Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions.
Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers! If you want to participate just grab our button and include it in your post with a link to either Midnyte Reader or For What It's Worth. We will be providing a linky at the end of our posts so people can "hop" to see all the participants answers.
Question:
Blogger Envy: Do you have a bad case of blogger envy? Do you covet thy neighbor bloggers book hauls/follower numbers/blog design? How do you tamp down the green eyed monster?
I suppose in my early days of blogging there was some envy over ARC’s, but I’ve long since let that go.
Ahhh the good old book haul jealousy. After my first year going to BEA I realized the downside of getting all those books. You. Can’t. Read. Them. All. My reaction now for bloggers with huge ass book hauls is YAY I’m so happy for you and all the books you’ve received, because truly I’m happy when people get books, but then my next reaction is….good luck with that.
I’ve seen so many bloggers that start out thrilled with all their new shiny books only to be overwhelmed and crash into that reading slump wall (points to self), or in a complete panic trying to read and review them all on time (that would be me). Some bloggers even burn out on blogging because of it so no…that’s not something I envy anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, I do get a few ARC’s and I'm not gonna lie, I love them but I used to live in a world where I didn’t know ARC’s existed and I waited for a book to come out at the bookstore ON RELEASE DAY *gasp* It’s cool, I can do that again. I won’t die if I don’t read a book 3 months earlier than everyone else.
I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve been given as a book blogger but they are just that – opportunities. Icing on the cake if you will. I’m happy, not envious, of anyone else who gets them.
As for stats, I don’t read mine very often so it stands to reason that I’m not really looking at yours in comparison. I’m not a particularly competitive person and I’ve found that when I *try* to blog a certain way or to achieve a certain stat - I fail. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to do that - not at all – but just that it doesn’t work for me.
Here’s the one thing that I am green with envy over. Anyone who can write a beautiful review for a book I love, because I just can’t. I become a blathering idiot. I spend weeks trying to write the perfect review to express all that I loved about a book, fail miserably, then go on Goodreads or a friends blog and see that they’ve managed to put all my feelings into words. I HATE it and I’m jealous of it.
I think it’s human nature to be jealous so there’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t even think it can be stopped entirely, but I try to put the feeling to better use. Jealousy is too draining and unproductive for me so I try to use it as a chance to look at why I’m jealous in the first place. Can I take something away from it that will help me improve my blog? Maybe it’s the bloggers attitude that bugs me – if so I’ll just stay away from it then.
In my experience bloggers love to share. Books, ideas, frustrations, a shoulder to cry on, so there is no reason to compete or be jealous.
Question for October 15th: Happy (early) Halloween! Do you like to read scary books? Why or why not? If so, what is the scariest book you ever read and why does it deserve that honor?
* Full topic schedule for the remainder of 2012 and past topic links here.
Arcs can be a lot of work. You are constantly asked to review books and there are only so many you can read and having to constantly turn down authors/publishers and tell them no you won't review their book can really suck.
ReplyDeleteThey really are. I don't accept too many anymore because of that. The pressure kind of outweighs the joy sometimes.
DeleteGreat topic and post. And I am there with you, I can get so jealous over perfectly written reviews, I just can't do it. But then I realize that this is my style and that I should not change :)
ReplyDeleteI also am envious over pretty blugbuttons, nice looking blogs and silly things like that :)
lol Blog buttons!! Love it.
DeleteI've tried tweaking my reviews a few times to the style of bloggers that I admire but they just come off phony because they aren't me. For better or worse this is how I write them.
Hmmm I didn't think about being envious about reviews, but you're right! It's hard when we struggle for the right words and someone else does a fabulous job of it. I always wish I could structure mine better, rather than just rambling on!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I see huge ARC hauls and actually feel panicked for the person that received them! Piles like that would make me freak out!
Me too!!! I just know they can't read them all. I'm not jealous at ALL lol
Deleteso true about having so many arc's and reading slump. Yeah at the beginning its fun with those arc's .
ReplyDeletedon't get jealous at all anymore :)
You just gotta let it go at some point and have fun with it or it will drive you crazy lol
DeleteThis post pinpoints exactly why you are a blogger I look up to. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThanks Andrea. The feeling is mutual :-)) You always have such a great attitude on your blog.
DeleteGREAT question this time around. :) I have sometimes been envious of someone else's review of a book, and when that happens, I write my little review, and then include a link to the other blogger's review. Sometimes, someone else has a better way of putting things, and I have absolutely no problem giving them credit.
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly what I'm doing with a book I'm reviewing this week. I loved it but couldn't put it into words so I provided links to those who did it better.
