Top ten things to do instead of write reviews
I have become the master of procrastination. I will share my secrets with you. The decision to do so was not easy, I even procrastinated this minor blog all day.
- Make a list of things you need to do, and just stop there. By making the list you have alerted yourself. You have done enough.
- Read a book and tell yourself you have to get this book read first before you can review the other 7 you just read. I mean you have to read to review right?
- Watch the movie of a book you recently read. Heck go on out and watch Percy and the Olympians or The Lovely Bones in the theater. Call it review research.
- Write a quick blog like this one instead.
- Write your own book.. and then read it.
- Play Farmville with your book blogging buddies. (Laura is like a master farmer.)
- Do site maintenance, comment everyone back on your blog and then go comment their blogs.
- Cook a huge Southern dinner like Amma in Beautiful Creatures. Still book related.
- Make a Team Gale needlepoint for Michelle
- Meet me Thursday night at Books Inc in Palo Alto at 7 to see Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
With a little hard work and a can do attitude you too can be a level 7 master procrastinator.
Why does the length of time you have been blogging matter?
I started this blog in January of this year. Oooh a no0b right? Not exactly, I have been blogging both professionally, and personally for a very very long time. Eurobands.us is one of my older blogs. I had know how in the marketing world, blogging world, and coding world. My site is professional, clean, and I hope well read. So why do I keep reading “She has only been book blogging 2 months and got an ARC”, or “That wasn’t fair, I have been blogging for a year more than her”. I really think that is completely ridiculous and not relevant in any sense.
Time blogging does several things, it allows you to learn the ropes, make friends, and mass a following. Some need less time than others, some pick up on things more quickly, figure things out faster, have an awesome networking and marketing style. So while person A is blogging for 4 years and struggling to find a balance and a following, person B may have surpassed your 4 years of work in a matter of months. Pro blogger states the longer your blog is out there the better, and that is true! Imagine where these up and coming blogs that already surpass older ones will be in the same amount of time. I am in no way saying the older blogs should be passed over either, I just do not think that length of time is always a valid claim or complaint as to why you didn’t receive something and someone else did. *coughbookshelvescough* As book bloggers we are marketers first and foremost. Yes I do this for me, in my own way, and in an honest opinion way, but I am fully aware that the things I post here are for recommendation purposes. With this comes responsibilty for professionalism, and a responsibility to get the word out about said product. So I would like to know why length of time with a blog is relevant if you can do these things faster and better should you be passed over because you are a no0b?
Bloggiesta Next Weekend, not there then you’re square!
Bloggiesta: Be there or be square!
When is Bloggiesta? The date is Friday, June 19th beginning at 8am, Saturday the 20th and ending Sunday the 21st at 8am (8am your time, wherever you are). That is a total of 48 hours, of which you should aim high for a total of 18-24 hours spent on the challenge.
What is Bloggiesta? Well it is a special weekend for bloggers from any genre (ie. mommy, movie review, tech, lit, any blog on the planet), to spend some time doing maintenance on our blogs and social networking sites. The post on exactly how to join, and what exactly you need to be doing is located here at Maw Books (the event coordinator). The button you see to the top left is what brands this challenge so make sure to steal that and put it on your blog with your post detailing what it is you need to get done on your blog!
For optimal participation keep checking back to the post on Maw’s Book Blog and use Twitter Search to follow and use the hash tag for the event #bloggiesta
Now with no further ado, here is the list of things I want to get done this weekend in no particular order (to track my progress check back to this post strike through items are completed):
- Business cards designed and ordered from Moo
- Add a related posts plugin.
- Get Comment Luv to work.
- Work on my Myspace getting it all current.
- Find new cool people to follow on Twitter.
This list may grow, and I am here to help with anything I have expertise in such as design, how to code a cool post or template for a post, or anything else you see around my blog. So I may have some questions for you ladies and gents in your area of expertise also.
Let’s have fun!
Top 5 reasons to blog about books
Today the top 5 is going to be related to a blog I read over at The Story Siren blog. I think it is important before you open a book blog, that no matter how glamorous it seems there is a lot of hard work involved also. Me I am behind at least 3 reviews and 6 books to read just at this moment in time. This has to be done for your deep love of reading and pseudo existent marketing skills.
- The first reason to start a book blog should be your complete and utter love of books, whether it is all books or a niche such as YA or Fantasy. Finding your niche and designing your blog around this is important. My personal niche is YA, Fantasy, and True Stories. These things fascinate me and I absolutely love reading these stories.
- Be honest, don’t bash books but find constructive ways to say why you didn’t exactly like them also say why, why the book didn’t engage you in the way you thought. If you want to blog the main question people want answered is why. Why did this book rock or why was it not so good>
- Publishers are fantastic, another good reason to start a blog. I started mine and worked at it a couple of months before I started the twitter and Myspace and Facebook and all the social marketing aspects of having a blog. The main thing people need to see is content and that the content is relevant to what the blog is about. Don’t use this space to blog about your adorable dog, or those rascally kids of yours. It’s really not needed, focus on books and putting up great reviews the incoming hits will increase along with publishers who like your style and want you to review their books. Do not under any circumstance accept books you will not or do not want to read and review or books that do not fit the niche and style of your blog., instead let the publisher know in an email back what your blog is about and what type of books you look for.
- The community of bloggers, in my links section that is new here because I am still sorting everything out, are some really good bloggers whose styles vary but are all good reviewers. Look to these people for advice and just to see what they have going on at the moment. The community of book bloggers is not an easy nut to crack, they want to see that you are serious and know your stuff, and are making a genuine effort. They are very helpful and if you feel stuck on anything most likely one of these lovely ladies will help you out.
- Lastly, make sure you can commit, if you can blogging about books can be such a rewarding experience. Introduce you to book fans and bloggers around the world with similar interests. There can be awesome conversation and some good advice and news out there, do not be discouraged if things don’t work out immediately, internet things come slowly and the more you learn the better your blog will be in every aspect.
That being said happy blogging, I am new to the book world myself just a few months but have a lot of internet blogging and marketing experience from other areas of expertise and used these sites to handle the initial push for this blog. If you have other properties use them to your advantage when possible. If you have any questions or comments or if I missed anything or need to elaborate more on a point please let me know.
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