Ah, if only I had seas of time, I’d try and write one myself.

“Branko, here’s an additional thought. The idea shouldn’t be just to publish reviews but, I’d hope, get some reaction and have them appear in a broader context.”

Less attention is indeed a problem–assuming I will be getting less attention by staying away from Amazon and the like. Blogs who want to draw attention to my reviews can of course easily do so using the RSS channels for my “books” or “Reviews” categories. You could actually get a nice aggregator going that way. I won’t patent this idea! Anyone, please, start a book review aggregator! I have always felt that next to the Teleblog (e-libraries), and Mobileread, (e-readers), there is room for a third blog that does just reviews of e-books.

Anyhoo, I’d like the attention, but I prefer the control. Even when I have plenty control over what happens to my articles here, it still means I’d have to manage duplicates. Sometimes I am willing to do that, other times I am not.

“The problem is that the microformat seems too generic–it is intended for restaurant reviews and consumer reviews. That makes the microformat a bit cumbersome.”

Quite frankly I like the genericness. Formats tend to get bogged down in minutiae, after which they lose popularity.

The project I’m working on will use hreviews sometime, and you’re right; I expect weblog people to write plugins eventually. The problem with weblog software is that (mainly) you just have “posts” with tags, not special kinds of pages for each kind of topic.

Maybe what you really need to do is focus on sites where your reviews can be appreciated and digested—benefiting you, among others. I consider the TeleBlog not just a form of expression but one of learning, from other people’s reactions. Via the Teleblog, we’ve got some very sharp readers—including fellow contributors ready to tell me when I’m full of it. Sometimes I’ll agree, sometimes not. But I will say this: I’d hate to be writing just in a vacuum. While interblog links can help, so will comments on different sites and in a variety of contexts.

Thanks,
David

Here at the TeleBlog, editing of your items have been light; and via WordPress you’re able to make instant changes. I know you care about capitalization—sometimes a source of disagreement. But I’ve tried to be very tolerant in your case. What’s more, I feel that editing can go in both directions. I’ve encouraged you to stamp out any obvious glitches you see in my copy.

Meanwhile I hope you continue posting nonreviews here and doing good work publicizing the good work of groups such as DP. I’d actually like to see more items of that kind.

As for the WordPress plug-in you describe, the very best of luck with that cause. Perhaps someone will oblige you after reading your thoughts here. – David