Welcome to Book Blogging 101, where you ask a question and I try my best to answer it. I'm not an expert -- so if I get it wrong, shhh I don't want to hear it! LOL. No let me know in the comments if you have a difference of opinion, or know a better way.
Spawned from the Big Sis, Little Blog program, Book Blogging 101 was born. Do you have a question? Leave it in the google docs form and I'll try and answer them in the order they are received.
How can I receive free books? I have no problem reviewing the books via Amazon or creating a blog. Right now, my favorite genres are paranormal fiction (urban fantasy, time travel, etc.), mystery and pretty much whatever strikes my fancy. Thanks! -- Melissa
A: This is a tough one, because I really want to give a snarky response (biting tongue). Instead of snark, I will just state emphatically that -
We might not pay for the books, but boy do we work for them. Am I wrong, my fellow book bloggers? I know I work my arse off, for my "free books".
Melissa, please don't start a book blog just to get "free" books. Because, really, it takes a good deal of work to start getting these "free books".
I was about 6 months into blogging when I got my first actual review copy. I had a few eBooks, and I had won an ARC of Linger, along with one from Goodreads.com, but an actual PR solicited review copy (it wasn't even an ARC though) was literally on my 6 month blogging anniversary.
So, to answer your question, what does it take? This is what I did.
Six months of blogging daily. Two to three reviews a week, and two memes or columns a week. Saturday and Sunday "hello spots" or update spots. Daily twitter posts, facebook posts and constant monitoring of books-blogs.ning, goodreads.com and other social book readers sites.
Cyber stalking of authors with online identities. Visiting their blogs, commenting, tweeting, facebooking.
Cyber stalking other book bloggers, commenting, twittering, facebooking.
Constant requests of coveted books through publishers, authors and PR reps via email.
Signing up for blog tours through the Ning sites or Book Tour companies.
Hooking up with other bloggers for ARC tours.
Entering in giveaways for books on hundreds of sites and blogs.
You name it I did it. I spent about 4 to 5 hours daily on blogging (still do).
Is it worth it to me? Hell Yes. But, I don't do it for the FREE BOOKs. Are they nice? Yes. But, I do it because I love doing this. Love, Love, Love it.
I have a meme/feature that I've been having trouble getting people to participate in. It requires more thoughtful, content-rich posts than the really popular memes like "In My Mailbox" or "Teaser Tuesday", which is probably why even the regulars don't show up every week. (LOL!) I believe there are others out there who might be interested in joining, but I'm not sure how to reach them. I've already promoted this meme on the forums of Book Blogs, on blog hops, through personal invitations to bloggers I've been friendly with, and even in others' comboxes (not as spam; the comments were appropriate!)--but only the personal invitations yielded any results, and they were all short-term. Do you have any suggestions for reaching like-minded bloggers that I haven't yet tried? -- Enbrethiliel
A: To be honest, what you said you did is what I would have suggested. More personal invitations, I guess. Don't take this personally, but you might want to consider that the meme is just not popular because people aren't excited about participating, not that your promoting of the meme is lacking. Maybe instead of promoing the meme ask your blogger friends for constructive criticism on the meme. Ask for things like what can I do to get participation? Maybe there is some way to refine the meme to get excitement for it.
Memes like Teaser Tuesday and IMM work for a reason. People like to show off what they are reading and the books they have. Plus they are easy to do and get up and live. They appeal to a mass amount of bloggers because you can be from any genre blog etc and it still works. Not to mention they are long established and have spread throughout the community so they have tenure. Getting a new meme off the ground is hard work. Usually it takes a bit of refinement and some really good promotion. Don't give up, but don't just leave everything 'as is' - adapt it and it might work better for the masses.
Okay, so I want to incorporate page jumps into my blog. I've googled, I've Bing'd....and I can't seem to find dumbed-down information on how to easily code jumps or id attributes so that readers, publishers and authors can easily find reviews on my review page, without have to scroll a giant list (it's not giant yet, but will be, so better to do it now). I'm pretty technically savvy, though still learning code, and I just don't seem to understand this. Help! -- Jennifer
A: This is called an anchor!
This is what you would put as your anchor (use all lowercase and no numerals or symbols). It is good to use small words such as
top for the TOP OF PAGE
<a name="ANCHOR NAME" id="ANCHOR NAME"></a>
How to link to an anchor:
<a href="#ANCHOR NAME">ANCHOR</a>
You would just add a link and the link would be a # and then the name of the anchor, instead of the usually http://
They are really rather simple to use, you just have to know the code. I hope this helps!
That's it kids. Talk less. Read more. Happy Thursday!
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