Book Blogger Confessions: Topics for 2013

 

Started in January 2012, by Karen - For What It's Worth & Tiger - Tiger's All Consuming Media & now co-hosted with my good friend Pam from Midnyte reader.

 Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st  Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about blogging/bookish topics. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions.

Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers!

If you would like to participate just grab our button and include it in your post with a link to either feature co-hosts 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.

Here are the upcoming topics for 2013. I know you guys like to get them in advance!

2013 Topics:

January 7th – Happy 2013! What are your blogging goals for the new year? Are you making any changes or testing out new ideas for reviews or organization? Have you joined any challenges?
What are the trends you noticed in blogging from 2012 and what do you hope to see for the blogging community in 2013?

January 21st - We've discussed blogging slumps before but have you ever seriously considered throwing in the towel and quitting blogging? If so, what changed your mind? Did you discuss it with other bloggers?

February 4th - Share the love! In honor of Valentines Day, tell us about a few of the bloggers (and/or) authors you love.

February 18th - How has blogging and reviewing changed your reading habits? Do you read a genre now that you wouldn't have tried prior? Or have you been turned off by a genre you used to love?

March 4th - Giveaways. As a blogger, how do you feel about extra entries, required entries etc? Do you have a system to choose/announce winners and keep prizes organized? What method works best for you when hosting a giveaway? (Rafflecopter/Google Doc's or other)

What do you do about people who enter your giveaways but don't follow instructions exactly?

Have you ever had problems hosting a giveaway sponsored by an author or publisher who is supposed to send the prize to the winner and doesn't? How have you handled these issues?

As a prize winner - what do you do if your prize never arrives? Do you contact the blogger or just let it go?

March 18th - What is important in design for the blogs you follow? What features/elements do you appreciate? What are big turn off's?

April 1st - How does blogging effect your *real* life? Are friends and family supportive? Do you find that blogging cuts into family time? How do you strike a balance between the two?

April 15th - How long do you see yourself blogging for? Do you think it's ok for a blog to evolve over time? For example: You may have started out as a book review blog but now your interest is in cooking as well. Do you incorporate that or start over?

April 29th - Special edition! We have an extra Monday this month and thought we’d address some hot topics in the book blogosphere. Pick one – or answer them all! It’s up to you. If a new crisis hits by then (& it probably will lol) feel free to address that as well. 

PLEASE remember that this meme is to vent NOT bash. Keep it civil please & thank you 

~Amazon buys Goodreads (Find the announcement here) DO you think this is a good thing for readers – or is Amazon the devil? Will this move effect you? Will you be leaving Goodreads?

~ The death of Google Reader As Google continues to phase out it’s less popular products, bloggers were scrambling to find a new reader platform to follow their favorite blogs. What have you switched to for a reader?

The big fear though is the loss of Google Friends Connect. How are you preparing if indeed GFC is discontinued? How many subscriber options are too many to offer your followers? What ones are the most popular on your blog?

~ What do we owe authors? I read this interesting post the other day. An author had tweeted that if you get all your books from the library it deprives an author of income, another suggested using this fun littlegraphic to help readers spread the word about a book they love.

What are your thoughts on this? Do they have a point? Do they go too far in expecting readers to only buy their books at indie bookstores, avoid Amazon or expecting readers to go forth and publicize their book after a purchase?

May 6th - Reading challenges: Do you host or join in any? What is your success rate on completing them? Do they keep your reading goals on track, put too many restrictions/pressure on you?  What do you think makes for a successful reading challenge?

May 20th  - Have you added or considered adding additional reviewers to your blog? Why or why not? If you have, please share how you found the right match when bringing new people to your established blog. Did you encounter any problems?

June 3rd - Does participating in book tours/cover reveals and author guests post drive traffic to your blog? What type of problems have you encountered when hosting them? (please keep it civil - no names or calling specific people out) As a blog follower, are you ever turned off by these kinds of posts? How much publicity is too much?

June 17th - BEA, ALA. Have you ever been before? If you've been before, share your experiences; both pro & con. If you haven't gone before, do you participate in online events like Armchair BEA? Do you hope to go one day? Do you feel too intimidated to go? Are you jealous of the big book hauls and tweets during the events?

July 1st - Author interactions. Have you ever emailed an author to tell them you loved/disliked their book? As a book reviewer, do you think we should cross that line? 
Do you mind when authors re-tweet or comment on reviews? Does that intimidate you in any way in regards to review writing, knowing that they may be reading it?
Do author interactions - both pro or con - change how you view their work?

Question for August 5th: Vlogging. Have you ever vlogged (video blogging)? Why or why not? What do think makes for an interesting vlog? How does a book review vlog compare to a written review in your opinion? What are few of your favorite book review/author vlogs? (Source: Amy Bookworm)

Please feel free to offer topic suggestions  below!