I’ve been meaning to do a collaboration with bloggers who I’ve worked with in the past. Due to time constraints this project had been pushed back, but now I am pleased to introduce you to 7 book bloggers.
Enjoy!
How long have you had a book blog?
The Book Direct blog was born just over three years ago, in August 2012. I started off by posting about books that were having a free promotion. I found out about these books through Facebook groups and then started asking authors if they wanted to be featured. Things grew from there and my blog has now had over 700,000 pageviews! – Lynda Dickson, Book Direct
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I started my first blog, ‘Books, Food and Me’ in August 2012 just to write about some paperbacks I read on a vacation. And I started my second, ‘Give A Little Love Book Blog’ sometime in 2014 to write exclusively for the Romance genre – Nytali, A Little Love Book Blog
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We started our blog in August 2013. – Evette Ashby, – Sassy Girl Books
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I’ve had a book blog for 2 1/2 years. – Dawn Heslin, Bound 4 Escape
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Since October 2012 – my friend and co-blogger Caroline emailed me that day to say that she had set it up so that we could finally start blogging about the books that we were always talking to each other about! Since then, I haven’t stopped blogging! – Tina Williams, A Reader’s Review
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I’ve had my blog for a few years now. – Clarice, Clarice Book Nook
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I can’t believe it’s been 3.5 glorious years already. – Gillian Felix, Plain Talk Book Marketing.
Why do you blog about books?
I have had a life-long affair with books. I am an avid reader, book hoarder, and frustrated writer. I also have a penchant for computers. After meeting so many wonderful authors via social media, I wanted to help them spread the word about their books. All of these things came together in the perfect medium for me: a book blog. – Lynda Dickson, Book Direct
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Well, I initially wanted to write about books so that I would remember the book after I read it and I had some medium to catalogue my ‘Read’ pile without a bother. I didn’t ever know about the Indie world then. And book blogging has been an incredible journey of discovery of so many great books. 
Definitely, I blog because I love books. And I want to honour them and celebrate authors. Books take me to their fantasy world and allow me some time to relax and escape into a world unknown. And this is something no other medium has ever done for me. So blogging is my way of giving it to the authors, showing them some love.
Indeed, reading books gives so many people that absolute rush. Reading my favourite genres makes me feel alive, especially fast paced books. It is such an achievement that a collection of words, which you’d find in a dictionary, in some particular order, can make someone feel more alive, in the time it is being read. That’s sheer magic!
Of course, I also realise, there are a lot of readers and some books, which are just not as magical as the others. While I’m not a respected voice commanding a lot of sway in readers’ interests, I’d like to think, that my review about a book not that well written would save someone their time and definitely, their money because i do know how several friends save up pennies to buy books just so they can have that rush. – Nytali, A Little Love Book Blog
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Janette and I joke that we are book soulmates. She lives in NYC and I live in Austin, Texas. We met in an author fan group and found that we read many of the same books and began to have running dialogues about our favorite books, as well as many we didn’t. We are both voracious readers,and have some very strong opinions! Evette Ashby, – Sassy Girl Books
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I started because I had a book store and I wanted a means to share interesting books I ran across. I also like to read and wanted to share some of the great books that are out there by unknown or little known authors. – Dawn Heslin, Bound 4 Escape
[bctt tweet=”I had a book store and I wanted a means to share interesting books. #BookBlogger @SleepygirlBooks”]
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Books have always been a big part of my life. Even before I could read I enjoyed looking at the pictures and listening to my parents read from the many books in our house. I joined the library at an early age and devoured anything that looked remotely of interest! I love to share what I think about my favourite reads and the genres. – Tina Williams, A Reader’s Review
[bctt tweet=”I love to share what I think about my favourite reads and the genres #BookBlogger @areadersreviewb”]
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I have always loved to read and write, plus I have a degree in mass media so I decided to put my love of all things book-related to good use. – Clarice, Clarice Book Nook
[bctt tweet=”I decided to put my love of all things book-related to good use. #bookblogger @claricesbooks “]
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To connect with people. I’m an author and this is my way of helping other authors. – Gillian Felix, Plain Talk Book Marketing.
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What do you look for when considering whether or not to host an author? 
When I started out, I would prepare a blog post for anyone who asked for one. After a while, I noticed that some authors supported me by sharing my posts, while others just sent me the material and ran – I never even got a thank you for the time and effort I put into setting up and promoting their posts. After blogging for two years, I decided to start charging a small fee for my services. I now get less requests, but those who do support me are more inclined share their posts. I believe this is a win-win for both parties.
When I participate in blog tours, I firstly choose books that appeal to me as a reader. I am more likely to host an author again if that author has previously shown me some support by commenting on the blog post, sharing the blog post, or following my Facebook page, etc. – Lynda Dickson, Book Direct
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For me, it mostly depends on the sort of books they write. I gamble mostly, if I like the blurb for the book. I’m not too picky. I’m a newbie SF (Sci-fi) reader and I’m only discovering a lot of genres. But I love reading, so it is mostly the story and the book itself that keeps me invested and excited.
The author, or their reputation is not the first factor to me choosing their book for hosting. Of course, if I have read their book and I did not like their style, I choose to not host them because it’d simply be doing them an injustice. – Nytali, A Little Love Book Blog
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The blurb will often grab our attention. Whether we work with an author or tour group depends on many things- have we worked with them in the past? Have we read any of the author’s works? It’s also important that they interact with us, not that we promote and post in a vacuum. We are also busy, so having that connection is important. Evette Ashby, – Sassy Girl Books
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I read the information that is sent and if it looks interesting, I will review it if I can fit it into my schedule. The problem that I have run into is that I have found several authors that I really like so I can’t pass up their books. It causes me to get further and further behind. – Dawn Heslin, Bound 4 Escape
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Whether or not we feel that their book is something that we would like to read ourselves. Our reading choices are pretty diverse and it is rare that we turn anyone away if they have taken the time and trouble to contact us. Tina Williams, A Reader’s Review
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Do they have their shit together? i.e. Do they have their cover, synopsis and links? – Gillian Felix, Plain Talk Book Marketing.
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In the coming weeks you’ll learn more about these wonderful friends and their contribution in paring readers with books. So stay tuned.
To all the bloggers who have participated, thank you, thank you for your time and patience.
XO
Thank you, Gillian, for the great feature and for the opportunity to participate.
Thank you so much for participating. The next part will be on February 11.