Five: Favorite YA-ish Blogs of 2011

Quite a bit has changed in the blogging world (and my blog-reading habits) since I made last year's list of five amazing YA bloggers. My picks are a bit different this time around... here are my top five great YA blogs/bloggers of this year.

1. Forever Young Adult (various bloggers)
This is a YA blog aimed at those of us who are, shall we say, reading below our grade level. The adults who love YA. It's funny and smart and snarky and covers not only books but also tv shows (mostly not ones I watch, but whatever) and movies. Their reviews are among my favorite reviews to read, whether or not I agree and whether or not I've even read the book. It's entertainment all on its own.


2. that cover girl (Capillya)
Here's a blog that focuses on the shiny outsides of a book. Yep, a blog devoted almost entirely to YA book covers. It has interviews with designers and authors, analysis of book covers, and plenty and plenty of pretty pictures. If you're someone who pays as much attention to book covers as I do (um, a lot!), this is definitely a blog worth checking out.

3. Early Nerd Special (Clementine Bojangles)
This is one that isn't entirely YA but more of a mix of everything: television shows, movies, music, books of all sorts. Her reviews are in-depth and interesting and, of course, I love blogs with a television-as-well-as-books focus.

4. hitting on girls in bookstores (Adam)
I just recently started reading this blog but OMG. It's awesome. Again, not strictly YA but at least mostly. The reviews are a bit non-traditional and often bullet-pointed, which I really really like. (I love lists. Can you tell?) Very funny. Very good.

5. incrush (Nomes)
This Aussie-located blog is just... ahhh, just so good. I don't even have that much to say about it except that it's awesome and one of my favorite blogs to read. Also? Check it out because the layout/theme is so goshdarn pretty.

On the Books I Don't Want

This past week I got a surprise book in the mail for review. It fell perfectly within my review guidelines, yet I immediately knew (based on what I'd heard about the book as well as its back-cover pitch), that I wasn't going to be reading it. There was just too much that was going to bother me. I packaged up the book to send on to another book blogger who's been wanting to read it, but while all of this was happening I had a thought, one that's been slowly brewing for a while.

Lately I've read quite a few books that I either didn't finish or finished but wasn't that jazzed up about. I don't get a ton of review books sent to me out of the blue, but I get enough to realize that the books I get out of the blue aren't always ones I'd otherwise read. A lot of times this is great because there's a good chance I wouldn't have read the incredible books The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June or The Unwritten Rule. It's just that sometimes it takes a lot to get through a review book; not because the books are badly-written, but just because the particular stories/characters/writing doesn't appeal that much to me personally. There have been quite a few books that everyone absolutely adored while I didn't quite "get it." There have been others I haven't finished or have finished out of a sense of obligation more than anything else.

This isn't right with me. I love reading and I want to keep it fun. The second my blog becomes obligatory work is the second a huge part of my love and joy for reading dies, and I don't want that to ever happen.

I love getting books for review; it's awesome. But I do have to set a few ground rules for myself--

• I'm no longer going to finish a book out of that sense of obligation, that feeling that I "have" to write a review for it. If the only reason I'm reading a book is to write about it, I'm wasting my time.
• If there's a book that I know I'm not going to be reading (or sometimes if I don't finish a certain book), I'll do my best to get it to someone who does want to read it -- blogger, author, librarian... someone who might also write a review or talk about it if they like it.

So, if you're a fellow blogger -- what do you do about "review" books you find it hard to get through?

What to Look for In A Book Blog

I find Klout, the website that measures your influence via Twitter and Facebook, incredibly fascinating. According to them, I have a Klout score of 45, influence 133 people (all on Twitter since I don't have a Facebook account), am a "specialist," and am influential mostly about blogging and authors. Aside from Klout thinking I'm also influential on the topics of Facebook, relationships, and moms, it all seems pretty spot-on to me.

I mention this by way of a discussion on influence and true reach on the internet. Those 133 people I influence are what Klout considers my "true reach." It's less people than the 361 that follow me on Twitter, but still way more than I'd expect considering I don't have a hugely popular blog or a book deal. And this brings me to the main point... book blogs. More specifically, the "true reach" and power of book blogs. Thanks to a conversation on Twitter and this post, I've found out that some publishing companies really prefer a blog to have at least 1,000 followers before sending review books.

