I've been a blogger for 6 months...some reflections.

What this means for you? Well an awesome giveaway of course: GO ENTER!

*Once again watch out...my foul mouth has been let loose!
I've seen quite a few instances of blogger burn out. More and more bloggers are putting out calls for new reviewers. We all joke about how far behind we are, or how many books we have stacked up to read.  Every book blogger knows what I mean when I say it's fun. But it's also stressful as hell, a pain in the ass, costly, time consuming and hard.

You would think it wouldn't be that. You are saying to yourself...whatever, I post reviews on Goodreads all the time it's not hard. Yeah, I thought that too. Had I known how much work it takes to even get 130 followers I might have just stayed on Goodreads too. LOL just kidding. I'm an attention whore.




But I didn't. I am here and I will stay here and Infectious Kink, and hopefully Rachel will keep me on at Parajunkee too. I love doing this. I devote a lot of time into reading and reviewing. I devote even more time to social networking. I'm on facebook and twitter every few hours pimping something bloggy. Posting pictures on one of my pages. Sometimes it seems like I have spent my whole day on facebook. Sometimes I stay up late to finish that post, that book, that review. Sometimes I turn on Maria's favorite cartoon so I can do all those things too.

I check my email, my facebook constantly. I hear rude and cutting comments from people close to me about my devotion to book blogging. I get to hear about all my "book crap" I post on facebook. I have very little support outside of the book blogging world for all of my hard work. And really...I don't give a fuck. I love doing this. I love all my great new friends. I love chatting away with Ren, Annie, Tamara, Stacy and Lindsay. I love seeing all of your likes, your comments, and your shares. I like logging onto my stats and seeing you guys really are reading what we post. I live for that moment when people say they like my reviews (I have huge self confidence issues, so I don't see it peeps. I really don't. My grammar, punctuation and spelling all suck).
Please don't take this as a plea for more kudos. You all do enough by just being here. By participating in the page, but doing our giveaways and clicking our links. I promise it is enough. You all rock my face off. So, So much. I am so thankful for each and everyone of you.

I see my blog friends going through the same things I go through. We are ALL behind on our reviews. We ALL feel like we are letting someone down. Authors, friends, family etc.

How many free books do you think a small potato's operation like this blog gets? A few a week? One a day? Well let me tell you, IF I accepted EVERY review request that came through my email I would probably be at that. But I don't. I can't. It's not because I don't think the book sounds good, or I don't like the author. It's a variety of factors that makes my yes or no decision for me. Mainly, it's due to time restraints. I hate making authors wait months for me to read one freakin' book. I hate it. I get a lot of requests for high fantasy because of my liking for the paranormal and, let's face it, I am a giant dork. I don't mind high fantasy but often times they come with a huge page number attached to them. 600+ pages is a lot. Or if your a writer/blogger around 200,000+ words. Think about it, the average YA book is between 60,000 to 90,000 words. Roughly 200-300 pages. 

Before I started blogging I would love to get a book that size. But the reality is that I just don't have time for that. I just don't. I really wish I did though. I have books that have been sitting around for months just waiting for me to get to them. Some review requests, some I requested, some are kindle freebies and some are those books that I NEEDED. LOL. I have 460 some books on my kindle and a dozen or so hardbacks that I need to read. Even if I read 1 book a day I still won't be done in a year. That makes me fucking sad. I want to read everything.

Trust me this isn't another one of those "breakdown I don't know if I can do this anymore" posts. I am here, and I am going to try harder to rock your socks off (or something). I am signing up for very few things next month and will be getting my review requests done. With the help of the lovely Lindsay. I've signed up for NOTHING in Dec. I will do promotion for a very few authors but that will be my own promotion, not through blog tours. Dec is DO NOTHING BUT READ MONTH. I will read as many books as I can. I will review them and then move on. I will not be out pimping myself out. I am just going to have fun and read the shit out of some epic fucking books. I am still new to blogging but I do have some advice to those of us feeling the burn (out).

* Take your time with books and reviews. If an author gets mad because you take forever with their book then that is what it is. I have never, ever had an author blow up on me about taking forever. We have lives outside of this book world (although some days I wish I could crawl into my computer and live with Ren, she's a badass baker!)

* Get a clear picture of what your blog's goal is. Is it author promotion, or a review blog? There really is a difference. Author promotion blogs will rarely have negative reviews on them. Whether a blog does this intentionally or not I do not know. I know when I started CR way back in the days when it was still called 'what I am digging now' <---worst blog name ever! I was all over that author promotion.
Now. Well now we are just a plain ole book blog. I will still promote my favorite authors but I refuse to censor myself or my fellow reviewers.
Know that negative reviews can and will bring out the trolls. Be prepared. I could give you tons of advice on how to deal with this but really you're going to do what you want to do. The only time I have had to deal with trolls was on PJV and I waited for Rachel's reaction before I did anything. It's her blog. Was I a tad too snarky in my review? Yes, but that's me. That is who I am. It was not ill intentioned and I never said anything about the author. Would it hurt the author's feelings? Yes, but that's the biz. Book bloggers are constantly telling authors they need to have thick skin. Well guess what baby...right back at us. If we want to dish it out then we had better take it. Do I laugh at these trolls...hell yes I do. Now. Did I cry when I first read them? Fuck yeah I did. It fucking tore my heart out. Admitting that might be a win for them but not really. I know who they are. I could turn around and anon bomb their shit too. I won't but the fact that I can makes me feel warm and fuzzy. (Yes, I am messed up in the head).

* Set realistic goals. Every freaking time I go on Bookish Brunette, .Xpresso Reads, PJV I get super depressed. Still. I see their followers, I see the amount of comments and I'm like...'fuck, I suck'. Then I instantly pm a blog friend and I feel better. Not everyone of us will achieve their success. For a variety of reasons. If you're goal is to have 3,000 followers the first year like they do....well that might be a little high. My goal for the 1st year bloggerversary is 150. A portion of my followers are author, and blog friends. I have some really awesome supporters too. I'll take any follow I can get. I recognize a bunch of them from the facebook page. It's awesome.

* Get a group of close blogger friends. See that Zombie Slut picture in the upper right hand corner. I call them my team zombie slut. They are always there helping and most of the time making me sweet graphics, giving me great ideas, having my back and saying to me...hey, dumbo you misspelled something again! They give great tips on how to do block quotes, etc etc.

* Before you choose which format to use Blogger vs. Word Press know the strengths and weaknesses of both. PJV's WP blog is the shiz. It's easy to use and she has tons of options to make it sweet. Most of which I haven't got a flippin clue how to use. But she pays for hers, and she has worked in web design. I prefer blogger everything is free and you don't need to pay to make your blog look as sweet as Annie has made mine look. The buttons are easy to use and it is all FREE.

* Watch Parajunkee's video's on her website. She tells you how to do everything. From formatting block quotes to showing how to backup and save your blog to your hard drive.

* Have fun. Make friends. Read awesome books. That is why we are all here.

4 Life