On Cross-posting Reviews

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I guess it’s common knowledge now that most book bloggers have other book-related accounts, such as Goodreads or Shelfari or Library Thing. These accounts are really more to keep track of books or participate in online book clubs, but I know of some people who post more there than their blogs.

Ever since I started my blog, though, I’ve been cross-posting all the reviews I write to my Goodreads account. I admit that this is really just for extra hits before (and it works). However, now I realize that sometimes I go to Goodreads to look for reviews first rather than look at other blogs. It just requires less effort for me, since I just have to look for the book and immediately see reviews instead of jumping from one blog to another.

Now back during ReaderCon, I remember Mina saying that my review of one of her books was one of the most helpful reviews there. I rarely cross-post reviews on Amazon or any other book-selling site unless an author requests for me to do so. I just feel that it’s a bit tedious to do so, and I’ve been so used to Goodreads that it’s only always been the one I’ve been cross-posting to. I am thinking about doing it — it’s just that I kind of have a lot of reviews to cross-post there if I decide to do that. :P

To cross post or not?

So now here’s my question: does cross-posting on Amazon (or B&N, or any other book-selling site) make a big difference? Do you do it? How long have you been doing it? For authors (assuming there are authors who read my blog), do you prefer that reviews are posted on Amazon (or insert preferred book-selling site here) more or as well as in Goodreads/Shelfari/etc and in blogs?

Posted in: Discussion \ Tagged: , ,

10 for 2010: Blogging and Reading Highlights

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2010 is definitely an awesome year for my reading and blogging, particularly book blogging. After years of trying to figure out a niche blog, I finally found it. :) I realized  that I love reading and writing about books is one of the most fun things I’ve decided to do this year. :)

But there are more, obviously, but it really wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the blog. And for other things. :) Here’s are my Top 10 Blogging and Reading Highlights for 2010. :)

1. Writing for The POC – Talk about a dream come true: getting paid to read and review books. When Pao emailed me to be a contributor for our old section, Pinoy Pop, I was excited to be on board. I really don’t know how qualified I was, but I was glad to be a part of the team. I loved having an excuse to read and review books. I’ve learned so much in writing my reviews when I did my stint at The POC, and I know that it helped me write better reviews. :)

2. Goodreads Second Meet-up – I have been active in Goodreads for the longest time already, but I have never posted much in the groups or interacted with any friends. One day, I just decided to post, and that got me invited to the second meet-up, and the rest is history. :) That was one of the best bookish meet-ups I’ve ever been in.

Mockingjay Launch

3. Mockingjay Launch – Of all my years reading, I realize that I’ve never been in an actual book launch. Mockingjay‘s release finally made me attend one, and I wasn’t just a simple spectator, too. :P I was one of the Live Action Role Players, and while we lost miserably, it was actually quite fun. It was also the first time when the Goodreads and Flippers met, had dinner and coffee and talked about so many bookish things, it was almost like paradise inside CBTL. :D

4. 100 Books – When I set out to read 100 books in a year, I had no idea if I would be able to do it. So when I finally realized that I did do it, I couldn’t be more thrilled. Now I feel like 100 books is such a small amount. :P More next year, perhaps?

5. Getting my Kindle – The ultimate bookish toy. :P Just like the iPod, I never thought that I’d give in and get a Kindle, but after a friend told me how awesome it is, I suddenly had a gadget lust. :p After a lot of thinking, I finally gave in and got one…two days before the new one was released. How fun, right? But still, no regrets. I love my Kindle, and it really is the ultimate bookworm toy. :P

6. Filipino Book Bloggers Meet-ups – I used to be very active with the Filipino blogging community back in 2007, but I stopped attending after some time because I felt that it was too big of a community and I don’t know where I fit in. I was really more of a lurker as I kept on blogging and as I started my book blog. However, I found out that the Filipino Book Blogging community is a very warm and welcoming group. This is where I found out that I truly have found my blogging niche. :D

