Welcome to the Backstage Blogging!
So what is Backstage Blogging... well it's a way for you to see behind the blog, to find out what makes a blogger tick. More or less, why exactly we do the things that we do. (Plus it's also a way for me to promote some awesome blogs in the process!)
I know as a book blogger I want to be a perceptive blogger. I want to know the easiest and most comprehensive way of doing things. I want to learn from my peers and have my peers learn something worthwhile from me. Essentially I want to get into the mind of another blogger and by doing so, I think we can all learn something from each other. It's not just the bloggers that have been blogging for years that have all the answers, the new bloggers are just as knowledgeable at times.
Backstage Blogging will be broken up into two different sections. I have a group of newbie bloggers that have just started in their blogging adventure and a group of more established bloggers. I'll be asking the newbie bloggers a question, followed by a counter question to the more established bloggers. Basically your get some insight from those starting out and vice versa. And, I think as one blogger to another, you are really going to enjoy the insight! (Although I could be wrong... but I do really hope you enjoy it. Backstage Blogging was inspired by and developed with help from Susan of Waterpaper Prose)
Today I have a group of fifteen bloggers that have been blogging for under six months. Last week I featured a different group of fifteen bloggers, these two groups will conclude the "newbie" section of Backstage Blogging. Later in the month I'll be featuring thirty bloggers from established blogs, concluding the first part of Backstage Blogging.
"What do you hope to accomplish with your book blog beyond sharing your love of literature?"
When I was a teenager blogs were not nearly as popular as they are today. I would have loved to have been apart of the blogging community that exists now. Originally I started my blog in order to share some of my favorite books, but over a short amount of time it has evolved to include a lot more than that! Now I try to focus a lot on helping new authors promote their young adult books, having fun activities and participating in events, and connecting with other bloggers. I already feel so blessed to have the friends I have made through having a book blog. I never dreamed of being able to talk with authors or interview them. Now, along with sharing my love for books, I hope to just help others find books they will love. As well as sharing information on authors they may have not previously known. The comments from the readers of my blog mean the world to me! I will never underestimate the powerful connections of a community of people like this. I have learned so much already and I look forward to continuing in this process and growing my blog more each day.
-Jessica of Confessions of a Bookaholic
Firstly I hope to share my love for books with other people who love them too. I don't have friends who are into the same types of books that I am and blogging is a way for me to find people who enjoy similiar types of books as me so I can discuss and share them with others.
Secondly living in the UK in a relatively small town in the middle of nowhere it is hard to find out about up and coming new books (and authors). Through my blog I hope to find out about lots of different books that I would have never heard of before and give them a try. I love and regularly participate in both In My Mailbox and Waiting on Wednesday for this sole purpose.
Thirdly I hope my blog will allow me a little more time in my week which is about something I enjoy and not for anyone else. That sounds kinda selfish but I work in an academic profession where I have to put on a formal impersonal front all day. I look forward to developing my blog further and adding more of myself to it with my own features.
Finally I have been searching for years for an effective way to log my thoughts and feelings about all the books I have read. I hope my blog will be a useful way for me to go back and reflect on my reading as and when I need to.
-Kirsty of The Overflowing Library
I hope that I can encourage others to read more. My mother being an english teacher has always instilled in me to read. Reading helps you in more than one way. Approximately 50 percent of the nation's unemployed youth age 16-21 are functional illiterate, with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs. If people took the time to read more, the value that they would get out of it would help them greatly in the future. Did you know that 44 million adults in the U.S. can't read well enough to read a simple story to a child? Reading helps expands the mind of children and also helps with your vocabulary. More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level - far below the level needed to earn a living wage. I think reading alone just a simple book, nothing complex, well help in jobs, education, SATs, ACTs, etc. Whatever you do in the world requires reading. I only hope to help others be inspired to read.
-Savannah of Books with Bite
At first, it was just a way for me to monitor the books I read, and relay my thoughts out on a page. Now that my blog actually has some readers and visitors, and some people know it exists... well, not much has changed, really. I mean, I take part in memes, enabling myself to participate as a member of the book blogging community. But I don't blog in hopes of reaching # followers. I am grateful towards those who follow my blog, yes, but that isn't my mission. In fact, my mission has remained the same since the beginning.
-Cass of Words on paper
Everything, and I mean that in a non-world domination kind of way. :) In all seriousness, I hope to give an outlet for authors as well as for readers. A big part of my blog is integration with small press authors and books, because they don't get enough attention in the blogosphere. They really don't. That's the same reason my doors are wide open for appropriate LGBTQ fiction. Of course I still read and review for the 'big' publishers like Harper Teen and Penguin, but there is more to the world of book than the big guns. I've found so many wonderful authors and books from small presses, like Hayden Thorne and Dakota Chase from Prizm, or Tamara Allen and Steve Berman from Lethe Press. Most people probably haven't even heard of them, but they write excellent books and deserve just as much blog-time as the well-known authors.
I also want to give gay readers a place to go for their books. Yes, I am a gay teenager myself, so my goal here is very self-inspired, but it's still important. :) Everywhere I go I see a few LGBTQ books reviewed, but there are countless numbers of them waiting to be discovered, and I want to be the one to unearth them and give them a hard push into the world of avid readers and bloggers. Of course I hope to be widely read and to have a say in the publishing industry someday - maybe even become an author - and my blog will hopefully help me with all of that. For now, though, I'm sticking with something that will be more of a help to other people: giving them a voice where they don't have one. Because I know what it's like to not have a voice, and it sucks.
