A Day in the LIfe of a Book Blogger by Heather

Today's guest poster is the wonderful Heather from the Book Blog BURIED IN BOOKS.  Heather is an avid reader and a writer, and we are thrilled that she found us!
 
When I was asked to write a guest post for the YA Muses blog you can’t imagine how excited I was! And then my nerves hit. I planned to have this to Talia by the weekend, but I just counted and I have ten drafts so far. You see, in my world, authors are Rock Stars. Sure I enjoy music, but I just listen to it, it’s background noise. I don’t write about it, cheer for it, visit websites, enter contests and follow blogs for musicians. I’m just not that interested in them. But authors....if I get a tweet, a request to read their book, an email, a mention anywhere I’m flying for days. It’s like being published in the newspaper for me. So when a Rock Star asked me to write something of course I wasn’t going to turn her down, but then, nerves.
So here is my best. Here’s hoping it is interesting to you. I found the YA Muses through the YA Mazing contest, the first one that was held. I hadn’t even heard of the Apocalypsies and being a book blogger I thought that was kind of terrible. So, I became a frequent visitor of the authors, especially the ones I liked. I participated in a weekly meme called Waiting on Wednesday (WOW) which featured upcoming books and would search the Apocalypsies site for new books. I kept popping over here and started reading the posts. Soon I wasn’t coming just for a WOW but because I wanted to see what they had to say. I loved that each author wrote on a different day and everyone wrote on the same topic. I was a lurker for a long time. Remember, they are Rock Stars to me. Writing on a Rock Star’s blog is scary. But eventually I commented. I loved the post on the Lucky Charms, especially Talia Vance’s My Lucky Charms. I didn’t know about elephants being lucky until I read that week. But I was glad to know other writers were as superstitious as I am. I have a picture of my dog Baylee that watches over me as I write.

I thought I’d write about book blogging since that is what I do mainly. Of course I read the book and then I write my opinion of the book. I schedule the post usually for midnight to go up the next day. Hopefully, Blogger is working. Maybe though, I’m setting up a guest post like Talia is today. So I copy and paste it. But the author wants his/her picture and bio on the post. All their links, the summary of the book with a picture of the book, links for buying the book and the guest post.
Do you know how long that is? And if you didn’t include all the links for me I have to look them up. And even more often, there is a giveaway of their book with this type of post. Even more space added. It takes me a good hour to set up a post like this. Maybe because I’m slow, I don’t know, but people aren’t going to read all that information.
And then there are the interview posts. I don’t do them often. I’m not good at them. I don’t have insightful questions to ask and I don’t care if you like white chocolate or dark chocolate when you are writing. My friend Jenny asks the best interview questions and I asked her secret. She told me she just asked what she thought she’d like to be asked. It helps some, but I have to have at least to read the book before I can ask you interview questions. Some authors don’t get that.
I don’t DNF books. If I didn’t like it, I will tell you and give you the option of me not reviewing it. I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings and I am not looking to publicly humiliate someone. One author told me to go ahead. I was still able to find many things that I liked about the book regardless of the anachronisms in the book. And one thing authors should remember is that people read negative and positive reviews and take both into consideration. I read one blogger that is a friend and have realized that we pretty much like the opposite in books. That’s okay. I still like to read why she didn’t like the book. It’s probably the same reason why I will like the book. With Net Galley, I just let the publisher know I don’t write DNF reviews and send it on. I’m always relieved when I’m not the only one, though. I look at Goodreads to see if I should try harder to read it.
I also do blog tours which are for lesser known presses or indie or self published books. I agree to those if I’m interested in the book premise. I usually just do a review of them. I’ll do two to four of those a month. I also purchase books that I want to read but rarely get a chance to read those as I also get one or two requests from authors or publishers to read books and I’m up to 12-15 books to read a month by then. That is my absolute limit. I only have so much blog space to post and between reading all day and blogging usually from 8pm to 2am sometimes 4am it has turned into a full time job. There are also Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.
Reviews have to be posted on my blog, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Library Things. If it came from Net Galley, I have to provide links to all those places, and my review and then clear that book as a completed review. Then it’s comment time. You see the comments don’t magically appear on my blog. I go around to other blogs and read their reviews and make meaningful comments on their blogs. Then hopefully they’ll come back and comment on mine. So if it’s your book I’m reviewing, your book will get more attention. The more comments, the more people actually took the time to read what I thought about the book. Of course, my stats tell me that plenty more people came by to see what I thought, but those comments mean a lot.

