Book recommendations – They come from all corners of our social circles. Friends, family, neighbors, teachers, book store sales people and of course, from book bloggers, as well. Especially from book bloggers.
Everyone knows what the sole purpose of a book blogger is.
Yes, us book bloggers spend time reading and post book related topics on our blog. We take pictures of books and post them on Instagram and what not. Book bloggers are what I like to refer to as the “middle men”. Us underpaid lot stand between the publisher and consumer. Even if we love our book blogger life we can´t ignore the fact that we´re holding the asshole card in this game. We´re highly needed in this business but our work is often not valued as it should be. Our reviews are read but the effort behind our reviews hardly bear visible fruits. I´m not saying the efforts book bloggers invest in reviews and other book promotion are worthless. It´s actually quite the opposite case. What I´m saying is – Book bloggers hardly know when their book recommendations have paid off. We have no way to track down how much our reviews have helped. Because people are silent ninjas who want to avoid any form of communication / interaction. Do anything, just don´t talk to the book blogger.
That´s a crying shame, if you ask me. As I´ve mentioned in my What Does A Book Blogger Do post – Book bloggers don´t need a lot to feel appreciated. Our modesty is screwed down so low we´re happy when we receive a single comment. This needs to stop.
Here´s a thought: Wouldn´t it be nice if our hard work actually paid off? Wouldn´t it be fab if our reviews received more than just a like or a comment? The answer is: YES!
This is why I´ve decided to include another monthly theme on my blog.
Book Bloggers Made Me Buy It
A simple post where I reveal the books that were recommended by other book bloggers. I´ll also include where the recommendation came from and how I was convinced to buy said book. I will also include a monthly insta feature and a blog mention in my review.
Because working the book bush drums isn´t always helpful. Positive word to mouth promotion works slow ( unlike negative book promo. That shit travels at the speed of light ).And guess what? This whole thing isn´t some new invention of mine. This is me reviving what worked beautifully back in the book blogger glam days. At some point this simple act of courtesy died and it´s high time this cool way to spread the book love is brought back from the dead. Aside from that – I like recommendations from like – minded book people. I love being convinced to buy a book. So, here we go:
A HUGE thank you goes out to…
Paige @ Bookish Paige
Thanks, girl, for recommending `Love Song` by Sophia Bennett.
It´s been a while since I last had a chance to read a rockstar romance. Fingers crossed that I´ll love this as much as Paige did. ❤
And again, I have to thank Paige for giving me that last push for `Throne Of Glass` by Sarah J. Maas. I have to admit that this one has been on my shit list for so long that I´ve developed an unhealthy distaste towards this series ( because of the fact that many have tried to shove this book in my face and down my throat ). Paige assured me there was romance in this book. No harm can be done when romance is involved, right? RIGHT?
A warm thank you goes out to the mother of my daughter´s best friend, Simone, for recommending `Cinder & Ella` by Kelly Oram What would have been a 30 minute drive to Ikea turned out to be a 1 hour detour ride because Betty made me miss the exit twice with her book recommendation abilities.
There ya have it. These are the books recommendations I´ve taken to heart .Be sure to stick around for my reviews on each book. But before you leave….
Tell me: How do you find your next reads? When a book blogger recommends a book, do you read it and share your feedback with that blogger? Let´s chat! ❤
If a book blogger recommends a book and I read it, I’ll let that blogger know. Personally, I’m not a fan of readers that read people’s content and don’t take the time to comment or say thank you. Of course, I know you can’t force people to comment, but I know it’s frustrating when a content creator creates something, people read or use it and don’t mention anything.
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So true. And yeah, that’s another great way to go about it- just letting the blogger know. 💜
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Oh, this is so cool!
I usually don’t remember where i saw the book first by the time i actually get the book 😀
I also don’t remember anyone directly recommending something, or maybe they did, but by the time i actually bought the book, i again didn’t remember 😀
Swiss cheese for memory here…
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Then you and I can create a Swiss cheese memory crisis group 😂. You could pay me and I wouldn’t be able to recall anything the book recommendations. I have to write it down or else it was just a nice thought.
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I don’t actually get to go and wander around book stores all that time – too busy! – and so I actually find a lot of my books through book bloggers and their recommendations. I don’t necessarily remember who recommends it, but it’s all helpful! Especially if multiple bloggers recommend the same book.
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I totally agree with you. When you see a book recommendation more often then it does help with the decision making. Uugh, same here. I´d love to have a nice bookstore session but can´t seem to find the time. Thank you so much for commenting. It´s much appreciated. 🙂
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Great topic! This has been on my mind as well. I plan to come up with some kind of system, I don’t know probably a spreadsheet of sorts, for keeping track of where I get recommendations or hear of books. At present I’m starting over with my blog and site in general. One thing I’ve promised to do is notate how a book came to me, when I can. I can’t remember everything retroactively but I’ll try. At the very least going forward it’s important to me to give credit where credit’s due. In addition to giving the proper credit I know it’s nice to know when someone reads a book because of you. So absolutely I agree that book bloggers, heck bloggers period, should say if they found a book because of someone else It’s good for everyone. I’ve got notes here and there from 2018 when I learned of BookTube. I created a folder in One Note for each Book Tuber I followed and whenever I took interest in a book they were about to read, reading, or read I’d write it in their respective folder. Now I need to do the same for bloggers I’m following and the podcasts I listen to. For example, thanks for the podcast Writing Excuses I found “Life Inside My Mind”
Plus, I love to find books randomly. So I plan to mention when I find a book through Book Outlet (cover looked cool, blurb sounded interesting, BAM) or perusing Goodreads giveaways. Amazon gives away free books once a month (for prime members) from which I’ve found good and BAD books. Not to toot my own horn but I find it easy to find new books (love the idea of discovering things off the beaten path or giving a debut author a chance or giving in to an interesting book I’ve heard too much about), so why not share? And I would hope that should someone discover a book through me they let others know that my site is an avenue for discovery.
Blah blah blah means I agree with you. 😉 Thanks for sharing.
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I find it great you make notes for booktubers and podcasts. 🙂 This just shows you´re invested.
So do I. I love to find books. I´m not much into the Goodreads giveaways ( or giveaways in general ) because I almost exclusively excluded from giveaways, especially when they´re signed paperbacks. No one wants to pay for shipping overseas. But that´s a different story for another day. I agree with you- it´s an awesome feeling for the bloggers to know they´ve helped someone find a book. 🙂
THanks for commenting
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And don’t get let my typos up above get in the way of liking me! 😉 (Sorry, if only I could go back and edit…pet peeves!)
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Hahahahaha. I´m on a constant war with my autocorrect. You´re safe. All´s good in this hood. 🙂 * wink * You´re typos are ignored here.
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