-John of Dreaming in Books
Initially, aside from the main purpose of spreading book-love to other people (and finding out what books other people love), I wanted my book blog to be a way for me to improve my writing skills through writing about something that I enjoy. I had no idea that book blogging was such a huge and friendly community! Now that I'm getting started, I still hope that blogging will help my writing and most importantly spread the word about awesome books, but I also think it will be a great way to connect with people - other bloggers as well as authors and publishers.
-Becky from Bookworm Boulevard
For the last few years, I have blogged about my Psychology research and my Weimaraner. Both of those blogs were relatively isolated pursuits; I had a few readers, but I kept the blogs more as personal journals than anything. After a certain amount of time without much interaction, those blogs began to whither away. Around the same time, I started reading book blogs and discovered an amazing community. I began my blog because I love reading, of course, but also as a means of entering that community of readers and writers. The constant Twitter chats and blog comments have motivated me to read and write more than ever before! I hope that my blog will continue to inspire me and push me outside my comfort zone, and I hope that it will do the same for my readers.
-Melanie of Reclusive Bibliophile
I started Supernatural Snark because I was devouring books like crazy and really enjoyed looking through book review blogs to see what everyone else was reading and recommending. I added quite a few books to my to-be-read list that way and I hope that people who read my reviews will be able to do the same.
Beyond that, I want to have fun with the blog. I want to agree and disagree with fellow bloggers over the same book. I want to discover authors, books, and publishers I didn't know were out there. I want to find people that maybe, just maybe, look at their paycheck and determine what it's worth in terms of the number of books it buys, because it's possible that's what I do. I want to run to the computer in the middle of the night after I finish a book and leave a comment for someone who understands why I'm up at 2am screaming or crying about a character. And most of all, I want to be a part of a community that has the same passion for reading that I do.
-Jenny of Supernatural Snark
I am a single, stay-at-home mum and student and had recently started to feel that I didn't spend enough time doing something productive that I actually enjoyed (outwith mothering, obvs). Starting a blog seemed to be a good way to interact with other people with whom I had a shared interest, express myself in writing (something that I have always enjoyed) and also stay in touch with goings on in the publishing world (I studied publishing at university). Thus far, I have achieved all of these aims and also feel that I am doing something that is just for me - a huge bonus. As time has goes on I would like to take a more active role in stuff like supporting debut authors/promoting smaller titles etc. but for now am happy to just learn the ropes from more experienced bloggers.
-Sya at The Mountains of Instead
To me, there are so many reasons why I love my book blog. However, the biggest reason(beside sharing the love) is actually kind of selfish of me. Let me explain. People who read are a very uncommon breed. Generally we are the outgoing type of person who is up for anything that will lead us on an adventure, yet we're also the quiet respectable person in the library with a book rather than out partying our tushy's off (okay, some of us do that too). But either way, when I see someone with a book in their hand, I see them with a sort of respect. I want to make eye contact and give them an air fist bump. Unfortunately for me, I live in a town where readers are few and far between. In fact, before Twilight came out, I could count the readers I knew on both of my hands. After Twilight there were the people who thought they were readers because they read a grand total of four book in their lives. But that is a different rant. Generally, the thing I hope to keep accomplishing with my book blog is getting to know other book bloggers and authors. We are all just big nerds, who have one great thing in common. It is fun to see the effects of books on other people's lives(the book bloggers) and also meeting the people who have inspired my life so much(the authors).
-Stacy and Jessica from Chapter Chicks
I would like to prove that age doesn't matter. No matter what your age, you can share your opinion of what you read and influence others. I also hope to help parents in deciding which books are appropriate for their children.
-Melina of Reading Vacation
To answer your question, what I hope to accomplish with my book blog is to create a place that others can come to discuss their love of books and where a passion for books can be shared through a community. I also want to, over time, create a reference for books and reviews that I have posted so that people are able to look back and use them as a guide through their reading experience. I try to also to post new and relevant book related news that I think others would find interesting. I hope that I can create a place for readers both young and old to share their reading experiences and find new books to continue on their reading journey.
-Monica of The Ramblings of a Book Addict
I read a lot more than YA fiction but this genre more often and more consistently than anything else. Both my mum and sister are avid readers so I guess it runs in the family but they don’t read anything similar to me. After a couple of days of starting my blog, I began to realise just how many other YA blogs there were out there and how many other people enjoyed the same genre of books as I did. None of my friends read…at all, so before having my own blog, I had no one to talk to about something I love so much.
What I want to accomplish with Heaven, Hell and Purgatory is to connect with more people with a passion for reading similar books to what I read. I have met some amazing people so far in such a short time and I have loved finally being able to talk about my favourite authors, books and especially characters. Connecting with others bloggers has also allowed me to discover so many books and authors that I would have never heard of before and I have read some books that I would never have picked on my own. If others bloggers have given me this much, I hope that my followers will take chances because of my reviews and find something great unexpectedly.
-Lyndsey of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.
Besides just being a YA book reviewer, I'm also a teenage writer. I try to incorporate a writer's point of view in my reviews of other peoples' books. This also means my blog is full of rants and ravings about the craft of writing, the publishing industry, and puppies.
-Becca of Nerd Girl Reads & Writes
What? Is there another reason to blog other than to share our love of literature? No seriously, authors are our rock stars. Consider us groupies. And really, it boils down to meeting and friending others who share our passion of reading, because there is nothing better than sitting around with a group of friends talking books.
-Shannan, Stacy and Nancy of Girls in the Stacks.com