Blogger Inquest - Amy (My Friend Amy)

When deciding who I should approach for this interview series one name popped up almost immediately. Amy of My Friend Amy has been instrumental in creating community and celebrating quality throughout the book bloggerdom. The formation of Book Blog Appreciation Week is now in its third year and is responsible for myself and many others discovering blogs that speak to us, inform and entertain. In recognising the great work by others, fostering community and having her own classy book taste Amy has made an indelible mark in the blogging community.

The purpose of the Blogger Inquest is to delve into their minds and experiences online. To be up front, I presented each of the interview subjects with 21 questions to choose from and they took it from there. This is a month long series of interviews on Persnickety Snark and I've got a whole host of bloggers (new and old) lined up. Soon to come is the always articulate Steph of Steph Su Reads.

It is an honour to have Amy grace PSnark with her presence.

Blogging can be unbelievably supportive and sometimes catty environment – what three guidelines do you find to be good rules to live by in the blogging world?

Humility--I don't know everything. I shouldn't act like I do
Listen and learn--Even in the ugliest of complaints there is often something to be learned and improved upon. If I can remember guideline number one, I can usually learn from even the uglier things that happen in the blogosphere.
Disengaging is okay--It's okay to take a break from the blog or stop talking in a Twitter conversation if I feel it's no longer productive or helpful to me and others.

I am currently in a situation where debut authors I have befriended are coming out with their second titles. How do you choose to deal with the apprehension and pressure of reviewing work of those you are closer to?

This is the hardest thing. The amazing opportunity to befriend authors is one of the best benefits of blogging, but I think it does alter the reading experience. And this can be both a good thing and a bad thing. A bad book will still be a bad book, though. And it's hard if love the author to say on your blog, in a very public way, "I didn't actually love your book." Most of the time, however, if I loved the first book, I love the second. I have had an author tell me it's okay to be completely honest, because often they do really want to know the truth of how their book is resonating with readers. So my advice is to relax and remember you love this author for a reason. If you don't love the book, it's your choice whether or not you want to bring that to your blog. But I do think we should always be honest with our readers.

How aware (and/or supportive) are people in your everyday life of your blogging?

I think everyone knows, but they are supportive to varying degrees. They don't understand how I can spend so much time on something that doesn't pay, and they don't understand the compulsion to tend to it like I would a toddler..in other words, constantly. When big things happen, like my Baby-sitters Club Week being mentioned in the New York Times, they are a bit more excited and supportive. :)

What recent review convinced you to buy a book?

Well your review of Grace made me practically attack Elizabeth Scott to beg for an ARC! But as far as plunking down cash, this happens on a fairly regular basis. I was really excited to see all the good reviews for Sea by Heidi Kling, and can't wait to have a break in my review schedule so I can read it!

How has attending conferences (BEA, ALA, etc) affected your blog?

In the very practical way that meeting people in real life deepens friendships. They also have given me the chance to meet some great authors and publicists. Attending BEA for three years has really expanded my contacts and therefore the books available to me to review. It also helps me understand publishing a little bit more, and feel like my little blog is a part of that.

What are you most proud of achieving on your blog?

I'm really proud of BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week), and of the book drive for Beth Kephart's Nothing but Ghosts. If people have discovered each other and great authors like Beth Kephart because of my blog, then I will feel it's been a success.

How long do foresee yourself blogging for?

I once read that real bloggers know blogging is not a hobby, it's a way of life. I completely agree with that. Circumstances in my life will probably not always permit me to spend so much time on blogging as I do now, but I can't imagine a life where I don't blog. It's been the perfect writing outlet for me and I've made true and lasting friendships because of it.

Blogger envy – do you get it and what over?

Yes. I am waiting for the day that Disney realizes book bloggers are just as valuable as mom bloggers and sends us all on an all expense paid trip during Book Blogger Appreciation Week.

