Book Blogger Confessions #16

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by Midnyte Reader and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here.

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Blogger relations: Are there blogs you visit and comment on because you like their style, voice etc. (maybe you even converse with the blogger on Twitter & Facebook) but those comments are never reciprocated on your blog? Do you get a bit offended or do you understand that they may be busy? Or do you comment just because you like a post not expecting anything in return?

Generally, I don't visit blogs or leave comments in order to get visits or comments on my own blog. I read other blogs because I like reading about books - that's the only reason, really. I've never really commented on memes and left a link to my own meme post, or any of that commenting-in-order-to-leave-your-link stuff because I feel like that's forcing people to read your blog, which I don't want to do. (Also, I'm too lazy.)

That doesn't mean, though, that I never get disappointed because my favorite bloggers don't read my blog. I read blogs that show a taste similar in books to mine, and I assume others do, too. So I figure that if I like their taste in books, they'd probably like mine, too. There are lots of blogs that I read all the time and comment on regularly (well, not so much right now, because I'm super-busy and failing at commenting. But in general...), and it does sometimes make me sad that, as far as I know, they don't read mine. Especially when it's someone I talk to on Twitter, etc., so I can be sure they know I exist.

But I try not to let it get to me. People are busy; that's just the way it is. A lot of the blogs I read are bigger blogs; they get loads of comments from faithful readers, and I'm just one of them. Of course they don't have the time to read all of our blogs. My blog isn't all that big, but I already couldn't comment back for every comment I get. I try to tell myself that the fact that they've never left a comment doesn't necessarily mean they've never read a post of mine; I read without commenting all the time. And even though it's hard, I think we just have to accept that not everyone will like our blogs. Even if we have the same taste in books, that blogger I like might just not like my blog that much, for whatever reason. And that's fine - you can't please everyone. I just try to be thankful for the people who do read and comment regularly!

What about you - how do you deal with bloggers you love not stopping by your blog?

Book Blogger Confessions #15

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by Midnyte Reader and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: How do you follow blogs?  Do you use Google Reader?  Are you on an e-mail list?  Are you more apt to follow people who have less followers?  Would you follow a blog to enter a contest?  What makes you unfollow a blog?

I'm a little strange in my following techniques. The blogs I read the most, I don't follow in any real way - they're just the ones on my blog roll ("Blogs I like" on my sidebar). Those blogs are the only ones I check really often - as in, almost every post. Since I'm usually on my own blog, checking to see whether my posts look okay, etc., I just see what stuff my favorite blogs posted from there. I guess it's kind of weird, and I don't know anyone else who reads like that, but I just think it's the most convenient, since I don't have to go to another site and can just go directly from my own blog.

Those aren't the only blogs I read, though, of course. For the rest, I use Twitter. I follow a lot of bloggers on Twitter, so I don't read all of their blog posts, but I do check Twitter pretty often and click on whatever looks interesting. I use Facebook like that too, but not as much as Twitter. The blogs I read like that are the ones I like reading but don't necessarily want to read every post from; the favorites, where I want to read everything, go on my blog roll.

I also follow a lot of blogs via GFC, but to be honest, I never check my Google Reader, so me following via GFC doesn't really mean anything. There are just too many blogs in my reader, so many that I just followed for a contest (yes, I do that) but don't really read. I cleaned it out once and only left blogs I actually read, but it filled right back up again.

As to how I decide who to follow, it just depends. My favorite bloggers are the ones whose tastes are similar to mine, so ones that review contemporary YA. And the ones I follow via Twitter are just kind of random, for all sorts of reasons - I don't pay that much attention to who I follow on Twitter, to be honest, since I do follow a lot of bloggers.

I rarely unfollow anyone on my blog roll, since those are the blogs I love. Most of the time, I just unfollow if someone stops blogging, if they haven't posted in months. The only other reason I remember having removed someone from my blog roll is design - if I can't read your blog because you have an impossible font, or something like yellow text on a black background, I'll probably be too lazy to read it, so there's no point in me keeping you on my blog roll. Oh, and plagiarism will get you removed from my blog roll, too, of course.

