We have a really nifty cool thing going on here that many of you might not know. Many of our reviewers are not bloggers. Yeah I know odd statement.
The Good, The Bad, The Unread was never meant to be anything more than a reader blog. Just me, myself and I, so you know, it was rock’n cool ;). Lawson I met at my first signing (Kleypas), Gwen found her way here as a cellie reject, Connie I knew from a bookstore, Finn worked with Lawson, Alicia & Sandy were on a yahoo group I chat on, lime was a contest winner I roped into the site and we will soon have another newbie who is an old friend of mine.
There are also some reviews from ‘lil sis’ who is really my little sister and not even allowed ON the blog muchless a ‘blogger’. There have been reviews from my very dear friend Rose who I have known forever, a person or two from work and hmmm am I missing anyone? So what is my point you ask? I gots some questions for you…
I know, I do lurve questions *g* but they are easy. Sort of… I was talking on the phone last night with my latest victim and when we hung up I thought it would be interesting to see how you answered:
- What is a ‘blog’?
- What is a ‘blog’ for?
- What is a ‘blogger’?
- How is it different or is it different from live journal?
- What is a “READER” blog?
- What is an author blog?
- What do you see the purpose of an author blog?
I, of course, have my own answers and will blog about it later but before I taint your view with my thoughts I wanted to get your answers. So… got any? Of course you can answer any or all of them. Or whatever… I am easy ;).
I’ll start this off I guess… to my mind…
1. web log *snark* haha. Like an online diary- more fleshed out form of twitter. Vehicle for spawning passive aggressiveness.
2. See above. Also sharing news with everyone you know at the same time. All 800 of them. And many more you don’t.
3. I know it’s not just this – but I think of it is people who are paid to blog/ blogging is their job. [Still can’t figure how that one happened.]
4. I’d say they’re pretty much the same, b/c there are targeted eljays too. But, I could be wrong about this – but eljay is a lot more “closed off.” You can have custom lists, friends only, etc. Most blogs, you can’t block people from reading content, just track who visits it.
5. uhh… blog for person who reads and doesn’t write and/or isn’t planning on writing either.
… hm.
Do I count as a reviewer who is a blogger? I have a separate blog, but it’s for reviews. Then I have two small blogs that are personal. One is for internet friends, the other is a hidden thing for people who know me in real life.
What is a ‘blog’? A collection of posts archived in one location
What is a ‘blog’ for? Expression
What is a ‘blogger’? A person who writes/maintains a blog
How is it different or is it different from live journal? I don’t think they’re different. lj is just a site that makes blogging easy, like blogger or wordpress. Something I would consider different is myspace – you can use it to blog, but you can also use it for social networking.
What is a “READER” blog? I agree with lime. A reader blog would be the blog of someone who enjoys reading and believes they won’t become an author or publisher.
I don’t review here, I’m not even allowed behind the sacred door because, well, I write stuff. And sometimes it gets reviewed here.
But I’ve read a few books this year that I have really enjoyed that I could review, ie I don’t know the author, I don’t write for the publisher and I don’t have a fish to fry in the genre either.
But by the time I’ve thought – “Hmm, I could do a review on this one” someone else has done it.
Plus, I’ve been concentrating on the publishers I write for. I can’t help that. I chose those publishers because I’d read and loved some of the books and I won’t stop just because I’m now part of the “stable” too.
But I will carry on. Reading, that is.
Lynne,
We only say good things about you behind the Sacred Door. That and Sandy and I regularly have slap fights over who gets to read your books (It’s my turn next. :P)
Er… Right. Done with silly fangirl moment now.
The questions:
What is a ‘blog’?
A series of posts, updated regularly and usually open to other people’s comments.
What is a ‘blog’ for?
The ones I like are usually for conversations between readers of that blog on whatever they decide they have an interest in, whether it be romance novels or science fiction or knitting or liberal interpretations of Christianity.
What is a ‘blogger’?
Someone who posts to a blog.
How is it different or is it different from live journal?
LJ is just one community. It can be quite useful, but also rather cumbersome if you’re not an LJ user.
What is a “READER” blog?
I think it’s a blog where readers, i.e. not people necessarily connected with the industry, get to discuss books. They can generally be more honest than people heavily involved with the industry, or dig deeper and analyze what they read, whereas author blogs usually don’t seem to get into that. (Or maybe I’m reading the wrong blogs?)
The next one is a Dept 57 book, “Liquid Crystal,” out in September. It was out before, but this has been re-edited. Waiting for the artwork now!
Two mermen and their lucky lady.
Writing the second in the Team Crystal series now.
What’s twitter? It seems the minute I stop cruising the net to look at other stuff, something else starts up.
Forgot to ask…
“What is an author blog?”
“What do you see the purpose of an author blog?”
I see an author blog as a place where authors can connect with readers/talk about book releases/basically form a community of fans. I think some authors do this extremely well–I love and adore John Scalzi’s blog for that very reason. I think that author blogs only work if they’re not strictly thought of as a marketing tool, and of course, as with anyone’s blog, I really don’t care to read about things like how bad someone’s menstrual cramps are, what brats the kids are, etc. I do, however, find the writing process and how it’s different for each author fascinating, and that’s always fun to read.