The Story is About   +  TIME

Here is a list of questions, grouped by subject, that I've answered as a part of Dear Story Siren. If you click on the question it will take you to the post that contains the question so you can read the answer. Please check to see if your questions, or a similar version of your question has been answered before you submit one. I will not answer repeat questions, so it's always better to check first! Please do note the date of these posts... some of the answers may have changed... or more info may be available since the post date.

Author Interviews/Guest Posts

• I was wondering if you have any advice about contacting authors for guest blogs or interviews. Contact directly or go through a publisher? Is there any place that lists author email addresses? Any advice on how to approach them other than the standard, be professional? I am hoping to incorporate more author interaction on my blog in 2010 and I'm not quite sure how to take that first step.
• When you do interviews do you do them via the phone or email them questions? Is there anything you would advise not asking about?
• When you have to do an interview with an author, where does the information for your questions come from? Do you mostly like to choose from the books context, the author's background or more random living experiences?
• How should I contact authors for interviews? I'm not sure what I should put in an email when I ask. I'd love advice on getting authors for interviews!
• I've been wanting to start asking authors for interviews but I'm not quite sure how. If I send an email I don't know what I should include--should it be a few sentences requesting an interview plus blog info? Any help regarding what to include in an interview request is much appreciated!
• My question is simple: How do you go about author interviews? Do you get in touch with the author or do they contact you?
• I've always found author interviews to be a very interesting and enjoyable aspect to blogging and would love to have authors more involved in mine. Thanks!

• I am a spanish girl, reader and blogger and I would like to contact american authors and publisher in order to review their books. I know a lot of people get to have their ARC or books signed about their favourite writers... but I'm still a little bit inexperienced in that kind of contact.
• I was just wondering, how do you find out about author visits to your area? I'm in Australia, and I know authors don't usually come here but occasionally they do! I've been on publisher websites (for Australia) but they usually only have authors of adult books...

• There's this book that I'm absolutely dying to read and I've been thinking about contacting the author (or the publishing house) for a copy of the book. But I also want to interview the author... and I feel like asking the author for an ARC and an interview would be too much. Am I right in thinking this? And what should I do?
• When you write in to request a book is it okay to write about mulitple books or should you do seperate e-mails for each book?
• I've gotten some books for review before but I've never contacted an author or publisher myself, I've just let them contact me. But I was curious about what you should mention when contacting a publisher about reviewing books for them, I read your post about ARC's and blog stats were mentioned but which stats are the ones that matter and should be mentioned in the email to publishers?
• How did you start getting review copies? What did you do to get them? I'd really like to start doing this...but I am not sure how. Help!?Someone recently advised me to start sending my reviews to the publishers. Are publishers only interested in seeing reviews of yet-to-be-released ARCs or do they also want to read reviews on books that have been on shelves for more than a few months?
• How do you contact the publishing systems to ask for review to their books? I know they send you their new realeases and such but how can i get that for my own blog? Hoiw do I start?
• I really want to start a book blog, but I don't know where to begin! How do you get books to review from the publishers, and ARCs? And everything else. I know this is a huge question, but I really hope you'll answer it ! :) I wanna spread the book love :D
• I was wondering if, after you post a review, you send a link back to the author/publicist who offered you the review copy? I want to be courteous, but also don't want to bog up their e-mail boxes when they may receive hundreds of these letters each day. What do you recommend?
• I recently started to receive books and ARC's from publishers for review. While I am so excited about it, I am starting to receive some surprise ones that I am not interesting in reading. I am afraid If I don't review them, the pubishers will stop sending me ones I want. What should I do we these unwanted review copies?
• ARCs, what do we do with them when we are done reading and reviewing?
• I belong to my school book club and I've received my first lot of ARCs recently which quite a few memebers are really looking forward to. Do you think it would be ok to lend it to one of them once I have finished or the librarian just for general reading? I'm just concerned with any laws about this to prevent leakages of books before publishing.

• How do you respond when you decline book review requests?
• You must receive a bazillion review requests so I wonder what's the strangest one you ever got?
• I was recently contacted through Facebook by an author who wanted to know if I was willing to review their book. I accepted, but after that I was wondering if it was really considered an 'okay' way to contact a blogger for a review. Is it wrong to do that? Similarly I was wondering if it would be wrong and unprofessional to ask an author on Twitter or Facebook for an interview or a review. Part of me thinks it is, but another part thinks that if an author felt it was alright to contact me on Facebook for a review, that authors don't mind getting these kinds of requests the same way.
• I started my blog a little over 3 months ago, only have around 85 followers. I've had review offers, and even an ARC offer. I've requested a few books. Sometimes I regret doing this because my blog is so small and fairly new. Now that I have a offer for a review copy of a book, does that make it more okay to request review copies? And will publishers remember if you've asked for books before, especially when your a newer blogger and you really don't need them?
• Have you ever asked for a Arc and was denied?
• I heard that requesting smaller title ARCs from publishers would increase the chance of them sending the ARC. How can you tell which upcoming releases are bigger, and which are smaller?
• I have a question regarding requesting a book from a publisher. I have been blogging for about 10 months now, and I have never requested an ARC (all the books I review are either from contests, I bought, or the library). But there is a book in a series that I would really like to review, and I would like to request it from the publisher. But when I go on the publisher's site, there are about 10 different emails, and I don't know which to use? Are there any specific emails for HarperTeen, Simon and Schuster, Penguin, when requesting ARC's?
• I recently discovered two books that are to be published later in the year. I want to ask for a copy to review and later interview the author, if possible. I'm not sure if I should ask the author or her representative. The author shows both email addresses on her page. Which would you email?
• I've read your previous posts about asking for ARCs, but I'm still not sure about the way this works. Should I just email a publisher I like and ask them for any ARCs they may have on hand, or stick to a by the book basis? Also, is there any criteria that a publisher looks for in your blog before they'll send you an ARC? I'm just very confused about this whole business...
• A publisher said a couple of months ago that they would send me a book to review and it's getting closer to the release date. What's the best way to go about asking if they've forgotten? I really don't want to come across as a pest when I know they're busy with other things.
• I'm just into my teens and have recently started a book blog to record my reading and share my thoughts. In the future when I have good stats I would like to be able to request ARCs/review copies from publishers. However I'm worried that my age will affect their answer, should I tell them how old I am or not?