You can find Amy at the following places:
My Friend Amy blog
Twitter
LibraryThing

Blogger Inquest - Liz (My Favourite Books)

The lovely Liz from My Favourite Books is one of the old hands at YA book blogging from the mother country. MFB (as she affectionally calls it has been in existence since 2001 with regular posting from 2008.

I "met" Liz through the talented YA author Karen Mahoney on twitter and we've been twittering like mad since. Liz really has her finger on the pulse of what is happening on the UK side of things, as well as internationally. Even more admirably she is plugging away at a WIP right now and is dipping her toe in the treacherous publishing waters. I am terribly proud of her for this accomplishment as she's worked her tail off!

The purpose of the Blogger Inquest is to delve into their minds and experiences online. To be up front, I presented each of the interview subjects with 21 questions to choose from and they took it from there. This is a month long series of interviews on Persnickety Snark and I've got a whole host of bloggers (new and old) lined up. Soon to come is the lovely Amy of My Friend Amy and BBAW fame.

Take it away, Liz....

How has your approach and attitude (specifically reviewing) altered from the early stages of your blog?

Gosh – when I started I had no idea what I was doing. Obviously I had seen the two blogs here in the UK that was doing what I ached to do but still, no clue. My attitude and approach has changed dramatically – it is no longer a hobby. It’s my life. And I love it. I’ve become more professional. I have professional relationships with a variety of publishers, editors and publicists. Yes, there is jokiness but you don’t cross the line into familiarity. I’ve learned that the industry is small, everyone knows everyone. If you do something stupid or thoughtless, everyone will know.

What are some of the best and worst incidents of an author contacting you after a review?

Oh I love hearing from authors if they like what we’ve done on the blog in their review. I like it when they tell us that we “got” the book. It feels amazing. And even cooler than that is when a reader takes the time out to email us to tell us how much they are enjoying our reviews / particular feature we’re running. It makes you float in space, just a little. The worst ever was an author who started stalking us and a few other bloggers after reviews – random emails, telling everyone about their personal crises they were going through and begging people to please buy the next book(s) and to review them etc. It was an odd time for a lot of us but most of us did not respond to the emails and I think the author realized she was doing herself a disservice, and stopped.

I am currently in a situation where debut authors I have befriended are coming out with their second titles. How do you choose to deal with the apprehension and pressure with reviewing work of those you are closer to?

I have had this. Luckily for me, in all instances, the books were even better than before. And each time I said that in my reviews. I find that a lot of second books the authors have a better grip of their writing, they are more inclined to listen to their agents and editors because it is their career and if they mess it up, it will be difficult to restart it. But trust me, that panic does not go away for me as a reader and a friend.

Newest old find that you wish you had read years ago?

Philip Reeve – all his books. I’ve seen the excitement about his work, but I never quote got to reading them. But I want to, and soon. The other author: Megan Whalen Turner, read The Thief after a review by Ana and Thea on The Booksmugglers and now I regret not being the one to have cottoned onto her first!

How aware are people in your everyday life of your blogging?

Everyone knows about it – Mark, my husband, is an aspiring fantasy novelist but I’ve dragged him into reviewing for me too. And he likes it. I know he does. My boss knows I review and he thinks it’s pretty cool. All my colleagues know I review – they have to, a lot of books come to the office.

What word is most overused on your blog?

I don’t think it’s a word…it’s this !!!!!

Writing a critical book review (for a title you’d ideally like to marry if legally possible) is one of the tougher tasks for a book reviewer. What is your approach to writing an informed, glowing review?

I put it aside. And I ignore it. And I read other things and maybe a month after I’ve read that shiny gorgeous thing I will feel ready to review it. Case in point was Sarwat Chadda’s newest novel: The Dark Goddess. I loved it so much. But sadly I sounded like a excitable three year old in my review. I wrote it immediately after reading the manuscript. I then went ahead and deleted the whole thing. And rewrote the review. And it’s much better for it. I think.

What are you most proud of achieving on your blog?

