Dear Story Siren is sort of an advice column for bloggers. Or it's at least my way to try to help other bloggers with questions they may be having. Plus address questions from my blog readers too! These answers are my opinions and my opinions alone... I'm by no means an expert on book blogging... so take this advice with a grain of salt.
If you have a question, be sure to check the past posts to make sure your question hasn't already been answered. You can find the links with the topics listed below. If your question has previously been answered (or a similar form of your question) I probably won't answer it again, so be sure to check there first.
In this post:
International covers/Request Follow-ups/Mean Comments/Book Trades/Signed Copies/Negative Reviews
Dear Story Siren,
I love UK covers too, but I live in the US. So I was wondering where do you buy or get your UK covers?
Stephanie R
Dear Stephanie,
I get most of my foreign/non-US covers from The Book Depository! They have free worldwide shipping too, which is very nice! The only thing is that they usually take a long time to be delivered, but you can't really complain since you're not paying for the shipping.
Story Siren.
Hi Story Siren,
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.
Thanks :D
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
If it's been a few months, I think you are more than justified to send a follow-up email. If it was only a couple of weeks, of course my answer would be much different.
Story Siren
Dear Story Siren,
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.
Should I confront the person or just ignore it?
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
Wow, you got a mean comment and the person actually signed their name!? That's a first. Usually when I get a mean comment the person doesn't have the guts to leave their name, ha!
My best advice, and this is coming from experience... ignore it.
If you confront the person, I doubt they will have an open mind about the situation, so nothing will be resolved. It's taken me a while to figure this out, but turn to another blogger you trust to share your frustrations... work it out... let it blow over. It's not worth your time to stress over.
Remember why you started your blog, to have fun! Ignore all the b.s.
Story Siren
Dear Story Siren,
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?
Anonymous
Dear Story Siren:
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
Brittany
Dear Anonymous & Brittany,
Book trades are exactly what is sounds like. Trading books. It depends on who you trade with, or where you trade as far as shipping the book back or paying for shipping.
Some book trading sites that you should check out: Bookmooch, Paperback Swap, Swap.com... I'm sure their are other ones out there. These sites let you swap books with other members. You submit books you want to trade to earn points and you use those points to get books you want!
There is also Bookswim, it's sort of like netflix for books. You rent a certain amount of books at a time, then send them back for more. I used Bookswim after I read all the books at my library. The memberships pricing has gone up since I was a member, but if you can't afford to buy a lot of books it another way to go.
Story Siren
Dear Story Siren,
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.
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
Well, going to an author signing is always an option... if you have the means to get there. If you can't go I know there are times you can contact the bookstore prior to an author signing or shortly after and order signed stock.
I'm not sure you would be able to get a signed copy of The Hunger Games since the Mockingjay tour is over, ditto for Graceling.
Story Siren
Dear Story Siren,
I was just wondering, how do you write a negative review without being harsh or mean, but without sugar coating it with lies?
Thanks,
~lydia~
amyandlydiareview.blogspot.com
Dear Lydia,
Well, if it's a negative review, there are obviously aspects of the novel that did work well for you. Explain those aspects and what you didn't like about them. It's not difficult to be honest about why you didn't like something. And it's certainly possibly to explain those things without being mean. It's very important to remember you aren't critiquing the author as a person, there is no reason to get personal.
There is a big difference between being mean and being honest. It's up to you to find that balance.
Story Siren
I've received multiple questions about ARCs that readers/bloggers have submitted. I've answered several of the questions already. If you've sumbitted a question about an ARC I recommend you check the Dear Story Siren posts below... especially Dear Story Siren (2) which answers the question about International bloggers and ARCs, I get that question frequently (and be sure to read the comments, Cassandra Clare gives a detailed answer to this question). Dear Story Siren (4), (7) & (15) also answer several questions about ARCs.
You can also find information about ARCs on the following posts:
Advance Readers Copies: What You Need to Know (posted November 12, 2009)
How Do You Get All of Those Books (posted December 1, 2008)
How Do You Get All of Those Books: Part Two (posted March 10, 2009)
You can also find this information under "Features" and then "Blog Advice"
Check out other general questions from real readers on other "Dear Story Siren" posts:
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...)
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"
Thank you!