For What It's Worth


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Book blogger confessions

 

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions.

Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers! If you want to participate just grab our button and include it in your post with a link to either Midnyte Reader or For What It's Worth. We will be providing a linky at the end of our posts so people can "hop" to see all the participants answers.

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Question: Special edition! We have an extra Monday this month and thought we’d address some hot topics in the book blogosphere. Pick one – or answer them all! It’s up to you. If a new crisis hits by then (& it probably will lol) feel free to address that as well.
PLEASE remember that this meme is to vent NOT bash. Keep it civil please & thank you.

~Amazon buys Goodreads (Find the announcement
here) DO you think this is a good thing for readers – or is Amazon the devil? Will this move effect you? Will you be leaving Goodreads?

I don’t like the idea of one company having ALL THE INFORMATION ya know? I’ve read pros and cons but I don’t use GR for more than cataloguing the books I’ve read so I’m not sure I would notice anything. I honestly need to read more to understand the full implications.The second I start getting recommended books on Amazon because of something I looked at on GR I’m outta there. Or if it becomes a pushy sales type thing... “Get this book on Amazon!”  I don’t want to feel like Big Brother is watching over me and my purchases (even though I know they already are)


~ The death of Google Reader As Google continues to phase out it’s less popular products, bloggers were scrambling to find a new reader platform to follow their favorite blogs. What have you switched to for a reader?

The big fear though is the loss of Google Friends Connect. How are you preparing if indeed GFC is discontinued? How many subscriber options are too many to offer your followers? What ones are the most popular on your blog?
My brain explodes from this topic. I can’t stand how many follow options there are out there and I’m never sure which ones to offer to my followers before it gets annoying. I love GFC but I do think at some point they are going to try to push us all to Google+ and I hate it so….I added Bloglovin because that seems to be what the majority are going to but I switched to Feedly. It seems simple to me and with Bloglovin I don’t’ really understand why you have to “follow” through them instead of it being a simple reader. AHHHH! too many options!

~ What do we owe authors? I read this interesting

post the other day. An author had tweeted that if you get all your books from the library it deprives an author of income, another suggested using this fun little graphic to help readers spread the word about a book they love.

What are your thoughts on this? Do they have a point? Do they go too far in expecting readers to only buy their books at indie bookstores, avoid Amazon or expecting readers to go forth and publicize their book after a purchase?



Did we have these kinds of arguments before book blogging became so big? It seems that since regular readers started reviewing and promoting books there is an expectation of how we *should* be doing this from authors and particularly publishers.
I don’t feel like I owe anybody anything except to not steal their book. That is WRONG. Anything I do after that point is my own business. For me it’s a hobby. I promote the books I love in different ways. Sometimes just through a quick review, sometimes a giveaway. I get my books in various ways. I buy/borrow/trade. I do know I spend a LOT of money on books every year but what the heck is wrong with going to the library?? That one really blows my mind.


Something else to keep in mind for authors who don’t like their books at library's or for friends to borrow them….I probably still wouldn’t buy the book. I only have so much money so if I didn’t read it from the library/borrow then I might not have ever found out about you at all. And while that first book may have been borrowed – you may have gotten a lifetime fan who would then go out and buy future books or at least spread the word to others who would buy your books.

P.S. After a comment from from Felicia (Geeky Blogger) I wanted to add that I don't' think authors owe us anything either. Sure I rant about different plot points or how a series ends or whatever but it's their vision and their story to tell. After that it belongs to readers. They don't owe us ARC's/free books or the endings we want. It goes both ways.

2013 Book Blogger Confessions topics here

23 comments:

  1. Our thoughts are with you Karen and hope your family emergency is resolved soon. To be honest, I'm still working on my post but I will have it up tomorrow!

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  2. I hope everything will be ok Karen.

    So silly about the libraries. What so then we should not have them? Does she not realise that the library is a place to find new authors that I had not heard about before

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    1. Yeah - I don't get it either. It gets people reading so that's good right?

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  3. I hope your family issues are resolved by now...or they will be soon at least! :*
    Looking forward to your post - and everyone's of course :).

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  4. Hugs Karen .

    I agree the library is excellent place to find new authors and lifetime of readers. nodding my head about G+ :(

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  5. ((((((((( hugs )))))))))) Cause :)

    I will pick that last topic--I don't think I owe authors anything.at.all! I also don't think that most of them think I owe them (or anyone else for that matter). I have seen that graphic and just ignored it. I mean that is good information for someone that does want to do those things but on a whole, I don't think to be a fan, reader, or book buyer you have to do them. I don't put my reviews on Amazon anymore or Barnes and Noble. I don't feel bad about it either. :)

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    1. I don't review on Amazon anymore (never did on B&N) unless it is specifically asked for a review requests. I've had so many of my reviews plagiarized from there and used for spam of all things.

