Meet a Book Blogger - Platypire Reviews (J. Hooligan)

Hey all you spiffy people! I'm J. Hooligan and I run the blog Platypire Reviews, which mostly consists of shenanigans and book reviews.

I started the blog a little over 4 years ago because I do what I want. Really though, I'm a bit eccentric for most blogs and I wanted to be free to express my "creative" silliness without having to do things like convincing someone to let me do book reviews in a platypus onesie. I also wanted to make a place for people to write book reviews however they wanna (legally) with no obligations or genre requirements.

As for me, I am an eclectic reader. I don't have a favorite genre, I read all sorts of books in whatever formats I can read them in. I just prefer them to be good.

Places you can find me:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/platypire
Blog: http://www.platypire.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/platypire
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/platypire

Thanks all your fabulous people for taking some time out of your day to get to know me a little bit more. You're wonderful and I appreciate your awesomeness.

~~~

What are y'all waiting for? Get to following!

Meet a Book Blogger - Epilogue Book Blog (Holly and Taylon)

Please welcome Epilogue Book Blog! Grab your coffee or tea, and let's get going!

Epilogue Book Blog consists of two halves!

1. Holly, the awkward one, breaks out into hives when meeting her favorite authors; quotes Michael Scott of The Office daily; and has harbored a crush on the Hanson brothers since seventh grade.
2. Taylon—also known as the one with the “cool name” and “red glasses”—despises tomatoes, (somehow) functions without the aid of coffee, and befriends people on the dance floor when given the opportunity.

The two of us are friends from college who share many things in common, including full-time teaching careers and a tremendous love for the written word. In 2014, the two of us began sharing recommendations with each other, poolside, discussing fictional characters with a passion that only fellow readers can appreciate. Purely a hobby for us, blogging allows those well-written gems to be shared with a broader audience.

Holly: I tend to read in phases that not even I can predict. While in 2014, I tended toward romance (mostly contemporary and new adult), I’m currently binging psychological thrillers and horror. I also read literary fiction and enjoy my fair share of classics. My favorite books of all-time are The Reader by Bernhard Schlink and Summer of my German Soldier by Bette Greene.

Taylon: I have a hard time picking genre; for me, it’s more about content. I ended the year with a “light” read mood—a quick and easy story, even if predictable. Other times, I want something that moves me, much like how favorite authors Colleen Hoover, Tarryn Fisher, and Kandi Steiner push me to think and reflect. Either way, good writing/story-telling is a must.

Rather than requesting and accepting arcs (with corresponding deadlines), we currently prefer to purchase books, which allows more freedom in terms of a timeline. Reviews are typically posted on Goodreads, our Wordpress website, and Amazon (when our submissions aren’t rejected). A brief review/recommendation is usually shared to our Facebook page as well.

Wordpress: https://epiloguebookblog.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/epiloguebookblog/
Holly’s Goodreads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9705560-holly-epiloguebookblog

Thanks so much to Jo Michaels for this opportunity to share with her followers!
In a climate where readers have so many options, we truly appreciate those who follow, interact, and trust Epilogue Book Blog to provide genuine reviews and recommendations.

How amazing was that post? Get to following these gals!

Meet a Book Blogger - A Star that Reads (Starr Ochoa)

Hey y’all! My name is Starr, I’m a reader, a future nurse (my hope), and a person who is dabbling in writing.

I run an Instagram blog that you can follow @astarthatreads. I started this blog because my friend forced me to get an Instagram account so we could stay in touch and I didn’t just want another social media account that I wouldn’t use. I started thinking about things I would do with it and realized I wanted to share my love of reading. I mostly read romance, but willing to try and open to other genres.

I’m currently doing author spotlights on Instagram: You give me teasers, cover reveals, excerpts, etc, to share to my followers and hopefully you gain some followers as well. I’m willing to share all genres through my blog.

*Review policy, I haven’t thought about a set of rules I follow, but I will be honest. I try not to post bad reviews , but if you want to send me your book and want me to review it, I will! My reviews are either short and sweet or a paragraph of me fangirling and demanding people get this book. Lol. I post on Goodreads, Instagram, and Amazon.

Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read this long post. ❤ I hope you decide to join me on Instagram.

How awesome is that?? Y'all go give her a follow and some content, for Pete's sake!

Meet a Book Blogger - Twinsie Talk Book Reviews (Angie Stanton)

*Waves* Hi. My name is Angie. I own and run Twinsie Talk Book Reviews with 4 other FANTASTIC ladies. Our blog will read and reviews any genre of romance book. We generally just grab something one of the 5 of us like and read it. Some of the authors we read are one-click favorites and some we find from review requests sent to us. We started blogging as mainly an erotica or paranormal blog but added more bloggers so more genres are now being covered. I THINK straight up horror is the only genre we don’t read.

We started blogging in October 2012 because we were so involved in a lot of authors' street teams. We felt blogging was the next logical step to scream out the love for our authors. We thought getting 1,000 followers would be cool…now we can’t wait to hit 14,000!!

Some people ask what our review style is……. Is Hot Mess a style??? LOL When I write a review I sit and purge my thoughts on paper. I am writing it like I am telling my best friend about the book. There are guaranteed to be typos or some kinda crazy grammer with ….. and a lot of !!!!! and lots of #Hashtags but that is totally me……. off the cuff and just spilling what I need you to know about the story.

