Saturday, January 21, 2012

Busting The Newbie Blues


  1. When did you start your blog?
I started this blog on January 16, 2012. 
  1. Why did you start your blog?
I started this blog to share why I loved my favorite books as a child and the future books I will read. I re-read so many books during my lifetime that i finally wanted to share why I re-read them so much! I also want to get to know the blogging community.

  1. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Getting followers, finding time to review and formatting. 
  1. What do you find most discouraging about being a new blogger?
Not being sure if my reviews are as good as well-establsihed bloggers and not knowing the community at all. 
  1. What do you find most encouraging?
Comments, definitely! How much advice I found on other bloggers websites. 
  1. What do you like best about the blogs you read? Have you tried to replicate this in your blog?
I like blogs that give genuine and informative reviews. I also like blogs that have fantastic backgrounds.  
  1. What do you dislike about blogs you’ve read? Do you try to avoid this?
I dislike summarizing stories. I try to avoid this.
  1. Any advice for other new bloggers?
Just have fun blogging. 
  1. Any questions you'd like to ask newbie or established bloggers?
What is the best way to get involved in Blog Tours or Author Interviews?
  1. Is there anything you’d like to tell us about your blog? Feel free to link a few of your favorite posts or posts you wish had more comments. 
I spend most of my time reading and love discussing books. My blog will sometimes include a mini-fanfiction (there is one under my Secrets Review)

Thank You SmallReview for creating this event and BewitchedBookworms for the link! 

Ray

7 comments:

  1. Your blog is so new! Good luck and I hope you have a lot of fun!

    I use Wordpress so I can't really help with the details of how to make pages and whatnot. Sorry! I have also never participated in a blog tour.

    I dislike summaries that are not separated from the review. I like to read reviews of books that I have read myself, to get others' opinions, and it's just such a waste of time since I already know what happened. I also ran across a blog with summaries so detailed they had spoiler warnings--so it was useless if you didn't know what the book was about and pointless if you did. I guess it helps if you just want a reminder, though.

    I like pretty backgrounds, too! And I...don't really have one. Wordpress doesn't take much customization unless you pay for it. I like the books in your background, though!

    Including fan fiction is a really creative idea. I think it could really make your blog unique.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi. You're blog is really new, hope you're enjoying blogging so far!

    The best bit of advise I got about learning the design ropes was to open an additional blog JUST for trying stuff out and playing with all the templates and gadgets. that way it doesn't matter if it messes up and won't affect you're main blog. You can find templates for free which are pretty easy to add to your blog by googling free blogger templates but shabby blogs and cutest blog on the block off the top of my head are good starters. Also play about with bloggers template designer...it wasn't about when started and I wish it was. but like I said, a test blog is probably the best place for that. I had zero skills technically when I started and pretty much googled 'how do I...?' to get what I wanted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. pagesunbound Thanks for the good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vicki Thanks for the additional blog idea! I am pretty mediocre technically right now

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The template designer pretty much rocks, and mine is entirely based on just a Blogger Template. Just play around with the template maker when you have time- if it's difficult to start a new blog to play around with, you can always just save your current look by clicking Backup/Restore, and use it whenever you want.
      Getting e-ARC s is very simple- just keep blogging, review all kinda books, and authors will start contacting you by email (make sure you have your email ID displayed somewhere easy to see on your blog) Once they ask for a review, you can reply asking if they will do an interview with you too. New follower:)

      Delete
  5. Varsha Thanks for the advice and becoming a follower. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Welcome to blogging! The best way to join blog tours is to do Teen Book Scene. You have to be blogging at least 3 months to join, I think. As far as writing reviews, I think everyone's reviews get better with time (I haven't read any of your yet - that's after I do this comment). I just read one of my last night from when my blog was two months old and I thought it was awful. Don't worry about not enjoying summarizing books. I just copy and paste the summary from Goodreads and credit Goodreads for it. A lot of bloggers do that. I hate summarizing books too.
    Doing meme's like Follow Friday or In My Mailbox is, I think, the best way to get new followers and become involved with the community. Twitter helps too.
    One more thing...people will enjoy commenting on your blog much more if you disable CAPTCHA codes. You won't get much spam even if you don't have it.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome!

As of March 21, 2012, my blog is an award free zone. I thank you for considering me but I do not have the time to fulfill the award duties.
If you comment on my posts, I will definitely check out your blog.

Thank you for visiting my blog. If you follow me and tell me, I will for sure follow back. I read and enjoy every single comment! I hope you enjoy my blog and come again soon!

Rachel