The reason this bothers me (and it definitely bothers me) is probably the same reason it's bothering a lot of other book bloggers: because a flat follower count is not an indication of a blog's influence or quality. As I write this post Ten Cent Notes has 263 followers -- a modest amount that I'm happy with, but definitely not the 1,000+ I've recently come to feel like I should be aiming for. This doesn't include any email subscribers or people who actually type in the URL, of course, but more than that it doesn't take into account content. I know that there are some people -- even with all the other blogs and reviews out there -- who rely on my reviews and trust what I say about books. I put a lot of time and thought into my reviews (as well as the rest of the blog) and having readers who appreciate what I say is an amazing thing. But knowing that my blog, based solely on follower count, isn't popular enough to build a relationship or be considered by publishers is incredibly disheartening. And if I'm being honest it kind of makes me angry.

Because -- and I'm not saying anything that my fellow bloggers don't already know -- the easiest way to get new followers is by running contests that require or give extra entries for following. And while I love blogs that run giveaways, there are a lot of blogs that have thousands of followers based solely on the giveaways they host. It has nothing to do with content and it's obvious because, often, there isn't much content. I definitely agree that, especially with how many book blogs there are now, there needs to be some standards in order for ARCs/review copies to be sent. I just think that the 1,000 follower mark leaves out too much information and more often than not targets the wrong blogs.

Publishers, if you're listening, here are some things (I think) you should actually be looking at:

• Time. How long has the blog been up and running -- three months? Six months? A year? Blogging is one of those things that doesn't really seem like it would be work until you go and do it; in my experience most bloggers who stick around after the 6 month mark are doing this because they honestly love books and want to share that love. These are the bloggers who are going to stick around and build a readership.
• How often do posts go up? Different people have different opinions on this one but for me unless there's at least a post a week I'm going to lose interest... and I'm betting a lot of other readers will as well.
• Quality. This is, of course, unquantifiable, but generally posts should be fairly well-written and thought out. And interesting.
• Stats. Follower count, site hits... whatever. The tricky thing here is that I'm not sure any one form of stat counts includes everything and some bloggers don't keep track of counts. That's why there are so many other variables that should be looked at.
• Reader participation, a.k.a. comments. Blogs that get comments are doing something right.

That's about all I can think of right now, aside from the obvious common sense stuff like making sure the blog actually reviews the genre in question. Bloggers? What do you think of all of this -- should follower count be the be-all-end-all? What else should be considered? Did I miss anything?

Hello Again!

 I gave up this blog over a month ago. I blogged a bit over at & Story, including a couple of "book love" posts that I just had to write about books that are absolutely brilliant and you must read. But really, I didn't blog much and what I did write was second-, third-, and fourth-guessed before I ever posted it.

The truth is that I miss book blogging, including writing reviews and discussing things in the genre of YA. There are so many great books out there, so many that don't get the recognition they deserve, so many that I read and just want to share with others. There are books I love and books I don't love and books that I think other people would love. THERE ARE SO MANY BOOKS OMG I JUST WANT TO HUG THEM ALL.

I am aware that what I say has consequences, that some people see a big conflict of interest in both writing and reviewing, that I might be hurting myself or insulting others by continuing. This is why I stopped in the first place. But also, I do miss it and I do love it. I'm passionate about books - not just writing them, also talking about them. I like sharing my thoughts. This is something that I enjoy and while it's not the be-all, end-all of my life, it is something that brings me happiness. I've been worried about what if somebody doesn't like me because of my reviews? when the truth is that that might happen. There are plenty of reasons for someone not to like me. We all have someone who just rubs us the wrong way and really, what can you do?

(I know, I know, go on your merry way and keep your head down and keep your thoughts to yourself, duh.)

Really though, I miss the blog. I miss reviewing. I miss talking books. As so many others have pointed out, writing reviews and saying anything negative online is a calculated risk. I've said before that I don't think this blog will stop me from getting published, though I supposed it could stop me from signing with a specific agent or getting a certain author to blurb my books. There's a lot of ifs though, and when it comes down to it reviewing is something I really enjoy. I would choose my writing over it, but for right now... maybe I don't have to. I do have a tendency to over think things, overanalyze, be anxious when I shouldn't.

For now I'm kind of taking it day by day, but I have a few reviews written and scheduled, I have followers/readers that hopefully haven't jumped ship, and... I'm back.