7. Friends opening book blogs – This year is also the year when my good friends opened their own blogs. I don’t know if I influenced them, but whatever made them start, I’m glad they did. :D Shout out to Grace, Aaron, Ariel, Ace, and Jzhun specifically. :D

8. Winning contests and features – I have the worst luck in contests, and I hardly win the things I really want to win. And then I got a lucky streak: I won Dee’s 100+ Follower Giveaway and then I won a signed Being Jamie Baker by Kelly Oram (which I hope arrives soon — postal service during the holidays here kind of suck) a few weeks later. I also got featured in Dee’s Blogger Spotlight, and I find it’s very fun to be featured. :)

9. Author comments and replies on blogs and Twitter. I love getting comments on my blogs, but nothing makes me squee more than author comments. And ever since I made my Twitter profile public, I got more follows on Twitter, and I love it when an author replies to me or mentions me, or follows me on Twitter. It makes reading so much more fun and interactive.

10. Goodreads Filipino Group – I must give another shout out to this, even if I mentioned the first meet-up a few numbers back. They’re really some of the best people I met this year, and I am really, really glad I went to the second meet up even if I had no idea who I would meet there. :) Joining this group made me read more, made me appreciate books more and made me write more. :) They’re probably one of the best reading things that happened to me in 2010. (Awwwww)

My bookish family :)

What about you? What are your reading or blogging (or both!) highlights for this year? :) Share them in the comments section!

Check out my other 10 for 2010 posts!
10 Favorite Male Characters
10 Favorite Female Characters
10 Favorite Couples
10 Favorite Authors
10 Most Anticipated for 2011

The Anniversary Giveaway is still ongoing! I’m giving away some of my favorite books in 2010! Every comment you leave is one entry — the more comments you leave, the more entries you get! :) Click the image for the mechanics and the list of prizes!

Posted in: General, Giveaway \ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Blogging and Books

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I am starting to love all these bookish weekends. It’s probably because I’ve never really had them before. Sure, NaNoWriMo weekends are also times where we discuss books, but we discuss writing and our plots more than we discuss our books, plus my Wrimos and I only see each other a lot during November, so for the rest of the year, I’m pretty much dry with book talk. Thank goodness for making bookish friends. :)

Last Saturday was the first Filipino Book Bloggers meet-up, organized by Chachic who is also the admin of the site. I’m not one to pass up an event like this, and I even dragged some of my friends over to join us (who weren’t really as big of a reader as I am and they don’t keep a book blog…so they were really just there so they could meet and accompany me — my friends are sweet haha). When I got to Starbucks at Shang, I was already a bit late, so there were already three tables of people talking. Pretty soon, more people came, including some of the new bloggers from our Goodreads group. I guess existing bloggers in the group can be pretty influential. ;)

There were lots of discussions everywhere, and as expected, people broke into little groups based on who sat with who. I mostly talked with the people around my side: Aaron, Ace, Jason (nice to finally meet you!), Rezel, Aldrin and Celina. Like what everyone else who’s blogged about the event, there was a major concern/brainstorming done at the other side of the table about publishers and local books and how bloggers can be involved. I didn’t get to hear all of them, but from what I gathered, it was pretty interesting.

I’m no expert with how the local publishing business works or how they market their books, I do have the same woes about not having enough local stuff that I’d want to read. It’s the same woes we have in NaNoWriMo — there just doesn’t seem to be enough local works to read for us to write about local stuff. If there were, then I’d probably have more than 10 in my Project 20:10 list. I hardly read anything local because I feel like they’re all too serious, or in the case of our chick lit, they’re too thin and not worth the price. Most of the Filipino books I see are about dysfunctional families, revolutions, and some socio-political whatever issue that I could read in the newspaper. Thanks, but no thanks. They’re the kind of stuff I’d read in school because it was required of me, but I’m not in school anymore. :|

Why not submit the stuff that I write, then? Well, I would, if they were finished. ^^; Okay, that’s my fault, then, but I know from some friends who have tried to submit their works here from what I hear, it’s kind of hard. I don’t think there is much room for the stuff that my Wrimos usually write here, at least, not that I know of. So if no one’s accepting (or at least, even looking at) the things Filipinos dare to write, what else would we read, right?

