for those seeking advice on starting a book club and finding suitable books to read, as well as book reviews by active book clubs.[6]
The site generates revenue by offering subscription access to premium features outside the content it publishes for free, including offering subscription access for public libraries.[7] One feature of the website is that BookBrowse does not sell books that it reviews.[8] BookBrowse also conducts and publishes author interviews. Published interviews have included Jennifer Egan,[9] Elisabeth Tova Bailey,[10] John Twelve Hawks,[11] and Kathryn Stockett.[12]
In July 2015, BookBrowse published a research report titled Book Clubs in the USA.[13] In February 2019, BookBrowse published a research report titled The Inner Lives of Book Clubs,[14][15] and in November 2020 it published a third [16] in its series of reports titled Book Clubs in Lockdown [17] [18]
In 2015 and 2017, BookBrowse received a Modern Library Award from LibraryWorks in recognition of it being a top product in the library industry.[19][20] In 2020 it was awarded Platinum in the Modern Library Awards [21]