Book Bloggers- Is There Room For More?

The answer to the title of this post question is easy.  YES.  I don't think there can really never be enough book bloggers in the world.  This may not be something I would have brought up previous to starting my business, but as a tour and promotion coordinator I know how hard it is to find good and reliable book bloggers. Not to mention, ones who can fit in the book to read. It seems we are all overwhelmed with books to read, posts to write and everything else that goes with blogging.  So yes, we can use more bloggers.

Have you been thinking of starting a book blog but don't feel you are qualified?  Here are the things you don't need to know to book blog.

• You don't have to know how to write reviews. Trust me, you'll pick this up.  If you can write out a simple format to follow (talk about characters, plot, romance, overall feel, etc) you can write a review. They might be crappy (in your opinion) at first, but as you gain experience you'll get better.

• You don't have to know the blogging community. This is something you can work on once your blog is up. But you can start before you start your blog too.  Visit blogs and comment. Once your blog is up you'll notice that your comments are often returned which brings new readers to you.

• Know-how. Okay, so you'll need some know-how on how a blog works, but this comes with starting one. You learn. As your blog grows, as you regularly post, your skills grow.  Heck, I've been blogging almost 6 years and I'm still learning stuff. Plus I'm moving to Wordpress and I'll have to start all over cause I know nothing about how to use that platform. 

Things you do need to book blog.

• A love for reading. Obviously.

• A computer, or frequent access to one.

• Time. You can set how much time you devote to your blog. It's just a hobby after all. But if you want your blog to have daily posts with traffic visiting you, you need at least an hour a day. It depends on how long it takes you to write a post (some take an hour or more to write a review) and how many blogs you visit daily.  Or you can blog one day, visit blogs another day.  I have a daily list of blogs I visit, but lately have found it hard to comment everyday. So on days I have less work I comment on all the posts I missed. Most of those bloggers still visit me daily, but we've built up a routine. You don't have to post daily, but you'll want to post regularly.  Whether it's every other day, every three days or once a week, you'll want regular posts going up without weeks in-between them.

Things I recommend:

• Learning the do's and don'ts.  This might sound a little scary, but it's mostly easy stuff.  You don't steal images from other blogs.  This includes title graphics, pictures, anything. Don't steal words off of another blog (unless it's like for a meme or something and you are crediting them). Don't steal ideas from a blog. For example- Every Spring I do a Spring Blog Carnival with some of my bloggy friends.  This was a unique idea that no one had done (when we started) and we researched it well. Once we did it, we suddenly saw lots of others doing the same thing, or very similar.  It could have been accidental in the first place but it's kind of sad that our idea is no longer unique.

• Buy a design. You can get a free design to start with. Get some good content up. Know you plan to keep blogging. Then pay money to get a professional design. There are a lot of blog designers with a wide range of prices. It doesn't have to be expensive. And in my opinion, simple can work just fine.

• Thinking up a good name before you start your blog. Think this name over before you use it. When I started my blog I thought it was just for keeping track of my books and what I thought of them. But then blogging became big and I decided to go with it.  I wish I had a better blog name though.  Also have your blog address easy enough for people to remember and preferably the same as the name of your blog.

Things to keep in mind.

• You may not get books immediately. I do ask new bloggers to be on some of my blog tours. There are many reasons for this. You may not get much traffic to your blog yet, but I'm developing a relationship with you in the beginning and hopefully you'll stick with CBB as you grow. New bloggers have more time because they don't get as many review books. Also, new bloggers are often more reliable on posting reviews on other sites. This is because the bigger blogs are just busier.  I'm guilty as well.
• However, you won't get books from publishers right away. 

• Before you ever request a book or sign up for a tour you need to post reviews on your blog. I want several examples. I want to see regularity in your posting. And even better, I'd like to see some comments. I know it's hard to get them at first and the best way to get comments, is to give comments.

Things you need on your blog in an easy to find spot.

• A search bar.  
• Icons to find you on social media.
• Icons to follow your blog in different ways.
• A Review Policy. No matter how new your blog is, you need a review policy!
• Book reviews. (There may be exceptions to this rule. If you plan to only have author interviews, for example. But personally I like to read reviews and most book blogs have regular reviews.)

I threw this post together quickly when I realized I had nothing scheduled (crazy!) so if I missed something, let me know in the comments! 

There's no better feeling than to be told you inspired someone to start a book blog. I have got those emails before and hopefully this will help inspire you to start one if you've been thinking of doing so.  Don't hesitate to ask questions in the comments or to email me.  If you are interested in hosting tour stops on your blog, you can find the tour page with information and sign ups HERE.

