Discussion Post: What Makes a Book Good?

This Week's Topic:
"What Makes a Book Good?"

 

Before I start talking about what makes a book good, ask yourself what YOU find in a book that makes you pick it up and stay up all night reading it? It could be the promising author or an amazing cover or even a kick butt title?

 

It should definitely make you happy

Ask yourself "What Makes a Book Good?"

Discussion Post: What Happened To Originality?

This Week's Topic:
"What Happened to Originality?"

 

First off, what do YOU think is originality? Take a moment and actually think through about what it is.

 

*Originality - ability to think or express oneself in an independent and individual manner; creative ability (Taken from Dictionary.com)

 

Your thinking..I got this. I'm orignal. But think back how many posts are true and you?
 

 

Coming from a blogger, blogging 2 years hard, I think originality is the thing that makes or breaks a blogger. Truly it does. Remember last year when plagiarism was all over the bloggingsphere and we all had to re-read everything to make sure it was OUR thoughts?

 

Yes, originality is super vital for every blogger. Newbie or experienced. Finding originality is a challenge in writing the art of reviews. Here are my 3 top ways to avoid plagiarism and retain originality:

 

1.) You Did WHAT Before Writing that Review?

I have a heads up on wiriting review. I almost never read any one else's opinions on a book if it's a book I need to review. I want to have my true feeling about it, not clouded by someone else's ideas. Doing this you both avoid plagiarism and you start to develop a new style of book reviews. And soon it will be a habit that will help you alot! But after writing that review feel free to read others! You also want a feel for what other bloggers thought of that book too and it helps you gain insight!

 

 

2.) Have Your Voice!

Every blogger has a voice in the blogging world no matter how experienced or least experienced you are. It's your unique style of writing, or design or even the way you say things that distinguishes you from others. Find the voice and stick with it!

 

 

3.) Don't Rush Think Through

Admit it, you had moments where your rushed to write a review to get SOMETHING up on your blog. While you may think that's good, remember the motto: "Quality over quantity" You may have a laundry list of posts but if half of them are crap, who's going to bother reading them? You can have 5 of the best posts a month and you can grow more than crappy, laundry list posts. Have posts you a proud of! Don't rush EVER!

 

 

Have posts you want to dance to because of how great it is! *dances*

 

 If you have any tips for originality tell me! And feel free to express your opinions below!

 

Discussion Post: Bookish Resolutions!

This week's topic:

"Bookish Resolutions"

This week is all about those bookish resolutions! The ones that every reader, blogger, author, person has each year. Here are my "bookish resolutions" and feel fee to drop by your link!

1.) Reach my goal of 60 Book in 2014! - I did reach 50 this year and I am super happy! I am definitely aiming for a 60 this year and hope I make it. Plus there's a bunch of great books releasing, it's going to be amazing :) And those series too!

2.) Try branching out into other genres! - This year I really want to move past a bit from YA, even though I love it, I want to expand my horizons. I looking to the "New Adult" fiction books, such as Hopeless by Colleen Hoover, etc. 

3.) Blogging harder and better than last year! - I really want to make this year's blogging the best. I will strive harder for daily posts, talk on twitter, be on Goodreads, etc. I want to interact with more readers and find new bloggers besides my favs. Let's make this our blogging year!

4.) Get reviews up on Amazon and Goodreads - I always knocked out review after review, but I never stop to realize to put them up on Amazon or Goodreads. Now this is the year for that!! I will definitely try to go back to my reviews and spend time adding them there. Does anyone know if this helps your blogging image?

Those are my bookish resolutions! Feel free to drop by with a link to your or a comment about your resolutions! 

Discussion Post: Managing Time

This Week's Topic:
"Managing Time" 

Admit it, you and every blogger out there has time managing issue no matter how seasoned of a blogger you are. Life and your needs get in the way sometimes and finding time to blog can just stress your whole day. I'm here to share my tips for managing time and my secrets to have posts :)

1.) Schedule Time!

One of the best ways I like to have posts up and my blog running smooth is having a calendar or notepad to with the posts I want in THAT WEEK rather than a big month. It is much easier to have smaller goals you can accomplish in a week rather than setting up yourself with all these things you're pressuring yourself to do each month = stress. Do goals that are achievable and scheduled when you want to to them is my key. You can still use a big monthly calendar but use it to map out when you know a post has to be up for blog tours, or reviews. 

2.) Debunking Your Distractions 

One day go with noticing every little thing that takes up your precious blogging time as you blog. Whether it's your iPhone blowing up with notifications or twitter, write it down after you finished blogging. Now the next time you blog, take away these things and you can see a huge difference in accomplishing what you plan to do, and even goes for daily life. It takes 2 weeks for something to be a habit, make this one of them!

3.) Know The Things That Help You Move On

One of the best things to do is improving on the good things you do to move fast and get things done. You can also apply this to blogging! Yes you can! Whether it is taking a quick nap or eating when blogging makes you get things done then do it! Don't do things that you think will help but never tried them before, but be open to trying new things. 

Now Those are my key 3 things to help manage my time! Be sure to comment on the things you do to help yourself!

Discussion Post: Things I Should I Done When Blogging

This Week's Topic:

"Things I Should Have Done"

As a blogger, you always wonder what should I have done to get more comments, followers, etc on my blog. For me I definitely should have been more focused on content rather than design. Here are my list of things I should have done starting to blog.

