Some Things are Bigger Than Blogging

- On Taking an Hiatus & Giving Yourself a Break

I'm here with a different kind of post today. I've been wanting to write more personal posts, the "get to know the blogger behind the blog" kind, as I haven't really done many of them, and while this isn't exactly what the kind of thing I was hoping to write, it's something I feel is important to discuss.

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We Book Bloggers Need to Recognise Our Worth

Book Bloggers Need to Recognise Our Worth

Last month, YA author Courtney Summers sent out her third newsletter of the year, "She knows she's talented," about her path to realising she's good at what she does, acknowledging it, and, ultimately, that her success is down to her hard work. She was particularly talking about herself as an author, and other authors, but it got me thinking about about how I think of myself as a blogger.

"I waited years for someone or some milestone to signify I'd earned my career. This in spite of the countless hours of work I'd put into my craft, the talent I knew I had, the deadlines I'd met, the accolades my books received, and the audience I built. While I waited, I often apologized for or disclaimed the utter audacity of my having them. Do that enough, self-doubt creeps in. Doubt yourself, you'll act accordingly." From "She knows she's talented," by Courtney Summers.

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On Promoting Your Problematic Faves

Today, I really want to talk about problematic faves, because I've seen some things recently that have kind of wound me up.

It's to do with high profile/quite popular YA authors and their books, and how those who love their books seems to simply ignore their problematic behaviour/books. I've also seen a number of new releases with problematic content that have been raved about. It is very possible that maybe those readers are unaware of the problems with the authors and/or the books, especially in regards to new releases, but I don't think it's that's true in all cases when it comes to high profile authors.

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My Nominations for the Third Annual 2019 Book Blogger Awards

May over on Forever and Everly is hosting the Third Annual 2019 Book Blogger Awards, originally created by Joce of Write Through the Night. I didn't know about the awards the previous two years, but it's such a fantastic idea, and I can't not nominate my faves!

Fortunately we're allowed three nominations per category, otherwise I'd be in big trouble with some categories, trying to choose just one. There are a number of categories I've not nominated in simply because I just couldn't choose just three. There are a few who I just adore, and I can't not nominate at least a couple of times for different categories. So here are my nominations!

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Why Authors Should Respect and Appreciate Book Bloggers

There have been a couple of things that happened a few weeks ago that really upset and angered me. First there was the news that Kathleen Hale, an author who stalked a reviewer who wrote a negative review, is having a book published about said stalking. Then there was author E.K. Johnston tweeting that she writes in ARCs, "This is an ARC. I hope you didn't buy it", if the person wanting it signed doesn't want a personalisation, implying that pretty much everyone with ARCs, but especially bloggers, will sell on ARCs. Then there was author Dahlia Adler - but also the blogger behind LGBTQ Reads - tweeting about authors not promoting content on blogs that they requested/were involved in. All of this showed that there is a lack of respect for bloggers. And it really wound me up.

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How Do You Choose? Bought Books Vs Review Books

At the beginning of the month, Cait of Paper Fury asked Should We Blog About Backlist Titles More Often? and it really got me thinking about the books I buy.

As a book blogger, because I get sent ARCs to review, and I'm not the quickest of readers, if I stacked my review TBR in one big pile, it could probably take me to the moon - and that's not including the eProofs I have, because they're unstackable. I exaggerate, but I have a lot of review books. So many, that I do struggle to keep up with them. But I don't get sent review books of everything I want to read. Sometimes I'm denied, sometimes I don't have a contact, sometimes I don't know about a book until after it's published, sometimes the books are only published in the US and there's no way to get a review copy. I buy a huge amount of books - not counting the finished copies I buy after reading review copies.

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