Exhausted!

Yep, that pretty much sums up my week! Who would have thought that blogging could wear a person out so much??

Armchair BEA was amazing, and I'm super duper excited to go check out all of the new blogs I've found. I plan on visiting every blogger that's left me a comment, and with my giveaway having over 60 comments, that's going to take me a while!

I'd love to chat with you all about how this week went for you!!

1) How did you participate? Did you blog, or just read other blogs? Did you participate at all?

2) What did you like and/or not like about armchair BEA? Did you find any great, new blogs?

3) Did some of your posts get overlooked because of BEA? List them so that we can all go check them out! We don't want any lonely posts! 


Here are my answers:

Giveaway!

1) I participated by blogging and hosting my first giveaway (which is still going on)! I'm really excited to give a book or two to another book lover. I've won a few contests in the last few months, and it's so exciting! I hope to give that feeling to someone else. :) 

I also joined all of the book bloggers on twitter. I never thought I'd be one to love Twitter, but now I do. The Twitter party was insane, but fun!

2) I loved that it was an easy way to meet so many new bloggers all at once! I have found some blogs that I'm excited about. I have lots of them to catch up on, too.

What didn't I like? Well, it was far more overwhelming than I imagined, but that didn't make me like it any less! It was just a bit hard to keep up.

3) I only did one post that wasn't BEA centered. I didn't get any reading done while BEA was going on! *gasp!* I know, I know. Maybe next week well be an all-out read fest to get ready for The Dark Days of Supernatural.

I'd love if you guys checked out my review of Losing Beauty, by Johanna Garth. It was a great book and the talented Johanna is a debut author! Please stop by and leave a comment!

 Link whatever post you want to highlight that go overlooked lately, and I'll go visit yours, too. I'm sure there were so many things I missed because of the craziness that was this week.

Yay to an awesome week! :)

Last day of Armchair BEA! Blogging About Blogging

Well folks, today is the last day of Armchair BEA (Day 5)! I don't know about you, but I am freakin' exhausted! It was a pretty last minute decision, but I'm glad I'm glad I participated. It has been crazy, tiring, awesome, and rewarding! I'm going to spend the next week catching up on all of the new blogs I found! I haven't even been able to comment on half of them yet.

Here is a rundown of Days 1-4:

Day 1: Who Are You, and How Do You BEA?

Day 2: Best of 2011 and a Giveaway!

Day 3: Interview With Another Blogger 

Day 4: Nurturing Book Blogging Relationships

Today's Topic: Blogging on Blogging

I'm pretty new at book blogging, but I still have some stuff to say. I'm not new at reading blogs, and knowing what your readers like is important. Let's get started!


How do you utilize social networking in relation to your blog? What may be the pros and cons of doing so?

I use social networking all the time! Without networking, I would have no readers. I have to get their attention somehow!

Here are the two major forms of networking that I do:

1. Twitter

     pros: 

• You can reach a large amount of people 
• It's an easy way of talking back and forth with fellow bloggers
• It's fast and simple
• You can follow and connect with authors and publishers - basically anyone in the book industry

    cons:

• It can be hard to keep up with
• You need followers on twitter, too

    2.  Memes

    

    pros:

• You find lots new blogs 
• These are usually a weekly thing, so you can constantly get people to come back to your site

    cons:

• You can bog your blog down with too many memes, and not enough "real" content
• participating can be time consuming, especially if you go to other blogs and leave meaningful comments (it pays off, though).

 Create a "rule list" of things you should and shouldn't be doing on a book blog. 

These are things that I look for in a blog before I will read or follow it:

1. Make it easily readable. Super crazy fonts and colors hurt my brain. If I have to decipher your posts, I won't read them. Like my example on the right there, which is making my eyes bleed at this moment.

2. Don't put sounds on your blog that automatically play! I will usually close out a blog before I even give it a chance if it has noise. No music players, and no ads with sound, please.

I am not talking about video blogs (vlogs) or things that you can have your readers click on if they choose to listen to it. Like, some blogs will post music that they think matches the feel of a book. That's fantastic!

It's embarrassing to have stuff start blaring at you as you fumble to figure out where the volume button is when you're supposed to be quiet, like the library or at work.

3. Make your blog unique.  If you don't have a ton of time to put into the design of your blog, at least customize it a bit. Blogger has made this so much easier than it used to be! You can change things with a click of a button now. A little here and there is all it takes. My blog isn't anywhere near perfect, but I'm slowly morphing it into something that I think reflects me. Of course, your content is way more important than how your blog looks. A unique blog is more memorable, though.

