Tag: blogging

  • Plans for the blog in 2025

    I’m going to keep on reading and reviewing! You may have noticed that there are sometimes longer gaps between blog posts. I’m a lot busier than I used to be, so I don’t complete as many books as I used to, or have the time to think of wacky ideas. I still enjoy blogging though so I plan to keep on going! I like the idea of doing more retro music reviews and some more posts about film and TV. I’m also working on my next novel, so I have to choose between that and working on the blog. I would really like to give the blog a makeover sometime, perhaps to coincide with the launch of the book.

    Wishing you a happy New Year.

  • 6 years of blogging!

    This is about a month late, but I had a notification from WordPress that I registered with them 6 years ago and to ‘keep up the good blogging’. Thanks, WordPress! I had no idea, when I started the blog, that it would grow so much and gain so many views! I’m not convinced about the future of ‘traditional’ blogging – the trend has become micro-blogging (or indeed vlogging) through social platforms and networks, moving away from individual websites – but I’ll continue as long as I have something to say! And I’ll do it through the old-fashioned medium of written blog posts. I’m not making videos. I don’t watch bloggers’ videos, let alone feel the urge to create them, even though this is the strongest, most visible way to self-promote. I prefer the written word. My way of blogging feels write – I mean right – to me.

  • My 1000th blog post!

    999 blog posts? Have I really written that many?! Apparently I have, so this one, the 1000th, is a celebratory post in which I’m going to highlight some of the content that makes my blog unique.

    Poems. I don’t pretend to be a great poet, but I have been inspired to write verse about subjects such as AI authors, tomatoes, 2020 and button-less cardigans.

    Stories. My trademark short story is weird, a bit sinister, sometimes funny, with a twist. Check out The Good Clown, Dinosaur Party, Oak William and She Dreams of Diggers. They are all exclusive to this blog.

    Critical reviews of hyped books, because I rarely like what everyone else seems to. Some examples are Hamnet, The Appeal, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and Normal People.

    Obscure book choices. My reading taste has been described as eclectic and I do like variety. Here are reviews of The Rainbow Goblins, Temples of Convenience and Chambers of Delight, A Pink Front Door and The Land Where Lemons Grow.

    Film / book comparisons. These are somewhat of an obsession and I publish one every month. Some of the many ‘film of the book’ posts include The Shining, Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Pinocchio.

    Gig reviews. Every so often, I like to attend a concert and try my hand at music journalism. Here are reviews of Crowded House, Gary Numan Acoustic, Franz Ferdinand and Turin Brakes.

    Fun posts when I’ve seemingly had nothing else to do but put together something amusing. Check out my fictional holidays from hell, writing tips with a little help from 90s pop music, obscure children’s TV comedies and the 10 types of book reviewer.

    Thoughtful posts on bookish topics, such as the definition of classic books, whether a film adaptation can be better than the book, what literary fiction is and why I re-read books.

    There is of course a lot more to explore and you can find other posts on my blog by selecting a category or using the search box (to the right of the screen, or at the bottom, depending on your screen size), or navigating the pages for my writing, reading and miscellaneous, for a selection of posts.

    Thank you to everyone who has read, shared, liked, commented or subscribed to the blog over the years.

  • How I plan my blog posts

    Regular readers of my blog will have probably noticed that I publish a post every 2 or 3 days and occasionally on consecutive days. I never run out of things to write! But how is it done? Well, I’m going to share my scheduling secrets. If you’re not a blogger, this may not be very interesting for you, so all you need to do is wait another a day or two for a book review to come along 😉

    Firstly, how do I keep track of my blog posts? Nothing fancy, just a basic spreadsheet in which I list all the dates I want to publish posts. I use it to plan what goes where, to note what I’ve already scheduled and what I want to write in the future. It then becomes a record for every post I’ve ever published. The schedule is not set in stone. I frequently change things around to ensure a variety of posts or to prioritise new posts which have a bearing on current events.

    Secondly, how do I ensure I don’t run out of content? Well, I’ve always got at least one book on the go. I read an average of eight per month. As I review the vast majority of the books I read, there are always reviews to schedule. I also have regular features such as ‘film of the book’ and various discussion posts which I write whenever the topics are fresh in my mind. I can then space them out, so I might have, for example, three book reviews, followed by a post that’s something different. If I’m reviewing a live event, I’ll schedule it for as soon as possible, in case other people are searching for reviews of it. I do have a broad range of interests and an enquiring mind, so I never run out of topics. Blogging should be fun, in my opinion, so if I’m not feeling it, then I don’t force myself to write.