Being seen as someone who is an informed insider and as someone who is making a difference when it comes to bringing books to a wider audience. If I can bring one book to a reluctant reader or make one person pick up a book they never thought they’d like and they turn out to love it, my job here is done.

How long do foresee yourself blogging for?

Until I run out of books. No. I have no idea. Should I become super-famous once my MG novel has sold I may have to take a break from blogging, but not before then.

What is something that makes you immediately groan when looking at another’s blog?

Adverts for everything under the sun. And memes.

Blogger envy – do you get it and what over?

Oh gosh yes. I LOVE The Booksmugglers so much. I want to be them. I want their blog, their stats, their folling, their books. Everything. ;-) No, to me Ana and Thea are the most amazing peeps. Their blog is my home away from my blog. I don’t actually comment all that much, I’m a lurker. I love the issues they raise in their articles but because I’m not informed enough as I have so much else on, I feel that I’ll flounder if I do say anything and it comes out sounding inane. So I lurk. And covet.

You can find Liz at the following places:
My Favourite Books
Twitter

Blogger Inquest - Kristi (The Story Siren)

Over the next few weeks I will be probing the minds of a series of YA bloggers that cover the bounds of our booky love. Today I am going to kick off this series of interviews with Kristi from The Story Siren.

If you don't know about The Story Siren then I am guessing you haven't really stepped inside YA bloggerdom. I would also ask why you chose to start here at PSnark :)

The purpose of the Blogger Inquest is to delve into their minds and experiences online. To be up front, I presented each of the interview subjects with 21 questions to choose from and they took it from there.

Kristi has been blogging since 2007 and has been the recipient of the 2009 BBAW Awards for Best YA Blog, Best Design and Most Extravagant Giveaways as well as being nominated for a host of others. She's a great facilitator of community with the In My Mailbox meme and promotes debut authors with gusto with the Debut Author Challenge the past two years.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Kristi to Persnickety Snark!

How has your approach and attitude altered from the early stages of your blog?

I'm a lot more worried about content now. When I started I only really did book reviews. I'd read a book, post a review, read another book, posted a review.... you get the idea. But now.... it's all about something new and shiny and interesting and fun to get new readers and entertain the readers that you do have. It can be a little stressful at times. I miss those carefree days sometimes!

Blogging can be unbelievably supportive and sometimes catty environment – what three guidelines do you find to be good rules to live by in the blogging world?

So very true.

My three guidelines....

• It's your blog, post what you want to!
• Not everyone is going to like you or your blog, don't stress about it.
• Don't be afraid to say no.

Characterise yourself as a blog reader – monogamous, flirty or promiscuous? Lurker or commenter?

I am definitely a monogamous lurker. And it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm horrible at time management, so I don't have a lot of extra time to visit dozens of blog and comment, but I'm also apprehensive...... Because I don't want people to think... 'oh she left a comment on this blog, but not mine... she must not like me/my blog/my reviews... etc' When that's totally not the case. So as to avoid that.... I just don't usually comment. It might be a lame excuse, but it's something that really bothers me.

What are some of the best and worst incidents of an author contacting you after a review?

I can honestly say I haven't had any bad incidents with authors pertaining to reviews. Granted I don't do a ton of negative reviews and I try not to make a negative review a personal attack on the author, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

The best times are just when an author takes the time to thank you for a review. I've had one particular author go out of her way to send me a thank you card after a review and promotion of her book. (Like I really had anything to do with the sales!) The author is a huge advocate for book bloggers as well, so that is always nice!

How aware are people in your everyday life of your blogging?

Not many people know about my blog in my real life... I guess that's not entirely true, my family knows... and the people I work with. My 'real-life' usually doesn't overlap with my 'blog life.' While my husband tolerates my blogging addiction, I don't know if I'd go as far as to say he supports it. Lol. He likes to use the term 'nerd alert' when I get overly excited or start talking about blogging. He means it in the most endearing way! But if I have a blogging problem, there isn't anyone that I can go to in my everyday life. No one understand that aspect.... they just don't understand it, and it's not their fault. My mom and my sisters think my blog is awesome though!

