#BookBlogWriMo - Day 14 - Ratings System

I have a fairly straightforward rating system and rate books similar to how a teacher grades an essay. Every book starts out as a five star book for me. Then there are things that I look for, and if they are missing then the book loses points. So here's a rundown of how I rate books.

Spelling/Grammar: This is very important for me. I am very much a grammar nazi, and avoided indie books for several years because of a negative experience with one. I believe that a lot of people that don't read indie, avoid it because of the spelling and grammar issues that can be pretty common in indie books. I know there are people out there that think we should hold indies to a different standard because editors and proofreaders cost money and they may not have much of that to spare. While I agree that a good editor and a good proofreader do cost money, it is worth it to publish a quality product. Everyone knows that you have to spend money to make money. Now this doesn't mean that I expect books to be flawless. Everyone makes mistakes and I have found errors in Stephen King books (and you know those are read by several proofreaders before publication). I allow for a certain number of errors based on the number of pages in the book. If I finish a book feeling like there were just a lot of these kinds of errors, it loses a star. I have been called petty for this in the past (not by an author, but I suspect they were street team members) and I really don't care. I can not in good conscience recommend a book to my friends without mentioning this aspect because my friends know how important spelling and grammar are to me. I also believe that individual readers know what their threshold for errors is. If you don't mind errors in your books if the story is good, then you won't care that I said there were several. If you do have a problem with them, my review will warn you that you might have an issue with the book. But the fact of the matter remains that as long as the book isn't so full of errors that it kept me from getting into the book in the first place, it only lost your book one star in my rating.

Character development: This is also very important in storytelling. If a books characters fall flat, or I can't relate to them like I should, it would usually reflect in the rating. This is not a problem I frequently have with books though.

Books Hook: So we all know that a great book will hook you pretty early on so that you don't even want to put it down to go pee (you may remember from my Where I read Post that I do in fact read in the bathroom). A good book will make you want to keep reading, but you won't feel the need to ignore a reasonable bedtime for it. A not so good book won't do those things. If a book fails to pull me into the story, it will lost a star. Sometimes that happens because there are just so many spelling/grammar issues that keep pulling me out of the story (and that's a case where bad editing/proofreading can lose the book two stars.)

Ending: I do not have to like the ending of a book, and my personal opinion of the outcome does not affect my rating, even if it does appear in my review. However, the ending needs to feel appropriate for the story. The ending can make or break a book. Too many times I've read books where the ending felt so rushed when it shouldn't have been, like the author was trying to wrap everything up into it's neat little HEA package in under 200 pages (or however many pages the book is). Most romances end in an HEA (or the series at least ultimately has an HEA. We kind of expect it because if a romance doesn't end happily it's not very satisfying) but the story should still build up to it. It doesn't work to have a book filled with conflict between the main characters (and conflict is important otherwise the story is just boring) and then in the last twenty pages everything almost magically rights itself so they get married and have babies. If a books ending feels rushed like that, it loses a star from me.

Did I like the book? Sometimes I read books that I just don't like. Not every book is for every reader, and there are some books that even I just do not like, for really no good reason. It could have great character development, be reasonably entertaining, have a satisfying ending, and not have a lot of spelling/grammar errors, and I still just don't like it. If that's the case, it loses a star. I can't justify giving a book that I didn't like five stars, but I don't think my personal dislike should mean it only gets one star either when there is nothing structurally wrong with it. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean others won't.

With my rating system, most books earn four stars from me. The average indie book usually has one of these major factors missing in my estimation, but only one. So if you read my reviews and think that I'm just giving them great ratings because I got the book for free to review it, that's really not the case, I just have a more clinical rating system than most, I think. - Katie

#BookBlogWriMo - Day 13 - Review Process

I went into this topic a little bit on a previous post during this challenge. I personally have to write my reviews immediately after I finish a book or everything about it starts to fade for me, and then I don't feel like I'm doing it justice with my review. So there's the simple answer, but if I just leave it at that, this is going to be a very short blog post, and I just don't think I can do that right now. So prepare yourself to go deep inside my head as we explore my review process.

