Myths About Book Bloggers
December 9, 2009 in Blogging, Books & Reviews
It seems to me, there are a lot of myth’s about Book Bloggers. I’ve heard things from “You must get a ton of free books” to “How much do you get paid?” I wanted to take a minute to address some things, that I think need to be addressed.
How Much Do You Get Paid?
Nothing. In fact most of us pay for our domain names & hosting out of our own pocket. That is about 100+ dollars out of pocket. Some bloggers do get paid through advertising while others have Amazon or Chapters bookstores on their sites so that users can purchase books through them. The commission on those around about 10% of the book, so it’s very little.
If You Don’t Get Paid, Why Do This?
I love books and I love nothing more than promoting a book that I loved. I also love when someone else tells me about a hidden jewel that they fell in love with. A lot of books don’t receive heavy promotion. Most books that do, are usually already established authors. That leaves alot of Author’s without nothing more than word of mouth and that’s where the book bloggers come in. It’s kind of like free PR from the people who “use” the product.
You Must Get A Ton Of Books Free!
Speaking personally, no. When I first started out, I posted reviews of books I loved and purchased with my own money. I still do that. Some blogs do get a ton of free books, but for the most part a lot of us review books we have paid for with our own money. Bigger blogs with more readers/commenters/subscribers get a lot of freebies. Yes, every so often we get a few “free” books to review. That’s not what I got into Book Blogging for, I was doing this for “free” on Chapters long before I created a place to post my reviews. If I get a book from an author or a publisher, that’s great but I don’t ask for them and feel privileged when I do receive one. It takes months if not years to build up to receiving review copies of books. It doesn’t happen overnight. See this post about ARC’s & free books.
Many of us enter fellow Book Blogger’s contests to win books to review! But some Bloggers do get into this solely for free books, not cool.
ARC’s (Artist Review Copies)
Kristi at The Story Siren has a wickedly informative post all about ARC’s.
What About Contest Books?
For the most part, I never physically have a book in hand that I am offering up in a contest. Those usually come directly from the author or the publisher who offer them up for contests. Sometimes the author will send it to the book blogger, but usually once a winner is picked we email the author/publisher and they send the books to the winner directly. If I personally am hosting the contest, I purchase the book to send to you with my own money because I love that particular author and feel people should read the book.
A Lot Of Bloggers Are Snotty.
A few bloggers have said that to me and for the most part it”s untrue. Yes there are some snotty bloggers around that are snarky and unhelpful. That’s life though, there’s rude snarky people everywhere. Also, remember everything read online is up to your own interpretation, they might not have meant for it to sound harsh. I have found a network of book bloggers via Twitter that I can joke around with and talk about books. I have encountered 1 or 2 bloggers I didn’t get along with, but I moved on and found ones I could talk with. For the most part, the PR/UF book blogger “network” are a great bunch of people willing to help you when you need it. Hell, I had Kindle Vixen in here playing with my template 2 days after meeting her on Twitter. If that’s not blind trust, I don’t know what is! ha. Just remember what your parents always told you, you aren’t going to get along with everyone. Just find a group that you like and comment on their blogs or Twitter and that’s half the battle.
Who am I to give this advice? I’ve been blogging since the only blog around with My Dear Diary. I’ve moved through MDD, LJ, Xanga, Blogger and finally fell in love with Word Press. This blog isn’t even a year old yet! I was blogging/reviewing at Chapters for awhile and through my various blogs but never all in one place.
I just felt the need to touch on a few things that I found untrue, especially with soo many book blogs popping up. All I can say is everything happens differently for everyone. Your blog could be around a month and develop a huge followers list due to a contest your holding, you could write a truly amazing review and gain a ton of fans. Or you could be around for years and just have a small following. Most of us do this because of our passion for books, it’s time consuming to blog everyday. But that’s our passion. No matter what, we’ll always have our books!
Keep reading and enjoy.
A special thanks to Fiction Vixen for making me laugh with this list of myth’s
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Very well siad. I think this is an AWESOME post…and I am a new follower…going to go play and comment on more of your posts.
Thank You
I had no idea that it was even possible for bloggers to get free books to review when I started my blog LOL! I just knew I read a lot and wanted to put it to good use!
Glad you trusted me and glad I could help
xoxo
You and me both! Hell I didn’t know there were so many book blogger contests until LAST MONTH! lol
xoxo thanks for always answering my insane questions! lol
Great post, you said nicely what should be said about book blogging. When I started blogging this past year, I had no idea what I was doing nor did I have any plan whatsoever for my blog. It kinda evolved on it’s own. To this day I’m flabbergasted when I get asked if I want to review a book. And I treat those opportunities as precious as gold.
I agree with you that the UF and PNR bloggers are some of the nicest and sweetest peeps around. You guys are terrific!