DeleteI definitely understand the beautiful review envy. I don't blog but I enjoy posting reviews on Goodreads, and it takes me half an hour to come up with "I liked it. Especially the funny parts" ;)
ReplyDeleteSometimes that's all you need. I find if I know the reviewer (even on GR) and I have a sense of their style, even a two sentence review can tell me all I need to know.
DeleteI'm envious of people who can write good reviews as well. I'm also envious of people who write more loosely and freely than I do. I have too much of a technical writer in me because I did it for 7+ years.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, because I've tried to write more technical reviews and I just can't. I fell like mine are all over the place lol
DeleteCould not agree more.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have ARC envy. I'm always struggling to balance reading what interests me with reading what's new and shiny. When I see a huge pile of ARCs, I feel exactly the way I feel when I see some enormous house on HGTV and think, "Glad I don't have to clean up THAT place."
I'm also jealous when I read a review that's eloquent and says exactly what I wish I had said. But I'm also glad that someone else is getting others to read a book I loved.
I do like to admire other people's pretty blogs. But I'm getting a makeover soon, so I'm excited about that.
Yup - as long as the book love is shared all around I'm fine with it all these days!
DeleteNice answer. I don't get upset if I don't get to read a book earlier than everyone else either. And so true about books that you just don't get to. I still have books from years ago...some from BEA and some that I bought.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a good point - to stay away from those whose attitude bugs you. However, I have to disagree with you on your writing. I think you write very well and succinctly and I get a lot out of your reviews. (But I so know what you mean - I'm looking at you Supernatural Snark.)
LOL - Jenny's reviews are like perfect little novellas. I'm definitely jealous of her! haha
DeleteUgh. I hate my writing, too. We are own harsh critic, always. That can be good because it keeps us motivated, but we need to give ourselves some credit every now and again. ♥
ReplyDeleteWe are too hard on ourselves! I love your reviews but that's how it goes I guess, you can see it in others but not ourselves.
Deletelol. "Good luck with that." I wholeheartedly agree. I can't see how they can possibly read all those pretty ARCs. That doesn't mean I still don't want to attend at least one of these book gatherings. But I certainly will be doing my best to be practical in the books I pick up. I am already having issues keeping up with the books I buy. You are definitely right about not competing and being jealous of each other. So not productive.
ReplyDeleteOnce you have that little epiphany all that envy kind of melts away lol
DeleteIt's an illness so I think we'll always have too many books! At least now I limit review books so most of my reading these days is for pleasure or review books I think I would love.
Great, honest post!! I think I'm like you, I just don't see how people are able to read like 15 books a week!! You are a much faster reader than me, so if you don't think you'd be able to read some people's book hauls, I know I couldn't. Still fun to look at everyone's hauls though :))
ReplyDeleteI do read really fast yet I still have 100's of books! I enjoy other people's book hauls - they don't bother me at all.
DeleteThat ARC Overload leading to Blogger Burnout seems to happen far too often. And I hate it when people give up their blogs because of slumps or pressure. A blog is your /voice/ and we need all the voices!
ReplyDeleteLately, I'm jealous of bloggers with graphic design skills or photoshop skills. All I can do is crop and resize, and I want to be able to create images when needed. I shall have to learn!
I'm pretty much with you. I might get jealous that someone has a book I want, but not *really*. I mean, yeah, I want to read it but at least I don't have to stress about fitting it into my schedule, I can just read it once it's out. I guess it's something that I just don't think about too much. But yeah, I might comment and say I'm jealous, but it's not like I'm green with envy or anything like that. I think it's important that people try to remember not to go crazy trying to get every book they want. Some request every book they can and I rarely ever request anything and still have more arriving then I can possibly read.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am so with you on the reviews! When I read very eloquent or well written reviews I do envy them. I just wish I could say what I thought better!
I too envy people who wrote concise, intelligent and juicy reviews. I tend to blabber when I really love a book.
ReplyDeleteYeahhh I rarely get ARCs (I win them or they're from friends, mostly) but I realised I am TERRIBLE at them because unless I really really want to read them (even in those cases) I don't end up doing it til around the release date anyway. I mean, of course I really love and feel fortunate to get the ARCs I do but they're not the reason why I am book blogging. Plus, most of my books comes from the library anyway. :P
ReplyDeleteoh gosh I TOTALLY know about the review thing. I really hate my reviews, I think they're dead boring and I'm trying to improve but it's just like gahhh. I really envy those who can churn out lovely, eloquent reviews too.