On Twitter, I'm not that big on unfollowing, either, simply because I'm lazy. I've never gone through all my follows to see whose stuff I actually read; maybe I should do that at some point... The only reason I'll unfollow on Twitter, really, is spam - if you tweet your posts every 30 seconds, I don't want that in my stream. (Retweeting all Triberr or giveaway tweets counts as that, too!)

That's it, I think. I mainly follow via my blog roll and via Twitter, and I don't unfollow unless you actively piss me off or stop blogging.

What are your following and unfollowing methods?

Book Blogger Confessions #14

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Have you ever loved a book that you know is not a great literary gem? Maybe it's filled with spelling errors, tired cliches, and is utterly cheestastic but you loved it anyway. How do you handle that as a blogger who is used to critical thinking and analysis? Do you pretend you never read the book - never to be reviewed or added to your Goodreads shelf? Do you write a review but maybe apologize and make excuses as to why you enjoyed it or are you bold and proud of any book you enjoyed? Conversely - have you read a classic, that is considered a literary gem but you just didn't get it? Are you embarrassed to admit that or do you review it anyway?


That happens to me ALL THE TIME. I've read so many books that I know are of little to no literary value but I just enjoyed reading. The most recent example would be The Selection by Kiera Cass. Objectively, I could see that it is pretty terrible. It is cheesy and makes no sense and the characters are flat and everything about it is terrible. And it was pretty hard to turn off my critical-thinking brain that was making lists in my head of all the bad stuff I could include in my review. But somehow, I did manage to tune all of that out, and then, I kind of loved it. A lot of the technical stuff is bad, but it's a fun read, and that's what matters most, to me. I ended up giving it 3 stars.


It happens the other way around, too. To be honest, I haven't read many classics, but there've been lots of books that I could see, objectively, were good, but I didn't connect with. Like Paper Covers Rock by Jennifer Hubbard. I could see that the writing was good, and that there was so much hidden depth in the book, but I didn't work for me. It was just too weird and felt like too much work for me, which is why I didn't enjoy it, even though I can see, objectively, that it's a good book. I ended up giving it 2 stars.


That might seem wrong, and I do feel a little bad about it, but I think it's justified. I don't give ratings or write reviews about whether or not a book is good; I have no business deciding that. I review and rate based on whether or not I liked a book - that's the only thing I can really judge. And if I enjoyed a cheestastic book and did not like one of more literary value, then I think it's fine to give the cheestastic book a higher rating.


At least, that's how I deal with it in the blogging world. In the blogging world, I'm proud of liking the books I like and disliking the books I dislike - I feel like the blogging world gets it, you know? In the real world, though, I'm not that open about what books I like. I'd be kind of embarrassed to say I loved a book that I know the other person would hate, with good reason, or to say I didn't get a book that is supposedly so great. In the real world, I just say something non-commital or something.


How do you deal with loving a "bad" book or hating a "good" book?

Book Blogger Confessions #13

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Almost all of us blog as a hobby in our spare time, usually for free but is there anything wrong with making money off your blog? Should bloggers charge for reviews? What about advertising on a blog? When a blogger does allow book related advertising does it turn you off? Make you wonder about the honesty of their reviews? Do you have a problem with purchase links (Amazon for example) that earn a blogger a small commission if a person purchases a book through that link?


I think there are two different types of making money off of your blog, and it's very important to distinguish between the two, because one is wrong and the other is perfectly fine.


The first one would be to charge for a review, or even a positive review. And that is wrong, definitely. The point of blogging or reviewing is to share your honest opinion, and I don't think you could do that if there's a possibility your opinion will be influenced by something the author or publisher can give you. It'd feel wrong, to me, to accept any kind of compensation for writing a review. Integrity is one of the most important things a blogger needs to have, and I wouldn't compromise it for anything. I would never charge anything for a review.


