BookBrowse

History

BookBrowse was founded by Davina and Paul Morgan-Witts in 1997. 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. 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.

The website grew in popularity and in 1998 was featured by Yahoo! as its Incredibly Useful Site of the Day. 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, 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.

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. One feature of the website is that BookBrowse does not sell books that it reviews. BookBrowse also performs and publishes author interviews. Published interviews have included Jennifer Egan, Elisabeth Tova Bailey, John Twelve Hawks, and Kathryn Stockett.

Awards and recognition

In 2015, BookBrowse received a Modern Library Award from LibraryWorks in recognition of it being a top product in the library industry.