The Blog Squad - Part 24

We are a group of three book bloggers situated on different continents but brought together by our love for books and a penchant for talking about them. We’ve joined our forces to create a collaborative series of posts about book blogging and we hope you’ll enjoy the discussions.

A MAGICAL WORLD OF WORDS - AmyNikita

BOOKS.BAGS.BURGERS - Uma K

BOOK REVIEWS BY DI - Di Hewlett

What's the one thing that has changed the most about your reading habits since you started blogging?

Unlike the other girls, I’ve found that since I started blogging I read a lot LESS than I used to! Blogging takes up a lot of my spare time and I used to spend a lot of that time reading! Now I’m thinking maybe I’m doing it wrong! ;)

I definitely read with a more critical eye and I always try to take notes when I’m reading. I know a book has been great for me if I totally forgot about taking any notes because it means I was too swept away and just reading rather than taking notes for my review!

I can think of 3 things:

• Like Uma - and probably most book bloggers - I try to read more critically now that I’m actually obligated to give a solid review of the book. I try not to skim read, I try to pay attention to the themes and messages the book’s putting across, and I try to dig deeper than the initial “I liked it or I didn’t like it” feeling. I also take notes, which I never used to do before (I had no reason to do so then).

• I read a lot more. I always enjoyed reading because I started blogging, but I never read any books or knew about many. Now I read frequently and consistently.

• I read many different types of books. I never used to read YA before I started blogging (SHOCKING I KNOW) but now it’s my most-read genre; thanks to publishers who send me books, I’ve been exposed to new genres and authors and it’s been amazing to broaden my interests.    

Do you use your local library?

My local library actually has a very small selection, especially being an ‘outback’ rural library. It is very possible though to order books in and I also make great use of the ebook library tools available to me.

Rural Libraries Queensland actually has some really great e-resources and in particular I love Overdrive and Wheelers and it’s great to be able to download epubs and transfer them to my e-reader.

I do, but not regularly. The selection is primarily books from years ago, and the YA selection in particular is very outdated. I’ll take a book out if it’s one I’m generally excited to read and I see it on the shelf, but I don’t take a book out just because it looks nice; with review copies at home I don’t have time for that.   

So yeah. I use the library when I see a book I know I want to read. Otherwise, I couldn’t be bothered.

Do you read Indie books? Why/Why not?

I’m trying my very best to read more Indie books. In particular this year I’ve been trying to read at least one Indie book a month and I’m trying to support the #LetsReadIndie movement.

What I do love about indie books is the very personal interaction with the authors (because they do all the marketing etc. themselves you often get to know the person behind the book far better than you would a novel from a big publisher/publicist.

I also love that self publishing gives authors a place to turn to if they are rejected by a publishing house. There are really some wonderful hidden gems out there. Even the queen, JK Rowling got ‘loads’ of rejections before she was published.

Indie authors also get to keep full creative control over their books and series which means you are reading them exactly as the author meant them to be read - not conforming to a publisher’s model or trends.

As a blogger I love being able to help broadcast and publicise these hidden gems and I will continue to read any book that interests me, independently published or not.

When I first started blogging the review copies I got were all indie, so I read a lot of them then. Now traditionally published books get first priority, but if I’m offered an indie book that looks awesome, I’ll accept it. Echoing Uma, if the book looks good who cares who published it? That isn’t going to determine whether I love it or not.

Unfortunately, though, indie books are also more likely to have a lot of typos than traditionally published books; they aren’t always proof-read as well. I am generalising, but there are self-published books and there are self-published books. It can really be hit-or-miss.

But that has occasionally made me hesitant before accepting some of them.

Go over to their collab posts to know my answers!:

❤ Book Reviews by Di
❤ A Magical World of Words

We hope you’ve enjoyed the latest in our series of discussion posts! Please talk to us and let us know YOUR answers below. What do you think of our responses? If you have any specific questions you’d like us to address in the future, please let us know in the comments section below.