Blog advertising, though, is totally fine, to me. I don't do ads because my blog is way too small for that kind of thing, but I definitely don't mind when bigger bloggers put ads on their site. We all put a lot of work into this, so if we have the chance, why not make a little bit of money off of it? I just think it's important to make it clear what is an ad and what is your content - it needs to be stated somewhere that some things in your sidebar are ads; that just because the book cover is on your blog does not mean you liked this book. As long as it's not too much - preferaly sidebar only, definitely no pop-ups - I'm fine with blog advertising.


I'm fine with blogger affiliations and earning a commission, too. If you didn't have to be 18 for those programs, I would definitely do that, too! I put links to purchase the book in my review anyways, so why not make a little bit of money off of it if someone does decide to buy the book? I always try to remember to go through an affiliate link when I buy from the Book Depository - if you have the choice between 5% (or however much they get) going to the big company or that small blogger you like, I don't see why you wouldn't want the blogger to get that money.


And I think it's important to remember that even the bloggers that offer ad space and have affiliation links do not get rich off of this. They earn a few dollars that can be used to pay for giveaways, blog design, a domain name; there's lots of blog-related stuff that costs money. It's not like book bloggers can make thousands of dollars off of this.


So that's what I think - making a little bit of money off of your blog is fine, as long as you don't compromise your integrity for it. What do you think of book bloggers making money off of their blogs?

Book Blogger Confessions #12

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: What do we owe publishers and authors? If we accept ARCs do we “owe” anything to them or just an honest review to our followers? As book bloggers are we obligated to do more than just review books? Post covers – participate on tours – host guest posts?


In short, my answer would be no. We are not obligated to do anything. I started a book blog because I wanted to talk about books, and honestly, I don't see how anyone would start a book blog for a reason other than that. Book bloggers might be a marketing tool for publishers, but that's not the reason we blog. This is my blog, and I can do whatever I want on it; I don't owe anyone anything. 


When we start accepting review copies, that changes things a little bit. But the only thing you agree to do is to read the author's/publisher's book and to write an honest review for it - nothing else. No author can expect us to compromise our integrity for them, to write a positive review if we didn't actually love the book. I feel much more obligated to my readers to tell them honestly how I felt about the book, than to the author or publisher to make them happy with a positive review.


I personally love taking part in cover reveals and blog tours, interviewing authors and posting their guest posts. When I'm excited about a book, I want to share that excitement, and posts like those are a really good way to do that, and to help promote those books. But again, I don't think you should feel obligated to do any of that if you don't want to.


Really, that's all there is to it. You can do whatever you want, because it's your blog. The only thing you owe to an author or publisher who's book you accepted for review is just that - a review.


What do you think book bloggers owe authors and publishers?

Book Blogger Confessions #11

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Blogging controversies. How do you address them? Do you join the Twitter frenzy? Write a post? Stay on the sidelines and hope they go away? 
How do you think we should address plagiarism scandals? Bad author behavior? Negative comments on our blogs?


I know a lot of people pride themselves on staying out of all blogging drama, but I personally don't think it's wrong to join in. I don't post about it on the blog, and I don't tweet about it loads. But I do tweet about it a few times, and I'm not afraid to say where I stand on those issues.


Especially the first two examples are ones I feel strongly about; a blogger plagiarizing is wrong, and an author attacking a blogger for writing a negative review is wrong. And that's why I think it's important to talk about things like that. Excuse my language, but it pisses me off when someone does something like that and suffers no consequences.


No, I'm not saying I'm condoning bullying someone who made a mistake. But I personally do not want to support a plagiarist, or an author who attacked a blogger. And in order to be able to stop supporting that person, I need to find out what that person did. That means I want people to tweet the links and talk about it. And since I know others want to know about it, too, I'll tweet about it as well.


I get that not everyone wants to get involved in stuff like this. But I don't think staying quiet and hoping the drama will go away soon is the way to go. We need to spread what we know about, we need to share links, and we need to openly discuss these issues, because plagiarism and bad author behavior are not okay.


Negative comments on blogs is another example listed in the question, but I kind of don't think it belongs there - it's nowhere near as bad as plagiarism or attacking a blogger for a negative review, in my opinion. To me, negative comments are a more personal issue that I'd deal with privately, unless it's a recurring issue.


How do you deal with blogging drama?

Book Blogger Confessions #10

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: We have created a blogging time machine! Pretend you can start over. Knowing what you know now about blogging – what do you wish you did differently when it comes to creating your blog?


Ooh, a blogging time machine? Yes, please! I knew nothing when I started blogging, so I could definitely use one. I'm in the mood for a list, so let's do this in list format - here are 7 things I'd like to tell my blogging-beginner self:


1. Blogger is not the only blog hosting site. I did absolutely no research about who should host my blog - Blogger was the only one I knew, so I signed up and got started. And that was stupid, stupid, stupid, because Blogger sucks. I wish I'd used Wordpress instead - from what I know, it's so much better! I know I could switch now, and I probably will, at some point, but for now I'm terrified of losing my content, so I'm stuck with Blogger. I wish I'd done some research and chose Wordpress instead.


2. Don't take yourself so seriously. When I started blogging, I thought my reviews had to be professional and serious and whatnot. But now, to me, the most important part is having fun with it. I'm not writing for some fancy-pants magazine - this is my personal blog, and I can talk about whatever I want to talk about. I don't need to analyze the deep literary meaning of a book - if what I liked best is the romance and the hot guy, I'll swoon about that. My reviews are my thoughts on books, nothing else. And I wish I'd had that kind of attitude from the beginning on.


3. Don't feel pressured to post every day. Today, posting every day is no problem for me - I just have loads of stuff to say, I guess. But when I started out, I did two reviews a week, and I thought I had to fill the rest of the week with memes. But it was just that - filler. I'd like to tell blogging-newbie me that it's okay to only post 4 times a week, and that quality beats quantity.


4. Don't go crazy about your stats. I was way too obsessed with my stats when I first started out. I had these weird fantasies that my blog would become huge overnight - umm, no. My blog grew gradually, once I'd put a lot of time and effort into it, but nothing is ever going to be huge overnight if you don't work for it. All those bloggers out there who have thousands of followers? They've been doing this for years and years. (Well, except for Giselle, because Giselle is some kind of evil genius.) Eventually, I stopped checking my stats every day or believing that GFC followers were actual readers. I just wish I'd gotten that sooner - blogging is so much more fun if you focus on the good and ignore the stats.


5. Use Twitter. I didn't get a Twitter account until I'd already been blogging for about 9 months, I think. Don't ask me why - I was an idiot. I didn't see how it would help my blog, or what the point was. Now, I couldn't imagine blogging without Twitter - it's so much fun to get to know other bookish people on Twitter! Twitter has let me meet so many cool people, and it's helped my blog in so many ways.


6. Don't be afraid to show your personality. This is one I still struggle with today. I feel that I often don't let my personality shine through enough, that I'm just writing these robot-like, boring posts. I think if I would have started out with a more personal way of blogging, it'd be easier now, since changing my style has proven to be pretty difficult.


7. Ask for help. Book bloggers are awesome people, and they'll help you if you ask them. Maybe don't ask one of the most popular bloggers, since they get loads of questions from newbies, but asking someone who's been blogging a little longer than you can be of great help. I wish I'd had the courage to ask more often, since there were so many things I didn't know when I started out. Everyone in the blogging community I've met is friendly and happy to help, and I wish I'd made better use of that.


So those are 7 things I'd like to tell the newbie blogger version of myself. These are the only ones I can think of now, but I'm sure there are more, since I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. But, in a way, I kind of like that I found out a lot of this stuff the hard way - this whole thing has been a great learning process, and I love seeing how far I've come from when I first started out.


What advice would you give yourself with a blogging time machine?


(Note: I noticed some of the things I'm saying could be seen as kind of rude/preachy about how to blog right, or something like that. But keep in mind that I'm talking to past-me, not any other bloggers. And I think I'm allowed to be rude to myself!)

Book Blogger Confessions #9

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Choosing your next book. How do you decide which book to read next? How do you balance “review” reading with “fun” reading?

For me, this isn't too big of a problem - I'm international, so I can't get ARCs or review copies from publishers. The only review books I get are eGalleys from NetGalley (and Edelweiss and GalleyGrab, but mainly NetGalley). So this isn't as big a deal for me as it is to someone who gets more review books than they can read.

I pretty much still have the luxury to read what I want, when I want. I don't often plan what to read next - I just read whatever I'm in the mood for. I usually read my ebooks when I'm at home and have a lot of time on my hands; when I go wherever and take a book with me,  I read the physical books I bought. I organize the eGalleys more or less by release date, but I don't really stick to any type of schedule.

But even though it's not as problematic for me, I think there are a few things you can do. One thing that's really important to me is to schedule ahead. I'm an insane scheduler - I have my reviews scheduled till mid August already - and I get not everybody can or wants to do that. But scheduling ahead just a little is a good idea, I think, so that you don't have a review book sitting there that you haven't started yet and need to have a review up for tomorrow. I don't think I could handle the pressure of having to read that fast - so I try to stay ahead of my schedule in order not to have to stress about an ARC right before the release date.

I also think it's important to read what you like. If you're reading books you feel like you have to read, ones you're only reading for a publisher but that you wouldn't normally be interested in, it's not going to be fun anymore - and if blogging takes the fun out of reading, it's not worth it, in my opinion. People like me, who get a lot of books from NetGalley, need to remember to only request what we really want to read. I still struggle with that, because NetGalley titles are just so tempting! And those who receive physical review books from publishers should keep in mind that you're not committed to reviewing any unsolicited review copies - don't pressure yourself to read something you're not interested in. I really think that reading being fun is the most important thing.

So that's how I think you can balance review books and your own books - schedule ahead, and don't pressure yourself into reading what you don't want to read. What do you think?

Book Blogger Confessions #8

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Memes. Love em or hate em? How many do you participate in? Which kinds do you like best? Do you feel like there are too many?

I think when you start blogging, memes are great. I did lots when I first started - Waiting on Wednesday, Follow Friday, On My Wishlist, and In My Mailbox. They're a great way to get your blog out there when you're a new blogger, and they helped me a lot in the beginning.

Now, though, I'm not a huge fan anymore. I don't like being so dependent on other blogs, and I think it's important not to overdo it with the memes - make sure your blog has original content. Making your blog stand out is hard when most of your posts are memes. I've replaced most memes with original features. Instead of On My Wishlist and Waiting on Wednesday, I do my Bookish Wishlist and Bookish Anticipation features, and instead of In My Mailbox I do My New Treasures (although that change wasn't because I wanted to not do memes anymore but because of the recent drama). I like that this way, I can be more independent in how and when I post. Make sure to still credit the people who came up with it, though! 

The only memes I still do now are Book Blogger Confessions and Top Ten Tuesday - I like these two because they let you post original content with each post, and because you can't do these by yourself, since they give you a topic each week.

So that's what I do on my blog. Now, for what I like on other blogs... it's the same thing, really. I like memes, as long as you don't overdo it. I'd say no more than two or three memes a week. I think some memes are better than others - basically, the more thought you have to put into your post, the better. I like memes like this one, since you can see people spent some time writing the post. I don't want to sound rude, but I'm not a fan of memes like It's Moday, What Are You Reading? and Teaser Tuesday - those are often just a picture and a few sentences. If it's just filler, then I prefer not posting at all.

So, that's what I think of memes. They're great when you're just starting out, but once you've established yourself a little, I think you should try to do your own thing. If you're putting some thoughts into it, memes can be great, but if it's just filler, I'd just prefer not posting - quality always beats quantity.

What do you think of memes?

Book Blogger Confessions #7

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Comments. The holy grail of blogging success! What type of posts do you leave comments on? How do you try to encourage more comments on your blog? Do you respond to people who leave comments on your posts? How do you handle negative/spam comments? Do you use captcha?