      I think that graphic wasn't' a huge deal. We all want authors to stay employed. I think when it gets a little heavy handed or this is what you *should* do is where it all goes wrong lol

      I like what you said on Twitter though. It goes both ways and I think all of these things tend to get over emotional at times. An opinion is not necessarily criticism.

      Don't steal the book. That's it. Whatever you do from there is gravy IMO

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  6. I agree with the not really understanding full implications of google and amazon, but I guess we will see.

    As for death of google reader, I also think that gfc will be phased out, which is annoying because that was the standard for a while, and there are so many options now. I have google plus as well now, and blogloving.
    I am using feedly as well, but both it and bloglovin are missing a feature that I love and use all of the time with g reader--the search within your lists!

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    1. I'm lazy and I like a gold standard and that's what GFC was for me. I have Google+ and almost always forget to link my posts on there.

      I just don't know how many options cross the line into too many options ya know? I know that even though I understand offering all options that I get turned off when I see links to every follow option on the planet offered...or only email subscription options. I will not follow via email.

      i just don't know. it's very frustrating.

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  7. Great topics. I do have to say that Google has gone bonkers... just sayin'..

    I'm also surprised at the library attitude. Local authors have always encouraged people here to get their books at the library. Doesn't mean that they only want them to get them there, natch... but they know once they have you hooked, you aren't going to wait for the book to become available at the library to read it. :D

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    1. They really have. I get that some things need to go away but why on earth are you making blogging so hard Google??

      I don't understand the library thing at all and every author I have EVER met supports libraries and most want their books read however it make sit into a reader's hands (barring the illegal download of course)

      You create new - and probably lifelong - readers there that yes, will both borrow and buy books in the future.

      I see their point about making a living of course. It's art but they need to pay the bills too but I do believe libraries help foster that.

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  8. I'm waiting to see how the Goodreads thing works out. I use it ALOT. I comment on peoples reviews that are my friends (course I have less than 150 friends on there..I don't use it like alot of other bloggers I've seen that have thousands of friends...I want the people to actually interact with me). So if it starts being a "buy this" arena I won't be happy. I'll also be VERY unhappy if my reviews get censored. Sometimes I cuss...I don't want to not be allowed to use my STRONG WORDS if I want to. Ya know?

    Now the whole we don't owe authors shit thing. I totally believe this is our hobby we will buy or trade or swap or check out from the library and get our books however we see fit. I think most of us book bloggers buy A LOT of books. But we also get free books from pubs...and trade and use the library. Personally I don't borrow books from friends because I don't like to loan out my books, why? Because people DESTROY my books. It never fails. So I have like two people I loan books to and thats it. Now I Give away books quite frequently. Also, I do use the library. I use it for books that I don't want to buy, that I dont' feel I MUST read but that I'm willing to check out if I can borrow it from the library. So if there wasn't a library - as you said I would never read this book because I wouldn't buy it for myself. So authors would definitely lose a lot of exposure if they weren't in libraries. I hate that some of them are getting up in arms about this. Not everyone has ten dollars to buy a book. There are so many people out there where ten dollars is a big part of their monthly income. Don't they know the state of the economy and not everyone has flippant spending money they can toss around willy nilly? So that just CHAPS MY ASS!....ok I'll stop ranting now. haha

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    1. By the way dear - I could have continued ranting much longer...figured I better save your bleeding eyeballz

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    2. I never really considered the censoring issue. I know Amazon didn't let me post a few of my reviews int he past but I don't post not here anymore. I just don't want to feel like my time on GR is being monitored and marketed to based on what I look at. That will be the end of that for me.

      I only have a few friends I loan books to as well. If I care about the book that much it doesn't leave my house lol Mostly I trade things I'm not keeping with other blogger friends but even that is only occasionally. I have enough already.

      I don't understand the library logic. Let's just say you are rich and using the library....even someone with money can't afford to buy everything. Sometimes you aren't sure about a book and just want to try it out and then will go buy it. Even if you don't buy it - you will probably recommend it to people. It's just so stupid. Libraries encourage reading. With that logic there wouldn't even be book stores -w e'd all be making a grab for all those free library books. I'm just so glad that I have RARELY seen this opinion expressed by authors.

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  9. I also use Goodreads about every single day. Besides their overload problems, I think it's great and I really hope that Amazon doesn't change anything. It would be a real disadvantage if bloggers could no longer post reviews before a book's sale date, for instance.