If you are looking for a review that says something like “Mrs. Smith delighted us with her current release” type of review…. I am Not your girl. If you want a review that says “Sweet Baby Jesus she did it again and I am loving this book!” come and sit by me 😊

Unfortunately, because if Amazon banning bloggers for no reason, a few of us are in the naughty corner but the other still post reviews on Amazon. We all post on Goodreads and do a blog post for all our reviewed books. If you need a book review posted to B&N we will as long as we know to do it because we generally don’t have authors asking for reviews there.

Well thanks so much for reading my rambling. We hope you will jump over and say hi or even give us a like. We are always looking for new to us authors so if you can, please comment with an author you love and then we can maybe find a new author for us to love as well!!

Web: http://www.Twinsietalk.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/Twinsietalk
Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/Twinsietalk
Tsu: http://www.Tsu.co/Twinsietalk
IG: http://www.instagram.com/twinsietalk
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/brwkPv

Thanks so much for dropping by, Angie! It was awesome to meet you! Y'all go give this little lady some love!

Creating Your Own Blog Tour - Step Three - Finding Reviewers

Happy Friday! Eek! How much do you love weekends? Today will be awesome. If you believe it, so shall it be. As you can see by the title of this post, today is step three in my post series about creating your own blog tour. Like yesterday, I'll recap the previous days and go update the links in the other posts so you can find your way around the series easily. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

In this series:
How to Sign up Bloggers
Creating Promotional Materials and HTML
Finding Reviewers
Creating a Thunderclap Campaign
Throwing a Facebook Launch Party

As you can see, we're getting into where you can find reviewers for your book! Whether it be for ARCs (Advance Review Copies), or after your book has hit the shelves, you can use these tips to find people to read your stories and write down their thoughts.

First off: Never pay someone for a review. An honest reviewer won't take money anyway (they're in it for the books, baby!), and it comes off as sketchy.

#1: Facebook Groups

There are so many groups of readers on Facebook, it would take you forever to go through them all. So, rather than wade through knee-deep muck, let me show you how to get to your target audience.

• Open Facebook
• Go to the Search Facebook bar on the top of the page
• Type in your genre (the master genre, not a sub) and hit enter (don't choose from the dropdown yet!)
• A page will open that has a list across the top: Top, People, Photos, Pages, Places, More\/
• Click More and choose Groups (here's my search for Fantasy)
• Check out groups with readers of your genre, and join one or two you think are relevant
• Introduce yourself and lead with: I joined this group because I'm looking to give away a book in this genre to (x number) of people who may be willing to write a review.
• Don't spam groups, and don't give up. If you don't get enough requests this round, wait a week or two and try another couple of groups.

#2: Amazon

I know this sounds crazy, but go to your book and check out the also bought scroller. See what people are crossing from your book to another, reading, and writing reviews. Try to stick to books in the same genre. When you contact a reviewer who loved another book from the also bought list, tell them others who read that book they loved are reading yours, and ask them if they'd like a copy for review.

#3: Goodreads

This is what Goodreads was made for! There are so many options to find the right reviewer. You can compare shelves, check out books in similar genres to your own (like on Amazon), and join groups readers have formed that revolve around your genre. There are even groups created specifically for folks who like to review. Score.

#4: Bloggers

Go find blogs that have readers of your genre and that write reviews. Follow them for a while, and get to know what they like and don't like. Once you've found a couple, connect with them via comments or other things before you reach out to ask for a review. Book bloggers will remember you. Trust them to be intelligent, thinking beings who have feelings.

You can also ask friends to share a request for reviewers on their Facebook timeline. I did that, and it worked rather well.

Now, a few things to remember:

• If you want ten reviews, you need to have at least twelve reviewers. Some people will forget, and some will miss their deadline.
• Don't be a nag.
• Remember to thank each and every person who reviews.
• Offer the reviewer something besides money (like swag they can't get any other way or a signed copy of the book once the review goes live). Everyone asks, "What's in it for me?" Make it worth their while in the little ways and you'll get more return on your requests.
• People like to feel special. Don't mass e-mail your ARCs. Send them one at a time, include a little thank you with the book, and mention something about the reviewer like: I was happy when you responded to my Goodreads request. I know this takes more time, but it's worth it. You're building relationships. After all, this isn't the only book you're ever going to write, right?
• Ask your reviewers a good month before you plan to send the book to them, and give them a solid date when they can expect it. Don't miss this deadline.
• Give reviewers a good two to three weeks to read the book before release day, and ask them to post their reviews one day after the book goes up for sale (this is for ranking purposes).
• If one of the people who read your ARC don't like your book, find out why (it will help you improve), and thank them for their time. They may not like this one, but may love another one you write in the future. Don't burn bridges!
• Go to the blog where your review is and SHARE IT! Promote those who promote you.

I hope this helps. If you can think of any more, feel free to leave suggestions (no hyperlinks, please) in the comments below.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo