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 a link below that will take you to a page to view all Dear Story Siren posts and where you can submit your own question. 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: Review policy, Ads, Age requirements, LGBT lit., Re-reading, Being a fangirl, Buying books, Reading older titles.
Dear Story Siren,
My blog is new (about a month old) and I see that other blogs have a review policy. Should I make a review policy, even though my blog is new? Would you recommend it?
Thanks,
S
Dear Story Siren,
My blog is still new, not even two months old. I've already received two requests for reviews, but as we know, more are not guaranteed. With that in mind, would it be premature to write a review policy?
Thanks, Still New
Dear S & Still New,
It's never to early to have a review policy. You don't need to be accepting review requests to have one. Perhaps your review policy states that you don't accept copies for review... and that you only review books you've purchased or gotten at the library. Review policies aren't just for those bloggers that are working with industry professionals.
And if you do plan to work with industry professionals, it's a good idea to have a review policy for them to refer to.
Feel free to use my policy as a template! (Although please don't copy and paste the content!)
SS
Dear Story Siren,
What do you think of blogs that use google adsense and/or Amazon associates?
Thanks,
Broke Blogger
Dear Story siren,
Is affiliate programs bad to sign up for you use on your blog? Like the Amazon Associates program? Like if you were going to use it as a way to get readers to buy some books to help promote books and authors, and a way to support part of your book habit if you don't have it in your budget to buy so many books. And also to use as prizes in a contest?
Anonymous
Dear Broke Blogger & Anonymous,
Are you asking if I think that bloggers that use Amazon Associates or Google Ads are a bunch of sell outs?
I'm not sure where this stigma of not having ads on your site came from. I mean it's obvious if you try to make money from your blog you aren't doing it for "the love of reading"... right? That's a load of BULL SHIT!
What is wrong with trying to make money doing something you love? Isn't that everyone's ultimate dream?
I am an Amazon Associate and I run Google Ads on my blog. I don't make enough a month to brag about, but it helps cover the cost of shipping for my contest most of the time. I think if you use ads in moderation... why not? If I feel like the blog is one big ad, that's definitely a big turn off, I'm coming to a blog for content, not to be bombarded with an ad in every nook and cranny... but seeing a few ads on the sidebar, don't bother me at all.
SS
Dear Story Siren,
I notice a lot of contests have the note *Must be 13 to enter*. Since I'm about to start a contest on my own blog, I'm wondering how essential it is to have age be a requirement.
13 was not just a magic number that I came up with. There are laws about asking for person information from children. There are FTC regulations and a whole lot of messy stuff that I personally do not want to deal with! If you check out my Privacy Policy, you can read all about The Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule and The Children's Only Privacy Protection Act.
SS
Dear Story Siren,
I've recently joined a GLBT challenge for 2011. What are some of your favorite GLBT books? Which GLBT books are you looking forward to in 2011?
Thanks!
Lindsay
Dear Linday,
What a great challenge!! I love the GLBT challenge! Maybe I'll have to look into joining again this year. Some of my favorite books... hmmmm... I'd have to go with
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan & John Green
Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman
Twelve Long Months by Brian Mallory
Ash by Malinda Lo
SO many awesome titles out there!
For 2011 I'm looking forward to reading
I am J by Cris Beam
Sister Mischief by Laura Good
Huntress by Malinda Lo
Hope you discover some great books for the challenge!!
SS
Dear Story Siren,
You said that you will buy a finished copy of a book even after you read the arc. Is this because you're someone like me who re-reads book like crazy or do you just like to have the finished copy?
Anon
Dear Anon,
Well I used to be a really big re-reader, but my to-be-read pile is a little insane, so I have a hard time justifying re-reading books at the moment. Usually if I have a review copy of a book that I like, I buy a finished copy.
SS
Dear Story Siren,
Is it ok to send an author an email or comment on their blog linking to a review I've written of their book? Most likely, the review would be for a book I really loved and I want to show my enthusiasm for their work. Or would it seem childish and 'try-hard' as if I'm sucking up to them (when I'm really not)?
Thanks!
I would say hell yes! Although I would probably take the time to send an email, instead of just comment. I see a lot of bloggers tweet reviews to authors as well!
I've recently changed my tune about this very thing. I didn't want to cross a "professional" line and send a fan-girly email to an author. But forget that... I'm tired of being a "professional" I want to be a fan-girl!
SS
Dear Story Siren,
You seem to buy so many amazing books, just wondering whether you keep a budget or just splurge randomly?
I have a problem I will admit it. I do not have a budget... although I probably should. I just splurge randomly. Although I need to stop splurging and save my money for vacation... I'm sure I'll be buying lots of books then!
SS
Dear Story Siren,
I've been blogging for a few months and to my surprise, I've gotten a lot of followers and exposure already. However, I notice that a lot of the reviews I do of older books go unnoticed, and my reviews of more recent releases get a lot more comments/views. But because I'm still a student, I don't have enough money to be getting new books all the time, my library isn't very updated, and I haven't been blogging long enough to be getting ARCs yet. Should I keep reviewing older titles or should I only put up reviews of the few newer novels I can get?
Thanks,
Unsure & Broke
Dear Unsure and Broke
In my early blogging days I utilized my library too and it's wasn't the most up-to-date library either, unfortunately. If you enjoy reading the books that you do, or if you're too broke to buy the new ones, do what you have to do. I don't see anything wrong with mixing some older titles with new ones. It's actually refreshing to see those once in a while. Sometimes it's seems like we are all reading and reviewing the same books.
A good way to read some new titles, is to utilize NetGalley. It's easier if you have a e-reader, but if you can tolerate reading on your computer, this might be something you should look into. Sign up for the Shelf Awareness newsletter, in addition to news about literature, they often have ads that offer ARCs to upcoming titles.
Ultimately YOU have to decide what is right for your blog.
SS
Check out other questions from real readers on other "Dear Story Siren" posts.
Submit A Question!