• I'm being swallowed by my TBR pile! How do you maintain your reading schedule while getting so many new ones every day in the mail?
• What do you do when you start getting tons of ARC's? I had one month recently where I got 56. I asked for none of them. I dont like to not review them but there is no possible way to review all of them by the publication date and now I am further behind with the ones I get each month. Help!
• I was wondering, do you review every book you receive for review? If not, what do you do with the books you decide to not review?
• I have recently received an ARC of a new book by a very popular YA author. It is my first ARC I have ever been sent and feel that I should show appreciation of that with my review. But I don't want to give it 5 stars just because I am thankful that I got it sent to me early, I also don't to give it a bad review if I don't like it and not get offers to review ARCs anymore. I should point out that I haven't read it yet, but will soon.
• When should a review be posted on your blog when it's an arc?
• Do you write reviews/read books as they come out. Or is there a special notebook/word document where you keep reviews you write for future releases?
• Thanks for answering the part about the TBR pile and the books you don't review. Lately I've been having authors inquire about when the review will be up regarding a book I was sent. What do you do with these inquiries???
• I have only been blogging for about two months and I have a question for you about reviewing books. What do you do when you are reviewing a book that is part of a series and are afraid to spoil the earlier books for people? I wrote a review today that I felt was kind of vague because the description of book two is a major spoiler for book one. Do you just not review the book, post spoiler warnings on part of the review, or avoid mentioning plot specifics?
• What do you do when you accept a personalized review request, attempt to read the book, and find that it's totally not your thing? Do you go ahead and write and post a critical review of it based on what little of the book you were able to read? Do you contact the author/publicist who sent you the book and let them know? And then what do you do with the book afterwards?
• Do you think that book bloggers should include that they didn't finish a book in their review? I know of a book blogger who doesn't finish a couple of books but doesn't mention that in her reviews.
• Do you think it is OK to review books without reading them first? I am overwhelmed--so I'll occasionally just skim a book and post a review instead of reading in deep detail. What do you think?
• If you recieve a book for review that has already been released, how do you decide when to review it? Are books that are yet to be released a higher priority to review first?
• When is the best time to post reviews for ARC's? I tend to try and post them near the release date but there have been times where I've read a book and it's months till the release date and I'm never sure if I should post the review when I've read it (I know I could write the review and schedule the post but I'm not sure if it's necessary).
• I've had at least two authors come to me asking if I'd like to review their book. I've answered them back saying I'd loved to. The first one asked me about what I thougth of their cover as their intended audience was for Young Adult and I gave them my honest opinion and haven't heard from them since. The other author asked if I could review it so I thought I was doing the right thing by saying if they would like to post it heres my address. AND I haven't heard from them either. I'm at wits end. What Am I doing wrong??
• I recently received a book to review from a publisher. This isn't a book I requested or told it would be sent to me... it just arrived. While I read the genre I'm not really interested in reading it. I'm just wondering how you would precede with a situation like this?
• Do you send in review links to books you didn't receive for review, but are from that publisher?
• If I receive an ARC from a ARC tour should I send my review to the publisher and or the author?
• I was wondering if I should post my reviews on other websites besides my blog. Such as Amazon and Goodreads.
• I wanted to make sure: Is it okay to post the reviews for books you write on your blog word for word to Amazon, Goodreads, B&N, etc. Or do they frown upon doing that (having the same review in multiple places).
• My friend is self publishing a book and I was wondering if you execept self-published books for review because you have loads of followers and that is the kind of publicity she needs to sell her book.
• I get SO many finished books for review from places like Random House, and a lot of them just don't interest me/work for the usual genres I review on my blog. I really appreciate recieving all these books, but do you think it's OK to donate these (really nice, hardback) copies to my local public library?
• Do you know if there are any copyright issues with regards to including the book cover with your reviews? Do you have to get special permission to use them, or does using them fall under the category of "fair use"?
• Does publishers mind if you don't write your own summary and simply use the one from the jacket cover or a site like goodreads? Or do they prefer you write your own summary to post with your review?
• I was just wondering, how do you write a negative review without being harsh or mean, but without sugar coating it with lies?
• I would like to ask you if an author contacted me and asked me to review their book and I post a negative review on my blog/Goodreads/Amazon, should I send the link to the author, or since it's a negative review rather not send it back to them?
• My sister and I are a group. We both do reviews for the same blog and for the same YouTube channel. But we're starting to have conflicts now that we're getting ARC's. We both want our own copies for our collection and both of us have a pet peeve about reading books that aren't our own. Would it be bad for us both to request an advanced readers copy since we're from the same group?
• what if you dont have the time to run a blog but often write review for books on goodreads.com, www.amazon.com, or ww.barnesandnoble.com. can we still send a request for a reviewer copy?
• How do you keep track of all your reviews? Do you schedule them all up or do you keep them in a document and schedule posts a week in advance only? Or some other alternative?
• I received a book in the mail for review from a publishing company but I didn't request the book and it isn't something I would ever read either. What should I do?
• I'm a little embarrassed to ask this question because it seems to be the total opposite of what other Newbies bloggers are asking. I only started blogging in October. I started my blog as I just wanted to be part of this great community and have my space on the Internet where I could talk about the books I read. Reviewing for authors and publishers never crossed my mind. Then two weeks in I got a request to review a book, then another and another and suddenly by December I'm over run with review books and not getting chance to read my own book shelf! I'm stressed as I don't read fast anyway. I would much rather go back to just reviewing my own bookshelf. Is that selfish? Also, I'm really not sure how to turn down the requests without causing negativity - and I still would love to keep being able to get Netgalley books (a different experience as the choice of which books I request and when, falls to me). Do you think I should put up an author/publisher page stating that I don't take books for review or just politely turn down request emails? How would you handle this?
• It's a two-part question. How many books do you read at a time? And do you take notes? I ask this because I read four at a time and if I don't take notes I get my plots mixed up. Plus it helps me when it's time to write a review.
• Sometimes I have a hard time writing my reviews because I am unsure of what all I should include. I know it is mainly up to me but is there anything you think should be included in every review or something that should be touched on?
• What do you suggest for a "layout" in book review posts? I notice you always put in ratings, page numbers, publisher, etc. and as a new blogger I'm wondering If I should put in details like that. My posts on books tend to run a little long (to me) and I don't want it to look like an overflow of information. However, I still think putting in information like publishers and other things will make me look more credible and professional.
• I always feel obliged to write a nice review when I'm being sent an ARC, even when I don't like the book. Because I know the author might read it. Did you ever have trouble with that? maybe when you first started out blogging? And how do you manage it when you also have the author visit your blog around the same time as you post the review?
• Do you believe that reviewing books you haven't finished is acceptable, as long as you inform your reader how far you got and your reasoning is well-written as to why you didn't like it? Do you think it is more professional to skip these books regardless? I usually finish a 'three-star' rated book, but anything less won't do for me. I don't want a sugar-sweet blog, but I recently got a lot of flack and hate-comments for posting a review of a book I didn't finish and didn't like. The author was personally offended and made sure everyone else was as well. I'm not sweating it, but I want to know if I am breeching reviewer etiquete here.
• When you write a review, do you just copy and paste it to every site you post your reviews at (goodreads, amazon, your blog)? Or do you type up a new one for each place? I feel like I should mix it up a bit with each place I post, but sometimes I have a hard time coming up with new stuff to write.
• Where do you collect the pictures and summaries for books you review? Do you start at the author's website, the publisher, Amazon? I want to make sure I am using the official pictures for books I'm reviewing, and Amazon's book covers tend to have that "Look Inside" graphic that messes up the cover illustration. Of course, I will host the picture on my own site once I find it.

