tsanad
36p
38 comments posted · 13 followers · following 0
10 years ago @ Musings of a Wannabe S... - Rabbits, turtles and b... · 1 reply · +1 points
I will say the only time I do forget what I just watched is when my mind wanders to internety things and I get distracted by twitter/blogs etc. Reading something while ostensibly watching something is a guaranteed way to take less TV in.
My recent post Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
10 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - Taking stock – E... · 1 reply · +1 points
10 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - Anonymous reviews in A... · 1 reply · +2 points
Regarding book blogging becoming unpaid advertising, I agree (although, obviously, paid advertising wouldn't be a significant improvement). This is part of the reason I refuse to participate in "cover reveals" and if I'm going to be part of a blog tour I always ask for an interview. That at least brings value content that I have some control over (I've seen some authors do really terrible guest posts that bring nothing to the blog, so I want to steer away from that risk.
On a related note, have you seen the series of interviews Shaheen (http://speconspecfic.com/) has been doing with publicists from big(ish) publishing houses? What I find really interesting is the answers to the question "What is your position on receiving reviews for books you have not sent to a reviewer?" They've mostly ranged from "that doesn't happen" to "gosh, what a nice surprise". And that surprises me. I don't know any book bloggers (although I know they exist) who review ONLY books publishers send them. So does that mean the publicists just aren't hearing about unsolicited reviews (because they're not notified of them) or does it mean they don't care about/pay attention to older books they've released (and by older I only mean a few years)? This is tangential to what you brought up, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Back to your earlier point, I'm a bookblogger partly because I wanted to build some connection with the (Aus) community. (And also because I like talking about books, of course.) I don't see it as something I will be doing permanently. At some point I would want to transition to being mostly a writer rather than mostly a book blogger. For now, though, this is what I'm doing, especially since with PhDing I don't have enough spare brain for much writing. But it's definitely been a valuable way to stay in touch with the community. My first foray into the Aussie spec fic community was more than a decade ago when Voyager had an online forum that was actually good and fostered friendships. (It fizzled out as they paid less attention to it. There's a new one now and it's crap.) I'm still friends with people I met through that but without bookblogging I think I'd feel like I was sitting on the outskirts looking in, rather than feeling like I was a part of something. (And this has gone way off topic relative to your original questions...)
My recent post Tsana's March Status
10 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - Anonymous reviews in A... · 1 reply · +2 points
Also, I think it's easier to write negative reviews sometimes. And certainly it can be more fun. Like a reward for finishing a crap book. But I don't write that many of them because I'm usually not too far off on choosing books to read that I'll like.
I also think that if a group of us (Aus spec fic book bloggers) got together to start an anonymous group review blog (as a random example), some of our readers would probably be able to pick out our styles anyway. Your suggestion, in the context of print reviews, of keeping the critic anonymous but revealing gender, ethnicity and politics probably wouldn't work in a small pond. That alone would likely be enough to identify the reviewer, especially if they were from anything resembling a minority.
My recent post Metastasis edited by Rhonda Parrish
10 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - Coming Soon – St... · 1 reply · +1 points
My recent post Rare Unsigned Copy by Simon Petrie
10 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - eBook Review – M... · 1 reply · +2 points
My recent post The Dreaming (Volume 1) by Queenie Chan
10 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - End of 2013 · 1 reply · +2 points
My recent post Challenge round-up: Australian Women Writers
10 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - eBook Review – T... · 1 reply · +2 points
My recent post Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
10 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - To SMOF or not · 0 replies · +2 points
I'll second you on it being more of an American thing, too. It think the Australian community is much more inviting and, quite frankly, I'm not sure I want to have too much to do with US fandom. (Not sure about UK, I have less knowledge and hence opinion there.)
My recent post Hal Spacejock: Safe Art by Simon Haynes
11 years ago @ http://bookonaut.blogs... - Book Review – Wi... · 1 reply · +2 points