What word is most overused on your blog?

Oh geez.... AWESOME... WOW..... FANTASTIC. I really overuse those types of words.... but what can you do!

How long do foresee yourself blogging for?

I don't see myself stopping as of right now. But you never know. I have no plans to quit anytime soon, but if life gets in the way so be it. You have to do, what you have to do. As much as I love and cherish blogging, it really isn't my number one priority in life, although it seems like that a lot of the time!

Book tours – effective marketing or blog flooding?

If done the right way, I think the can be effective marketing. I subscribe to a ton of blogs in my google reader and when a blog tour has fifty some stops on various blogs, you can guarantee that I am annoyed by the twentieth one I see and it makes me so bitter that I don't even want to read the book...... I don't want to SEE the book ever again!

If it's a tour with around ten to fifteen stops, has entertaining and interesting content on each stop (more than just interviews) then that usually piques some sort of interest to me.

Personally, I'd rather a tour be split up, instead of having a blog host everyday for three weeks straight.... split it up among three months. That is going to keep your novel on everyone's radar and hopefully not burn anyone out.

Blogger envy – do you get it and what over?

Of course I do! I think if anyone says they don't, they are lying! What do I do to get over it. Give myself a little slap in the face! Honestly, I just think about my reading pile and about all the followers I have...... And think to myself.... "really Kristi.... you do not have anything to complain about, stop feeling sorry for yourself! Geez."

I've been much better with blogger envy as of late. I think I've made it over this emotional hump where it's more about having fun with what I'm doing and not worrying so much about what everyone else is. It's so much more enjoyable that way.

She's right on the money there, folks. I think sometimes we worry too much about what is happening on other people's blogs rather than being happy with the opportunities that we've been given with interviews, ARCs and the friendships made.

Now if for some chance you've been hiding under a rock the size of the Grand Canyon you can find Kristi at the following places:

The Story Siren

Twitter

Goodreads

Giveaway - Winter Flings Pack (5 titles)

The lovely folks at Hachette are launching their Winter Flings promotion and have made a fantastic offer to readers of Persnickety Snark. Ten lucky readers will win a pack of five titles from the Winter Flings range. This is a new range from Hachette of thirty-one titles that will definitely float your boat.

The pack includes:

• The Last Vampire - Christopher Pike
• The Silver Blade - Sophie Gardner
• Skins: the novel - Ali Cronin
• Ash - Malinda Lo
• I'd Tell You I'd Love You, but then I'd Have to Kill You - Ally Carter

I am currently ruing the day I left Australian shores. I have yet to read Ash but I've heard nothing but lovely things and I adore Skins. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave an email address and a reason you should win a Winter Flings pack. I will pick from the entrants and my word is law :) You need to enter before 10pm -Sunday the 11th of July (Australian EST time).

For those of you who would like to increase your chances of winning a Hachette haul you should swing by the website for the daily competitions for book of the day. This also automatically enters you into the draw to win an iPad. Bonus spot prizes are also up for grabs on their Twitter and Facebook sites, so there’s heaps to win!

This giveaway is reserved for Australian residents.

Ring-A-Ring-A-Rosalie

There is hoopla.

Plenty of hoopla.

Twilight hoopla.

I use the word hoopla because I find it equally as ridiculous as Brit fan girls crying that RPatz didn’t attend the UK Twilight Saga: Eclipse premiere(I feel dirty just typing all of that.) I feel that the attention devoted to Twilight is disproportionate to the book series worth.

Before people start getting all hater-y on me...let me tell my story. I started reading Twilight just before it got crazy popular in Australia. To put it in context, I had to traipse to three separate bookstores to find it and some book store personnel didn’t know what I was talking about. I read what I could and then waited for Eclipse and then waited for Breaking Dawn. I equate it to a sugar high. Once you are eating ... you can’t imagine not eating it. When you are finally done you look down at the wrapper, groan, wonder what the hell you’ve done then crumple to the floor hugging your stomach and hating yourself.