• Approximately how many hours a week do you spend on your blog?
• When is your birthday? I feel like I need to be prepared for that special date! :)
• I've heard alot about Book Fairys on the blogosphere that bring you books for IMM and I was wondering what are they and how do you acquire one? Are they only limited to people in the USA?
• I would love to know your 5 top favorite books of all time till the time you read your first book till now. Like if you got stranded on a deserted island what would be the books you couldn't live without? I know it's hard, but I think series can be counted as one. At least that's what I have to do.lol I really would love to see which books are your faves!
• My partner thinks that blogging is taking up too much of my time. He finds it odd when I get books for review in the mail and doesn't like the amount of time I spend working on my blog. As a married woman how does your partner feel about your blogging? Is there really anything to be concerned about?
• Boxers or briefs on a man?
• What type of reaction do you get from people about reading YA books, do you ever get negative reactions and do you feel it has gotten more acceptable for adults to read teen books since the success of Twilight?
• Did you know that you look like Gwyneth Paltrow?
• In your letter post you said you live in a 97% white area. Don't you want to live in a place that is more diverse?
• How many hours a week do you spend reading
• How did you get started book blogging?
• How long do you take to finish the whole book?
• When do you usually read? At night, afternoon, morning...What's your last 5/5 read??
• I know, I know, These are the typical FAQ sorta things but I was just wondering... 1. About how many books do you read per month? 2. What is your favorite series and (or) book 3. How many days a week do you read?
• I see that you are married, but you don't see much about your significant other. What does he look like?
• I'm an twentysomething adult who has recently started reading YA fictions. As far as I know, YA tends to fall under the age group of 12-18 years old, leaving me feel old and silly when I should be reading something that is more 'suitable' to my age. How can I convince myself that it is not silly to be enjoying a book regardless of its age group?
• where do you store all your books? Do you have a seperate room for them? I always see that beautiful, black shelf in the background of your IMM video posts but you get so many books each week, they can't all fit in there, or can they? Some photos would be sweet :)
• Obviously, you've read many, many books. So I was just wondering, do you read more than one book at a time? If so, how many usually?
• We all know The Story mainly focuses on YA but you also read adult romance. I'm wondering if you'll ever create a separate blog to post about your adult romance reads?
• I was watching you In My Mailbox post earlier and saw you bookshelf in the background. Some of the books were upright and some of the books were sideways. How do you organize your books???
• How do you find time to blog approximately 16 hours a week?! Between working full time, reading, writing, and doing other day-to-day activities, I'm lucky if I find three or four hours a week to blog (and it's usually much less than that). I'd love it if I could find more time to blog--it amazes me that you have 16 hours a week for it!
• Girl, I absolutely love your blog, but I got to ask...how do you work a full time job, have a social life, and read as many books as you do. Oh and yeah, blog about them! LOL. I have trouble with balance. I want a pie chart of how you spend your day/week/month. LOL.
• How do you juggle life and blogging?
• What was your major in college?
• What books do you want for Christmas?
• You've tons of books, and you're a fast reader. I really think it's great. You're great! But when do you read them? How long does it take you to finish a book...? Let say a 500 page book?

