Hello everyone! Just a random post about my experience bookblogging so far, some questions I have for book bloggers in the community if you happen to read this post, and just me rambling about book things.
1.) If I’m not following you on social media, feel free to add me. If strapped for time feel free to just comment that you’re on various platforms and I’ll go to your blog to find the links. Thanks in advance for the add back! 🙂
Goodreads – Please feel free to add as a friend &/or follow, I check the new review feed regularly.
Twitter – I’m on at random intervals and enjoy reblogging your blog update posts where applicable.
Instagram – Going to post more pics and stuff soon!
Facebook Page – Still working on adding more to this but likes are appreciated!
2.) For those who bought WordPress Premium, Was It Worth It?
I’m really interested just in whether it can pay for itself in adsense revenue. (So I guess, making $8 a month since it costs $90 for a year.) Really curious about being able to use plugins and nice layouts and posting multimedia and all that jazz~
3.) Currently Working On : A Review for The Hate U Give.
The long and short of it is that this book is awesome and I want people to read it. The sooner the better, as it’s quite topical and has many references to things that are current in the late 2010s. I’ve been working on bits and pieces of a future review but am so conflicted about how to make the tone of this review. I’ve got all this glowing praise for how the writing style is simple yet effective, how lovable the family in the book is, how it compares to other YA etc. But then there are also many dark facets, I fear getting into the nitty gritty of some of the deep, profoundly impactful elements could be off-putting. But it must be done. Still trying to tackle how to balance the two in a way that will express how worth reading the book is while not delving too deep into the moments that made me emotional, in a way that might make people think this book is too much for them. Bah I don’t know if this makes sense, lol. I’m curious how people tackle the subject of reviewing books that are great and lovable and recommendable but also cover the heavy, saddening, call-to-action activism in a way that isn’t too much of a rollercoaster. I’m probably overthinking this.
4.) When do you guys review ARCs?
I’m caught between a month before release, two weeks before release, or the day of release. How soon before release date do you guys post a review on your personal blog and Goodreads? One book I’m thinking of is coming out in a few days and has no preorder page yet on any storefront, so I’m guessing release date for that one unless it gets pushed back. For a different book, I received an email with a request to only review on Netgalley and not other platforms. Really glad that email didn’t get lost! Definitely going to keep a close eye on publisher e-mails in the future.
5.) A heartfelt thank you to all my followers!
I am absolutely amazed by the amount of growth this blog has had in such a short time. I had always imagined that 100 followers would be a massive undertaking, now I have 160+ here on WordPress and 200+ on Twitter. Your engagement has been the highlight of my day, very much enjoy all the little comments and convos and learning about new books. I’ve met AMAZING people on here!
6.) How are people finding book tags?
So far I’ve been checking my feed for tags people are doing that day, then do them and link back to the source blog + blog I found it from. Are there any sites I’m missing that are major sources on this?
7.) Ideas For Future Posts.
Here are some that I have in the works to post this month and in coming months- feel free to use these post ideas if you want to, I’d love to check them out!
- Mini-Reviews of Book-To-Movie Adaptations, perhaps 4-5 films per post with my thoughts and a short overview.
- Manga Mondays – I’ve read A TON of manga in my life and am thinking of making once-weekly posts with recommendations for people new to manga, faves within niche sub-genres, and reviews on ones I’ve read this year.
- Authors I Recommend – Donna Jo Napoli – Perhaps a series on an author who has wrote multiple books or series that I adore. In the case of Donna Jo Napoli, she is a somewhat obscure author of middle grade fairytale retellings and it seems very few have heard of her. Her works are so dynamic and very similar in tone and age-wise appeal to some of the best YA I’ve read, really want to get more people to know about her!
- e-Readers and getting into ebooks – I’m a huge fan of e-reading and was an early adopter of this technology, there is SO MUCH to be said about e-readers. Why I like them, tips for people new to them, great extra things you can do with them like email yourself articles, when to buy (since prices can be incredible at certain opportunities) and my (albeit, US-specific) knowledge of buying eBooks cheaply or library books for free. Libby aka Overdrive is amazing you guys, life-changing.
I appreciate all of your comments and likes and any insight you can provide! Do any of my future post ideas sound like something you’d want to read? If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Thanks as always for reading my thoughts!
Kitty Marie's Reading Corner 
Adsense revenue-I signed up for premium 3 months ago and I’ve almost made a $1 from ads. 😂 It seems to be picking up more steam I think because I post everyday so we shall see by year’s end how much I’ve earned. I think you need a large following for it to pay for itself or make a profit. As for Arcs I read the publisher requirements on NetGalley, some want the review within a month of publication and some have no specifics. And yes eBooks are awesome 👍 great work on the blog, I’ll check out your social media sites and follow. 😊
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Thanks so much for this insight into premium! Yikes at a $1 in 3 months, I notice our numbers are fairly similar so I’m expecting premium probably isn’t worth it unless I feel the extra features are worth $90. If I remember I’ll try to ask several months from now if things have improved on the adsense earnings front. 😀 And thank you so much for following, I will certainly follow you back. 🙂
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I added you on Goodreads and followed you on Twitter.
