New to the Blogosphere?

Hello everyone-- I decided to make a post just for the brand new book bloggers who are not yet introduced to the blogosphere. I, myself, have been a book blogger/reviewer for over a year now, so I've picked up bits and pieces. Below are the aspects of book blogging:

Blog Appearance - This isn't as important as the others, but appearance might just be the difference of whether a reader decides to stay or decides to leave. So you've got to make it.. fabulous. I mean, it doesn't have to be showy, and it doesn't have to be over-the-top, but I'd definitely recommend making it pretty and adding your own spice to it. (Don't forget to design a blog button! Oh wait, I can totes do that for you. Just contact me.)

Getting Followers - Getting followers is important too. That's the way to increase the traffic, that's the way you know that your posts are being read! When I'd first started blogging, I was so lost. SO LOST. ("How do you get followers oh my god this is so hard") Anyways, go ahead and just go make a Bloglovin' account. GFC is too hard to use.. -sigh- But use both, just for the sake of it! I am! You can use Linky, or any other system/program to get followers, but it's kinda just "You follow me, I'll follow you!" And now is the part where I get to the memes.



Memes- What are memes? No, it's not those pictures on Tumblr. When I'm talking memes, I'm talking Parajunkee and Alison Can Read's Feature and Follow Friday. Or Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday. Or, Tynga's Stacking the Shelves. They're all weekly! Follow Friday is the one you use to get followers-- it's a you-follow-me-i-follow-you sort of thing. Waiting on Wednesday is a meme to show off your dying-to-read-pre-publications. Every Wednesday! And Stacking the Shelves, I personally do not use because I do Book Haul posts instead.. but maybe I should start doing that meme now. Hmm. There are more memes out there, sometimes a lot on one day of the week, (I guess you have to choose one) so lots of blog traffic!

Reviewing - Ah, it is not about the quantity, but about the quality. Be sure to post your reviews your own way, like, do a review template. (By template, I mean, a type of structure/skeleton of how you want to post each of your reviews. It's much more organized.) Reviews matter, to the authors, to the publishers, and to those blog readers that are looking for a good book to read. Needless to say, always be honest in your reviews!

Connecting & Commenting- Comment around. Most blogs will come back and comment on your latest post, too! (Don't forget to leave your link when commenting. This makes life easier.) And don't forget to take off the CAPTCHA on your comment settings. Please. I know it stops unwanted spam and stuff, but it really makes everything simpler if it's just taken off.

Blog Tours- What are blog tours? Well, first of all, you have to sign up to be a tour host, on any of the blog tour blogs. (Check out my "Blog Tours" tab above to see what tours I host.) Usually, they email you and you see if you're interested a book, and if you do, they'll give you a copy of it-- usually ebook-- for you to review. Afterwards, you can possibly do an author interview or giveaway, and you have to post it promptly on a specific time. (But that's completely fine because you can just schedule your post.) Other times, it's a cover reveal, and those are easy because you don't have to read a book! And those are fun, too. Some covers are just so gorg.. Plus, blog tours bring traffic to your blog, as well, since the primary hosts usually post the tour dates and links on their own blogs, which probably have a whole lot of followers.

ARCs- ARCs. Requesting ARCs are such a bother. I'd like to link you to a post on Katie's Book Blog-- How To Get ARCs and What Not To Do! http://www.katiesbookblog.com/2013/05/how-to-get-arcs-what-not-to-do.html I found this post very helpful and I cannot word it any better than Katie has.
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Anyways, good luck and welcome! Hope this was helpful. Somewhat.