• I was wondering how you made the navigation bar up above (It says home, about, etc.) with its cute buttons! :)
• I see around the blogosphere some ideas that people put forward but discontinue with. Some of these are really good ideas and I'd like to carry them on, how should I go about carrying on these ideas people have left behind? Should I ask them permission and from there go forwards?
• I have a question about tagging/labeling blog posts.How detailed should I be? What is the best way to select the most efficient words/phrases?
• I'm wanting to allow links for people to put their reviews of the same book underneath my blog post that way people can get a chance to read others reviews of the same book. I'm not entirely sure about this Mr Linky thing or if just putting the links at the bottom of the post, as I use blogger, is a good idea. I know that the links on the actual post can be deleted but how much control do you have over the Mr Linky links?
• When you do post with multiple pictures (like your New releases post) how do you get the pictures to post side by side in blogger? I've tried doing this with several codes and they never work, so I end up having to post my pictures in a vertical linel which then ends up making the post longer.Do you make any money off your blog by running ad's? I've thinking of doing that on my site (even though I don't have near the followers that you do).
• I would like to know how I can get a youtube videos posted on to my blog? It would be nice to know so I can put book trailers up.
• I am new to the whole "VLOG" thing... can you let me know how you put words into your video? (Book titles... comments, etc...)
• I was just wondering if you could please explain how you create your wonderful IMM vlogs? Do you use a special program to add the book titles in the vlogs etc?I'm not sure if I'll ever do a vlog(but you never know) but I've been curious about that so I thought I would ask.
• How do you get the thumbnails attached to your posts so that they show up at the bottom in your "your might also like" widget. I have that widget and you can see the boxes to click on to see other posts on my blog but there are no thumbnails...which really makes them boring at the moment, lol, any help?
• I've noticed on some blogs that people have their own images when they rate a book (whether it be roses, peace signs, starts, etc.) How do they do it? Do they make the images themselves?
• This may seem like a no-brainer question, but exactly how does one access Google Analytics and how does it work in connection to a person's blog? I mean, do you just sign up for it and it links automatically, or what?
• You know how when you write a review and you post the summary that comes from the book. Well how do I do the lines around the summary, like how you do it on your reviews.
• How do I do the Page Headers like what you did on your bolg? Every time I try to do so, It just gives me a title and I can never post something to it. I can never do things like a Review Archives. I need Help!!!
• Whenever I post a picture on my blog, within a few days, it's gone. It was perfectly fine before... Now, all that's left is an outline of the box and a blue question mark inside. How can I fix this? Also, links! Unfortunately, they aren't working so well for me. Any ways to post these as well? Thank you so much for this! It's probably really stupid of me, but then I' not tech savvy at all.
• I'm thinking about buying my own domain name and saw some blogger articles about what a crucial decision it is and that it is not a simple process, but I have no idea what to consider or where to begin.Could you please advise me which suppliers to check out (which one did you choose?) and tell me a bit more about the whole process, I'd be grateful!
• Where can someone, espeically a new blogger, get amazing templates for their blogs like you have? I know that yours was designed for you, but do you have any advice?
• I've been reading a lot book blogs for a while, and I've just recently started one. I noticed that a lot of these blogs have 'buttons' that other blogs can add to their sites. Do I need one for my blog? Because I'm not very good with technology and I have absolutely no idea how to make one!
• What are good stats for Google Analytics?
• I only average about 20 unique hits per day, is it worthwhile for me to contact a publisher and ask for a book to review? Or would they 'laugh me off' so to speak, because of my stats?
• how do I install that 'thing' that counts the my posts & comments? I know you had it for a while.
• Hi, I am an aspiring book blogger, and was wondering how you managed to arrange the placement of the book cover picture, block containing the description, and all the stuff with the title, author, publisher, etc in your reviews? Is there some HTML you have to use, or does Blogger have something?
• For your contests, you use spreadsheets.How exactly do those work, and how do you use them?
• What does an RSS feed do and how do you go about setting it up for a blog?
• You say to give blog stats. I can figure out how many followers i have but how do you figure out how many unique visitors you have and is there a way to find out who signed up for your blog via a reader.. I am new to blogging and not really had time to get into this aspect of it. thanks
• How do I know my number for monthly unique visitors?
• What program(s)/webcam do you use for vlogging?
• How do you get the white background whenever you do your In My Mailbox post? Like, when you have the pictures of all the books you get, you just have a white background.
• I've been book blogging for nearly two years on a wordpress blog, but so many people use blogger and so much is geared towards blogger (follower counts, widgets, etc.) that I'm considering switching over. What advice do you have for me?
• i was wondering how you made your "In my reading pile" widget. I want to make something similar for my blog, to show what reviews are coming up and such but im not sure how. Thanks for your help!
• How important is an "About Me" page? Every book blog I visit has one. I used to have one too but I deleted it because I was very uncomfortable with it. Is it very necessary for a book blogger to have an "About Me" section?
• This is very helpful! My blog is new, I would like to know- seeing how the stats are the most important- how many followers I need first before I approach a publishing company about reviewing a copy? Thanks!
• What are the good numbers that keep popping up in your advice? Is there a certain monthly about or daily amount you should have?
• I read a lot of reviews on Google Reader (don't we all?) Some people don't show their entire reviews, so you have to click on them to actually open their blog page. To be honest, most of the time I skip those posts. I find this annoying, but I know people want to count visits to their blog. So I was wondering is there a way to tell if people read your post in Google Reader? I really suppose that there isn't, but just thought I'd ask if you knew.

