Let's start the week off with an introduction to Barb Drozdowich's book The Book Blogger Platform, part of the Building Blocks to Author Success Series.
During her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions, Barb will be giving away a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a lucky winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!
Blurb
about The Book Blogger Platform:
Book Blogging - One of the Best Hobbies in the World!
Join thousands of book bloggers in expressing their joy of
reading!
Are you a book blogger or do you want to be one? Are you having
trouble handling the technical details of blogging? The Book Blogger Platform
can be a "user manual" for your blog! A book written by a book
blogger for book bloggers and that answers all your questions!
The Book Blogger Platform covers topics such as:
1. What a book
blogger blog needs to contain
2. A step by step
guide to manipulating images and videos
3. A description of
all the common features hosted by book bloggers
4. A description of
the social media aspect to a book blogger platform
5. Being Social - the
social aspect of book blogging
If you are tired of always
asking other bloggers questions
Let The Book Blogger Platform guide you painlessly. Over 80 color
graphics lead you step by step through some of the more difficult technical
issues that bloggers face.
Pick up a copy today and approach blogging with confidence!
Excerpt from Chapter 1 of The
Book Blogger Platform:
Just as all book
bloggers are different, their approach to book blogging is also different. Some
book bloggers consider themselves primarily book reviewers. Some book bloggers
consider themselves primarily promoters of books. Some book bloggers will only
post about a book they have read. Some book bloggers will post about any book
that belongs to a genre that fits the profile of their blog.
Book bloggers who
consider themselves primarily book reviewers make their reviews the main focus
of their blog. They often take their self-imposed “job” of reviewing books very
seriously. They put hours of work into reading a book and then creating the
right combination of words to best describe their thoughts and impressions.
It’s a labor of love.
Many book bloggers,
such as myself, consider themselves primarily promoters of books. I began my blog
posting reviews of books I’d read, and I worked hard to grow my blog’s
audience. I am very proud of my blog and the work that goes into it. However, I
have a full-time job and a family. I don’t have enough reading hours to review
one book a day, so I fill my blog’s days with a mixture of reviews and
promotions. I don’t post more than once a day, but I use the platform I have
built to promote as many books and authors as I can that fit within my reading
taste.
As I mentioned above,
some book bloggers will only post about books they have read. They feel that
posting about a book is a recommendation of that book and they don’t want to
recommend a book they haven’t read.
Have I read all the
books that are promoted on my blog? No. I fit into the other camp of book
bloggers. I see promoting books, whether through blog tours, reviews, or other
promotions, as simply sharing information. I leave it up to my readers to decide
whether to read the book or not.
Another area in which
people hold strong feelings centers on whether or not to post negative reviews.
One camp feels that all book bloggers who review books need to post negative
reviews. They feel that having an assortment of positive and negative reviews
creates balance. It allows readers to read about what the blogger likes and
doesn’t like and why. It is often said that reviewers who only post positive
reviews risk having their honesty questioned.
I am of the camp that
doesn’t bother to finish a book if I am not enjoying it. I feel no need to talk
about a book I didn’t like. I have boxes and boxes of books to be read. My Nook
(e-reader) is full of little gems waiting for my attention. Maybe it’s my age,
but I don’t soldier on, I move on. I do, however, make it clear in my review
policy that I only talk about books that I enjoyed reading.
This topic will come up
again later; you do need to give some thought to your philosophy on book
blogging. Are you going to only post reviews? Are you only going to promote
books you have read? This isn’t necessarily something that will be decided on
at the beginning and that you can never change. Many book bloggers change their
views as time progresses.
Accompanying your
philosophy of blogging is your view of how much of a platform you are going to
have. I started my blog to express my thoughts about the books I’d read. It
never really occurred to me that other people would read what I had read, let
alone comment on it or share it with friends!
There is absolutely
nothing wrong with creating a book blog to share your thoughts with friends—old
friends as well as new. If, however, you actively seek out blog tour posts and
post promotions of author’s books, you should also be actively growing your
book blogger platform. If someone is paying to post on your blog via a blog tour,
you should be able to share this information with as many people as possible.
Everyone starts out as
a baby blogger. Everyone has a different view of what they want their blog to
be. There is no right or wrong answer. Every blog should be a reflection of its
owner and its owner’s tastes.
I hope to use this book
to describe the Book Blogger Platform in its entirety. I hope to give you a lot
to think about. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions. I’m on Twitter,
Facebook, and my blogs every day. My contact links will be listed at the end of
this book. I love answering questions and chatting about books!
Author bio
and links:
Social
Media and Wordpress Consultant Barb Drozdowich has taught at Universities and
Colleges, trained technical personnel in the banking industry and, most
recently, used her expertise to help dozens of authors develop the social media
platform needed to succeed in today’s fast evolving publishing world. She owns
Bakerview Consulting and manages the popular blog, Sugarbeat’s Books.
Bakerview Consulting (Business Site)
Barb Drozdowich (Author Site)
Sugarbeat’s Books (Book Blog)
Facebook
(Author blog)