*applauds this post*
I still get all WOW when I am reading a book and talking to the author about an interview!
Thanks for this Natasha. I’m pretty new to all this still, but I’m rapidly becoming acquainted with the realities of book blogging (thanks to veterans like you and my blog hero Doug aka ScifiGuy). I’m amazed at the effort it takes to do this well. But, like you, I love books and talking about books with other book lovers.
I didn’t think it would take as much work as it does, but when you see the finished product (at least when I do) I get so excited! lol
HA! I had Kindle Vixen poking around in my template not too long ago!! She’s a helpful little Vixen isn’t she? I heart her.
This is a great post. I’ve “met” so many great people during my short time blogging. It’s been great to socialize with with others that share my love of reading.
I guess you decided to gloss over that large ego myth huh? hehe
What Ego? Are you implying something? HUH HUH? lmfao
I really liked your post and I totally agree with all you said… I also didnt know about getting books for free, my blog started as a personal blog ans since books are such of part of my life, it felt natural to post reviews…
I feel so excited when I get to actually talk to an author I love… when I got yes to my first interview, it was simply amazing =)))
Our book blog community on twitter is unparalleled, I have “met” so many ppl that brings joy to my life its not even a joke, everyone help everyone and the smut talk is always fun LOL =)))
awesome post hun! =)))
Thanks Larissa! I was the same with my first interview, I still am excited when I send an interview request to an author and they agree to do it!
Oh hon what a great post! Although I haven’t come across any snarky bloggers, but then we all blog about romance so….really a sense of humor is a must. I think I got asked not too long ago to review a book by a publisher, brought a tear to my lil eye. Few days ago just got a official print book, I swear I heard {ahhhhhhhh} in the background. Great points WP, most of us bloggers don’t get paid, we tend to buy our own books and dammit if I don’t get excited talking about werewolfs and vampires all day!
When I first got asked to review a book, I was so excited I called half my family! LOL! When the book got here in one day, I almost did cry!
I’ve only ran across 1 or 2 snarky bloggers, but they aren’t even UF/SF/PR bloggers. We are a wicked bunch of sexcitement!
Who ya callin’ snarky and mean??? LOL Great post by the way! A lot of people talk about getting a bit of flack from commentors. Luckily they are staying away from my blog. I’m still waiting for an ARC. I think they are mythical beasts or something. – Parajunkee
LOL not you! You were one of the first bloggers I spoke too!
I have yet to get an ARC either, just the printed book. I have won ARC’s in contests, but never had one otherwise!
What a great post! I’ve only been blogging about books for a few months but already met SO many cool people. Offline I don’t really know anyone that reads the books I do. This has been great for me to find people who like what I do. I just got my first 2 books to review from a publisher, but I’ve bought most of the others. I have won a few contests, but that can be done without a blog. As far as money? I don’t think so!
Thanks Girl! I am the same way, I know theres alot of people in Toronto that read what we do but I only meet them at signings and thats few and far between!
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Great post.
I have found that the book blogging community for the most part is a great bunch of people, mostly girls and Doug at SciFiGuy.ca, and the authors are great.
I started blogging because I love books and was reading them all the time and reviewing some for other sites and decided to do my own site.
I now have been reviewing for my site (Fang-tastic Books) for a little over a year and yes I get tons of books but I review for 2 of my own sites plus 2 other sites regualrly and 2 other sites occasionally- so I get a lot of books.
So many that I rarely have to buy books anymore unless there are some that I realy covet and did not receive a review copy of and that happens, plus if I go anywhere near a book store I can’t help myself, it’s an addiction- another reason I started my site- to feed my addiction.
I am also a writer and reading so much and having the chance to interact with the writers, publishers and PR people has taught me a lot about the publishign world and helped me network- alot.
BTW I spend my own money sharing the love and mailing out free books to my readers via contests. Some publishers send me multiples of the smae book so I have review copies and contest copies- ditto of authors who send books, plus I also give away ARCS, books I’m done with and sometimes books I don’t get a chance to read-all on my dime.
So any affliate purchases made through my site are real helpful but son’t cover my expenses at all- yet at least they help, a little.
Thank you for writing this post. It has answered all of my questions that I have been wondering about book blogging. I’m especially grateful for now knowing what an ARC is. lol
Book blogging isn’t as popular in Australia as it is in the USA and UK. I can see on Twitter how beneficial it can be for authors when we post reviews of their books and how much they truly appreciate it, even when it’s an unfavourable review. Especially for the ones that aren’t well known and whose books are only being sold in independent bookstores rather than the major bookstores.
I have mentioned to you previously on Twitter that I love your website. The visuals are great and it’s easy to read and navigate your way around. I also love talking with you because you are so easy to get along with.