• I've been in a kind of funk lately. I've been reading lots of great books, but I'm finding it harder to participate in memes, and even post reviews. Have you ever had a blogging funk? If so, what did you do to get out of it? Do you maybe have any tips to help me know if its just time to call it quits?
• I'm a brand new blogger and I have some questions on making my blog better. I'm not sure how to really pull off a pleasing blog and how to write reviews for books that people will want to read. I'm currently in the 9th grade and I love to read. I really want to get my opinion out there for others to read but I just can't figure out how to do so. I've tried to put my personal touch to my blog but it just isn't out there. Do you have any suggestions as to how I should get my blog more readers. Any advice on how to make my blog better is welcome. Thanks for your time
• I'm trying to improve my blog and put it out there for others to see because I love getting to know other people and I find this is one way to do this. What would you suggest to help me with this?
• I've had my blog since November, but only have 16 followers- of whom only about 5 are contributers to posts etc. How should I publicise my blog to get more followers and contributers?
• What are good sites to add your blog to so that you can get more readers?
• When you started your blog, how did you get people besides friends to know that you have a blog? How did you increase your readership in the beginning?
• How do you get more followers without only participating in memes because I want more followers but I also want to keep up the quality of my posts.
• I have had my blog for quite awhile now and have racked up a good amount of followers. Of course being a book reviewer like this means that I don't get paid. I love reviewing books but it does take out a chunk of my time as a non-working student. I am starting to feel the constraint of money since I am off to university soon and it is vital that I start earning some sort of income. I want to turn to my blog where I could have a paypal donation button up and those who would like to donate can (I won't be running around asking people for money of course). And I will put aside a certain percentage of donation that will go to book-related things (giveaways, etc) so my readers can benefit. But what I fear is that the moment I put that donation button up, people would think less of me although I have been in the blogoverse for awhile now as a YA book reviewer. Should I?
• I have been blogging for a while now. I do it for my love of reading and to spread the word about awesome books and authors, and ARC's of course are a nice bonus. I have been over 400 followers for a while now, and I am on not on any ARC lists. I won't stop blogging because of it since I enjoy doing it, but I just found out someone with a little over 70 followers has already found themselves on numerous publishers lists for ARC's. Am I doing something wrong, or am I bad blogger? Everyone tells me I have great reviews, did I miss something? Obviously being a book blogger isn't about receiving ARC's and I will continue to do it even if I reach 3000 followers and don't ever receive books from publishers, but when someone with much less experience reviewing books than me gets treated as a more credible reviewer I feel my confidence in my reviews takes a big hit.
• How do you get readers of your blog to leave comments and become more active? I get a ton of hits but comments are few and far between.
• I am ten years old and have recently started a book blog with YA and tween reviews. I am having so much fun with it. Do you have any suggestions for someone my age regarding book blogging?
• I am having some serious problems. First the mentor programs seem to be not being kept up. Second people e-mail you rude comments about your blog. Third I am utterly lost when and what to post some-day's. I blog for myself and I feel a bit lost blogging world. Are we supposed to get hate mail?
• I'm just in the process of starting a blog. One of my favorite type of posts in blogs I read are previews of upcoming books. These are books that are months away. How do you find out about these?
• You always have such good picks up for your Books to Pine For feature. I become acquainted with many interesting reads from you, but how do you find out about them?
• How do you learn all the news you know about books that are coming out? Or what authors are doing? Are you subscribed to every author you know out there? Or just all the publishers? I have been wanting to do a book news thing on my blog but not sure how much time it takes to gather it all.
• What's an affiliate? I've been seeing this word around the blogging world lately and wanted to know what it meant exactly...
• I notice a lot of bloggers are doing affiliate things and I just wondered what is an affiliate and would it be a good idea to do one of those myself?
• Recently I was asked to become a blog affiliate. I accepted, because we have been helping each other out a bit. The only problem is we don't know what an affiliate officially means. I feel a little naive that I said yes and I didn't know what it was. If you could clarify I would be immensely grateful!
• My question is how do you feel about book review bloggers adding additional posts about their daily life? Do you think it is okay or would you advise it to be strictly book reviews?
• How many memes are too many? I am able to finish about two books a week since I have a full-time job and a 2 month-old infant. What would you consider a reasonable ratio of memes (or non-review posts) to review posts?
• I have just started my blog a short while ago and have gained followers through participating in things like the Book Blog Hop and visiting other people's blogs. I have noticed all of the book blog memes that are very popular and think they are all good ideas. As I have a lot of school work to do, I don't have as much time to blog as I would like and once or twice I have not posted a review in a week but a couple of short blog memes which take less time to write. Can you give me any advice on whether it would be ok to not participate in the blog memes like Teaser Tuesday every week or choose which ones to do this week?
• I use links at the bottom of my blog posts for people to link their reviews so they can have their reviews looked at too. The trouble is there is one blogger that leaves about five links on all my posts everyday and they're completely unrelated. Is this blogger spamming me? Should I delete the links without feeling bad about it? Should I confront them?
• For the past month, I've been promoting this book. I did a blog tour on it, told people to get it when it comes out, etc.. etc.. But it's out now, and I read it, and I didn't like it much. I'm gonna post a review on it now, but i'm stuck. I mean...I told people they should read it and now i'm posting a half-negative review on it?
• If you start a blog, how do you make sure it doesn't like become more important than your life? I always see these bloggers and they talk about their lives and it amazes me that they half tim to read the TONS of books they receive AND keep up with the fun things in life.
• How do you become apart of a blog tour where you get to interview an author and normally give away a copy of their book?
• I received my first mean comment on my blog the other day. The person took my review and completely misinterpreted it so they trashed it but from how they saw it not how it was actually written. I feel really horrible about it.
• How do I get my blog to get others attention. Like publishers. I know it is not the reason I am blogging. I blog for myself, but I want to know what you did to get noticed and get others attention?
• If my book blog isn't as jazzed up and I don't have an exotic header like you, (hahaha!) but our content is still good, do you think I will continue to attract readers? How much did it cost you to get Anna do design it? And how many followers do you think is sufficient to be able to host a big event such as WORD for Teens' "Book Spooks", or your "IMM"?
• What happens when the honeymoon stage with your blog is over? I love my blog, but lately it has become more stressful than fun. How do I go about taking a 'break' without losing readers? Is there something I can do to spice it back up? I still love everything about it, I just need some time to not be doing it mechanically.
• I was recently contacted to participate in a book tour (the kind where they send each stop a copy of the book, not a one book type of tour) and my date is in a little over a week, and I still don't have a copy. I've contacted the person running the tour, and they haven't replied. I suspect they sent the book to the wrong town because in one email, they spelled my town's name wrong... has anything like this happened to you?
• What does it mean if you are contacted by a publisher to do a "feature" on a book? Is there anything specific that you should do? Will the publisher let you know what they have in mind? Or, is it more open to interpretation? And, how would you go about replying to that email? Would you let them know something specific you had in mind or just say that you would be interested in doing the feature?
• I'm starting a book blog... And I'd like to have some answers from you because I'm kind confused. 1) Is it OK if my reviews sound kind of... serious? Most of book bloggers that I've seen make funny in the posts or seem to be too cute like you, but I'm not this kind of girl. 2) Is it OK if I write reviews about different kinds of books? Because I read YA books, but I read suspense and epic romances too.
• How do you deal with frustrations with other bloggers? There are some book blogs I've visited in which bloggers behave in appalling ways, and it gets me really upset. For example, I was a faithful follower of a particular book blog. This particular blogger recently enrolled in a program to review products other than books. Let's just say the products were just about as far from YA books as possible, and I felt almost offended by the way this blogger basically used her followers to get free stuff for her own personal use. I also get upset when I read sloppy or mean reviews, or contests designed essentially to "buy" more followers. I'm a blogger, a writer, and a reader of blogs, so I feel a vested interest in ensuring a high level of quality for blog readers. I feel like not every blogger sees things this way, though, and it's really disappointing. Do you ever experience feelings like this? How do you deal with it?
• I have just started a book blog and am really excited about it, but feel a little overwhelmed with all of the amazing blogs that are out there (such as yours ;) ). I want to have a good blog but am really just doing the basics right now (only have one post so far, still trying to figure out how I want to do reviews. Question example: how do you do your little stars?)I guess what I am trying to get at is how long did it take you to become more comfortable in the blog-o-sphere and how did you get as good as you are? Do you just do a lot of research on other blogs and ask their authors how they did a certain function? Or do you take a technology class to learn about different possibilities? Thanks for any insight!
• I'm gearing up to start a book blog, but I'm not sure what to write in my first post. Should I introduce myself or just go straight into a review? What did you do?
• How did you decide to just focus on YA books? Do you ever wish you read and reviewed other genres? I'm wondering because currently I have a very eclectic mix on my blog and was thinking that focusing on just one genre (most probably YA) would help with readership.
• I was wondering - I participate in a couple memes during the week. Really, I only do them because I like the questions, and I feel like it could give my readers some insight into me as a person. My problem is, I get a ton of comments from "new followers" asking me to follow back, but a lot of them just don't...strike me, you know? But then I feel bad about not following them back. Is it against blogger etiquette to not follow everyone back, or should you follow everyone who follows you?
• Your Blog Advice and Dear Story Siren posts are very helpful. I noticed that there are a few other bloggers who have started their own advice features. What do you think about that? The ones I have seen do not mention that they were inspired by your advice posts.
• I am a new blogger but I have put a lot into my blog. So I'm kind of discouraged that I don't have any subscribers yet. How long did it take until you got your first subscriber?
• I have just started blogging and I can't seem to get my website or youtube popular. I have been trying really hard but nobody will check my website or channel out. How did you get yours so popular?
• I update my blog everyday 5 times a week and have been doing so for over 8 months now. My blog isn't growing when it comes to readers though. It's not that I want to have a billion followers or anything, I just feel like I am putting all this work into my blog and I don't have anything coming out from it. What do you recommend I do? When you first started how did you get the 'word' about your blog out?
• I'm a new blooger and find it discouraging that I haven't had any followers yet. How long did it take you to have a follower?
• I have been following your blog for about a year and it was one of the very first I had followed when I started out. I have seen how hard you work on your blog and how much it means to you and was wondering how you felt when you first started? I know I felt a bit hopeless but I was just doing it for myself so kept going. Did you feel the same?
• Hey! I was just wondering, other than reviews (and memes) what should I post on my blog? I've read that you shouldn't JUST post reviews, but just don't know what else to post!
• How do you find out about a book three or four months before it is to be released so that you can request a copy? I try some publishers and I have a hard time finding their coming soon books.
• What is a blog tour?
• How are you able to read all these books and get through your TBR pile?

