Discussed! by Danny – Book Blogs – Reviews, Tours, Interviews and More!

Posted 1 September, 2012 by Danny in Danny, Discussion / 8 Comments

Morning guys! This week, I’d like to talk to you about what you want to see on Book Blog! Onviously, we all love talking about books – but what is it that we actually want to see on a Blog? Reviews, Cover Reveals, Guest Posts, Blog Tours.. Meme’s…

So I asked myself the questions, which content do I prefer to read on another blog and in return I’d love to read your thoughts!

I’m going step by step through all the typical post we see on a Blog and discuss teh value for me as a reader!

Reviews!

Obviously the main focus of every Book Blog. At least that is how I like to see it! I want to read your thoughts about a book1 But, I admit if a review is too lengthy I tempt to skip parts! But, what I truly need in a such a post is a link to the book and to the author! I actually hate when I see reviews with.not.a.single link! Also, I love ratings!  It doesn’t matter if they are just numbers or images, but I want to know upfront how you liked it!

Question: What do want in a Review? Rating? Link? tell me! 

Author Guest Posts & Interviews

I admit I prefer Guest Posts over Interviews, unless I am dying to ask a question! But, often those Guest Posts are just amazing and provide me with a deeper insight into a book. Often, I have picked up a book because of an Guest Post from an author!!

Question: Do you like Guest Post, do you see the value in them? How about Interviews? 

Character Interviews

Love love LOVE those!!! They are my favorite thing and often get me hooked on a book instantly! As much as I enjoy reading about an author, it’s the characters I’m going to spend time with. I also did quote a few character interviews and I LOVED them so much! My recent ones were with Kaidan (Sweet Evil) and Galen (Of Poseidon), but I also interviewed Derek and Lucas from the Shadow Falls series…

Question: Do you love Character Interviews as much as I do? 

(obviously this giveaway is over… just an example image!) 

Blog Tours

There are tons of Blog Tours they combine all the good things about book blogging: Reviews, Interviews and Guest Posts. Often they give me more insight into a book I might have not picked up before. Maybe because I read a particular awesome post from an author or just followed the Tour and got excited along the way..

Question: How do you feel about Blog Tours? Love to read them, love to participate? Why? 

Meme’s

I love and adore meme’s! My favorite one is Waiting on Wednesday mainly because I find so many awesome books each week! But, we only participate in 2 – WoW and IMM!

Question: Do you like meme’s, in how many do you participate? 

Cover Reveals

Here, I am torn. While I do LOVE covers especially when they are pretty, I sometimes get tired when I see one cover on 10 blogs I follow.. I try to incorporate those Reveals into other posts but I very rarely do them as a post on their own.

Question: Do you participate in Cover Reveals? aHow you like those posts? 

Discussion Posts & Read Alongs

I love discussion posts like this one! I love talking about stuff and talking about books! However I realized that discussion posts mainly work on weekends and not so good in the week. Why? Read A longs are amazing and I LOVE discussing books! I just love this!

Question: How about you? Do you like Discussion posts and Read Alongs? 

Woot! those are a lot of different posts!!! And, I realized I have much more to say about each post type, so I decided to catch each section up in a following Discussed! Posts.

But, please I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!!

Which types of posts do you like most and why? Which ones do you resent? 🙂 Why?

Much Love and HAppy Saturday!

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Obsessive Reader by Night - Scientist at Day! You can also find me on goodreads. I'd love to get to know you so, don't be shy and say Hello!

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8 Responses to “Discussed! by Danny – Book Blogs – Reviews, Tours, Interviews and More!”

  1. Ashley

    I’m totally going to do what you did and go over each one!

    » Reviews «

    I’m a HUGE fan of ratings too. I like to have a quick and easy way to see whether or not the reviewer liked the book. I like to see it before I read the review because knowing the rating ahead of time helps me know what to expect fromt he reviewer.

    I don’t like too much plot summary in reviews, unless the blurb is really vague. I’d rather just have the blurb for us to read and have the review be 100% review and opinion, rather than even more plot summary. But if the blurb doesn’t say much about the story, then some plot overview is appreciated.

    » Author Guest Posts & Interviews «

    Honestly, this one is really hit or miss with me, because it’s all about the guest post topic and the interview questions. If they intrigue me, then I’ll love reading them. But if I’m not interested in the topic, book, or interview questions, then I usually don’t read them.

    » Character Interviews «

    99% of the time, I’m not a huge fan of these. I don’t really know why.. maybe it’s something about seeing the character outside of a book that just puts me off. Maybe it doesn’t feel very real to me? I don’t know. But to be honest, I haven’t actually read many character interviews since I just assume I won’t like them. Maybe I should start reading more!

    » Blog Tours «

    I love them! The only thing I usually ignore when it comes to blog tours is excerpts. I don’t like reading excerpts from books. I think it’s because I’d rather have the whole book or none of the book, and I don’t like reading parts out of order. So I wouldn’t want to read an excerpt from chapter 4 if I haven’t read chapters 1-3.