FIVE: Great YA Bloggers

I restrained myself from including author blogs on here or blogs that are primarily concerned with the writing or publishing aspect of YA. These are all YA book blogs -- the ones that I absolutely adore and read every single post from.

1. Frenetic Reader (khyrinthia)
In addition to being an incredibly sweet and funny individual, Khy's blog is also great. For the most part we have very similar reading tastes (if she's read a book I haven't she can usually guess if I'm going to like it or not) and I love that she posts every single day. Sometimes the posts are just her random, book-related thoughts, sometimes they're reviews or more in-depth posts, but I always love reading them. And usually afterwards I want to just comment OMG KHY YOU'RE AWESOME!!! Plus, I love the quirkiness.

2. Forever Young Adult (many bloggers)
I don't know how it took until just a few months ago for me to discover this blog. Aimed at YA readers who are "a little more A than Y," this is a sharp and funny site full of reviews, lists, and lol-worthy Flowers in the Attic recaps. (I will never read that book. Their recaps are more than enough for me.) Though my reading tastes don't always match up with theirs, I read all the reviews just for the abundance of funny.

3. Not Enough Bookshelves (Alexa)
Ages ago Alexa had a personal blog that I loved to read (back when I had my own personal blog) and her book blog was much less frequently updated. However, having rediscovered the book blog just this month I've realized that it's COMPLETELY AWESOME. The writing is great and there's something very genuine and heartfelt about her posts that keeps me coming back and incredibly interested in what she has to say.

4. Persnickety Snark (Adele)
Adele is sort of like my book-blogging hero. Not only are her reviews incredibly well written and thought-out, but she often is able to say just what I was thinking much better than I could ever say it. Additionally I love that she seems to operate a bit outside of the typical realm of YA blogs -- she's a little offbeat, a little different, and always does her own thing. She talks about books that nobody else is talking about and posts thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion posts instead of merely echoing what others have said. Though the future of her blog is a bit TBA right now, she's definitely inspired my blogging.

5. The Story Siren (Kristi)
This blog has interesting posts, good reviews, discussion posts that actually spark discussion, and a "Dear Story Siren" feature that's incredibly helpful to lots of bloggers. Not to mention Kristi's spearheaded the whole In My Mailbox meme and is hosting the Debut Author Challenge for the second year in a row. Really, her blog speaks for itself: she's helpful, humble, and incredibly nice while running one of the best YA blogs out there.

Blog Hop (Losing Followers)

What are your feelings on losing followers? Have you ever stopped following blogs?

I try not to pay attention to how many followers I have but let's be honest - that never works. At least, not for me. I have what I consider a decent number of followers and I really hope that they're all following me because they actually want to and that they enjoy my posts and reviews. It definitely bothers me to lose followers, but I don't let it bother me for long. Personally I have stopped following blogs. Every so often I go through all the blogs I follow and get rid of the ones that either don't post or that I'm just not that interested in reading anymore. If I follow your blog it's because I'm interested in what you have to say and I enjoy reading your posts - and I hope that you're following me for the same reason. If someone isn't following me because they're interested in actually reading the blog, then it's no great loss when they unfollow.

The Reading Breakdown

This past week in talking to a fellow blogger over Twitter, she mentioned that she rarely ever reads YA because she finds it difficult to relate to. This caused me to ask myself a few questions:

1. Will there come a time where I can't relate to young adult literature? Also, how can I make that not happen? (For all of you readers who are in your 20's or older... do you still relate to YA despite no longer being a teenager? Do you think this will change?)
2. Is the way I relate to books, and YA in particular, different because I also write it? And why do I write YA instead of, say, mainstream fiction or children's?
3. How much of what I read falls under the YA umbrella?

During the conversation (what do you call a conversation held over Twitter, anyway?) I guessed that I read about 75% YA. However, when I looked at the books I have listed on Goodreads I found that the actual number is surprisingly lower. On my Goodreads "2010" shelf I have listed all 41 books I've read since, oh, July-ish (which was when I really started using Goodreads).

The breakdown goes like this:

Nonfiction: 10%

Average Star Rating: 3.66

This includes: one Malcolm Galdwell book, one teen memoir, one memoir in the form of a graphic novel, and a book on education that I'm in the process of reading for school.