Discussion: Social Media and Blogging- Lets Talk Pinterest!

A few weeks ago I kicked off the discussion series about Social Media and Blogging with a discussion about g+ and whether it's a useful tool.  Then 3 weeks ago I did a recap of everyone's thoughts and started a discussion about Facebook, and then 2 weeks ago I did a discussion about Twitter.  This week I'll do a recap with everyone's thoughts about Twitter and then move on to discussing Pinterest.

• For the most part this one is easy.  Some love twitter and spend a lot of time there and swear by it.  Others just promote their posts. And some just don't understand the appeal and mostly stay away.

• Some made a good point, it's nice for talking to authors.  Personally I really agree with this even though I have been horrible about doing it lately due to time.  But tagging an author when tweeting their review is likely to get you a thank you and possibly a further comment (only tag for positive reviews, it's only polite) and it's always fun to share photos of their book and whatnot.  The authors are always appreciate of whatever mention you may do of their book.

• Sophie mentioned she likes to schedule tweets using tweetdeck. I thought I would mention that in case someone didn't know you can do that.  I do like that idea of scheduling things through the day.  I do that with facebook.

• Once again, the time thing came up.  No one has enough time for everything so it's a balancing act.  Many prefer to just use that time reading blogs.  I'm one of them I guess.  I spend more time reading blogs and commenting then I am at doing anything else 'social'. 

• Twitter is great for giveaway promotion.  This I definitely agree with.  I can see giveaway entries skyrocket after a tweet, so this has been proven.

I hope I didn't miss any other important comments.  It was really a total mix of thoughts, but I guess that's not too surprising.  Different things work for different people and that's definitely being made clear in these series of posts.

Today I want to talk about Pinterest.  Pinterest is still pretty new to me, at least as a promotion platform.  I pin my posts, and have a 'read in 2013' board as well as 'CBB Book Promotions' board where I pin anything related to the business as well as the bloggers who post for the tour stops.

My issue is that I have no idea if this works, or makes any difference at all.  I don't see Pinterest showing in my stats as a place that people are coming from.  But I have been told it has potential to be one of the best places to promote.  Is there a trick to it?

Also, I'm wondering if people get annoyed with seeing book covers and stuff instead of photos or other things? Maybe this isn't an issue at all.  You can choose a variety of people to follow and see an assortment go up.  I don't know.  I'm not sure what to add to this discussion, but I'd like to know your thoughts on Pinterest.  Do you check out posts you find on Pinterest?  Have you have had success with it?  Do you use it at all?  Do you hate it?  Just let it all out, tell us what you think of it and any Tips or Tricks you have!

{Edit: Coincidentally I noticed quite a few people repinned my book covers AS I was writing up this post!  So, I guess some people do repin the covers, if it's something they want on a board of theirs.}

Oh, and be sure to go Follow me on Pinterest.  Yep, gotta get that self promotion in there.  {I'll follow you back.}

Edit: I want to add in that I do love Pinterest.  I can spend hours on there looking at the photos.  The travel photography, or pictures from around the world, are my favorite.  When I'm depressed it's a good place to go to pull myself out of a funk.  But because it's a time suck (seriously) I don't allow myself on there often at all.  

Discussion: Social Media & Blogging- Let's Talk Twitter!

Two weeks ago I kicked off the discussion series about Social Media and Blogging with a discussion about g+ and whether it's a useful tool.  Last week I did a recap of everyone's thoughts and started a discussion about Facebook.  This week I'll do a recap with everyone's thoughts about Facebook and start a discussion about Twitter.  I had planned to do Pinterest next, but it felt like the most logical one to do was Twitter since that's up there with Facebook, right?

• I was surprised when there were a lot of comments by bloggers that said they didn't have a Facebook page for their blog.  I shouldn't be surprised though, it took me 4 years to get one up myself.

•  It was pretty clear that time is an issue for many, we have to pick and choose what we want to spend our time on.  I understand that one far too well. 

•  Maja says she uses her Facebook page far more than Twitter and sees much more traffic come from it.  She feels Twitter is pointless anymore and she dislikes it.  I do agree to a certain extent about Twitter, I'll share those thoughts down below.

•  Maja, along with some others, doesn't like that Facebook is trying to get us to pay for getting more viewers.  If we pay to promote the post then it may go from 50 people seeing it to 400 people seeing it and that's just a pain and so wrong.  I'm in agreement with this 100%.  I did pay once, and it made no difference in how many views that post actually got (on my blog).  I won't do it again.  I do want to mention that if you post a link and then click the x that makes the box go away (the one that shows a tease of it with an image) you will get WAY more views.  I almost always do this.