I love comments. Comments are one of the things I like best about blogging. I get excited every time I see I got a new comment. Especially those thoughtful comments telling me someone likes what I'm doing, or a comment saying someone will read a book because of my review - comments like that make my day. I am so thankful to anyone who has ever left a comment on my blog.

I don't really know how I encourage commenting on my blog, other than just consistently providing quality content. Other than memes (which don't really count, in my opinion, because writing 'great IMM!' and leaving a link to your own IMM post is not a thoughtful comment), the posts that get the most comments are discussion posts. Whenever I do something new, like start a new feature, I get a lot of comments, too. Really, anything unusual gets a lot of comments - not the reviews I write all the time, but something readers haven't seen before. Now, that's not a way to consistently get comments, since you can't start a new feature or write a discussion post every day - we need to write normal reviews and continue older features, too. But that's when I've noticed I get the most comments.

I've also noticed that I get more comments on positive reviews than on negative ones - I guess it's just easier to write 'I loved this one, glad you liked it too!' than to discuss a negative review. That's a little disappointing, honestly, because I think a discussion in the comments would be great - I want to know what other people thought, why someone liked that book when I didn't, anything like that. But that type of discussion doesn't happen often. And it's not something you can influence, either - you can't only write positive reviews because they get more comments. Really, I think it just comes down to consistently providing quality content, and people will comment when they have something to say. I think ending every post with a question is nice, too, and lets people know that comments are definitely welcome.

For the month of May, I've decided to do a Comment Contest - each comment you leave on my blog this month is an entry for a giveaway, in which you can win a May release of you choice. I've seen a huge increase in comments since then, so I'd say that idea works! I don't know how much it'll help in the long term, since I don't know whether I'll be able to afford doing a Comment Contest every month. But for now, I'm loving all the comments!

But even though I love getting comments on my blog, I'm not exactly good at leaving comments on other blogs. I have a few blogs I comment on regularly, but other than that, I don't comment all that much. I read a lot of blog posts, but I just don't comment often. I think I'm more likely to comment on smaller blogs - I feel bad when I see a post with 0 comments and want to leave one, while I think my comment wouldn't really make a difference to someone who already got 20 comments on their review. When there's something I want to say, when I feel like I actually have something to contribute, I do comment - but I feel weird writing something generic like 'Great review! I really want to read this book!' so I usually just don't. It was one of my New Year's resolutions to comment more, and the way it always is with those, right at the beginning of the year, I commented loads, but now I'm back to not commenting much. I really need to work on that.

And as to whether I reply to comments on my posts - of course! Well, I don't respond to every comment, but when someone asks a question or leaves a thoughtful comment I'd like to add something to, always. I think responding to comments, and thereby interacting with the people who read you're blog, is very important, since building a blog community is basically the ultimate goal.

Now, about whether I use Captcha... NO! I hate Captcha. I'm sorry, but if your blog has Captcha, I probably won't bother commenting. The new Blogger Captcha is so hard to read! And honestly, I don't really see the point. I've never used Captcha, and I've gotten, like, two spam comments in my one and a half years of blogging, which I've just deleted. If you're worried about spam - which I'm not, considering I get basically none - turn on comment moderation, but stay away from Captcha!

And about negative comments - I think you have to distinguish between comments that respectfully disagree and hateful comments. Comments that respectfully disagree are great - not everyone is going to agree with my opinion, and that's fine. I love when a discussion starts in the comments, as long as everyone keeps it respectful. Hateful comments are different, though. I've gotten only one, as far as I can remember, but that one was pretty hurtful. It was on a negative review of mine and insulted me for not getting what the book was really about it, using language I don't want to repeat here. I felt hurt for about a day and doubted myself a little, but then I just deleted the comment - if you want to discuss a book with me, that's fine, but don't insult me for my opinion. I won't have negativity or language like that on my blog, so I feel I deleting the comment was the right thing to do. I'm grateful I haven't gotten much negative response - I hear that April from Good Books and Good Wine gets hate mail, like, every day, which is crazy. But I guess there are always going to be hateful people out there. I just try to focus on the positve!