• I took your advice from tips to bloggers and asked for ARCs. I have started getting them from some companies and now am wondering about the etiquette for holding giveaways for said ARCs. What do you know about this?
• I entered and won a contest at someone's blog, it's been three months and I still haven't recieved the prize. Should I say something?
• I'm just curious, what are you opinions on extra entries for contests, and 'must follow' contests? Do followers even matter anymore if you are just following a blog for a contest but never actually reading it?
• I've recently been holding many contests at my blog, but I never realized how expensive it is to ship all of the books out, especially if you join ARC tours. Is there any way to cut back shipping costs or find cheaper shipping services?
• I'm just wondering about your contests. I've been entering them since the summer and still didn't win one. I was just wondering how your contests are. Do you choose randomly or do you pick?
• My other question is about contests. Are you approached to hold them or do you approach publishers/people to hold them yourself? I want to hold more, but I don't know how (and I don't have that big of a budget that I can send them out myself). Obviously, I'm not asking for your contact (if you have one) but if you have any tips on that subject, that would be so incredibly great.
• I was contacted by another blogger asking if I would like to donate books/swag for a contest they are putting together on their blog. The person is a new blogger to me so am reluctant to donate anything. This is the first time that another blogger has contacted me about something like this so I would like to know how would you handle these types of requests?
• Do you ever contact authors and ask them for swag donations for giveaways? If so how do YOU go about asking them, and not sounding horrible?
• I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I was wondering if it's okay to ask authors (maybe even publicists) for swag for use of a giveaway. I've seen several bloggers tweet an author asking for swag, but I've always thought it would be rude to do so.
• I've finally hit that point in every bloggers career where it's time to do a give away. I'm pretty sure how to run the contest and prizes, that's the simple part. My question is when I finally get a winner and it's time to send out the goods. How do I approach getting the information from the winner to mail them the goods. Personally I'm always REALLY nervous when I give out my mailing address or anything like that online. How would you approach this? What is the etiquette when a blogger contacts the winner of the contest?
• I really appreciate all the giveaways you host. You are so sweet to offer so many and not require anything at all from those who enter. My question is, how do you afford to offer so many giveaways and open them up to everyone? Any tips that could help with shipping costs?
• When you do contests you have people go ahead and put down an address, have you had anyone put in that spot that it would be available on request? If you have or haven't would you count that entry? Or would you say they didn't fill out the form correctly and then disregard that entry?
• I was notified by a book blog that I had won a copy of a book from a contest that the site was throwing. I was ecstatic because it was the first and only book I've ever won! However, its been over a month now and I still haven't received my book in the mail. When I signed up for the contest I had to enter my address so it can't be that I was supposed to email them. Plus, I got an email about a week after I won, saying that the person running the blog was a bit behind on their mail so they would send it out in the next week. I feel bad just emailing the blog asking if the book was sent out. I don't want to come off sounding rude or greedy, but it kind of blows that the first contest I win ends up falling through. What do you think I should do????
• How would you go about asking a publisher or author if they would like to contribute to a contest or giveaway you are putting together? Is it better if you've done a contest or worked with that author or publisher before or is it acceptable to contact them with no previous interactions? Thanks.
• I'm a fairly new blogger and I'm thinking of having my first contest. I'm interested in getting one of those fancy entry forms, but I don't know how they work. Where do the contest entries go after the entrants have submitted their entries? Can I check entries as they come in even before the end of the contest?