And that is a day in the life of a book blogger.
Bio: Heather, mom to two sons and wife to one genuine saint of a man! Book Blog Buried in Books. I have been blogging for almost two years and read a lot. I review MG and YA novels of all types except self help. I also have a writing blog that I write on sporadically. Not many people have discovered it, One Toe in the Water.



18 comments

This is fascinating, Heather! I knew that book bloggers put in a lot of work on their blogs, but this makes it so clear to me that it is A LOT of work. And also a labor of love. And believe me, we authors appreciate all that you do, all of your enthusiasm, and especially your honesty when reviewing. Thanks for giving us a peek into your day!

YEAH HEATHER!!!! You know I adore you and your blog, and I would like to use this comment to refute your claim that you don't ask insightful interview questions. I think you do, and I always enjoy it when you have interviews posted!

I really wish I was better at posting my reviews in a variety of places. I put them up on Goodreads and Amazon (and Tweet them), but I know I should do more, it just gets a bit overwhelming at times.

You are a big commenter, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate every single one you leave me because you always take the time to say something more than "great review". Much love to you and all the YA Muses!!!

Heather, thanks again for this great post! I love the insight into maintaining a book review blog. I have so much respect.

Thanks for guest-posting, Heather! And this confirms my belief: Book Bloggers are Rock Stars!

Wow--you are amazing! Blogging on its own is time-consuming, but what you are doing goes above & beyond! You're an author's dream come true!

Thanks everyone and that's the Jenny that writes the awesome interviews! If you want to be interviewed by someone, get the Supernatural Snark to do it!

I didn't mean to sound whiney, sorry about that! I love blogging, just got a little too many books to read right now. But the summer is easier for me.

I really feel honored, Talia that you asked me to guest post and thanks for mishmashing everything together!

Heather

Wow, Heather! Not whiny at all, but just exhausting. It's hard juggling life, writing, and one day a week on the Muses...I can't imagine having to read all those books too (though, I wish I could down more than the one or two I do manage).


I love reading your comments on our posts. It's great to know people are reading, but it's awesome when someone actually comments - since it can be intimidating.

Thanks, Heather! What a great perspective. Thanks for sharing.

I feel exactly the same as you when it comes to Q&As! I am so bad at it as Jenny is the star! However, I think yours rock. You are just too hard on yourself.

I declare Heather a rockstar too! :)

Oh and that's another thing I stink at- picking out book boyfriends. In case you authors didn't know about this meme- It's called My Book Boyfriend and a bunch of the blogs pick out gorgeous men (I don't know where they find the pictures) and then pick a boy/man from a book they are reading and declare this picture their book boyfriend b/c he resembles the person in their book. Currently, Melissa has Johnny Depp added to her man harem. She is very good at picking out Book Boyfriends, but Jenny's not too shabby at that either.

Now Carrie- She could probably do one for Gilt, she likes historical romances. I'm not sure if she does the book boyfriend.
I just kind of drool and wonder why I don't know how to find these pictures on the internet. Do you google "hot guys" "gorgeous guys" "blue eyed guys" I don't know where they find them. Sorry Bret, but I don't think they have a My Book Girlfriend at the moment though we do sometimes do dream casts if the books were made into movies!

Heather

I should have given credit to the creator of the My Book Boyfriend Meme
it's Missie at The Unread Reader! And her pick is up today.

I don't know if the Muses are still around, but I have a question I've been wanting to ask authors for awhile, but I always forget. Do any of you use a special computer program specifically for writers to write your novels? I know there are some out there that say it's easier to insert scenes etc. I was just wondering if you work in Word or what program you use?

Heather

Getting insight to the Day in the Life of a Book Blogger is so sweet. Thanks, Heather, for sharing. And thank you, Talia, for inviting this book blogger - who is a rock star in her own right - here today.

Wooohooo Heather. Great post. And good for you (and other book bloggers) for letting others know how much work really goes into our blogs. And we do it because we love books and authors so very much!

- Jessica @ Book Sake

Wow, Heather. I knew you were amazing, but you are now in super hero territory. I love your reviews. You are real and very generous.

Heather, I'm a WORD guy - not that it's the best program in the world, but it gets the job done for me.

Thanks Bret! I always wondered about those fancy programs people try to sell authors. Just seems like a waste of money.

Leslie Rose- That not me, that's all bloggers. That's a day in the life of. Of course some may not have agreed to read quite as many books as me :)

Thanks to all my friends that came over to support me and the YA Muses! We're all Rock Stars! How bout that?!

Think I'm gonna read now!

Heather,
I'm a WORD person, too. I've heard of some great software out there, just haven't taken the time to learn it.

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