    » Memes «

    I think memes are great!! I LOVE book haul posts. It’s a great way to check out new and upcoming books, get excited about them, and see what your fellow bloggers are reading! I also ADORE Waiting on Wednesday! I like finding new books to get excited about and keep tabs on. 😉 I don’t really look at any other memes though.

    » Cover Reveals «

    I love cover reveals, but I can understand how it gets annoying when everyone does them. I mean, it’s great for authors to get a lot of exposure. But I tend to look at ONE post for a cover reveal and then ignore all the others for the same cover reveal. So in a way I kind of feel bad, but once I’ve seen the cover, I’ve seen the cover.

    » Discussion Posts & Read Alongs «

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE discussion posts, and all yours are great Danny!! They’re so much fun. I think I love them because I don’t have any book friends in real life so I have no one to talk to about books. 🙁 So it’s great that we can talk and obsess and get all fangirly online!

    As for read alongs, I want to love them, but they’re tough for me. I think it’s hard because I usually have some sort of lineup of books planned in my mind, like “I’m going to read this, and then that, and then that, and then that.” So I usually don’t like dropping all that and reading something else instead. I like to go on my own schedule. But if I happen to be reading the book when the read along is scheduled, then that’s AWESOME! Because I love being able to talk about the book with other people who are reading it!
    Ashley recently posted..Erasing Time by C.J. HillMy Profile

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  2. Candace

    Reviews are definitely the #1 thing I want to see on book blogs. I sick though, cause I don’t provide links. Back when I was cutting back on how much time I spent blogging links were one thing I cut out. I think maybe I will try to start linking to goodreads, one link shouldn’t be too time consuming and I usually have goodreads open anyway.

    Guest posts and interviews are hit and miss for me. I tend to be lazy or in a hurry and don’t want to take the time to read them. BUT I have found books from them or got interested by something said.

    I don’t really like cover reveals too much and don’t do them much myself. But I do think people need to see them SOMEWHERE so I’m not against them or anything.

    I think tours are great because when I see a book a lot it suddenly makes it a must read. Especially when a bunch of bloggers I trust have posted about it.

    I love discussion posts like this one, even more then reviews!
    Candace recently posted..Saturday Situation- Link Up Your Reviews & Giveaways!My Profile

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  3. Sam @ Realm of Fiction

    I actually like seeing ratings in reviews too, even if they are pretty subjective. I usually have a vague idea of the bloggers who have similar tastes to me so it always helps. 🙂 And you’re right – too long is never a good thing, but too short isn’t very helpful either. I like the way you handle them on your blog by splitting it into sections. 🙂

    WoW and a book haul post are pretty much all I do for memes now too. It’s difficult for me to squeeze in any more, and quite frankly, I think those are the best two. 😉

    If I’m being quite honest, read-along posts are my least favourite. I never take part as I feel it’s not a very open post for my readers. Not everyone will have read the book and the questions are usually pretty specific so it’s unlikely to make sense to anyone other than the participants. I wish I could love them, but I don’t. 🙁
    Sam @ Realm of Fiction recently posted..Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena ShowalterMy Profile

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  5. hrose2931

    Book Reviews- Yes, these are the most important. I don’t do ratings because it is so subjective. However, now that I know the tastes of the bloggers I follow, I can look at the numbers and know whether or not I’ll like a book. Still, I am too generous with the stars or whatever and think I shouldn’t do ratings. And I am often surprised when a blogger I follow hated or was luke warm about a book I adored. So again, it’s so subjecctive, the rating gives me a baseline to start from but I’m just not good at being subjective.

    I like interviews and guest posts, but I don’t like the interviews that asks what kind of chocolate the author likes or if they drink tea or coffee. I want something with depth in an interview, otherwise give me a guest post. Your recent interview with the authors of From What I Remember was fantastic and what I love to read.

    I love Character Interviews since characters are my favorite thing about the novels I read. But boy do I suck at them. Got any tips?

    Love Blog Tours especially when they are like a Treasure Hunt or you have to follow each day! Those are a lot of fun. Otherwise, I just hit it once or twice. I do try to tweet it though. There has to be a reason to make me remember to go back every day. (Cause I am very forgetful)

    Memes- I love them but don’t seem to be able to reserve a specific day in the week to participate. Still WOW is my favorite. I also love this one and Book Sake has a great one on Friday where they find bookish stuff on the internet, be it libraries or art made out of books. That one is very cool.

    Cover Reveals- They are good. Just not too many. Like if the blog has one a week that’s a bit much. Or if every blog I read has the cover reveal except me (what’s wrong with me) then it’s a bit much.

    Discussion Posts and Read a longs- Yes, this is why I wanted a book blog. To discuss books. But there really isn’t any discussion. There is me posting a review and comments to which I reply, but no real discussion. I like the read a longs, wish there were more. And discussions yes, I love those as well. So more please.

    Heather
    hrose2931 recently posted..Back to the Books Blog Hop Giveaway Sept 1-7thMy Profile

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  6. Annette

    First of all, I won’t stop following a blog because they post things I don’t care about. It’s easy enough to skip those posts. To me the most important is that they write good reviews (that aren’t 3 pages of summary) of books that I’m interested in.