"Content Rather Than Design" 

Starting off blogging, I was so focused on m my design, getting it perfect  with a sidebar filled with eye catching widgets, content fell and dropped. It's vital to have great content, knock out those reviews even though you don't get comment, people read it. Once you establish yourself for a good 2-3 months, hit up the design. Get a blog makeover, with custom blog buttons, etc. Content over design first. 

It will definitely help lower the stress level :) 

"Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook"

Goodreads, twitter, and Facebook were three places a blogger should definitely establish themselves. 

-Goodreads is good for reaching out to authors, vital for book reviews, and book clubs. It's like Facebook for book readers in a way. 

-Twitter is vital and super important in reaching out to big name publishers, authors, bloggers, and readers alike. I never found a blogger without a twitter, and if you don't have one make one. 

-Facebook even though it's know for family and friends, it's also a great place to set up a blog page and meet your readers and have chats on posts. It's very fun and super social :)

In addition, every blogger needs social icons on their sidebar so any blogger, author, or publisher willing to get into contact with you can find you easily. 

"Formatting"

Formatting is one thing I should have done sooner when I first started to blog. It's so important to have a format for your reviews like pages, publisher, published date, etc. It's also great to have a Word doc, with your format template for reviews or any type of posts. This absolutely helped me a lot and it's better than opening up new tabs to grab the button or format. It's a lifesaver!

I use this for my reviews:

Title with Author
Date Released:
Publisher: 

Pages:
Format:
Source:
Rating:
Series: 

It's also important reviews and post have the same consistency  Sit down and take a moment to see the way you want your post to be. Having the perfect formatting helps your blog so much in the future, and soon you'll see how easy it is to write up reviews and posts. 

These are my things I should have done when I first started to blog and hopefully you can improve your blog even better :) Also, if you have any ideas for discussion posts, comment below and it might be a post!

Discussion Post: Tips on Surviving The Blogger Life

This Week's Topic:
"Tips on Surviving The Blogger Life" 



This is REALLY what goes on when you know when you start blogging. 
We bloggers all had these moments and I'm here to share some tips I learned to prevent my brain from "crying" :)

1.) Set Limits

Setting limits is one tip I learned this year and it saved me so much stress! There are days you feel like you NEED to have a post and it gets to you the whole day. I did that and whoa...there was so much stress on me and my post I NEEDED to have wasn't up to my standards. The best things is knowing when you should stress or not too. If you have a blog stop, pick up the book already and read it. If you feel like you NEED to have something up but you know it's going to cause stress and you know you don't feel like it then don't. Take a break. Watch a show. Cook. Have fun. 

2.) Get Some Music On!

Listening to music while blogging made it so much easier! Really! It does! It helps you focus so much more on doing that stuff you need to do and it keeps you hyped up about blogging. I use Spotify to listen to my music rather than Youtube, since you always have to find the songs and when its over you have to find a new one again. Spotify can be used a a radio, or listen to the music you want to than say Pandora which has limited skips. Get Some Music On!

3.) Eat..Don't Go Starving

Worst thing you can do to yourself when blogging is starving yourself  It seriously kills to not have chips and a drink nearby when hunger strikes. Soon..this will happen:

And then you get sidetracked from blogging, you end up falling asleep, and never even got that post you actually wanted and could get up on the blog. Rule of thumb: Don't go starving!

4.) Get Twitter On!

I love having twitter on since it makes blogging more enjoyable and you can start new conversations with fellow bloggers! Having twitter on helps to just see how fun blogging is, but also it's nice to relax for a couple minutes and see what's going in the bloggingsphere without google reader..etc. 

These are my tips for surviving the blogger life even if you're a beginning or novice blogger! If you have some of your own tell me in the comments! Also, if you have a question for a discussion post mention it in the comments as well :D

Discussion: When Blogging Becomes To Much

I finally decided to start doing discussion posts because it seemed like an easy way to discuss blogging topics and other fun and quirky stuff all under one roof :) I'll usually post it up every month 2-3 times a least along with your guy's questions too.

This week's discussion topic is:

"When Blogging Becomes To Much"

 

First off, let me say that the blogging world is hard to get into but not impossible to be in.

 

Myth: I'll never get that much followers, books, or any of that fun ARC's, swag, etc!

Truth: It will take a while to get the books, followers, swag but blogging isn't all about that. It's something you do because you love it and you work up for those.

 

I remember when I first started blogging, it was completely intimidating, scary, and exciting all at the same time. I mean, who could compete with a 1000+ follower blog with a newbie like me? That's what I thought but spending loads of hours, asking help from lovely bloggers, and wanting to just share what I like: to read. But they are those day now, that blogging is just way to much to think about and I just really wanted to close it, and that's where today's discussion topic is.

 

Blogging takes loads of time off your "real life" really. Spending a few minutes turned into hours and went on and on. It hard to be all on Goodreads, Twitter, Blogger, etc all on the same time. But as your blog grows you learn all the tricks of scheduling post, making a to-do list, sending emails ASAP all along as you grow.  I know it takes time and it will be worth it in the end when you look at it, just watch and see. Take your blog one step at a time and for sure you can succeed in the blogging sphere.

The blogging world is something anyone can easily get into, really. If you think about that review your polishing up and publishing it all with totally be worth it, but remember it doesn't mean that your going to take up your whole day blogging. Blogging shouldn't be your whole day making you stressed out and end up not doing anything fun. Take a break is something I learned from blogging and posting up a hiatus is something your followers understand. Your have a life and make the most out of it with blogging.

Rememeber, When Blogging Becomes To Much Take a Break and read, write, and do something fun and out of the ordinary :) Now, its your time to ask any questions you have below on the form.