Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Blogoversary Day 4: Author & Publisher Love

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Where would we be without authors? Without publishers? Do I even dare picture such a life? *faints dramatically*. Today, on the 4th day of my blogoversary celebration week, I’m going to talk about these wonderful people who let us experience worlds beyond our own. Really, it’s just a big blah blah post about being starstruck by authors and publishers!
Starstruck
Like probably a lot of you, I felt very intimidated by authors and publishers when I started blogging. To me, authors have always been superstars. I’m not saying this to flatter — although I do love to flatter authors I love — but for a girl from a small town Canada where no big authors ever come for signings, I was very starstruck from the whole idea of communicating with these famous people, and actually get replies, and eventually call them friends! At first I was flooded with a sense of astonishment and intimidation: What should I do? What should I say? How should I respond? What if I don’t say the right thing? These were all questions than ran through my anxiety filled mind when I got emails and tweets from these people. It was surreal to say the least.
My advice to those who feel the same – authors are people too! And those publishers, they’re not so scary! Once I began to get more social with them, I saw how genuinely awesome they all are. Never would I have thought I could tweet an author how much their book moved me, and get a direct message back. Authors love to hear from readers, and a lot of them are very social online. They love to talk, to play around, some will even make jokes at your expense! And THAT is what I love the most about blogging! These people have created stories, worlds, words I’ve gotten lost in since I could hardly walk, and getting to chat with them blows my mind every single day. They are not mythical beings after all! So don’t be afraid to chat them up, I’m happy to call a lot of authors friends.

Tweets that make blogging worth it:
 Carrie wrote The Forest of Hands and Teeth series that I highly enjoyed and knowing she read and liked my review is seriously a huge highlight in my blogging year! I literally squeed when I saw this tweet.

Tweets like this remind me how much authors love us, too!

And then there’s always the bizarre heartwarming relationships you might strike up. 
Warning: Some content may be explicit! >.<

I know right? The basement? Who does she think I am? I would at “least” chain her in the spare bedroom. Maybe.
So you see? Authors love their readers! They’re amazingly talented, and they’re the reason we are all here today blogging, and talking about what we love! Don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation, though I would advise against kidnapping threats just yet.
Self Publishing
In this modern, online world, you don’t need a publisher to get a book out there. Self published authors are a big deal in the blogging community, and I am beyond amazed at how wonderful these people are. Sure there are bad apples in the mix, but I have personally never had any bad experiences, and even if I would, the bad would definitely not trump the good. I have made friends with self published authors I will be forever thankful for, I have read books that became 5-star favorites, and I have come to notice that they can be just as good as any published book out there. For new blogs, don’t let any drama stop you from reading self published books, you may just miss your next favorite novel.

With this said, review requests are a common occurrence in blogging and one “mistake” a lot of us make at the start is accept any request we get out of excitement or intimidation, which end up with us getting books that aren’t quite our taste. I know it’s exciting, but nothing good will come of accepting books you likely won’t enjoy. Read the synopsis, read a few reviews, and make sure it’s up your alley.

Note for author: Read our review policy! You will learn our book taste, what we want to see in a request, and other very useful info, which can very well determine if the request will be ignored or not. I kid you not, I got a review request on Formspring the other day. O_O Getting spammed on Facebook and Twitter with random links to your book is the surest way to make sure I never read it. I know authors are busy, but bloggers are busy too, and making a little effort will highly increase your chances that we will at least have a look!
 

Shout Out
Shout out to Kathleen Peacock, Rhiannon Frater, Matt Merrick, JL Bryan, Devri Walls, Helen Keeble, Miranda Kenneally, Nikki Jefford, Lynn Rush, Cambria Hebert, Marie Landry, O’Dell Hutchison, Michelle Madow, Patrice Michelle, Belle Whittington, Taryn Browning, Heather McCorkle, Elsie Chapman, Trish Wolfe, Rachel Harris, Kelley York, and Marie Rutkoski – and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone – who are fabulous authors who I’ve come to know and am happy to call a friend! Thank you, for all your support and for everything that you do!
Publishers
Publishers are also a big source of intimidation to us bloggers, and ARCs are a big reason. You got a book from a publisher that you hated? You know what? It happens, and the publishers will not black list you! Reviews are to lead people to and from certain books and negative reviews are not a bad thing! They need them as much as they need positives, and no matter what, they will thank you for taking the time to read and review the book. Like I said with authors, don’t be scared to approach them with a reply to their tweets, by tagging them on your review tweet, or by emailing about receiving review books. Be professional and courteous, and you win soon strike up relationships with employees there as well!