•  Kimba, and several others, like Facebook for cover reveals, sharing about special deals and other promotional things we may not want cluttering our blog.  I agree with this as well.  I don't usually do cover reveals on my blog unless it's for a client or an author I love already.  I also don't do kindle deals on my blog so sharing on my Facebook page works well.

•  Melissa had a great comment that I want to share in it's entirety because it's quite interesting. I share some deals and try to help authors out, but I was always afraid of overdoing it and annoying people, maybe I shouldn't be as concerned about it though.

I  agree that FB seems to be the way to go anymore (twitter can be frustrating at times). I have a FB blog page and I have the same issue sometimes. I post things and it's like nobody cares! And then I see other sites posting a million posts and they have twice as many likes as I do or more. I think the key to it is what you are posting. If you are posting just your blog posts, you won't get much feedback as most people have better things to do (just being real). But, when I scroll through and see books posted that are cheap or free, I click on it cuz I want to check out the book. And if you are the kind of blog that is constantly promoting authors (like myself) I have a tendency to fancy their blog more because it isn't about them so much as the authors. I have had my blog FB page for almost 8 mo and I went from 200 likes to almost 1500 likes simply because I started promoting authors on my page. The more you promote, the better your site will do.

• A few mentioned Network Blogs, I have that as well but I put that up when I put up my blog and it's hooked to my personal Facebook, so it posts there each day. I haven't tried to see if I can add another and make it post on my Facebook, but I don't really mind putting up a link myself since I like to share some thoughts about my post and not just the link.

• Jessica says photos and videos do better on there than links, which I suppose is true since it's something to actually talk about.  She also says having something exclusive to your social media can get more interaction.  And that's definitely true.  She also recommended putting up pictures of book signings and stuff.  I think I can throw in here that pictures of your bookshelves would likely work as well.

• Melissa mentioned that some may not 'like' posts because it shows their name.

• Katie said she does better with g+, her Facebook posts get little to no attention. On g+ she's gotten 70+ comments back.  {This is fascinating, seeing how different things work for different people.}

• Ginny said she has the same issues as me. Sometimes her posts get lots of attention and other times not.  Sometimes giveaway's go well on Facebook and other times she doesn't get much response.

• BB had a great comment and rather then try to cut it down I'm going to post the majority of it. I think there's some good points here and this plays into the twitter discussion I'm starting.  And I definitely post more then once or twice a day (most people do in my feed too) but I'm figuring out a way to cut it down to maybe 4 times a day rather then like the 12 I sometimes I have.

I like Twitter as a promotional platform. It is definitely the best for connecting with like-minded souls and getting the word out about anything. I like Facebook too, but I try to be careful about posting too much. Twitter spam is easily scrolled through. On Facebook you want to engage your followers, not bore or annoy them. I usually only post there once or twice a week; once or twice a day if I have a promotion going. Once or twice a day I think is average if you've got new and interesting content. I wouldn't do Facebook giveaways, but doing a blog giveaway and promoting it on Facebook works pretty well.

There were a lot of comments and I wasn't able to cover everything, but I think I got the gist of it all here.  Also I wanted to point out that some have said they like the schedule feature on Facebook, so we can spread out our Facebook posts throughout the day.  


Now that we've read that giant book, let's talk Twitter! 

I use Twitter for promotional only.  At least for the most part.  I use to be far more active on there and would ask random questions or say random things, but I just lost interest in doing that.  I either had too many spam replies or no replies at all.  Looking through tweets to chat back became 'another thing to do' and it was on the chopping block, I just stopped looking through my feed at all.  So chatting with others via Twitter isn't really happening here.  At least not often. 

However, I use Twitter for promotional reasons.  I'm a member of several Triberr tribes, so we all tweet each others blog posts, so I have regular tweets going out for that.  I sometimes feel like my feed is just a bunch of spam, but really it's not.  I mean, I don 't tweet everything for everyone. I don't usually tweet the cover reveals or book blasts.  Mostly I tweet reviews, discussion posts and giveaway's.  Does it work? I don't know.  I know that I have got some readers from Triberr itself and I have several blogs in my Triberr tribes that I visit regularly.  For that reason, I think that it's probably worth it. I feel like I've made some new friends with it.  But really, that's more Triberr then Twitter. 

So what are your thoughts?

Discussion: Social Media & Blogging- Let's Talk Facebook!

Last week I kicked off the discussion series about Social Media and Blogging with a discussion about g+ and whether it's a useful tool.  I'm rather new to it myself and I got a lot of my questions answered.  Here's a quick run through of what I discovered.