So that's what I think of comments - I love every single comment I get, but I myself need to work on commenting more. What are your thoughts on blog comments?

Book Blogger Confessions #6

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Review/Guest post requests: Do you have a review request policy? Has it changed over time? How do you handle requests that don’t meet your criteria? In the past, what types of "pitches" have caught your attention? Are there any (non-specific) examples of requests that are off-putting to you as a blogger?

When I first started blogging, I didn't even know publishers and authors send bloggers books for review, so I was surprised when I started getting review requests a few months after I started blogging. I thought that was awesome, so I put up a review policy and got excited each time I got a review request. None of them really worked out, though - I live in Germany and don't like ebooks, and authors and publishers usually back out once they know that. Also, most review requests I got were for books I wouldn't normally be interested in.

In between the bad, though, there have been some really sweet review requests. The first review copy I got was for Loving Emily by Anne Pfeffer, and I still remember Anne and me emailing back and forth - she was so friendly and sweet about all of it! Requests like that make me happy to be a book blogger.

But still, after a while, I got tired of having to decline request after request because they didn't fit the genres I read, and of having to tell an author/publisher over and over again that I live in Germany and don't accept ebooks - even though it says all of that in my review policy. So I just deleted the review policy and now I have up on my blog that I'm not accepting books for review. 

I'm getting a lot less review requests now, and the ones I do get, I don't feel guilty about not responding to - if an author or publisher doesn't take the time to read that I'm not accepting books for review, I won't take the time to respond. That means I'm not getting review copies, but since I wouldn't be getting many anyways, I think it's worth it - I used to spend way too much time responding to all the review requests I got, even though authors/publishers clearly hadn't read my review policy. 

So that's my personaly history with review requests. That probably isn't all that interesting to other bloggers - sorry for rambling! But, in general, I think it's important for review requests to be polite and to the point. I can't stand rude requests that assume that just by sending a blogger a review request, they will be getting a positive review, and requests that ramble on and on about something irrelevant to the request are annoying, too. And most importantly, review requests need to show you've actually taken the time to look at the blogger's blog and review policy - if you're sending a request for a book in a genre the blogger doesn't review, what's the point? And from a blogger's point of view, I think it's important to be polite and professional in responding to review requests that are polite and professional, too - if they're not, I don't think it's a problem to just ignore the request and not respond.

So those are my, somewhat rambly, thoughts on review requests. What do you think?

Book Blogger Confessions #5

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is: Spoilers in reviews: Do you read them, do you include them? How to you describe (or avoid describing) spoilery parts of a book?

I hate spoilers. Seriously, hate. Someone told me a major plot point of a Harry Potter book before I read it, and I cried for hours. A friend of mine always reads the endings of books first - she says it's to see whether the book is worth reading. I don't get that at all - I hate knowing anything about a book beforehand! The less I know, the better - I need just enough information to get me to read the book, and that's it. For me, being surprised is one of the main joys of reading, so I hate when a book review spoils a book for me.

But even though I hate reading spoilers in other people's reviews, I struggle with what to do with them in my own. Usually, I try to avoid them - I'll leave out that point completely, or I'll be really vague, hoping someone who has already read the book will get it but someone who hasn't won't. But sometimes I just have to talk about that plot twist or that surprising ending because it played such an important role in how I feel about the book. Then I usually put a spoiler warning and write it anyways.

In some book reviews, it's hard, though. What if there's a big plot twist right at the beginning, and you can't really talk about the book without mentioning the plot twist? That was the case for me in Jo Knowles's See You at Harry's - that review was crazy hard to write. I try to do what I already mentioned - be vague, or put a spoiler warning. But I feel bad when, because of my vague-ness, my review is super-short, or when half of my review is spoilers that people who haven't read the book can't read. But I just don't know what else to do!