So I have to read my books in the order that the reviews are due. Books with no review deadlines are like black holes for me, and I'm becoming increasingly reluctant to take them on because I feel like I don't treat them with the appropriate respect. If a book has no review deadline I have no problem putting it off to the side in favor of reading something else with an impending deadline, and while I can keep story lines straight while reading multiple books at the same time, I can't provide satisfactory blog reviews when I do that. Maybe if I was better about taking notes while reading I could, but taking notes feels like writing in the book (yes, even the ebook) and I don't like writing in my books. My other option would be to stop signing up for blog tours with review deadlines and only accept books with no deadlines and then just read them in the order they are received (that might be a better course of action actually.)

When I finish reading a book, I sit down and write up my Goodreads/Amazon review, which is usually shortish, hitting the highlights of what I liked and didn't like about a book. Then I usually get out my handy dandy notebook and write up my long review for the blog longhand. For me, that is easier than trying to fit the blog tour info around a review I already have typed up on Blogger. It also allows me to write my reviews anywhere in the house instead of just sitting at my desk. If I manage to finish a book while my son is working on his schoolwork at the dining room table, I sit down across from him and work on writing my blog review. It works quite well.

I mentioned in my last post that when I write a review for the blog, I like to start it with a brief personal synopsis of the book I read, and then write my thoughts out from there. I usually follow a pattern where the first paragraph consists of my likes, the second paragraph consists of my dislikes, and then I conclude with my overall rating, and what about the book justified that rating. I'm pretty sure my high school English teachers would be proud of my book review "essays."

So there you have it. And yes, my review process is as hard to understand as this explanation of it has been. - Katie

#BookBlogWriMo - Day 12 - Advice for Newbie Bloggers

For starters, I don't feel particularly qualified to be giving advice about blogging, so feel free to not take any of this advice. Different methods work for different people anyway. But here goes.

Read reviews. If you follow other blogs (and if you're reading this that means you do!), read the reviews they write. This will help to give you an idea of what readers may be looking for in reviews, but it can also give you some ideas of things you don't want to do in your reviews. Maybe you hate seeing reviews that are basically just a rundown of the book with very little reviewer commentary, which is one of my pet peeves, although I've seen some great reviews that use a book synopsis frame and then build on it really well. When I write my reviews, I typically make the first paragraph my own personal synopsis of the story (and I check the actual synopsis to make sure I'm not giving away too much in mine) and then the rest of the review is mostly my thoughts and feelings on the books. I like to think that my brief synopsis at least tells the author that I did in fact read the book. Do you have to write your reviews like that? Of course not, but it's an idea.

Connect with authors and other bloggers. The best thing you can do to be successful is to make personal connections with authors and bloggers. Most of the time authors and bloggers are more than willing to help spread the word about your blog to get you more followers on Facebook, but remember to return the favor and pay it forward. We should be each others biggest supporters and there is plenty of room for all of us.

Follow through with your commitments. This is a biggie and a lot of blogs (including ours sometimes) are inconsistent with following through on commitments. If you sign up for a cover reveal, make sure you get your post made on time. Did you sign up to review a book for a blog tour? That review is important and it needs to be posted on your scheduled date or you need to contact the tour organizer beforehand to let them know what is going on. Authors count on us to get the word out about them and it can be really frustrating when people don't follow through.

Don't take on too much. I realize you may be like me and really want to help everyone out by reading and reviewing their books, but that's not feasible, and it can lead to major burnout, especially if you're reading outside of your preferred genres. I can vouch for the fact that a burnt out blogger is no help to anyone. I have recently cut my reviewing back drastically and will only review books in a few select genres because of burn out.

Become an Amazon Affiliate. I can't really speak personally on this one because I'm not sure how the program would work for me where I'm a U.S. citizen living overseas, but I've heard that it's a great way to earn money for giveaways on your blog as well as other things in some cases. It is something I plan to look into when I get back stateside.

Have fun. Yes, blogging can be as demanding as a full time job, but chances are that you are doing it as a hobby because you love to read and want to share that love with others. So if you're not having any fun blogging, reevaluate what you're doing and see if you can make some changes so that it will be fun again. That's what I did, and I'm having more fun than ever.

Oh, and trust me on the sunscreen. - Katie

#BookBlogWriMo - Day 11 - #TopTenTuesday

Our Ten MOST POPULAR posts in top ten countdown fashion.