    Thirdly, how do I get the time to write and schedule all of these posts? Some people who are not bloggers have assumed that every post is actually written and published on the day. This is very rarely so! Almost everything is scheduled in advance. I get as many posts done as I can whenever I have a block of time and I’m in the mood. My posts usually take less than half an hour to write but it depends on what I’m writing about. Sometimes I have a post saved in the drafts because it’s something that needs adding to now and again, not being the kind of post I can write in one sitting.

    Fourthly, how do I decide how often to post? Some bloggers post every day without fail, others post weekly or just whenever they feel like it. The reason for my decision to post every 2 days (ish) is now lost in the mists of time, but looking at the early days of my spreadsheet, I can see that the frequency of posts increased at the beginning of 2019, which was a few months after starting the blog. I suspect that I just fell into the current pattern of posting because I like to be consistent. Hopefully the subscribers appreciate that, as they will know what to expect. Posting often and frequently seems to work well, as I usually gain more subscribers with every post and my monthly views are increasing.

    Fifthly, do I recycle my blog posts? I’m all for recycling to help the environment, but when it comes to blog content, I keep it original. I may refer to previous posts or write sequels to them, but I won’t just re-use the same content and pretend it’s new. It’s possible that in the future I might re-read a book I’ve already reviewed on the blog, in which case I might quote my original review and then add some extra commentary. My review style has also changed over the years – it’s a bit more efficient now – so I wouldn’t want to use much older material anyway.

    Lastly, do I ever take a break?! Well, I do sometimes take a few days’ break from writing and scheduling posts, if I’m writing my next bestseller, on holiday, having technology issues or just busy with life. But unless there is anything preventing it, there will be posts scheduled for that period, so there is always something new for subscribers to read. I also get a lot of hits from search engine results now, so I hope that those visitors might stick around if they see that the blog is updated often.

  • Blogging – why bother?

    Quite often I see announcements from people who have decided to give up on blogging. Sometimes it’s because other things have become a priority and there is no time or inclination to keep the blog going. Other cases, however, cite lack of engagement as a reason to transfer from their own blog to, for example, other platforms where followers can be more easily gained or interacted with. Perhaps you may be wondering why bloggers continue their endeavours, while huge social media companies are pulling everyone in and causing a decline in small interactive websites. It’s really a question of what an individual hopes to gain from blogging.

    First and foremost, I blog for myself. It can’t be denied that having an audience does help me to refine my writing style, but the blog is here for me to pour my thoughts and experiences into. Would I write so much if it was all in a private notebook or electronic file not intended to be shared online? I highly doubt it. As for engagement, I appreciate it when people comment on my blog posts, share them and are up for discussions. It’s true that engagement seems to be declining, for which there could be a variety of reasons. However, I get many visits to my blog and I gain more subscribers almost every day, so I know for sure that people are reading the blog and hopefully gaining knowledge or entertainment from the content.

    I originally set up my blog in 2018, intending it to be a promotional tool for when I became a published author (finally achieving this purpose in 2021 with my first novel) but as a book fanatic I wanted a place to share my honest reviews and which I could personalise. Not limiting myself to book reviews, bookish features and updates on my literary career, I also blog about films, music, research and random things. I love having my own blog and I think there is something special about having one’s own little website which, although part of a community of blogs (WordPress) is not merely a snippet to be swiped on a social media app along with millions of others. I use social media to promote the blog, not the other way around. I fear that our attention spans in general are becoming shorter and that contemporary technology is to blame. Why read a thousand word blog post when you could scroll through video clips instead? Media everywhere is becoming increasingly audio-visual, making blocks of written text seem rather old-fashioned and not worth expending brain-power on. Or is that the appeal? Not everyone wants to watch and listen. They want to read the words on the page.

    That’s all I’m saying about blogging for now. Now, back to the book reviewing…

  • How I write book reviews, part 2

    Three years ago, I explained how I write book reviews. Having written literally hundreds since then, I’ve got a few more things to add!