I’m not sure I made sense there, and it may need another post to fully clarify. But the idea goes the same for book bloggers. In the US and UK, book bloggers get their share of advanced copies because of the buzz they create before the book is officially out in the market. Based from experience, I think only Summit Books do the same thing, since their marketing person (sorry, I forgot the exact position!) is a blogger, as well. The proof is in the press release I received for Table for Two. Of course I already read and reviewed the book when I received the package, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Like Michelle, though, I also believe that “good books will promote themselves“. The most recent example I could think of is Mina V. Esguerra‘s My Imaginary Ex. It started with Mina just saying hi to our Filipino Goodreads group, and some reviews of her book and then a lot more people are reading her book from our group. It may not seem big, but it’s a start, right?

Anyway, off with the serious stuff. The other posts I linked below were far more articulate with this issue. It was still a fun afternoon that extended all the way up to night because we had some bookstore hopping to do. This is why I ended up with such a big stash of books yesterday — I was in the presence of very effective book pushers. ;)

Dinner at Sango -- me with the bloggers and my two friends, Toni and Cors

ROLL CALL!

I missed meeting Jasper of Avalon.ph and Carl Javier, author of The Kobayashi Maru of Love, because I was late, but I did win a Php 500 GC from Avalon.ph, which means I can still buy the Carl’s book from them. :)

It was a fun Saturday, and a pretty successful meet up. I think everyone would agree. :)

Related posts:

Posted in: Events \ Tagged: ,

The Versatile Blogger Award

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When I was still new to the web design business, one of the things that everyone who has a personal website gives away and pines for are awards. I remember having an entire page full of awards for my site, and yeah, I was proud of it. Looking back, I realize that all those awards are just for hits and hits and hits, but then…that’s the website business, right?

Or not. Okay, I didn’t mean to be down with that — awards are fun. It’s just been a long time since I received one, so it was just kind of surprising. :)

Wait, I received two.

Thanks to Grace and Honey for giving One More Page the Versatile Blogger Award! If my blog had a face, it would be smiling like this: =D

The Rules for the award are:

  1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
  2. Share 7 things about yourself.
  3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order…)
  4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

Seven things about me:

  1. I name my gadgets. I feel like naming them helps me take care of them better, so I started naming them after I got my first laptop. My first laptop was named Ginger, and my first iPod was named Sam. My current gadgets are: Aslan (Macbook), Teo (office laptop), Macy (iPod Touch), Elyon (cellphone), Cornelia (cellphone), Wes (hard drive), Ashley (camera). The next gadget that comes in will be named Astrid after Rampant by Diana Peterfreund.
  2. My first love of genre is really chick lit. I love those fluffy books, but I realize that not all chick lit are fun to read (maybe more to this on a later post). Right now my favorite genre is young adult, because I get to live my teenage years all over again. Ha.
  3. I love Christian fiction. I love it when faith is written in stories I read. I don’t like preachy stuff of course (who does?), so I’m also picky with the Christian stuff I read. I admit that my faith and values influences how I rate the books (and I promise to post about this next time), so what others may like very much may not work out with me best because of something that goes against my beliefs or values.
  4. I have been a National Novel Writing Month participant since 2004. I’ve won since 2005, and I always, always love November because it gives me an excuse to be creative and to write as much as I can, even if it doesn’t always make sense. I’m also the Municipal Liaison for the Philippines, and I think I have the best bunch of novelists in the world. :)
  5. I like to run and dance. I don’t know if they like me back, but I enjoy it. I was never sporty, so I make use of the gym to get my exercise. It’s a blessing that running is such a low maintenance and not-so-competitive sport, so I can enjoy it without worrying if I will win.
  6. My dream car is a Honda Jazz. I want it pink, but not the light pink shade they have now. More like metallic pink. (Yes I love pink). There’s nothing wrong with having a dream car even if I don’t really drive, right? :P
  7. I think my body clock is perpetually screwed up. I have a rotating shift at work, which means I rotate shifts every two weeks for some client needs. I go from day shift to mid shift so I never have a permanent sleeping time it’s kind of hard to choose a time to sleep. I try to sleep before midnight when I’m on day shift, but I fail at it. Mid shift means sleeping at 2-3am. Now you know why I need coffee to be productive and cheerful.

