Armchair Book Expo Introductions
Julie:
- I am . . . a whole heck of a lot of things and these open ended things are never easy for me. I am a reader. I am a mom. I am a wife. I am a blogger. I am a full-time working mom who reads on her commute to stay sane. Lots of things else I’m sure.
- Currently . . . eating lunch at work, that’s when I do most of my blogging
- I love . . . A wonderful book that takes the stress out of traffic and grips me and makes me love the characters
- My favorite . . . color is purple. I don’t have a favorite book.
- My least favorite . . . hour of the day is wake up hour haha
- My current read . . . is a recent SYNC audiobook download freebie, Feed.
- My summer plans . . . are not special as I work full-time. But we are moving sometime before fall so that counts as summer plans, I guess
- My buddy . . . is my kitty cat who loves to purr on my lap
- My blog/channel/social media . . . is on the sidebar 😉
- The best . . . snack has chocolate
Lynn:
- I am . . . a reader, most importantly. Though, a reader with a full-time job that constantly gets in the way of my desire to be reading!
- Currently . . . catching up on blog posts, putting off reading the THREE BOOKS I need to review in the next two weeks. Maybe if I don’t think about that, the books will magically review themselves.
- I love . . . a book that has all the genres in one. Some romance. Some action\adventure. Some mystery. One stop shop for books.
- My favorite . . . book depends on my mood and that last book I finished. In this case, The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly. Or my default answer is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
- My least favorite . . . Poetry. I just don’t understand it.
- My current read . . . See above re: Four Legendary Kingdoms. Like Julie, I’m also listening an audiobook from SYNC, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and starting Roar, Cora Carmack’s new YA Fantasy.
- My summer plans . . . Work. And avoiding the scorching Texas sun. Though, I am planning a trip to Schlitterbahn. Because I’m an adult and can do what I want.
- My buddy . . . is my TV. It’s always on in the background. Even if I’m not paying it any attention.
- My blog/channel/social media . . . ditto to the sidebar.
- The best . . . way to motivate myself to exercise is knowing I have a good audiobook to listen to while on the treadmill.
Best Practices in the Online Book Community:
Let’s talk about our best practices within the book community. This can range from time management to the use of social media to even ethical obligations.
Julie:
This is such a broad topic and could turn into a really long post if we want it to. I’m going to list out some of the best practices that come to mind immediately when I think about book blogging.
- Piracy – an issue and quite widespread. As book bloggers, it is our duty to obtain books in an ethical manner and encourage our readers to do the same.
- ARCs – we shouldn’t request ALL THE ARCS if we don’t have time to read them. This is something I learned a few years ago when I went Netgalley happy, and before I realized there was just no way to actually read all the books in the world.
- Honest reviews – we owe it to readers in the world to share an honest review of books in a professional manner. We shouldn’t lie or hype up a bad book, but we also shouldn’t bash books we didn’t enjoy either.
Lynn:
For me, the best blogging practices include:
- Plan and schedule ahead of time. I’m a planner in all aspects of my life. And whereas being able to plan ahead may not always work out for me, it’s easier for me to blog on the weekend. There aren’t enough hours during the weekdays for me to do everything I want to do.
- If you don’t like a book, don’t take that out on the author personally. There is never a reason to attack someone on social media. If you wouldn’t say it to someone in person, don’t post it.
- Don’t judge other people or bloggers for what they read or what they think of a book. We blog to get the word out on books we’ve read, whether we liked the books or not. Just be glad people are reading. No matter what they decide to read.
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Great post, ladies! Can’t wait to read more!
Happy Armchair Book Expo!
Purple is the best color.
Hi Julie! Love your post! Niche to meet you ?
Armchair BEA Cafinated Reads Intro
Thanks for stopping by, Molly.
Reading Hitchhiker’s Guide is always a good idea.
Truth, Heather!
Nice to meet you, Julie! I love purple too! And yay for kitties who like to snuggle on laps! I miss my kittens, but currently have two dogs to keep me company while reading. Aren’t furbabies the best?
Hi Lynn! Wouldn’t it be nice if books could magically review themselves? Why isn’t there an app for that? And I get you on poetry. Sometimes I think they’re being deliberately confusing!
Terri @ Alexia’s Books and Such recently posted…Armchair Book Expo 2017: Day 1 Intro
There does need to be an App for that, Terri! Good idea!
This is a great post! I have had to learn that there really is such a thing as requesting too many ARCs. When I used to work as a librarian, and I didn’t have kids, I could breeze through my NetGalley shelf in a weekend. Now I really have to limit myself to just a few titles because otherwise I never get to them and I feel guilty.
Kids. They get in the way more than a job! At least that’s what people tell me.
As a family we’re listening to the radio play version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Two posts: Introductions and Best Practices
Ooh I didn’t know about the radio version.
I didn’t either. I remember forcing my nephew to listen to the audiobook in car when he came to visit me in Denver back in the day. I had already started it and couldn’t put it on hold just for his visit, lol! =)
Very nice blog…I love finding new blogs.
Thanks for letting us get to know you.
Terrific Best Practices…thanks.
I am very careful about requesting ARCs – no one can read them all…I know I can’t.
My reviews are definitely honest. ?
I ALWAYS plan ahead….my life has been be ahead of what needs to be done.
Thanks for sharing, and have fun this week.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
Armchair BookExpo Introduction
Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews recently posted…Going To Visit My Sisters
Thanks for stopping by Elizabeth! Good to hear you always plan ahead. It makes things much easier later.
Ditto on the terrific Best Practices!
I also cut way down on entering contests or signing up to eARC because I just don’t have the ability to focus on e-book reading like I did when I first made the transition from reading physical books to e-books. Now I only eARC read for one author, and I turn down new eARC offers by explaining that I will buy the book when I think I have time to actually read it instead.
Wait we can’t read all the books in the world?! it is sad and so true I guess. Love the best practices and thank you for the introductions.
I just finished reading Hitchhikers Guide! Can’t wait to see what you think!
http://cover2coverblog.blogspot.com/2017/05/armchair-book-expo-day-1-introductions.html
I know, I wish we could read all the books!
Thanks, Steph. I’m doing a book vs movie review for Hitchhiker’s next week!
OH FUN!!!!
Steph recently posted…June 2017 TBP Pile
Lovely intro post, ladies! Happy to *meet you*!
These two points are SO important and really hit home for me:
“Honest reviews – we owe it to readers in the world to share an honest review of books in a professional manner. We shouldn’t lie or hype up a bad book, but we also shouldn’t bash books we didn’t enjoy either.”
“Don’t judge other people or bloggers for what they read or what they think of a book. We blog to get the word out on books we’ve read, whether we liked the books or not. Just be glad people are reading. No matter what they decide to read.”
I cannot stand when readers are nasty to each other regarding book tastes. And hyping up a book that you didn’t really care for just because you were sent a copy is just bad form. I have unfollowed a number of people that have done that.
Yes! Why do people have to be nasty or fake to each other? Thanks Erica!
Right?! It’s so silly!
Erica recently posted…Armchair Book Expo – Introductions & Best Practices
The “don’t request too many ARCs” is definitely a practice I need to work on! And I tend to forget about the problem of piracy, but that’s a huge issue. One thing I do try to do is not use images without permission (if they are not in the public domain or fair use, like book covers). I was slack about this in the early days of my blog but I’ve tried to get better.
Thanks for all the interesting info about you! Happy ABEA!
I was slack in my early days too but try to be careful about that now. We learn as we go 🙂
Thanks Lori!