10) *Review* One Urge, One Plea, Keep Me by Scarlet Wolfe

This 4.5 star review came from the lovely Kristi. The post itself also contains an excerpt and some hot teasers! This was one of the first review posts where I realized I could really pretty it up and make it more dynamic if I asked the author for a media kit and teasers. I'm pretty sure Kristi would still highly recommend you #1Click One Urge, One Plea, and Keep Me by Scarlet Wolfe.

9) *Release Day Blitz* Inevitable Detour by S.R. Grey

The only explanation for this making the top ten list that I can think of is that it was shared by the author and/or the tour company. It's fairly standard as far as a release day blitz goes, although it does include a five star review by Kim (I think. For some reason the review isn't signed and I can't remember who read that book, I just know it wasn't me.)

8) *Blog Tour and Giveaway* Spark of Light by Elizabeth Tuttle

Giveaways almost always result in additional blog views (I'm guilty of giveaway hunting myself). This post also includes a five star review of the book, written by me, and I believe it was shared by the author and the tour company as well, which is really great for getting more views for us. The giveaway is now over, but my review is still valid.

7) Blog Tour for "Objective" by K. Larsen

This post also features a five star review written by yours truly! It's also a really great book and I highly recommend you read it if you haven't already. But go check out my review too!

6) *Author Spotlight* D.M. Brittle

This post features an extended excerpt from D.M. Brittle's debut novel, Beautifully Unbroken as well as a couple gorgeous teasers. It got a lot of views because the author shared it too, something we greatly appreciate.

5) *Author Spotlight* Morgan Parker

Are you sensing a theme here? Morgan Parker has written a lot of books, okay, not a WHOLE lot, but several. There are plenty of fun teasers, some quick facts about Morgan, and an interview that was conducted by The Book Gurus. It's definitely worth a look.

4) #BookBlogWriMo Challenge and Schedule

This post got several views because it is linked on another blog (I may have to start looking into linking up with other blogs more often at least on posts with reviews). It's also a very great and informative post about the challenge that I'm currently taking part in.

3) Exclusive Cover Reveal for Runaway by S.M. Knowles writing as Aubrey Kendall

How did we land an exclusive cover reveal when we were still just a baby blog? Oh, that's right, three of our reviewers are in S.M. Knowles' street team and S.M. used OUR Courtney's name for the main character in this book. That's pretty cool if you ask me. The post includes an extended excerpt from Chapter 1 of Runaway.

2) *Author Spotlight* Lisa Suzanne

This was the first Author Spotlight blog post I created, and I was doing it just to see what I could come up with. I am on Lisa's street team, so I had access to teasers and buy links to share without having to track them down. I also put it together as an example of what a spotlight for an author would look like. I actually want to start doing more author spotlight posts in the future, after I'm finished with #BookBlogWriMo and #NaNoWriMo.

and the #1 most popular post is...

Author Bullying: When the Shoe is on the Author's Foot

This post had more views than the other 9 posts on this list combined. The fact that it was popular doesn't surprise me a whole lot considering the subject matter. It details an experience I had with an author behaving very badly. In addition to the messages that she sent me on Goodreads, she also went a little nuts in comments on Amazon to the point that other people (that I swear I do not know because I was not sharing the review or the title of the book around) were advising her to just stop and delete her comments because she was harming her sales more than my review was. The silver lining of the incident is that my reviewer ranking on Amazon skyrocketed from all the helpful votes I received on that review. I'm also happy to report that I have not had any other incidents with authors since then *knock on wood*.

So that wraps up this episode of Top Ten Blog Posts of all time. I hope you've enjoyed the ride. - Katie

#BookBlogWriMo - Day 10 - Memes we Meme

meme

mēm/

noun

1. an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation.

   • a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users.

Full disclosure, I had to look up the definite of "meme" to make sure I write this blog post accurately. In my mind, a meme always includes a picture, like the Game of Thrones "One does not simply (insert action here)" meme that I'm personally awfully fond of.

After I wrote that I realized I could actually insert a picture of the meme. I may be getting too old to use the internet. But by looking up the definition of meme, I found that pictures need not be involved, which means that we occasionally meme here at Just Another Girl and Her Books, at least on Facebook.

