Ok. I, for one, never look at "book review blogs."
I read and often buy on the basis of reviews in
NYTimes and
Wall Street Journal; usually read reviews in, and sometimes buy based on reviews in,
Analog,
Fantasy & Science Fiction, and
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. I have bought a LOT of books offered/reviewed by Scientific American Book Club and History Book Club. And I am often influenced, for and against, by reviews posted by readers on Amazon (and sometimes am persuaded not to buy a book by positive reviews, and to buy a book by negative reviews, as well as the other way around, as context is critical). Back when I browsed bookstore shelves regularly, I bought a lot of books I first saw in a store. That is rare now.
And in the nonfiction realm, I often am led to books (new and old, in print and out of print) by the notes and bibliographies in books I've read. For fiction, if I like a series novel, I often buy the rest in the series (at least until it burns out).
But book review blogs? No interest in those.
The reason for my questions is that I believe it is important to seek reviews in the places the author values for their reviews. Sometimes that might be influential general-interest publications (like major newspapers or magazines) and sometimes it might be specialized publications (like the fantasy and science fiction magazines, or journals devoted to, say, political science, economics, and so on, whatever the author's topics are).
--Ken
. . . I am interested in what everyone else thinks.