Spoilers just suck. I don't want to stop reading book reviews before reading the book, but sometimes I'm too scared of spoilers to read any reviews. I feel bad about it, but if reading reviews means I won't enjoy the book as much, I just can't read the reviews. 

Spoilers are a hard topic - I have a hard time avoiding them in my own reviews, but I hate coming across them in other people's. But I think the most important thing is just to always put a spoiler alert before writing something that is even only slightly spoiler-ish, since different people have different opinions on what counts as a spoiler.

So that's what I think of spoilers. What do you think?

Book Blogger Confessions #4

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is:

Everyone LOVES that book! Why don't I? How do you handle being the one reviewer who doesn't like a book that's taking the blogosphere by storm? Do you write a review? Pretend you didn't read the book?

This has happened to me countless times. There are so, so many books I decided to read after reading loads of positive reviews only to disappointed by the actual book. It's never fun to read a book you don't like, but it's especially frustrating when it seems like everyone else liked it.

But, honestly? There's nothing you can do about. We all have different opinions. I know there are bloggers who only post positive reviews, but I don't want to - I give my opinion on the books I read no matter what. Even if everyone else loved it and I hated it, I'm still going to review the book.

That doesn't mean I feel good doing it. When I hit 'publish' on that negative review, I always picture one of my blog readers going 'What? Hannah didn't like that book? How could she? That's my favorite book ever! She has no idea what she's talking about. If she didn't like that book, I can no longer count on her for book recommendations. I'm not reading her blog anymore.' I know, it's pretty unlikely that someone would think that - I'd never unfollow a blogger I like just because she gave a book I love a bad review, and I doubt anyone else will. But I still think that way.

I tell that voice inside my head to go away, though, and I post the review anyway. I just think it's important to write both negative and positive reviews, even if that means disagreeing with the majority every once in a while. Each person has their own opinion, and we're not always going to agree - that's just the way it is.

After writing my review, I usually go to Goodreads and read other reviews for that book. And even if it felt like every blogger loved the book, I can usually find at least one negative review among my Goodreads friends' reviews. Even though I try not to be influenced by other people's opinions, that usually makes me feel better, knowing I'm not the only one for whom that super-popular book just didn't work.

So that's how I deal with being what feels like the only one who doesn't like that book everyone is buzzing about - I push through and post my negative review anyways. What about you?

Book Blogger Confessions #3

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here. 

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is:

Let's talk about a positive aspect of blogging! How has blogging influenced your real life in a positive way? (not related to books or reading) Have you learned to be organized or are you more social now for example?

One way that blogging has affected the rest of my life is confidence. I know, this is going to sound super-corny, but blogging helped me figure out who I am. Before I started blogging, I read, and that was my only real interest. I mean, I had other interests and hobbies, but nothing I'm really passionate about, like reading. I'm a senior in high school, was a junior when I started blogging, so it's the time when you start thinking about what you want to do with your life. Since reading was what I was passionate about, I thought I'd try writing - maybe that would be the direction I wanted to go. I tried writing, but, well, it didn't really work. I just couldn't see myself as a writer.

When I started book-blogging, I found out how much fun it is to talk about books. I figured out that I could do something bookish without being a writer - there are lots of bookish jobs out there! I now know I want to go into publishing, and I don't think I would have figured it out without blogging. Knowing what I want to do with my life has made me more confident in who I am.

Blogging also made me more confident in stating my opinion. I write reviews - some of them good, some of them bad. Not everyone agrees with me, and that's fine. When I started blogging, I felt really bad giving a book lots of people have loved a bad review. But by now, I've gotten used to it - different people have differente opinions, and that's never going to change. I've gotten used to not always agreeing with everyone else, and that's made me more confident in giving my opinion in real life.

Another aspect of my life blogging has improved is time-management. I've gotten a much better handle on being productive and efficient. I've figured out when to waste time on Twitter and when to step back and do whatever I have to do - be it something blog-related or something from real life, like homework.

So that's the way blogging has influenced my "real life"! What about you?