I give this award to:

  1. Blooey of Bookmarked! – I don’t know if she got this award yet, but Blooey is one of the first book blogs I followed. I always trust her taste in books, and I am always amazed by her speed in reading and her talent at finding gems in the bargain bins. If there’s a real book lover out there, it’s Blooey. :)
  2. Chachic of Chachic’s Book Nook – It’s nice to know that there are other Filipino book bloggers who do the same memes as I do. Plus if it weren’t for Chachic, I wouldn’t have joined the Filipino Goodreads group! I like how thoughtful Chachic’s reviews are, and I trust her taste in YA fiction. I think you may have received this award multiple times now, and that is a testament of how people see your blog. :D
  3. Aldrin of The Polysyllabic Spree – Aldrin reads serious books. By serious, I mean books that I wouldn’t give a second glance to because I’m fluffy by nature. :P He’s one of the few guy book bloggers I’ve encountered, and even if I don’t really read the same books as he does, I like reading his reviews because they’re always so well-written. One of these days I’ll pick up one of the books you reviewed to see if I’d like it, too.
  4. Aaron of It’s the G World – This isn’t exactly a book blog, but he posts about books, so it could pass, right? Aaron is one of my new friends from the Filipino Goodreads community, and for the short time we’ve known each other, he’s like a younger brother to me. (Naks!) Aaron is nice, despite his villainous persona (Mighty Evil Overlord!), and he’s a firm believer of happy endings (did I get that right?), and I totally trust his taste on books. :P
  5. Lucy of Lucy Loves Fully Booked – I must give recognition to Lucy, Fully Booked’s resident blogger! I am a Fully Booked Fan, and it’s nice to know that they have started a blog, too, and I think it’s very helpful to connect to the local book blogging community to promote reading.
  6. Reggie of The Undercover Book Lover (Not Really) – At first I thought Reggie wasn’t from the Philippines, up until Honey listed her as a Filipino book blogger and when I saw one of her posts with a link to Children’s Hour. I emailed her, and she emailed back and I was totally psyched to know she is in the Philippines. I love her blog because there’s so many things to read about there, and she has the coolest contests. :D Plus, she owns International Book Tours, which help spread more reading love. If that is not a book lover, then I do not know what is. :P
  7. Ruby of The Fickle Fan – Ruby is my college schoolmate, and I was surprised to learn that she blogs about books, too! Her blog is not only about books, but movies, music and her travels.
  8. Forever Young Adult – I don’t know if they’ll notice this award since they’re really cool (they’re like the coolest kid in school :P), but I can’t not give this award to one of the most entertaining YA blogs I’ve read for the longest time. If you want honest and funny book reviews for YA books, go to them!
  9. Angie of Angieville – I found out about her blog from other book blogger friends and I love her reviews. Her reviews are always thoughtful, like she always takes the time to write about them, unlike how I do sometimes when I’m lazy.
  10. Alayne of The Crowded Leaf – I don’t really know Alayne, and I don’t think we have the same taste in books, either. But she’s always commenting on my Teaser Tuesday and Waiting on Wednesday posts, and she always had something nice to say. She deserves to be recognized.

Like the two girls who gave me the award, I don’t think I can get to 15 bloggers. But I hope you do drop by those 10 I listed above. It’s always nice to know that there are people all over the country and the world who share the same passion for books. :)

Thank you once again, Grace and Honey, for the award! :)

Posted in: Site Stuff, Squee! \ Tagged: , ,