• Most of the bloggers who commented didn't use it much, if at all.  Some use it to link up, but don't interact on it.  
• Most don't have the time for all the social networks and therefore don't use g+.

• Many say that facebook and twitter are easier to use.

• Beth says that this is the rank of impact (keep in mind that there are different opinions on this, as I had recently read an article that said g+ is the best) 

Pinterest
Facebook
Twitter
everything else
Google+

• Villia says she doesn't like it because she has to use her full name.  
• Tanya says she used g+ ONLY for the Book Bloggers community. She also says it doesn't matter what you pick, whichever social network you use the most is the one with the most impact.
• Katie says she likes it way better then Facebook. Here's her full comment because I actually found it all very helpful.

Honestly, G+ way better than Facebook. Google has made it a lot easier to use, as well. So when you comment on something, you get an email, and you can reply from the email, so you don't have to go to the website, like FB. And there isn't as many ads hitting you everywhere.

The communities of Google is where I find the power. I've gotten into a lot of writing (and cooking and weight lifting and dog . . ) communities that are SO supportive. The people are G+ have always been kind. It's a bigger platform for me than FB, and my discussion posts always get a lot more attention from total strangers on G+. Also, I've made a lot of G+ friends that are just awesome. One of them is sending me 3-4 books in the mail because she thinks it'll help me with my story, and we've never met or anything.

• Heidi says she's sworn off google because they have proven to be unreliable.

So it comes down to this- is g+ worth it?  And I have decided to continue experimenting.  Going on for 5 minutes a day and posting what I have posted on my blog and possibly adding a few people to my circles.  I'm not ready to dedicate a lot of time to it, but I think it's worth at least looking into more.
I also agree with Heidi that google HAS proven unreliable, shutting things down all willy nilly.  For that reason I do agree with her comment and am going in a bit reluctantly.
I still believe commenting on blogs is my strongest networking 'tool'. However I'm not really bringing in new people that way, and I'd like to get some exposure in new areas as well.
Time is still a HUGE issue.

Moving on...
I'd like to talk about Facebook today.  It was only a year ago when I started my Facebook 'page' for my blog. I had been very reluctant and didn't really feel it was necessary.  Once I got it up I found it really pretty easy to figure out.  Of course I had my personal account, so I was familiar with Facebook.  Having a page is a bit different though.  While I've had it for a year now I still find myself having a lot of mixed feelings.

I definitely think it's good to have.  It has proven helpful for promoting posts and I've gotten new readers because of it.  It works well for me to push for a few more people on my tours.  And I like having a spot to promote reviews and other posts for the tours I organize.

What I have issues with- I feel like a loser that no one likes.  Yeah, that's being a little harsh, and honestly it's not something I dwell on.  But when I post discussion things I often get no response.  I see others talk about the books they are reading, their plans for the weekend, etc.  I do that and get nothing. No likes, no comments.  Not always, but more often then not.  So I tend to just not interact on there and that makes me a little sad.  I don't really have the time to 'chat' but I would like some interaction with other readers and it's not really working in that aspect for me.  I don't really get many 'likes' on  many of my posts at all actually.

So has your Facebook page worked for chatting and interaction?  Is there a trick to it?

The next thing is giveaway's.  I had done some Facebook exclusive giveaway's but I didn't have many entries. It was just leave a comment and you're entered and people weren't bothering.  It's been awhile now, so that could change, but I've been a little shy of posting giveaway's that won't get a response (that is so embarrassing when that happens).  I'd like to know if you've had successful giveaway's on Facebook and how you pulled it off.

I know how to work Facebook, and I like that.  I like that I can schedule my posts to go up through the day (love that feature actually) and I like that I have gotten some new blog readers because of it.  I do find myself worrying that I'm doing something wrong.  That I would have bigger impact if I changed something, I just don't know what.

Is there such a thing as posting too much?  I'm always worried I'll lose followers because when I have several tours running I can post up to 12 times a day.  Does that get annoying for people, seeing all of those?

I'd like to hear all your thoughts!  And start thinking about Pinterest, I think we'll discuss that one next week (or the week after since I have The Book Thief book club discussion).

Thanks so much for all the input everyone!

Today is the last day of  Something Wicked Returns!  I can't believe the month is over already!  Happy Halloween to all of you who celebrate! The giveaway's are all ending tonight, so get those entries in!  You can find the full schedule here. All my giveaway's are posted at the top of my blog.
Here's today's posts:

Oct. 31st:
Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings:Andrea Jones: Other Oceans

Ali@My Guilty Obsession:Susannah Sandlin: Penton Legacy Series

Maja@The Nocturnal Library: Matthew Quinn Martin: Nightlife

Discussion: Social Media and Blogging

Wow, it's kind of a miracle, two discussion posts in one week! In case you missed it, last Sunday I had 'Tips for a Successful Blog'.  Today I want to talk about social media.  Actually I have a whole series of posts about social media because I think it's something that could use some discussing.  I would like to get an idea of other people's opinions and the strategies that work best for them. 

