Book Bloggin 101 - Book Blogger Jealousy

1) Is there a certain etiquette to follow when we want to repost an article, review, or meme by another blogger.

2) Everytime I make a post, my site sends out an email to everyone who subscribed. Is there a way to prevent it from doing so individually? Can we set it up so that an email is sent out once a day in digest form so people aren't inundated with emails if you make several different posts in one day? - Aimee

A: Ask. Ask. Ask. Always ask permission. And if they don't get back with you, it doesn't mean that you have permission. You really shouldn't repost anything, unless you have permission. Copying might be the highest form of flattery, but it can piss someone off royally when they go to your site and see that you've posted their review, or article – even if you do give them credit, and they didn't know about it.

This a personal choice made by the subscriber. You can choose daily trends, weekly updates and even instant updates. There is nothing you can do about it.

When I post a comment on someone else's page I have to copy my URL because I've not figured out how to add a clickable link. Ex. some others will put in their comment here's my WOW or FF and it will have a link. Can you help?
Thanks - Jennifer@The Book Nympho

A: They use html. Creating a link is one of the easiest forms of HTML that you can do. This is what I usually use as my signature in a comment.

XOXO Parajunkee

This is what the link looks like:

XOXO <a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/">Parajunkee</a>

Put your link where I have my link in red. Notice that my XOXOXOs are outside of the links, but my Parajunkee is inside, so just Parajunkee is linked.

A good way to just make your link without typing it is, just link something in blogger and then go into EDIT HTML and find your link and copy and paste the code. Remember to preview the comment to see if it is working.

I am wondering about etiquette as far as seeing a gadget on a few other peoples blogs and wanting to add it to my site.  Now, before we get any further, I'm not talking about copying someone's entire blog, but I have run across one gadget that I really like and I haven't added it because I don't want someone to get upset when I add it to my site.  What do you think about this?  - Mira

A: If it is an image that the blogger created, asked permission. If it is a general public widget, you are more than welcome to use it for your blog. The only time someone would get upset is if it is specifically created for their blog and not for general consumption.

Is there a way to respond to comments that simultaneously posts the reply in the comments box and sends it in an e-mail to the commenter?   - Anon

A: Only if that person checked off subscribe to these comments. There really isn't a way to force it. But if there is a way that might be able to notify commentors I haven't heard of it, maybe someone can chime in if they know how to do it.

I realize there is no "right" answer for this and that it really depends on preference, but I want to know YOUR opinion....  Wordpress or Blogger, which is better?  - Theresa @ Fade Into Fantasy

A:Quick answer - blogger is for intermediate users, Wordpress is for advanced. Blogger is great because everything is FREE, everything is easy to use and is very stable, but at some point you might outgrow your blog. You might want to add certain features that just aren't available. Then it might be time to move to Wordpress, but you'll have to pay money.

I recommend Blogger for people that don't want to pay a dime. Wordpress for people that want to push their blogs to the max and are willing to pay money to do it. I hope this answers your question. And everything for wordpress is more expensive.

Example: Wordpress domain $17 (same domain through godaddy or wherever that usually cost 9 - 12 they just add on that 5 or so bucks to switch your name servers)

Blogger domain: $10 - they don't charge you a thing for switching those name servers

I have around 390 followers, and I have started getting review requests more frequently. But to be honest, most of them are self published books or genres that I do not usually accept. I have seen a lot of bloggers with less followers than me getting quite popular books to review, and I was wondering why. Is it necessary to contact publishers (I am willing to do this, of course!)? And if contacting publishers is they way to go, how do I go about that? This being said, I do not blog just for free books!  - Chloe

A:Ah, blogger jealousy. I love it, because you know you've experienced it to! You've gone to BLOGGER X, who has like 50 followers and they have an ARC of let's say FOREVER and you are like WTF? How did you get that?! I want that sooo bad! They aren't even making ARCs of FOREVER! OMG if you were standing next to me on the bus I would push you over and grab it from your hands, read it as quick as possible then mail it back to you with a big apology and a $20 amazon.com gift card. But I want to read that book so bad and it is not FAIR FAIR FAIR. I so hear you on this one Chloe. It happens to all of us. And I'm not just saying that, a certain friend of mine, that will remain nameless will probably think I "faked" this question just for her cause she was lamenting on the exact same thing (but I didn't this is a real question).

Are you ready for a Parajunkee analogy?

There are ten guys that go to Vampire High School. Only ten. There are three hundred girls. Of course the guys are inundated with propositions on a daily basis. The senior prom comes along and you want to go with CHUCK, hottest of the hot. Wanted by all the girls, he's the next best thing. What do you think will get CHUCK to notice you out of those 300 girls jockeying for his attention? Sitting in your desk, minding your own business with a sticker on your shirt that says I >3 CHUCK, or if you walked up to him, tapped him on the shoulder and said. "Hi I'm Chloe. I frickin' am hot for you. Go to the prom with me."

Now, granted CHUCK might turn you down. But at least it got you noticed and maybe for the next dance he might remember that awesome girl that tapped him on the shoulder.

Does this make sense? Big pubs and authors will not come to you. You have to go to them. You have to say hello, send and email, introduce yourself, your blog and say that you are dying to read X book. Request. Request. Request.

Here are some tips:

1. Be professional. Polite. Courteous.
2. Put REVIEW REQUEST BOOK NAME in the subject line
3. Include the ISBN number in the email
4. Include your mailing address
5. Include your blog URL
6. Include your name
7. Include how long you have been in operation
8. And if you want an interview or giveaway, in that is email is where you should ask.
9. Look on the pubs sites, there is usually a CONTACT US link and if you dig deep enough most all of them have a REVIEW REQUEST email

And let me follow this up with. No matter how many followers you have, there will always be someone that has a book you want desperately and you just can't seem to get --- I've been dying to get Enclave. DYING!! It was supposed to come, but it never came. So, here I sit. Totally jealous of Julie from My 5 Monkeys cause she always gets all the cool books!!! It released two weeks ago and I'm deflated. I want to cry. See, blogger envy, what a killer!!!

But, you really shouldn't be jealous, because there are so many books out there and you can't get a hold of all of them. You can't get in on all the coolest contests, no matter how hard you try. Who knows that blogger with only 50 followers might have been tweeting at the right time and landed an ARC giveaway or something...it might have been the highlight of their year. It's not always about followers, sometimes it is about luck.

That's it folks. Talk Less. Read More. Happy Thursday.  Also, I don't have a Follow Friday person, because they didn't get back to me, so the first person to comment in here that they want the Friday Feature gets it.