    I consider if a book is a debut. It’s well-known that debut novels are usually followed by even better novels, as authors are becoming more practised and developing their styles. If I’m reviewing a debut and I have mixed feelings about it, I emphasise the aspects I enjoyed and possibly be open to reading the author’s next book. I think authors have a peculiar fondness for their first book. It’s like your first home after moving out of your parents’ place – it’s not perfect, you know you’ll move on to a better one, but at least it’s your own space.

    I tend to be more understanding when reviewing independently published authors, as they haven’t had access to the many services which traditionally published authors benefit from. As I know from experience, writing, editing, formatting, publishing and marketing a book on your own is very hard work indeed! That said, I’m still honest in my reviews, particularly if I think the book needed improvements in editing, proofreading and formatting. I aim for constructive criticism and I hope the authors appreciate that.

    I always assume that translated books are best experienced in the original language. Therefore, I take into account that the book is a translation. If the writing style seems a bit off, or there are strange word choices, I might suggest that the translator is responsible. However, it must be very challenging to make a book understandable for an English readership while ensuring the writing flows. I don’t think translators are given enough credit, so I make sure to mention them.

    I prefer to separate art from the artist, although there are exceptions, such as autobiographies, autobiographical fiction and personal manifestos. Distancing myself from the author’s life and opinions allows me to focus on the book. Unfortunately this is the era of ‘call-out culture’, a toxic and vicious aspect of social media. It seems that no moderately famous person can do anything or have an opinion without their actions or beliefs (sometimes from a long time ago) being dissected and served up for the trolls to feast on.

    I will mention the use of language and stereotypes that would be considered offensive by today’s standards. It’s an advance warning and shouldn’t be considered the sole reason to avoid that book. Such usage is generally consistent with the context in which the book was written. As I have said before in my post about ‘outdated cultural depictions’, the further we go back in time, the more likely we are to encounter these in all kinds of media. Instead of censorship, it’s wiser to let people make their own minds up.

    I don’t let myself be swayed by pretty book covers. If the cover is nice, I might say so, but I won’t give a more positive review just because of that. Interior illustrations are a different matter and I’m likely to mention how they contribute to the reading experience. One thing I don’t have to worry about is giving a book a more positive review because I was gifted a lovely finished print copy and would feel guilty for saying anything negative – I rarely get sent these! But if I did receive stacks of pristine free books through the post every week, I’d have to be wary of this issue.

    That’s all for now, although don’t be surprised if a ‘part 3’ materialises in another three years.

  • The 10 types of book reviewer!

    When you read and write a lot of book reviews, you can’t help noticing the different styles and approaches of other reviewers, or even of your own reviews. Just for fun, here are 10 types of reviewer I’ve identified. All are valid approaches! There is no right or wrong way to write a book review.

    The Minimalist. The master of one-liners or short paragraphs which get to the essence of what the book is about and briefly communicate their opinion.

    The Aesthete. Enthuses about the physical aspects of a book, such as cover design, signed copy, layout, luxury binding. Almost forgets to discuss the contents…

    The Empath. Focuses on the emotional connection, especially if the book made them cry and left them devastated, heartbroken even. Really feels for the characters as if they were dear friends.

    The Rambler. Wordy essays which are liable to go off on a tangent and have a very loose structure. They might use the review as an opportunity to work through their thought processes.

    The Ranter. Very passionate in their reviews, possibly with the use of helpful gifs and emojis. They will absolutely love a book, completely hate it, or be annoyed that they found it mediocre.

    The Philosopher. Thinks about the concepts in a book more than the writing style, characters etc. Uses the review to consider deep questions inspired by their reaction to the book.

    The Cheerleader. Always positive about the books they review, usually 5 star ratings. They take every opportunity to recommend the books and praise the authors.

    The Analyst. Takes apart the structure, writing style and context of a book. May be a writer themselves or have studied literature. Not likely to let their emotional response dominate the review.

    The Summariser. Mainly describes the plot and the characters, with less space given to opinions. More like the other definition of review, ‘an assessment’, rather than ‘a critical appraisal’.

    The Apologist. Sorry for not liking a book that has been hyped, or has won awards, etc. May also apologise for various aspects of their review, such as the length, coherence or the gap between reading and reviewing.

    Which type(s) are you? Would you add more any to the list?