    RSS -- ugh. I don't want to integrate my blog comments with Google Plus. I wish Google would just explain what they plan for Blogger ..

    Authors -- I have never had anything but good experiences with authors, but that tweet was just crazy talk. I mean, I would love to buy everyone's book but that's just not realistic. Does that author buy ALL the books? I think not.

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    1. Oh that Google+ thing annoys me. NO NO NO

      I agree - I have never met an author who thinks negatively about libraries.

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  10. My head is about to explode from trying to find a replacement for Google Reader too! I don't really like Google+, but haven't really explored any of the other options yet. Why oh why does Google insist on making our lives miserable? *L*

    I thought the main problem in the blogosphere was reader entitlement...now we have author entitlement? *facepalm*

    Terri @ Alexia's Books and Such...

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  11. I agree that there are way to many follow options and the sad thing is that if google would have just left GFC alone that would be the one that everyone pretty much uses! But first they got rid of it for WP and then they shut down some options for Blogger and now they are really pushing G+, which I hate. Grrrrrr.

    Those posts and tweets were baffling to me. This is my hobby and I will do with it what I please. I also really like your PS because that is a good point too. As much as I want authors to write certain books I can't expect that from them (nor do they owe it to me as a reader). They have to write what they want to write or the book won't be any good!

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  12. Such an interesting post, you have certainly given me much to think about. Not sure where I stand, all I can say at present is that since Amazon took over LoveFilm we aren't impress with the service so this doesn't bode well for the take over of GoodReads.

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  14. Quote: "The second I start getting recommended books on Amazon because of something I looked at on GR I’m outta there. Or if it becomes a pushy sales type thing... “Get this book on Amazon!” I don’t want to feel like Big Brother is watching over me and my purchases (even though I know they already are)."
    It would be annoying to get recommendations or worse things...I even turned the rec feature on GR down after they tried to feed me Justin Bieber's autobiography LOL. And anyway, none of the books they were recommending ever interested me in the slightest - or some of them I had already perused and discarded! But...surprise...I accidentally clicked on the rec link the other day, and there they were...TONS of them. So, apparently, or I did something wrong (which doesn't seem the case), or one can't escape recs...Of course, you can always not read them, but the simple thought that they are there even if you opted out...feels like a violation. Anyway, my point is...I don't want stuff shoved down my troath (I think it's the 3rd time today that I use this expression, which says something - yes, also that I'm too lazy to find another way to convey the same meaning!). But, on the other hand, I can't help feeling a perverse sense of satisfation when someone tries to steer me toward something and I go the other way. Which I more than often do ;D.

    Quote: "I can’t stand how many follow options there are out there and I’m never sure which ones to offer to my followers before it gets annoying...with Bloglovin I don’t’ really understand why you have to “follow” through them instead of it being a simple reader."
    Same here. Bloglovin' sounds like the nth Big Brotherly type of thing...more than others, that is. Because of course, nothing is really "free" on the net. Though some people are better than others at slipping through it :).
    I'm no use here. Haven't decided on an alternative/add-on follow option yet. So little time...I'll let you know when I do. But Bloglovin'...it's one of those things I was talking about. Seems required, so I automatically ended up hating it. And I heard confusing things about it. So, I guess it's a no-no for me.

    Quote: "Did we have these kinds of arguments before book blogging became so big? It seems that since regular readers started reviewing and promoting books there is an expectation of how we *should* be doing this from authors and particularly publishers...I only have so much money so if I didn’t read it from the library/borrow then I might not have ever found out about you at all. "
    My sentimencts exactly. And I can't even borrow my teen books from said library, because I want to read them in the original (untranslated) version...so I'm not biased at all!

    Agree on the goes-both-ways issue. I read a post of an author (I'm not sure who she was anymore, sorry) about her first negative review, that was ambivalent about it, but mostly accepting...and in the end she stated that anyway "reviews are not for writers, they're for readers". I guess that's mostly true...

    Sorry for deleting the previous post...I read and reread every thing I write, but seem to end up spotting mistakes only when the damage is done...it's like the 3rd time today. Urgh!

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    1. Amazon already recommends all these things based on my purchases and even that annoys me but it makes sense as it is a store. But on Goodreads that would push me over the edge. It's a space to meet like minded people WITHOUT being marketed too so I hope I'm just being paranoid.

      I've been using a mix of Google Reader (because I'm not ready to let go lol) and Feedly. I don't' do much with it - like make folders and things like that but so far Feedly seems ok. I did sign up for Bloglovin but it just seems odd to me to make people subscribe through yet another feed. Maybe I don't understand it all but what happens when he next big thing comes along? I'll have to get everyone to subscribe to that next. ugh

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