5. Don't spam others! Geesh, you would think this would be a no-brainer. Don't leave some superficial comment and then ask the blogger to follow you back. Then it seems like you didn't really even give a flying poopie about their blog and are just fishing for followers. EARN your followers. It's more rewarding.

4. Do it for yourself. I think this is the most important thing, to me anyways. If I want something a certain way on my blog, then that's how I'm going to do it. Of course I care about my readers (love you all!), but this is my blog. For example, I love my book covers posted as big as freakin' possible, so that's what I do. I know that this is probably going to annoy some people, and that's ok. I can't make everyone happy.

So, if you disagree with me and want neon pink writing on top of atomic meltdown green, then do it. If you just want a basic template with no modifications or songs blaring, then go ahead. Yes, it's possible you'll scare away readers, but your blog is about you. If you like it, others probably will too. It doesn't really matter what I think. :)

What are your tips for balance life and blogging?

Oh my gosh, if I blogged like I did this week all the time, I'd be a walking, exhausted zombie!!


I balance blogging and life by taking a step back sometimes. A blog post can almost always wait. I don't pressure myself to post all that much. I can wait to reply to comments. Last month I was sick for 5 days, so I just stayed away from my blog altogether (although I did have a post already scheduled to automatically post, and that was convenient!). My blog will be there later, so there's no rush. 

How do you keep your blog fresh and interesting to your readers & yourself?

I'm still working on this one! I don't totally know yet. I think that only reading what I feel like reading helps. I jump all over the place. I'll read a young adult book, then skip over to some hot and steamy romance. 

I have noticed that I get far more replies on the posts that I was genuinely excited about. I think it just shows. I did a post once in the very beginning that I wasn't really feeling, and I didn't get all that much interaction. Well, duh! Why would people be excited about something on my blog if I'm not even excited?

Maybe I should bring in some cute? Maybe some more LOL cats...

Like this:

or this:

Yep. I definitely need to bring on the cute and the LOL cats.

Armchair BEA, Day 4: Nurturing Book Blogging Relationships

It's Armchair BEA Day 4 already! I don't know about you, but it has been awesome. Exhausting too! I've met some fantastic new bloggers... and that makes me happy. :)

Today is all about: Nurturing Book Blogging Relationships

In the short time I've been book blogging (I started this March), I've already had some amazing connections. I had no idea the amount of awesomeness that would accompany this new venture! I just wanted to have a place to talk about all of the awesome books I've been reading, and I wanted to be able to post the covers really BIG. I'm kind of a cover-lover. There, I just made up a new, hip word. Sorta.

Let me tell you about a few of the awesome connections that my blog has brought about!

Authors:

1. Holly Black - because of blogging, I became more aware of authors and book signings. Holly Black and Cassandra Clare came to my neck of the woods, and I got to meet them and have my books signed! Yay! You can read about that here. I may have told her that my cat puked on her books, and that's why I didn't have 2 of them with me...

So, at the signing, we got these excerpts from the next books that they were releasing. I took a picture of the excerpt from Black Heart, and put it up on my blog. Holly Black found that picture somehow and posted it on her blog!! What are the odds? Well, being that I love photography, I couldn't have her use a yucky picture as her only way to share the new cover, so I took a new picture, cropped it in photoshop, and it came out much better (you can see it here). It was so weird to see a picture that I took popping up on other blogs! Holly has even replied to me on her blog and on facebook.

2. Kristen Painter - So, a few months back I posted a giant picture of the cover of Blood Rights, Kristen Painter's new book, on the Waiting on Wednesday meme. Kristen actually saw it and sent me an email asking if I wanted an Advanced Readers Copy to review. Can you believe it?? That was the first author to ask me if I wanted to review their book, and I was stunned. I am not that big of a blog, and I'm fairly new, so I was surprised she even asked me. I guess you never know! She sent me a personalized/signed copy, and I loved it! I can't wait to post the review. I'm going to be doing some fun stuff for the release (like maybe some giveaways and a blog tour)

3. Johanna Garth - I found Johanna through a comment on another blog or something. I followed her back over to her blog, and became a follower/commenter because I really liked it. She recently asked me to read and review her book! I think that is pretty awesome. I told her I would only do it if it didn't ruin our friendship because my review would be honest. She agreed, but really, I had nothing to worry about her book was great! I actually just posted a review of it yesterday!