  • ‘We Watch You’ – 1 week on!

    A week ago, I unleashed my debut thriller upon the reading public. The launch day was very busy indeed, as I had a lot of notifications to keep track of, comments to reply to and posts to share on social media. Typically my computer decided to be grumpy the night before. I stayed up so late fixing it that I decided I may as well publish my launch day post before going to bed!

    I ran two international giveaways to celebrate the launch. They have ended and the winners have been notified. The Twitter giveaway was very popular, proving something we already know – people do love a giveaway! I had fewer entries to the email subscriber giveaway, which was as expected, but I wanted to give the opportunity to followers who are not on Twitter.

    The ‘see inside’ facility is available on the Amazon product page for We Watch You. Oddly, for the paperback you can only see a very few pages and none of the actual story, while the Kindle edition has a generous number of pages you can view. If you wish to sample the writing style, please look at the Kindle edition!

    A big thank you to everyone who has helped to promote the book by reviewing it, featuring me on their blogs and sharing content on social media. And of course thank you very much to everyone who has bought or downloaded the book so far! If you have read the book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or both.

    Here are some links for you to check out (correct at the time of this blog post):

    Review and interview at The Strawberry Post

    Review at From Belgium With Book Love

    Author in the Spotlight interview at Portobello Book Blog

    Review at The Book Inspector

    20 Questions interview at Fictionophile

    Review at Me and My Books

    Review and Desert Island Books feature A Little Book Problem (below is an image of all my choices – click the link to read about why I chose them!)

    Review at Jenny Lou’s Book Reviews

    Bloggers to follow this October at Not So Modern Girl

    New Release Spotlight at Emma B Books

    Review at The Busy Shelf

    New Release Spotlight at Narratess

    Excerpt at Lee’s Hall of Information

  • Why do you follow or unfollow a blog?

    I recently asked on Twitter what reasons anyone has for unfollowing a blog. I’m interested to see how the number of followers fluctuates almost every time I publish a blog post. It’s not predictable either – sometimes I lose followers for posts I think will be popular, and sometimes the reverse happens. Nobody answered my question, so I’m going to discuss it here and if you have any more reasons to add, please do comment.

    Why do I follow a blog?

    • I enjoy the content, which appeals to my taste in books (for example) and is well-written.
    • The owner of a blog has reached out to me (perhaps by engaging with me on my blog or other media) and we have tastes in common.
    • The owner of a blog is very approachable and pleasant to interact with, usually replying to my comments.
    • There is a variety of content on the blog – I really enjoy variety, so my favourite blogs have a mixture of book reviews from different genres, discussion pieces and non-book posts.

    Why do I unfollow a blog? This rarely happens, but when I do, here is why:

    • The blog appears to be inactive and was never one I interacted much with in the first place.
    • I become fed up with the blog owner ignoring my comments, especially when my comments are questions. If you’d prefer people not to interact with you, then it’s a good idea to turn your comments facility off.
    • The blog’s main purpose changes, for example it becomes more about product placement or has a lot of guest posts which are not on subjects that interest me.
    • A book blogger never gives their own opinions about the books they review, instead just repeating the blurbs and promoting the authors. This has a purpose, but it’s not content that appeals to me.

    Some things that don’t affect whether I follow or unfollow a blog:

    • The aesthetic. I know some blog owners work very hard on how their sites look, but nearly all of my blog viewing is through the WordPress Reader, which levels the playing field, as it were.
    • Tags or shared themes which many bloggers join in with. I don’t take part in these myself and they aren’t my favourite kind of posts to read, but if the blog has other content too, I’m not unfollowing.
    • The number of followers a blog has. It doesn’t always correlate to the quality of the content, and besides, everyone starts from zero followers. It matters more to me that I enjoy the content and that the blogger is likely to interact.
    • ‘Unpopular’ opinions. It’s better to have any kind of opinion than none at all. Unless I encounter opinions that I find offensive, I’m not going to unfollow.
    • Frequency of blog posts – unless they are so infrequent that the blog seems inactive, then I don’t mind how often the posts are published.
    • Use of images or gifs. I think it’s nice to have at least one image per blog post but wouldn’t say it’s essential for my enjoyment. I prefer images that aren’t too large, or else the page can be slow to load.

    I hope this post has been of interest. Are any of these reasons yours too?