This is also a bit stunning to me even now. I would never have thought I would be in regular contact with big publishers, not to mention actually receive books from them for review. I am forever thankful for this privilege as a blogger. Even though relationships with publishers are often a bit more formal than the quirky conversations you can have with authors, they’re very friendly and social online and I love that about them!

It goes without saying that I’m thankful for all the publishers I have come to know and who have made this year – this blog – what it is today!

And a BIG thank you to ALL authors and publishers! You give us something to be passionate about, and that’s something you should all be proud of!

Giveaways
Today’s giveaway is brought to you by some of my author friends. These people rock my face every chance they get!
There will be 4 winners! Up for grabs:
Winner 1
 – One signed paperback of The Weeping by O’Dell Hutchison + bookmark (US/Can)

Winner 2
 
 -Signed paperbacks of book 1 and 2 in the Spellbound series by Nikki Jefford + 2 bookmarks (US/Can)

Winner 3
 -E-book copies of book 1, 2, & 3 in the Jenny Pox/Paranormals series by JL Bryan (INTL)

Winner 4
 
This one is a very unique giveaway that I’m sure you will find pretty awesome! Miranda Kenneally, author of Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker,  is giving you the chance to name a character in her 4th book! How cool is that? Open Internationally

Giveaway details

There will be four winners as listed above. Thanks so much to O’Dell Hutchison, Nikki Jefford, JL Bryan, and Miranda Kenneally for this giveaway opportunity!
Day 4 giveaways end on September 26th, 2012
Use the Rafflecopter below to enter
*There is 1 Rafflecopter for all prizes; the country you provide in the Rafflecopter will let me know which prize(s) you’re eligible to win*

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

Latest posts by Giselle (see all)

27 Responses to “Blogoversary Day 4: Author & Publisher Love”

  1. Danny

    This is one of the best things about Blogging. Interaction with authors is something very dear to me! And I am still squealing whenever I see an author read my review and liked it, or when we interact on twitter!
    Great Giveaway!

  2. Natalia Belikov @ Dazzling Reads

    At the beginning I was really shy to talk to authors, but then in twitter I realized that they were really friendly and approachable! =D

    However, the best thing of all, was when I had the chance to go to BEA and tell to so many authors how much I love their books. Seriously, it is a relationship that goes both ways. Reader-writer, writer-reader. At first I only considered myself for being happy to read an amazing book and I was greatful to the author who wrote that. Yet, when I had the chance to tell to so many of them how much I loved their books, they were so happy that I could actually feel it. It is a beautiful experience to be able to have this contact with authors! 🙂 I so freaking love them! <3333333

    Publishers are also so nice 🙂 and agents too. ALl of them so dedicated to what we all love. <3 kyaaa! I love this community Giselle!! ^.^

    Wonderful post!

    btw! talking about self-published authors, have you read the Falling From Grace series by S.L. Naeole? if you havent… you SO SHOULD!! it is about ANgels, but good lord! OMG! is beautiful! so powerful and emotional. You gonna cry and fall in love so hard my dear. This one has its own mythology! Unearthly’s concept is very similar to Falling From Grace. ALthough Falling From Grace was published before and I read it before tha Unearthly (that;s why I liked Unearthly but it didnt wowed me) Falling from Grace really outstands so many paranormal romances. I totally recommend it to you!

    happy reading sweetheart <33

  3. Annabelle Marie Veronica

    Interaction with authors is probably one of my absolute most favorite things about blogging. I still get a thrill every time an author tweets me or reads one of my reviews! The whole book community is just so awesome.

    Love the post, dollface!! x

  4. Aylee

    Okay, first off (because I haven’t had the chance to say it yet): Happy Blogoversary, Giselle! If you had asked me how long I thought you had been blogging for, I would have thought more than just a year! To have found so much success in your blog in such a short time – you are clearly hella talented. And somehow manage to be everywhere at once – posting all the time, on twitter, commenting on a bajillion other people’s blogs. I’m not sure how you manage it, but you clearly deserve the recognition from authors and publishers. Those author tweets are sooo sweet, especially! Aw.

  5. Mel - Thedailyprophecy.

    I’m still in the phase where every author is scary, haha. I know they are people like you and me, but I’m still hesitant to make connect with them.