• some of my friends like to think of me as a library. They keep assuming that they can just borrow books from me and that this would be no problem at all. In fact, to me, it is a problem though. Nothing against my friends but my books are very special to me and I don't really want to give them away because then I don't have them around to look at them adoringly standing in my shelf. On the other hand, I don't want to be a sucky friend. What should I do?
• I recently bought a book from a local author and he was kind enough to sign it. The only problem is that he signed with my name on it. If I like the book and deem it contest worthy in the future should I white-out my name so it just has his signature on it? Or since it already has my name on it should I just let it be and keep it for myself?
• I was wondering, do you have any tips on being noticed into getting into the Amazon Vine Program?
• What kind of information do you (as a blogger) put on business cards? Just the basics (name, email, website), or are there more things that should be on them?
• I know that a lot of bloggers and authors use twitter. I don't know a lot about twitter but would twitter be a good thing to use to befriend other bloggers and authors and just communicate to the community as a whole. So basically what I'm saying is, is twitter a good thing to have?
• I'm a huge fan of youtube channels where different people took about books and review them etc. I was wondering, do you know any really great collaboration channels dedicated to books on youtube?
• How do you handle receiving books for review? Do you give out your home address, or have a PO box? Has your stance on this changed as you started getting more books?
• I love UK covers too, but I live in the US. So I was wondering where do you buy or get your UK covers?
• What exactly are book trades? Do you get to keep the book you get or do you have to send it back? Do you have to pay other than shipping?
• I just found your blog and I think it's very neat. I was looking through your IMM and I was wondering where you go to swap your books because some of the books I want to read my library doesn't have. thanks
• I want to get a signed copy of a book preferably the The Hunger Games or Graceling. How would I go about getting a copy?? I don't mind paying, I just want it signed.
• How do you get signed review copies? I know how to get review copies, but how do you get signed copies?
• I love to travel and would be more than thrilled to go to book signings, blog conferences or book festivals. I just never find out about these things until they happen. Is there any collective list, or a way to find events?
• How do you find out about book signings? I would love to go to some, but I never know when/where they are.
• Hi! I was wondering how you know where/when signings are. I would love to go to some but can never figure out how to find that out. Is there a website or something ! can go to? I love signed coppys of books, and wish I could get some more!
• I've seen a lot of bloggers who go on Publisher House Tours--to all my favorite publishers!--and I'm a little green with envy. I'd love to see the inner workings of a Publisher House and have a chance to talk with the staff that I've only worked with via email. Are these the sort of things that are set up by the Publishers or do they advertise for bloggers?
• How do you feel about bloggers who list their contact details on their blog for people to get in touch but then never write back?
• What do you think is the best way(s) to encourage young people to read more?
• Have you ever considered being a "book faery" to another or other bloggers and send them extra copies you receive or don't want anymore?
• I was curious how you feel about bloggers buying ARCs from a library book sale? I know we're not suppose to sell or buy them, so I was wondering how you would handle this? What if the money being raised is going towards buying more books for their Childrens and YA departments?