    I will read author interviews once in a while, but only if it’s an author I really love or a book I loved.

    I participate in meme’s and I enjoy some of them. IMM or Stacking the Shelves I enjoy. I enjoy WOW even though I don’t participate. I like the question type memes too — FF or TGIF.

    Absolutely abhor character interviews and most other Blog Tour posts. (This or that, etc.)

    Haven’t done a read along. Might some day, if a book comes up that I want to. I don’t read those posts — I suspect only the people participating do.

    I’ve even stopped entering many giveaways. Once in a while I will, but not very often.

    But, like I said, it’s easy enough for me to hit “next” when I get to the posts I don’t care about. What will get me to stop following is if you rarely post reviews, your reviews are only summaries, your review takes me 20 minutes to read, if there are so many grammatical errors and typos consistently that I can’t handle it. I read a review the other day where the author’s name was spelled wrong in the title as well as every time mentioned in the review. Really? You can’t even get the author’s name???

    It’s interesting reading everyones’ responses to this. Thanks.
    Annette recently posted..Stacking the Shelves – Only One…My Profile

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  7. Natalia Belikov

    Hi Danny!
    I really like all of the things you mention. I think that all of the different types of post open doors to many readers and make them discover, through different ways, new books as well as get them interested in them. Interviews, giveaways, Guest Post, Blog Tours, Meme’s, etc. They are all a great way to share and let people know about the books we like, about the books we are looking forward to, and about the books that are a recent discovery.

    I try to do all of the above and one way or another, I have done them all during the year I’ve been blogging. I dont like blogs that a complete week full of Memes. Not that are only reviews. Plus in reviews, I also never read them if they are too long. I just want to know if the blogger who reads the same sort of books like me, liked certain title. I’d like to know why they like it or why not. Im not much of a fan of those veeeery long reviews that talk about how they discovered the blog, and blah blah blah. They only lenghty reviews I read are the one of Evie from Booksh. She writes wonderfully and her thoughts are so well express even though her reviews are long, there is no way I will skip one of her words. They are all there for a reason. So eloquent!

    Now, there is only one thing I do not agree with. Ratings.

    Ratings are so hard. My rating scale changes all the times depending the genre and the age range of the book. Also, I think they are sometimes misleading. We all have a different way to rate books (we are all different people) and sometimes I may think that I really, really like the book, but still doesn’t deserve more than 3 stars. It’s hard to explain. My standards for fantasy are higher because I expect to see political issues, an spectacular world-building, strong characters, rich cultural background, etc. For a paranormal, I dont really expect that much. They tempt to be more fluffly but not less entertaining. I have gave many paranormals 5 stars because I think they gripping, enthralling, sexy, etc. Yet, if you make me compare Finnikin of the Rock and by Melina Marchetta vs. Vampire Academy (please note that VA is my favorite paranormal series) I would need to explain why Im giving both 5 stars regardless the fact that Finnikin, in every way, is much fucking better than VA.

    I give ratings in goodreads because it serves for the average recommendation by all users and I want to give my vote on it. However, for a site where there is only ONE individual’s rating, I think it is too complicate to say, and explain to my readers why I give both, VA and FInnikin 5 stars while many people may think otherwise.

    DO you know what I mean? Uff…. so hard. This is why I do not rate books in my blog and I prefer readers to read my opinion where I can explain with words, how much I like a book.

    This is a great post Danny! congratulations! you are a genius in these things and I love coming here to talk about this kind of stuff ^__^

    Muah!! XOXOXOXO
    Natalia Belikov recently posted..Review: Entice by Jessica ShirvingtonMy Profile

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  8. Jackie

    Of course I peruse book blogs for book reviews first. Oh how the world of books has opened up to me because of book bloggers. So many books I’ve found worth reading, but would have overlooked it it wasn’t for book bloggers telling me to stop what I’m doing this instant and check out this book and that book.

    I also love discussion posts, but sometimes they can be a little lackluster. These seem pretty difficult to do since most book bloggers tend recycle other book blogger’s questions. Like, these are my thoughts on insta-love, what are yours? A week later, I’ll find the same question posted on another person’s blog.

    I’ve never been too fond of author interviews; they seem too structured. Character interviews are much more interesting because there seems to be more playfulness and freedom. I do like author guest posts though. I like all the insight those posts offer.

    My least favorite posts–memes and cover reveals. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate memes. I actually really enjoy Waiting on Wednesday– there are so many books introduced to me that might not be getting a lot of book blogger coverage. I also really enjoy Parajunkee’s Follow Friday. I love the discussions that meme creates! I’m not impressed with the IMM/book haul posts. I’m not really sure what to make of them. I mean, all of the pretty covers are neat, but these posts don’t really create any worthwhile discussion. After a while, everyone’s IMM post starts to look the same. The same goes for cover reveals. I don’t like it when I have 20 new feeds showing off the same book cover. I need diversity!
    Jackie recently posted..Book Report: Timeless by Alexandra MonirMy Profile

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