    Lovely, informative post, Giselle! It’s a shame your blogoversary will be over soon, because I love reading this 🙂

  6. Jenn Renee

    Awesome post as usual. I often get star struck too until I meet some authors,and realize, wow they are so normal and some very geeky, just like me. Sorry for the run-on! I love the tweets. I laughed so hard. Love the giveaways too. Especially number 4. How cool! loved Catching Jordan!

  7. Christina

    I love those tweets. You are so freaking funny, especially when combined with Rhiannon.

    Also, you are the nicest captor ever to chain them in the spare room. You care about her comfort. Besides, you live in the middle of nowhere in Canada, so it’s not like anyone would hear their cries for help!

  8. Jenn@OwlReadIt

    Haha, I know exactly what you mean about being intimidated.. Coming from a country area, I am always so excited when an author says anything to me. Although it does make me sad that no one ever comes here. Meeting some of my favorite authors face to face would be awesome!

  9. Alexa

    I’m absolutely LOVING all of these posts you’ve set up for your blog anniversary. This one is SO TRUE. I have loved being able to interact and sort of joke around with some of my favorite and amazingly talented authors – it always warms my heart and makes me squeal! And I totally agree about publishers, a lot of them were friendly and enthusiastic at BEA!

  10. Savannah Valdez

    Cool! The publishers are the nicest people out there. I love that they are sweet. The authors are great too! At first I was scared to talk to them, but in the end, they are so nice!

  11. JL Bryan

    Aw, Giselle, you’re only a little bit of a scary stalker and cult leader! If I’m going to get torture-killed by a fan and buried deep in the Canadian ice, I hope you’re the one who does it!

  12. Suzanne @ Paranormal Book Fan

    Great post. When I started out I thought of authors as superstars too, and couldn’t believe it when I got my first reply, which was from Rachel Vincent. Now I have no problem contacting them.

    And I totally agree with you about self published authors, some of my favourite books are self pubbed 🙂

  13. SweetMarie83

    I really, really love this post. I seriously almost cried when I saw my name in your shout-outs! Thank you so much, it’s been such a pleasure getting to know you, reading you blog every day, chatting with you on Twitter, AND having you be part of my very first blog tour. You rock!

    I love seeing people share their love and appreciation for authors and bloggers. I have to admit I still get a bit starstruck sometimes when talking to authors on Twitter and Facebook. It’s so exciting to get to talk to the people who write the books you love so much and create worlds and characters that mean a lot to you.

    Thank YOU for all YOU do! 🙂 <3

  14. Jenni @ Alluring Reads

    Bahahaha the Helen Keeble tweet! YES! It’s so true, when I first started I was always thinking “I can’t tweet these people I’m just little ol’ me” but authors and pubs are so awesome! Great post!

  15. Kristin @ My ParaHangover

    I think a big reason why you’ve made the friends (and contacts) you’ve made is because your personality comes out in your words! You can’t fake sincerity 🙂

    Here’s to many, many years!! *clink!*

    (I’m still flippin’ scared of publishers but Rhiannon Frater is the absolute bomb of authors, in a very good way!)

  16. Anya @ On Starships and Dragonwings

    Oo I love this post! I am super intimidated by authors and I think it’s also because I have never been to a book signing (combination of few happening and not hearing about them). I’ve met a couple authors when I go to conventions and they are awesome people, but my brain still thinks they are the exceptions to the scary rule, haha. I’ll have to keep working on it!

  17. Vyki @ On The Shelf

    I really enjoy interacting with authors as well. And yeah, I did the accept-every-review-request thing in the beginning, and I know better now. I felt bad for the first one I had to turn down, but it really wasn’t up my alley. And yes, please authors, read the review policy page. I have specific stuff on my page and I can tell when they don’t read the page. Great post, great giveaway!

  18. Kristilyn (Reading In Winter)

    Great post, Giselle! It’s so easy for a newbie blogger to feel intimidated by authors and publishers, but most of them are so down to earth and friendly! Interaction with authors, publishers — and of course, bloggers! — is one of my favourite things about book blogging. 🙂

  19. Tiffany Mahaffy

    I still get all nervous when talking to authors!! I find it one of the best things about blogging but the are the rock stars/actors/actresses that everyone else fusses over to me so I’m not as out going about it yet lol

  20. Mary @ BookSwarm

    I adore interacting with authors and chatting with publishers–it’s still very squee-worthy to me, even after two years of blogging. I know they’re “just” people but they’re creative people who’ve written things I love or they publish books and get to read awesome books before any of us. *love*