• I'm guessing you've read and come across a lot of books in the past few years. I was wondering if you knew of any good fairytale retellings that you would recommend? (Particularly ones like Aladdin, Beauty & The Beast, Little Red Rididng Hood and Snow White)
• I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but have you read any Christian fiction YA? Would you read the genre? There are some good authors out there like Melody Carlson, Anne Dayton & May Vanderbilt, Cindy Martinusen-Coloma and Jenny B. Jones that are as good as general market YA authors and are not preachy at all in their books.

Dear Story Siren (1) (Contacting Author for interviews)
Dear Story Siren (2) (Asking for ARCs International/US)
Dear Story Siren (3) (Hours spend blogging, personal and Navigation bar questions)
Dear Story Siren (4) (Advance Reader Copies/Reviews questions)
Dear Story Siren (5) (Blogging 101 Volume 1)
Dear Story Siren (6) (Author Interviews Edition II)
Dear Story Siren (7) (Publisher Interaction/Asking for ARCs)
Dear Story Siren (8) (The Personal Edition)
Dear Story Siren (9) (Followers Edition)
Dear Story Siren (10) (Contest/Vlogs/Blogger Tricks)
Dear Story Siren (11) (Review Edition II)
Dear Story Siren (12) (Blog-ish Questions)
Dear Story Siren (13) (Blog-ish Questions)
Dear Story Siren (14) (Blog-ish Questions)
Dear Story Siren (15) (Publisher/Author q's & ARC Questions)
Dear Story Siren (16) (Bloggish Questions: Reviews, Link Spam, What to do when you didn't like the book, Giveaways, Balancing Life & Blogging, Blog Tours, Copyright, Stats...)
Dear Story Siren (17) (International covers/Request Follow-ups/Mean Comments/Book Trades/Signed Copies/Negative Reviews)
Dear Story Siren (18) Book Organization, Vlogging Programs, Photoshop, Negative Reviews, After the ARC, Wordpress Vs. Blogger, More ARC stuff, etc.
Dear Story Siren (19) Non-blog reviewing, entry forms, blogging vs. life, the honeymoon's over, teen blogger, book tour, features & organization
Dear Story Siren (20) Leakage laws, Review Tone, College Major, Books I want for C-mas, Giveaways, Book signings, Frustrating Bloggers, Asking for giveaway donations.

If you have a question... blog related, personal, book related... submit it below to be featured on a future post of "Dear Story Siren" If you've already submitted a question and it hasn't been answered, don't fret! I will try to answer every question, so I may not have gotten to it or it may have already been asked before. That being said you can always check a previous post to see if your question has been answered already. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE COMMENTS IN THE BOX BELOW. The form below is to submit a question for the "Dear Story Siren" posts, not to leave a comment. Feel free to leave a comment in the "comments section"

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