Okay, maybe the sensational headline is cheating… It might not be the ultimate list YET… But we’re hoping you’ll help! Because with all the bells tolling ’round the water cooler about the death of newspaper book reviews, I haven’t heard or seen enough exclamations of Batman-ic proportions (WOW! ZAP! BAAAM!) about the baby-boom of book review sites — “live” births and lots of ’em.

Nearly all book review sites experience lots of web traffic. They’re great places to find a read, no matter your genre preference, and better places to place yourself as an author. Many offer links to your website, author interviews (print, podcast, even video), guest author blogs and more.

So let’s create the ULTIMATE list! Here are TWENTY — a mere starter dough of potential review sites to get you rolling. And, to be politically correct (since traffic comes and traffic goes), we’ve listed them in alphabetical order.

NOTE: Each entry links to that review site’s URL. Please do add more sites — or your comments about the sites we’ve listed — in our comments section below. Or, comment at any of the various LinkedIn or Facebook groups where we’ve posted this challenge. Within a couple of weeks we’ll cobble together what WILL be the ultimate list and put it all in a Google doc for anyone to access and add to…

1. Allreaders.com (it’s not sexy, but it’s functional, and you can submit a review and be a “scholar”)
2. Alltop.com (specifically books.alltop.com – a list of blogs related to books and an easy place to begin your search).
3. Bookfetish.org (specializing in genre fiction reviews from horror to true crime to romance).
4. Bookpage.com (with hundreds of reviews a month, it’s a great place to discover new talent).
5. Bookslut.com (gotta’ love the name – Bookslut is a monthly web magazine and daily blog dedicated to those who love to read)
6. ForewordReviews.com (ForeWord has exclusively reviews books from small presses)
7. Goodreads.com (The “Razzles” of book review sites – it’s reader candy and social networking gum to chew on all in one neat package)
8. Galleycat.com (with great traffic, great lists, great reviews and great e-blast updates, this one is a great favorite of the WWW team!)
9. IndieAuthorNews.com (book reviews, interviews, ebooks, even self-publishing advice)
10. LibraryJournal.com (news and reviews from Library Journal staffers)
11. LibraryThing.com (like GR, a hybrid community of readers, writers and reviewers, boasting 1,500,000 readers)
12. MidwestBookReview.com (lots of resources and easy links to get a book reviewed or become a reviewer)
13. WriteMyFirstEssay.com (like other essay services, but with good customer support to help with reviews and books in coursework)
14. NPR.org (with an ongoing commitment to serious books and authors, lots of lists, author interviews and reviews)
15. NewYorker.com (Page Turner is the name of the blog here, with “criticism, contention, and conversation about books that matter.”)
16. NYBooks.com (The New York Review of Books – great traffic, lots to read)
17. NewYorkTimes.com (okay, not everyone can crack the NYT best-seller lists, but the lists will surely lend insights… 50 Shades of What?!)
18. PublishersWeekly.com (a world unto itself)
19. Riffle.com (brand new – click on the link to get invited to its anticipated launch)
20. Shelfari.com (owned by Amazon, you can click thru to buy in an instant – and like Goodreads has the benefit of “groups” where you can find your reading tribe)
21. ShelfAwareness.com (co-founded by long-time P/W executive editor, John Mutter, delivers enews too, with reader and trade versions)