Tag: book blogs

October is NetGalley month

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blogging> NetGalley

Net Galley should be labeled an addictive substance for readers. I’m totally serious. A friend used to say that McDonald’s put something into their fries to make them so totally addictive that you can’t even get out of the drive-thru before you start eating them. Net Galley is like that. But with books.

I’ve been using Net Galley since June. See, it even sounds like an addiction!

And now I’m just a little scared. I’ve reviewed 43 books since June. 43! And I have 27 lined up. Except I’ve finished just finished two books and need to get the reviews written.

What is Net Galley? Really? It’s a service where publishers post the electronic galleys of their books for reviewers to pick up for reviewing. It has got to be saving some trees. It’s possibly also contributing to the US Postal Service’s deficit, but that’s a different post. It is easy to “shop” Net Galley for new books I might want to read, then send a request to the publisher. Anywhere from a minute to a month later, I get a response that the galley is available. After a quick download to my iPad, I have a new book to read. All I have to do in return is “sing for my supper”, so to speak. In exchange for the free book, I post my honest review of what I’ve read.

So far, 43 times.

And for those librarians out there, Net Galley publishers love librarians. Posting the review on your library’s website absolutely counts as posting the review.

I’m not just a big Net Galley fan, I’m also a fan of those Booklist and Library Journal webinars on what’s upcoming in this or that. This summer, I went through the Booklist archive of YA webinars, all at once. A whole year’s worth. And do you know what I found? You guessed it. Net Galley! A year ago, all the publishers had print galleys. Six months ago, half had print galleys, and half were on Net Galley. By the time I got to the new webinars, all the publishers were on Net Galley. Net Galley is clearly where it’s at.

So this post is my official declaration that I am participating in Net Galley Month. As far as I am concerned, every month is Net Galley Month. They’re the book blogger’s best friend.

A Post of Bloggers

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blogging> conferences

We seriously need a collective noun for a group of bloggers.  Maybe it should be a post of bloggers? Or a specialty application, a shelf of book bloggers? After all, there’s a term for every other type of conglomeration–a gaggle of geese, an exhaltation of larks, a parliament of owls, an unkindness of ravens. I’ve even seen “a hush of librarians” proposed. That’s  evocative but seriously inaccurate.

This morning at the New England Library Association Conference, four noted YA book bloggers presented an awesome panel, and there certainly was no hush in the room, or anywhere at the NELA Conference. But about those book bloggers…

First of all, I found two terrific new book blogs that I hadn’t heard of before. I say two, because two were already on my list of daily “must reads”.

And one of those two “must reads” was the reason I was willing to attend a panel, any panel, at 8:30 am. I can be bright, or I can be early. I can’t be both at once. But I have read Leila Roy’s Bookshelves of Doom since I found her blog while researching for my YA “creature-feature” table talk for South Carolina, and I just couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear her in person. Her speaker’s “voice” is just as witty as her writing, But it was her reasons for starting her blog that resonated with me as a fellow blogger. The desire to share knowledge, the need to talk about books. The craving to remain part of the book community.

Jennifer Rummel’s “voice”, and her blog, were new to me, but now that I know about her, I’ll be keeping track of her blog, too. Not just because I liked what she had to say about books and reading, but also because her advice about keeping up with her blog was practical and helpful. All those thoughts about sitting in front of a keyboard 4, 5 or 6 days a week are daunting. I’ve been wondering about whether or not to participate in some of the blogging memes, and if so, which and how many. Hearing another librarian blogger discuss the subject, and say how valuable they are, provided a lot of insight. It was good to hear another blogger’s thoughts. And her site at YABookNerd is cool.

Andrea Graham’s blog, 4YA, is more about services to people who serve youth, than it is about books. But it contains some very neat links. And I’m fascinated with the way she markets her services. She also showed us all a really cool site. Pinterest, which is an online pinboard. It doesn’t necessarily have anything whatever to do with libraries, but it looks like a whole lot of fun. And we all need more fun.

Last, but not least, was Josie Leavitt, one of the bloggers at ShelfTalker at Publishers Weekly. I read all the blogs at PW, so I did know about ShelfTalker. Josie’s take on blogging was slightly different, since she blogs from a bookstore rather than a library. She doesn’t so much review books as talk about bookselling in general and the industry as a whole. So not an individual book about angels and werewolves being good or bad, but a teen coming into the store saying, “if I read one more book about an angel and a werewolf I’m going to puke,” or words to that effect.

Josie left all of us with some great advice, something all bloggers should keep in mind. “Never blog when you’ve been drinking.”

Definitely words to blog by.