I think part of what made that video popular was that it taps into that joy of reading that doesn’t rely on other people’s opinions. Ariel Bissett made a (what turned out to be very popular) video titled “7 books i want to read that nobody cares about,” in which she talked about the books she’s excited about that are obscure, that BookTube will never talk about it. Just like you don’t have to read unsolicited ARCs, you also don’t have to read what “everyone else” is reading. And that can be fun! But it can also mean forgetting your own taste in books. It’s easy to get swept up with the latest book buzz, or feeling like you’re a failure as a book blogger if you haven’t read X (the “classics,” the New York Times bestseller, the upcoming release that everyone is fighting to get an ARC of). Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.īy signing up you agree to our terms of use 4) Read What You Want to Read Sign up for our Book Deals newsletter and get up to 80% off books you actually want to read. There’s room for all styles of book blogging on the bookternet! Some just try to give the information that will help someone decide whether to pick it up for themselves or not. Some write philosophical reflections on books. Just find your own voice and stick to it: some people write emotional, GIF-filled reviews. You also don’t need to be the best writer in the world to write a review. I don’t need to have read every lesbian fantasy novel to write a post about them. I’m never going to feel “well-read” or like I’m an expert on any genre or topic-even after devoting ten years to exploring queer women lit-but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t write about it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought “I can’t write a recommendations post for lesbian graphic novels: I haven’t read nearly enough of them!” only to stumble on a popular “10 LGBT Books You Should Read” post that is operating from a far narrower reference point. Obviously it’s not a good idea to request a bunch of ARCs and then not read them, but it’s also inevitable that you will get an ARC that it turns out you’re not as interested in as you thought you’d be. If you get sent a book that you haven’t requested, there is no obligation for you to read it. So in any case, don’t make ARCs feel like a chore or a source of stress. For publishers and authors, you’re performing a service, and getting sent a book isn’t the same as being paid for that labour. It takes time to read a book, think about it deeply, and then craft a review. Partly that was my misplaced belief that there was a scarcity of queer women lit, but it was also a devaluing of my time. I used to guarantee a review for any queer women book I got sent. In the beginning days of the Lesbrary, I was over the moon that any author or publisher would deign to send me an ebook for review. I shouldn’t feel guilty about that.Ģ) You Don’t Need to Review Every Book You Get It has grown and it’s a big part of my life, but there are things that take priority: my health (physical and mental), time with family and friend, my day job, etc. It can be overwhelming, and it took me a while to step back and realize: this is something I’m choosing to do in my spare time. It’s so easy to get bogged down in feeling like you’re not doing enough, that you have to craft these perfect publicity posts for a publisher, that you’re not reading enough or not reading the right books or not reading deeply enough. This is a very broad statement, and it’s the top one that I wish I could impress on my beginner book blogger self.
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