I spend hours upkeeping my blog and sacrifice my free time and not get paid for it. So if i get a few free bookes thrown my way, I feel I deserve it because essentially I’m working for free and allowing a publisher free PR when they would have to pay a lot of money elsewhere to advertise of get specific review publications to review their books.

Also, stop, collaborate and listen.
Ice is back with my brand new invention
Something grabs ahold of me tightly
flow like a harpoon daily and nightly.
Yo, will it ever stop?
I don’t know.

I applaud those like you Pam, who put soooo much energy behind something you don’t have to do. You do it because you want to. Not for status, not for material gain, nothing really tangible.

It is the intangible that survives the test of time and why many of us do this. It is satisfaction you get when knowing that someone bought a book and loved it because of one of our reviews/recommendations.

If it weren’t for my blogging, and the great, great, resource of blogs I follow, I wouldn’t have the job I have now…working in a bookstore.

Having these connections sells books. Case in point: during the holidays a woman was looking to buy books for her husband and friends, but felt lost. She came to me, and thanks to my blogging friends, I was able to recommend an armful of books. She only returned to exchange one. Why? Her husband had already read it.

More than once my supervisor has called me a “walking encyclopedia”. I attribute this to my experience with blogging.

As a bookseller, I truly comprehend and appreciate beyond measure the book bloggers I’ve come to know and trust. Without all of you, I could not fully do my job.

My feed reader is FULL of blogs from across the genre spectrum. In order to be the best at what I do at the store, I need to know the product, but I can’t read them all.

And I don’t have to. I have a treasure trove of those I trust, like Pam here, to help me stay apprised of the latest and greatest in whatever genre they read and review.

What these “publishing professionals” need to understand, is the power of the grassroots nature of the business. It cannot be overlooked or minimalized. And it sounds like they *think* they have a grasp on it, but they don’t. Especially when the success of blogs is because of this concept.

Tired of the pendantics and elitism (perceived or actual) in the literary review world, many readers turned to a medium and to those who spoke their language. They feel that bloggers are like them, understand them, have the same concerns as them, and this connection allows many of us to become trusted sources.

I couldn’t do what I do, and be as good as I am in doing it, if it weren’t for book bloggers. They are my source, my nourishment, my friends, a community I am proud to be a part of.

Thank you Pam for this post. Thank you for opening the eyes (I hope) of those who would demean us because of the misperceptions of what we do and how we impact the purchasing decisions of book buyers.

I am proud to be associated with you and everyone in this community and I am proud to be considered a compatriot and friend.

I am proud of *you*. And you should be too.

Well done!

I am both a blogger and a teacher. Any teacher who says he/she isn’t getting free books to preview for their classes is either a liar or an idiot. Teachers have access to a wide variety of book sources that bloggers do not – specifically publishing house reps who will develop wonderful relationships with you and help you find the perfect book for your class even if it means getting you free copies of books to read. You may have to give them back, but seriously I am tired of this concept of free gifts. The idea is not to load your shelves with free books. As a blogger, the idea is to promote books you are passionate about and get people reading. As a teacher, the idea is to find books you are passionate about and get students reading.

The unfortunate situation is that good bloggers get a bad rap because of a few rotten apples.

I’m not sure the total number of blogs out there, but I’m sure there are probably a more than a few that don’t strive for a high standard of professionalism or quality in what they do.

But it’s unfair to be lumped into a group. It would be like saying that all journalists are lazy cheats because a few plagiarize or that all paid reviewers are corrupt because one partakes in fringe benefits.

It is clear from your blog, which I’ve visited fairly regularly over the past few months, that you do take time and put in effort and actually like books and are definitely not in it for a few free bookmarks!