I've even had authors like Amy Plum, Lauren DeStefano, and Karsten Knight reply to my tweets on twitter! It's unreal how approachable authors really are. Now to get the Vlogbrothers to talk to me...



Other Bloggers:

It's amazing to me how much I've grown to love my fellow book bloggers. Right before I started book blogging, I read something by Kristi at The Story Siren that said something along the lines of book blogging is not a competition and there is room for everyone. This really struck a cord with me. I was afraid to start my blog because there were already super awesome bloggers out there. But really, that doesn't matter. We can all coexist peacefully. :)

There are an overwhelming amount of great bloggers out there, but I'm just going to share a few. I know I'm not going to be able to post about all of the bloggers that mean something to me, and I'm sorry to those I leave out. I'm lucky that I have some super awesome people that comment on my blog all the time. I love you guys!


1) Kristina - My World of Books: Kristina has been chit chatting with me the longest!

The thing that brought us together was the fact that we both live in the Pacific Northwest and we plan on going to the same author tour, The Dark Days of Supernatural. We've been talking about it nonstop!

Kristina's great at finding author signings, and usually alerts me of them. I love that! We also vary a little bit in our taste in books, so I'm always finding new ones on her blog. She also has an epic amount of books in her bookcases.  You should go check her out! Kristina is friendly and all around fantastic! :)

2) Vy - Vy's Blog: Vy is one of the sweetest people ever, ever, ever. She is always commenting on my blog and saying nice things. I was surprised when I learned she was only in eighth grade, because she is so mature and her blog is awesome.

She lives in the same city as me! We both went to the Cassandra Clare and Holly Black signing, but didn't run into each other. Next time I'll plan better so that we can meet up. I think she's also going to the Dark Days of Supernatural, so hopefully then.

Vy is just one of those people that are great to have around. She's happy and helpful. Go check out her blog! You'll see what I mean. :D

3. Lisa - Lisa The Nerd - She's my newest blogging friend! She's funny and quirky, and has some pretty fun posts. I won a contest she ran a little while back, and for some reason we click.

I interviewed her yesterday for Armchair BEA, and her answers were fabulous! You should go check it out.

Lisa and I have lots of things in common: We love the Vlogbrothers, Harry Potter, Adele, and being obsessed with obsessions. Yeppers, she's a keeper. :)


I know that I didn't post about everyone that I connect with, but it's already one in the morning, and I need to get to sleep!

This is going to sound cheesy, but I can't wait to see what other surprises blogging will bring!

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway! Also, please check out my review of Losing Beauty and I'll love you forever! I don't want it to get lost in all this BEA stuff. Thanks and I love you in advance. :)

Armchair BEA Giveaway!

****** Contest Over!! Thanks to all who entered. ******


Welcome all you fellow Armchair BEA attendees! I decided that I should do a giveaway to give back to the community that has given me so much.This is my first giveaway. I'm excited!

What I'm Giving Away:

Any book $12 and under at the Book Depository!

I'm making it simple. You choose any book $12 and under at the book depository. If you find several books that total under $12, I can do that too! There will be one winner

Rules:

• Anyone can enter. You do not have to be a blogger or a participant in armchair BEA. One entry per person.
  
• You do not have to be a follower. I do ask that you look around and follow if you like my blog! Thanks. :)
• Open Internationally, as long as The Book Depository ships to you. Please check the list of places they'll ship to before entering.
• You must be 13 or older to enter. You must be 18 or older to choose a book that is meant for adult readers.
• Little Shelf is not responsible for articles lost in the mail or damage incurred during shipping. I will do my best to make sure it gets to you and in the best condition, but I'm not responsible for anything out of my control.
• I reserve the right to change the giveaway details and rules at anytime (I don't plan on doing this, but you never know!)
• If you win, you will be contacted by email, and listed in a blog post. You must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.
• By entering the contest, you agree to all rules mentioned above. Sorry for so many rules! I'm just covering my bases. :)

To enter, just leave a comment with an email address! If you have a blog, please leave a link so I can visit it and announce it if you're the winner. Winner will be chosen at random.

Contest will run until June 7, 2011. That's 2 full weeks to enter!
Contest ends June 7, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. (west coast time) Anything posted after won't count.

Good luck! :)

Please check out my two previous armchair BEA posts:

My Top Ten From 2011

First Day! Who Am I?

EDIT: if you are having problems commenting, just send me an email at littleshelf@gmail.com and I'll enter you myself! :)