Our most popular meme, and I think this probably holds true for most Facebook pages, is #TeaserTuesday. As a street team member myself, Tuesday is the best day to get my requisite weekly author pimps in. One Tuesday I actually pimped one of my authors 54 times, I know this because she told me. And it's clear that a lot of street team members do the same thing, and that's awesome. We love the interaction and the teasers posted on Tuesdays. 

Other memes that we've used include #ManCrushMonday, although that one seems to be basically a flop. We get a couple people that will share with us favorite male authors or hotties, etc. but nowhere near the interaction that we get on Tuesday, and it kind of baffles me because book boyfriends are part of the category, so really anyone could basically pimp anything they want on that post too.

We've also engaged in #ThrowbackThursday, both with books from childhood and I posted a picture of myself as a child, back when I was cute and couldn't read, well it was either when I was cute and couldn't read or it was my mullet picture because sadly I had one of those when I was younger. We tried to do #ThankfulThursday and #ThunderclapThursday, but neither of those caught on at all. (In case you haven't noticed, I've basically decided that any hashtag we've used is the equivalent of a meme. Someone will probably be along shortly to revoke my internet privileges. Should that happen, it's been nice knowing you.) 

We don't really meme often though, because I get easily discouraged by lack of interaction (translation: when you guys no talk to me, it make me sad). But I'm also forgetful and sometimes I get busy and don't realize that I haven't posted the days intended hashtag until like 9 pm my time, which is only 3 in the afternoon on the East Coast, but that still seems a bit late to be trying to get interaction, so I just don't. But maybe after reading this you'll feel sorry for me and start interacting more (hint, hint) and I'll do better about posting my daily hashtags. Or not. - Katie 

#BookBlogWriMo - Day 9 - #BlogFlo

Today I get to share with you my blogging process and rituals. I'm not sure I really have any. Like I said yesterday, I still feel like we're fumbling around here at Just Another Girl and Her Books and I don't really have a routine down for blogging, but while I'm very much a creature of habit, I'm not a routine kind of person. I always order the same foods at my family's favorite restaurants (Cajun Chicken pasta or a Triple Dipper at Chile's, cold cut combo sub on honey oat at Subway, chicken club from Burger King just to name a few) but I'm really no good at sticking to a schedule so I just go with the flow pretty much all the time.  I think the closest thing to a routine I have is reading the book at the last minute and then writing a quick review on it right away.

I have tried to read books a little in advance to give myself some time to digest them, and ponder them, and give myself a few days to come up with an absolutely stellar review, and every time I've felt like those reviews were worse than my last minute ones. I've always kind of done my best work under pressure, although I didn't really ever try it any other way while I was in school. Right now with #NaNoWriMo, I typically sit down at my computer at about 9 in the evening after getting the kids to bed, then I goof off on Facebook or Goodreads or check on the blog page (still on Facebook) until about 10:30 when I say "Shit. I have an hour and a half to write almost 1,700 words," and then I do it. At the end of day 8, I was still on track. When I try to start writing earlier than that, I mostly sit and stare at the screen doing nothing. It's like my brain thrives on the pressure.

So if you ever see a review I wrote and think, "Damn, that looks like it was thrown together in five minutes," you're probably pretty close to right. - Katie

#BookBlogWriMo - Day 8 - Blogging Toolkit

This is not going to be a long post at all. I feel like my team and I are still fumbling around trying to figure this whole blogging thing out. I know we don't have things nearly as together as most bloggers seem to, but our methods sort of work for us.

The tool I use most is the Cozi calendar app on my iPad. We have a blog account, and most of us have the app, so when we schedule things like blog tours we just update the calendar and everyone can see it. Because I'm the one that puts together most of the posts here on the blog, it's really helpful for keeping me in line and on schedule, even when we receive tour packets for things I didn't sign us up for.

I also use a couple photo editing apps on my iPad for creating appropriately sized profile pictures when we feature an author's new release as our profile photo. It always bothered me when we couldn't see the entire book cover in the little thumbnail until I discovered PhotoCollage and Instaframe, and I use a combination of the two apps for each profile photo.

Beyond that, we have a group message on FB so that we can chat about ideas, things we want to do on the blog, books that we've read, just whatever we feel like chatting about. And that is pretty much our entire blogging toolkit. I really look forward to getting ideas from some of the other bloggers participating in this challenge. - Katie