About

Hello and welcome to Helen’s Reads. This is a blog & website dedicated to building an online community of like minded readers looking for that next good book to read. Think of this site as your very own personal book club but without the cleaning, baking, hosting or required reading responsibilities.

No publisher hype here. Just recommended favorites by readers who share the idea that a good book is one that you escape into and return from with a greater sense of self and the world we live in.

I hope you will take some time to browse my site. Besides the lists of reader favorites (be sure to rank the ones you’ve already read), you will find links to other fun book sites, my soon to come ‘book themed’ store and “The Buzz” my blog that sorts and reports on what book industry insiders are excited about. If you like what you see, I invite you to become a member. It’s easy and it’s absolutely free.

About Helen Gibson, founder

In 1994, I fell into ‘book world’ when I became owner of a literary media service to the publishing industry. I interfaced on a daily basis with publicists, booksellers and the authors themselves. This exposure left me reading, loving and recommending books that were not necessarily sitting out on the best seller table. Soon, the one question I would (and still get asked) by friends and family….”What’s good to read?”

Helen lives with her husband and their wire haired fox terrier near the book centric city of Seattle, WA (voted most literate city two years running).

Some Fun Book Facts
(Source: www.bookstatistics.com )

* Over 50,000 new fiction titles were published in 2007.

* A book must move in the stores in six weeks.

* Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.

* Everyone judges a book by it’s cover. On the average, a book store browser spends eight seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds looking at the back cover.

* Women buy 68% of all books sold.

* Half of all books sold today are to people over the age of 45.

* Word of mouth top seller of books. According to The Independent, “Publishers can spend a fortune promoting their hottest literary discoveries. Bookshops can deploy all their marketing ingenuity to produce imaginative displays. But when the book-buying public comes to choose a new read, it is word of mouth that counts.” Next comes author loyalty.

Favorite Book Quotes

“You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.”   ~Paul Sweeney

“It is all very well to be able to write books, but can you waggle your ears?”   ~James Matthew Barrie