As for when to post reviews for ARCs I try to be within 2 weeks prior to the sales date unless specified. For big releases (like Queen of Nothing or Ninth House) you can post your review super early because the book is going to generate buzz no matter what, but for most other titles I would try to stay within a month to two weeks. I read ahead to stay on top of my ARCs, but then hold my reviews until closer to publication. Once you get ahead in reviews it’s easier to keep up with that kind of method. But I would also recommend reading this post, because every publisher has different preferences.
http://reviewerx.blogspot.com/2008/11/annnnd-publicists-speak-up.html
As for book tags, honestly people just make them and then they go around. If you see one on someone’s blog most of the time you can just feel free to jump right in. For example, I have a weekly Top 5 Recommendation Saturday Tag and anyone is welcome to join. Each week I have a topic and on Saturday everyone who participates shares the top 5 books they want to read in that topic. (We’ve done boarding school settings, asian settings, psychological thrillers, etc.) Then each person can tag 5 more people and eventually it starts to grow. I started it about a month ago and now I have about 10 people actively participating every single week.
I love the idea of movie reviews, I’ve done a few on my blog before and they actually got more views than some of my book reviews get! Tips for ebooks and manga recommendations sound awesome as well! I can’t wait to see what you do!
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Thanks so much for the long and informative reply I always love these. 😀 I’m definitely checking out that link for more guidance on posting times. I was thinking of doing things that way too, reading the book way ahead of time and holding my reviews until specific dates. I’ll check out your tag posts too! Glad to hear you’re looking forward to those posts. Thanks again for your thoughts.
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You should always pay attention to the publisher preferences, for ebooks they don’t always give you their preference, but sometimes they do. For physical copies I always ask if I am planning on posting early.
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I am not on FB and IG was an epic fail. The only place I didnt have you was GR- fixed it. For most no more than a month except long leads. Some books that you get an arc of that aren’t out for like 6 months are specifically given because publishers want a long lead review. So you might want to ask. Like I’ve already seen a couple reviews of Infinity Son by Adam Silvera and the sequel to Emily Duncan’s Wicked Saints is Wish for it only on NG so if a wish is granted I would definitely ask because they might explicitly grant it only to those that they want long lead reviews from or vice versa. When I got the ARC of Let Me Hear A Rhyme by Tiffany Jackson that was the first call I made because I wasn’t screwing that up! So yeah I would definitely ask. I got a long lead arc on a couple of books recently with author interviews. When I submit the questions I’m going to offer to do it long lead or closer to publication- whatever they would rather.
Tags I find from other bloggers… Kristen Kraves Books, Bibliophagist and Crooks Book are three that have great tags.
Ok I’m going to shut up now because I’ve said way too much
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Thanks so much for this very detailed and informative reply! This is my first time hearing of long lead reviews, so I will keep that in mind. Likely will try contacting publishers about their preferences to be on the safe side. Thanks for mentioning those blogs too I will definitely check them out.
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I learned the hard way like most things in life lol. So I try not to let it happen to others. I had a publisher let me know why they were giving me an ARC like 6 months ahead of time and that there was a purpose and no don’t wait till a month before because they want early buzz/feedback Before it goes through its second passthrough in case it needed any major changes. I think that is how the premise of Cursed (Matheau);was changed from juvenile detention to a boarding .school. because my ARC was definitely a juvenile detention and I ended up being contacted and told at like the last hour to review it as is and put a disclaimer up front. 🤦♂️
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Wow that sounds like it was a bit of a complicated situation! It’s surprising that a publisher would make a pretty big/notable change like that in the final version. I’ll definitely keep a close eye on publisher preferences/email them if unsure.
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When in doubt ask. Worse they can do is not answer, in which case you know you tried.
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I have WordPress Premium but I haven’t used any of the features yet. I really need to spend this weekend figuring out all the perks. I don’t know if you really need it though. Your blog looks pretty great with the Premium, but it’s up to you.
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Thank you! Yeah I’m probably not going to go for Premium, unless there is some major sale or something lol.
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*correction: looks great without the Premium…
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For ARC’s it really depends on the publisher. I get most of mine through netgalley and on the publisher’s page preferences they usually say if they have a preference of when they want the book’s review to go up (some within a month of pub, some within the week of pub, etc). Some don’t have a preference so I put those up whenever I finish the book and write the review.
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Thanks for that helpful info! Yeah I notice some pubs don’t put their preferences but most do. I’ll just try to use due diligence or contact them. Thanks again!
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I totally appreciate this post. I’m a newbie to blogging, so I’m trying to learn as much as I can from my fellow book bloggers. Great post!
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Thanks so much!! I am glad it is helpful! ^^ I am going to do more posts like this in the future with stuff I’ve learned/been learning since starting to blog. Thanks again for dropping by.
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Manga Mondays sounds like a good deal! Also I love that you and Dana did a buddy read on The Hate U Give!!
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It was such an incredible buddy read, we were chatting up a storm! Thanks for your thoughts, I’m glad that you like the idea of Manga Mondays I am still implementing it in the near future. Thank you for dropping by! 😀
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