Tagged: discussion

Discussion: What Makes You Follow a Blog?

I know we just had a discussion on Friday, but this is more open-ended than my other one about book review request forms where I was specifically soliciting advice.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while.  Why do some people follow one blog and others don’t?  What makes you want to follow a blog?

Obviously subject matter and your level of interest in it is important.  I, for example, wouldn’t follow a blog devoted to football because I really dislike football.  That only makes sense.  But sometimes I’ve unfollowed blogs despite the fact that the subject matter is great.  Sometimes it’s because the blogger never responds to comments, never posts on a regular schedule and/or gets boring/loses that spark that made me follow the blog in the first place.

So what I want to know now is this: What makes you follow a blog?  What things do you look for in a blog before you decide to follow it?  Are there any follower dealbreakers for you?

Discussion: Book Review Request Forms

As I cryptically hinted at yesterday I will be changing the way I accept book review requests in the future to avoid such a horrible backlog.  How will I do this?  Well, instead of leaving authors with no guidelines which they seem to take as an invitation to be lazy, I will make them fill out a form.  Yes, some authors will rail against the injustice of it all and how much time it will take, but those are the authors I really wouldn’t want to review anyway.  If you can’t follow my rules, I’m not going to read your book.  Plain and simple.

So my question for you guys is this: What would the ideal book review request form include?  Would you ask authors for things like the genre, book blurb, target age group, etc?  Do you think a review request form is the way to go?  Or should I be trying something else to avoid my backlog as well as badly behaving authors?

Discussion: Do You Read Self-Published Books?

As a book blogger I do accept self-published books and I’m one of the dwindling bloggers that does, it seems.  I’ve been burned by self-published authors before (see this lovely incident) but overall they’re a great bunch of people trying to get their unique stories out into the world.

That said, of course self-publishing has its downsides and these are the common stereotypes that you find in the media.  There’s poor grammar, spelling, pacing, badly developed characters, etc.  And that’s why some people choose not to read self-published books.

What I want to know now is this: Do you read self-published books?  Why or why not?

Discussion: Your Favourite Historical Period

(This may seem a little non-book related, but I swear this is relevant.)

Personally I’d have to say my favourite period in history to study is ancient Egypt.  Compared to Western culture their civilization was so alien so I suppose there’s the whole exotic factor.  Yet at the same time I admire their determination as a culture to survive.  How many other civilizations pretty much collapse twice and come back stronger than ever?  That’s pretty admirable.  And there were so many interesting people to study.  Nefertiti, Nefertari, Ramses II, Kamose, etc.

At the same time, I absolutely love ancient Rome thanks to Mike Duncan’s awesome podcast The History of Rome.  There are much more reliable written records for Roman history than there are for much of ancient Egyptian history and I feel like I know the historical figures on a much deeper level.  Of course there’s the fact that I love studying ancient battle tactics and the Romans were always fighting someone.

As you guys have probably noticed, these periods in history are the ones I read about most frequently in historical fiction.  Coincidence?  Of course not.

So what I want to know is: What’s your favourite period in history?  Why?  Do you intentionally seek out historical fiction set in that period?

Discussion: Your Favourite Place to Read

After some controversial discussion topics the last few times, how about a nice simple one?  Basically, what’s your favourite place to read?

For me it’s on my bed in my bedroom.  Not only is laying down and reading the least painful position for someone like me to be in it means I’m in my own little silent area.  If I want to listen to music while reading I can.  If I want to listen to nothing at all I can.  When I’m alone I don’t have to argue about the volume of the TV/stereo/whatever, you see.  Everything is under my control and I love it.

So what’s your favourite place to read?  Why?