The point is...I enjoyed the books while I was in them. But I was always aware that they were poorly written. The repetition of the simile “...cold as marble” was enough to take me out of the book every single time I came across it. Which was plenty. Reading the abysmal effort that was Breaking Dawn (review here) completely sucked any of my fond memories out of my brain. It was like the publishers didn’t even bother putting it through the editing process. It was deeply, deeply flawed. Meyer is a storyteller; she’s not much of a writer. It was the storytelling that kept me reading.

There is another reason. Rosalie.

I don’t find any of the Twilight characters particularly interesting. Most I hold in complete disdain but Rosalie struck a chord. She’s not much of a player but her surliness was a beacon. It was as if she were the only realist in a world full of people insistent on tip toeing through the tulips. There was no to-ing and fro-ing with Rosalie. She was set in her ways with good reasoning for her opinions; unlike Bella (who is equally stubborn) it was based on knowing rather than feeling. Bella feels it is the right thing to do, to become a vampire and live in vampire splendour with Edward. Rosalie knows what this sacrifice means regardless of feeling. She loves Emmett but I think she would quite happily trade it all in to be human again...like I said, she’s a realist. I also enjoy that she’s the only one that seems to realise that Bella has no freaking clue...but doesn’t hate her.

I am still a little shocked that Meyer created such a brutal human story for Rosalie. To be gang raped and left for dead doesn’t really seem to be in Meyer’s wheelhouse but regardless it is there. She owns who she is. She’s unrelenting in her point of view, even though it is against what her family wants. Voting no to Bella’s prospective turning was I think was ultimately endeared Rosalie to me. Edward had his own jumbled reasons for voting so, but Rosalie her reasons have always been crystal clear.

Rosalie never wanted this life. She might have been shallow and vain but she didn’t deserve what happened to her. She didn’t deserve to have Carlisle bite her. But without it she would not have met Emmett. With it, she will never have children. Rosalie deserves to be bitter. To be honest, I don’t understand why more of the Cullen clan aren’t bitter towards Carlisle...even with his truckloads of compassion.

If any character is the mirror to Bella, it is Rosalie. I like Rosalie, I understand Rosalie. Bella’s a shadow of sexual need camouflaged in the seeking of forever love. But regardless people see Rosalie as the enemy, Bella sees Rosalie as someone to be wary of. It’s easy to hate the pretty girl.

I doubt that Meyer did any of the Rosalie character building deliberately but if she did, then I have to give her some props. I said some. There are still holes in Rosalie’s story. Mainly of which is the circumstances in which Rosalie is raped. Her fiancé courted and proposed to her. Then when drunk and out with his mates raped her and then left her for dead. Does this fall a little flat for anyone else? Why would he do that to someone who is his fiancé? I understand that he might (at a stretch) rape her himself but not all of his mates. Actually I hate talking about this so I am going to stop. There was a disconnect for me. Not that rape EVER makes sense, nor should it.

Even worse is Rosalie effectively choosing Emmett because he looks like Vera’s baby? She takes him to Carlisle to save him. She forces the decision on someone else. This happens two years after her own turning; she’s still pissed about it almost a century later. Because Emmett has dimples...that makes it a-okay?

Lastly....the wedding dress. Wearing it while terrorising her ex-fiancé...can I say Telenovela? (I loved the way the film, aka screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, played this off in the film though.) I have to admit to loving her vengeful spree - it was well earned. She's a prickly sort and I like her for it.

If there is one character in Twilight that would make a worthy protagonist, a more realistic one than Bella, I am totally on board for Rosalie. Fire is always more entertaining than meek lovey-dovey-dom. A snarl is more engaging than a blank stare. Kick ass mechanic skills beat a "shield".