I am sometimes asked by publishers for my recommendations as to which book bloggers they should take notice of and which ones to whom, in my opinion anyway, they might usefully send catalogues and/or books. The old scatter-em-about principle was both inefficient and expensive.

My list of the best book bloggers is not long, given the number out there, and it does change quite often as some blogs fall silent. It used to be headed up by Grumpy Old Bookman but he  has ceased blogging, which is a great loss.

I cheer on all book bloggers. Word of mouth promotes books better than any other method of publicity and on the whole,  book-bloggers are word-of-mouthers, amateurs who want to tell not only their friends but a wider circle about what they are reading and enjoying. Their role is different from that of the professional book critic.They are self-appointed and they may not know as much as they think they do. They are also unedited and unregulated. I rarely review in the media now but during the forty years I did so, I often had to be, shall we say, less than enthusiastic about a given title. When I blog about books, I only mention those I admire and have enjoyed. If I can`t praise, I do not write abut the book.

But if it true that book bloggers are unregulated, there is an unofficial set of rules which seems to be forming itself around the best of them and the first rule is the above rule - write about it only if you can be positive.

Another 'rule' is simply etiquette. The best book bloggers give a  quick credit to whoever has drawn a title, an author, a bookseller or an internet book -related link to their attention. Of course you don`t have to do it - but people will notice. Grumpy Old Bookman never put up a notice about a link or a book that was passed on to him by another blogger without a quick 'thanks to X for the heads-up.'  Copy-catting other bloggers threads is unacceptable unless you acknowledge them. In the internet world, where everything can be misinterpreted and also at the same time both very impersonal and chatty-friendly, a bit of courtesy helps to civilise the place.

I have just been reading another book by the remarkably civilised Alberto Manguel, and found a pertinent little paragraph. It was not intended as a piece of advice to book bloggers but it serves as just that - I think it is the best advice anyone could offer, for the worst fault of so many of the book blogs I come across  ( and do not recommend to publishers )  is prolixity. It comes of being self-edited and unregulated of course. Manguel says this.

'I don`t like people summing up books for me. Tempt me, with a title, a scene, a quotation, yes, but not the whole story. Fellow enthusiasts, jacket blurbs, teachers and histories of literature destroy much of our reading pleasure by ratting on the plot.'

The key words in his paragraph are 'tempt me.'  Any book blogger who writes about a book succinctly and skilfully enough to tempt others into reading it is  getting it right.

And if you want to see my list of the best book bloggers - you can`t. It`s very confidential.