My original plan was to start with discussing Facebook, but I've decided to go with g+ since it's the one I know the least about.  I don't actually have a lot to say about it, and am hoping to get a lot of input in the comments and hopefully get a bit of help. 

I don't use g+, though I am on there.  It wasn't until my mother, brother and sister in law added me today that I actually started giving it more thought.  I finally added a little background and finished my profile.  I added some people to my 'circles' and I looked around a bit.  It's like visiting a foreign country, it's just all so alien to me! 

I have discovered that having the different 'circles' is kind of nice since things don't get quite so buried.  For example, if I wanted to check out just my families updates I could do so and not weed through a million posts.  I like this.  At least at first look since I haven't really spent time on there yet.  It also looks like you can make different circles so if I wanted one for 'YA book bloggers' I could one, or 'Authors', etc.  This might be handy.  I still am not sure I totally understand everything regarding this, so please feel free to discuss this further.

I don't understand yet what +1 is.  What exactly does this do?

I've noticed some have a g+ commenting system on their blog.  From looking at my g+ feed I see these comments and I think this might be a good potential for bringing more readers to your post.  Opinions on this? 

They say (random articles I've read) that g+ has immense potential for finding new readers for your blog.  I'm not exactly sure how this is yet and is perhaps something I'll understand more as I navigate it further.  If you have some ideas how this works, please let me know.  {Edit: I see that there are communities. I'm guessing that being active on some of these would be a great networking tool.}

My concern is this: Time.  When I get up in the morning I spend 2+ hours just commenting, tweeting, facebooking and pinning the tour posts as well as my own.  Adding in another is going to be insane.  Commenting on blogs is one of my priorities, I think it's the best networking tool, but I also like 'spending time with my friends' because that's what it is, it's my socializing and it keeps me going sometimes.  On the other hand I just can't always keep up with it like I would like.  If I'm adding on another networking tool to work on, it's going to cut into my commenting.  So is it worth it? 

I want to know, do you use g+? Is it worth it?  Have you seen results by it? Has it changed your life?  Yes, I want to know EVERYTHING!  Learning a new thing can be tricky and confusing, but if we work together, it makes it so much better! 

BTW, I think this is me.  Let me know if that doesn't work.

The Fear... of Sequels

So you finish a book, the first or second or third in a series, and you say WOW, I'm DYING for the next book now!  You literally would do about anything to see what happens next.  But you have a whole year to wait and then when you FINALLY get your hands on the book you put off reading it.  Why is this?  Is it that you waited a whole year and now the excitement has faded?  I think that's part of it, but for me that's not always the case.  Quite often I'm still WAY excited to read the book.  So is it because I'm afraid of getting let down?  That I'm afraid of the direction it might take?  Well, yeah, that's part of it.  But still it is definitely not the full reason for me.  So what is it?  I actually am not quite sure.  I know that I have a really hard time picking up sequels.  And a lot of those sequels are from series that are REALLY intense and suspenseful and often end in cliffhangers.  So maybe it's I'm just not up for the crazy suspensefullness, the intensity and the cliffhanger.  Combined with all the other reasons maybe that's just it.  But I'm not sure... What do you think?  Does this happen to you as well? 

This isn't the case with all series.  I always read the next book in Christina Henry's Madeline Black series the moment I get it, I pick up the next Iron Druid books by Kevin Hearne practically the moment it comes out.  But Kim Harrison's Hollows series, one (if not THE best UF series out there) is one I'm always afraid of.  But in that case I think that I'm afraid of the series ending.  Of knowing there's no more books to read.  But my biggest issue is with YA series (or trilogies usually).  I swore that the second I got Unravel Me I would read it that very moment.  Nope, still on my shelf.  I was dying for Boundless and was sure I would pick it up right away, but nope, still on the shelf.  Really, the list goes on.  I got some books at ALA that I'm DYING to read but I find myself picking up books that are lesser known, books I don't really have expectations for and it's easy to pick them up and read.  No expectations and no worries about not liking things or people.

I do of course have the issue of having review books to read, and most of these series books aren't specifically for review, and I prefer to get the review books off my plate.  But really, that's just one of many issues I tend to have.

So what's your experiences?  Do you fear reading the next in a series?