Mainstream Fiction: 7%

Average Star Rating: 2.66

This includes: one awesome book sent to me by Becca as part of our Book Buddies program and two fairly disappointing used-bookstore buys.

Classics: 10%

Average Star Rating: 3

This includes: three books I read for Lit class, although one of them was FAHRENHEIT 451, which I've always loved, and  my favorite novel, GONE WITH THE WIND.

Science Fiction: 2%

Average Star Rating: 2

A book of short stories.

Young Adult: 56%

Average Star Rating: 3.78

This includes: everything I've reviewed, with the majority being contemporary and a few dystopian books thrown in.

Middle Grade: 15%

Average Star Rating: 3.33

This includes: everything else I've reviewed. Again, mostly contemporary.

This means that, even if I lump YA and MG novels in the same category, they take up 71% of my reading and, to be perfectly honest, I expected my reading habits to be a bit narrower than this, especially seeing as how my bookshelves are so full of YA and this blog focuses on that genre almost exclusively. 

Now I have to ask you... what's your reading breakdown? Do you have any idea?

Friday Five: The Website Edition!

1. T.H. Mafi's brilliant, insightful, hilarious and breathtaking blog. In all honesty, Tahereh is my absolute favorite blogger and one of my favorite tweeps. She's unfailingly kind, adorably sweet, and just as zany and spazzy as I am, which is a quota few people fill. SHE IS ALL KINDS OF WONDERFUL. Plus, she runs QUERYPOLITAN, which gives her FIVE THOUSAND BONUS POINTS.
2. Dinosaur Comics is the one webcomic I read every single day. It's super-funny and if I had the time I could spend hours just hitting the refresh button. T-rex is one of a kind and I do love him so. 
3. Hulu. Because, obviously I love television. Watch Parenthood. Watch Community. Watch 30 Rock and The Office and oh my goodness, don't judge me for watching so many shows.
4. The YA & Children's page of TV Tropes. As a whole and with some minor exceptions, TV Tropes is an absolutely awesome website full of internet-y and fiction-y goodness, but the YA page is especially awesome for us YA fans. EVERYONE SHOULD GO AND ADD MORE BOOKS TO IT PLEASE BECAUSE YES.
5. Hyperbole and a Half, but come on, internet, don't even try to pretend you don't read this. It's too hilarious to not.

Blog Hop: Oct. 1 - 3 (Blog)

This week's Blog Hop question is:

How do you spread the word about your blog?

I honestly don't remember what I did when I first started... I already knew a few book bloggers when I started blogging and they helped spread the word about my blog. I also use Twitter like a crazy Twitter-fiend, so that's probably the main way I spread the word about my blog now. I do a few different memes (this being one of them) and have done others in the past. I also try to always comment on blog posts that I find especially great or interesting.

Blog Hop Sept 17-20 (Bloggy Buddies)

This week's blog hop question (hosted by Jennifer, of Crazy for Books) is:

In honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, let's take time to honor our favorite book bloggers.

I have quite a few book blogs that I visit frequently and love reading, but for this post I'm going to highlight the best of the best... one blog that I've been reading forever and another that I just recently discovered.

Adele, of Persnickety Snark. In addition to running one of the best book blogs out there, Adele is also a fan of Friday Night Lights and many other awesome TV shows (that I love, too.) Her discussion posts are always thought-provoking and amazing, and her book reviews are unfailingly honest. She's one of the few bloggers that really goes into detail with her reviews and I know that when I click over to read her opinions she's being 100% honest. Not only do I love this because I know I can trust what she says, but she's also a great role model for me in writing my own reviews.

Forever Young Adult. I just recently discovered this blog and OMG, IT'S AMAZING. Funny, witty, and altogether brilliant. Though I've only read their most recent entries, there's a big part of me that wants to just dive in and read THE ENTIRE ARCHIVES because the site is so great.

So, who are your favorite book blogs/bloggers?

Blog Hop: Aug 20-23

This weekends blog hop question, from Crazy For Books, is

How many blogs do you follow?

Going by the Google Friend Connect, I follow about 70. But to be honest I mostly just scroll through the dashboard updates and click on posts that interest me. As for blogs I actually follow and read every post of? The ones listed in the blog roll in my sidebar are my favorites.

&& for anyone who's came here from the Blog Hop... HELLO!! Stick around a while. Put your feet up. Hit the follow button. STAY FOR THE CRAZY.