BTS Book Reviews December 2013 | Page 10

| Lowdown with Laurie | is where the problem comes in, and I am not the only blogger who feels like this. Some review bloggers will stop reading because they are sick to death of trying to come up with a review, good or bad. As we keep reading and reviewing books over and over though the years, books become more and more repetitious. Then we are just plain sick of the amount of time we spend on the blog. If we don’t keep up our social media daily or keep giveaways going, people will stop coming by and our status will start going down. It’s just a vicious cycle that most will never understand until they have tried it. If you’re a blogger and you find yourself overwhelmed and want to give up, I would suggest you to please give something else a try, don’t let the world beat you down. Take your hobby back and say, “This is mine and I will do with it what I want to do.” Quit taking requests and just do what you want to do to make yourself happy again. You don’t have to take authors’ guest posts/ interviews or giveaways in; this is not your responsibility. There are some days I want to just close up my blog and place it all on Facebook because I get more support there then the blog. And if that is something you have to do to keep going, then do whatever means to get yourself back to reading again. Another suggestion is only take requests during a few months of the year, so that way you have time to read what you want the rest of the year. There are too many of us taking on prepressure from authors or the blogging world. You have to remember you’re getting no pay for your blog, and you have to live your own life. So just step back and say, “I am taking my hobby back. If you don’t like it, you can hit the unfollow button.” I picked up my Kindle the other day and opened The Book Blogger’s Cookbook (which I downloaded free) and read the author’s foreword page and was very impressed. This cookbook relates with Young Adult romance, but as a blogger, just knowing there are authors out there that realize how much book bloggers do for their sales really impressed me. Authors, the best appreciation we can ever get is for you to help us spread the word about the posts we create for you. Yes, that means when we post any review, guest post, or giveaway from you, please help spread it on your social media, like Facebook and/or Twitter. I know this is a bit of extra time on your part, but most blogs like mine make it easy for you to just hit a couple of buttons. Just because you opened a book review blog doesn’t mean that is all you have to do. Heck, we all have several different hobbies, so blog about your different hobbies, that way you don’t get so overwhelmed with just one thing all the time. If you are a reader that gets some good reads from bloggers, please let them know how much you appreciate their work. All it takes is a little show of appreciation or even just a simple comment on a blog to help show a blogger your appreciation. To all book review bloggers out there, I salute you for all you do in a day. Hello, my name is Laurie. I’m a mom who found the love for reading again late in life. I opened a book review blog a few years back and have been nonstop since. My review blog has led me to do different things in the writing world, such as the opening of the Indie Romance Convention and this column. I live in Tennessee with my hubby, daughter, and lots of fur babies. bittenbyparanormalromance.com 10 | www.BTSeMag.com