1. Can you tell us a little about your experiences with bloggers?
It’s been great! I’ve been overwhelmed at the “blogosphere’s” response to SHADE in particular. *blushes* A writer friend of mine compared YA book blogdom to science fiction/fantasy fandom, because they’ve formed a friendly, passionate community around the thing they love most—books! — Jeri Smith-Ready
I love bloggers! They have really helped me get the word out about my new books. I've made a lot of friends all over the world--Spain, France, New Zealand--and we stay in touch. They've helped run contests, review my books, and connect me with other bloggers and fellow bookophiles. — Nancy Holder
In one word, bloggers ROCK! My experience has been almost 100% positive. As a debut author without the backing of a major publisher, I’m responsible for all of my marketing. One of the first things I did was look for bloggers who might want to review my book. I contacted 10 at first and received 9 yes’s. One or two didn’t get the reviews done, but I really was overwhelmed with the kindness and excitement everyone else had about reading my story. Then others contacted me, asking me to please, please, please send them a copy. No book that’s been read by a decent amount of people is going to get all glowing reviews – there’s just no way everyone is going to love our books – and I’ve had a few that were not so stellar. But they’re usually written well and make great points, whether the reviewer liked the book or not. There have been a couple that seemed to be written just to hurt the author and these just make me sad for both the author (me or someone else) and the reviewer because they’re not helpful at all and only create bad feelings. Most bloggers, though, give so much heart and soul to their reviews and to their blogs that you know they’ve really considered what they’re writing and how it will affect both writers and readers. — Kristie Cook
I’ve had really good experiences with bloggers. Even if I don’t fully agree with a review, I respect the fact that someone took the time to read my book and write about it. Sometimes a blogger will pose a question, and I’ll follow up in the comments section. I seem to startle bloggers when I do that, which leads me to believe there are some that don’t have the time to post. I hope I will continue to be able to follow and contribute to the blogs. I figure if you took the time to write the article or a review I will take the time to thank you. Even if you spelled my heroine’s name wrong (wink). — Jana Oliver
When my first book, Redemption, came out in 2004, I wasn’t aware of bloggers. This time around, for Deadly, I realized that bloggers were really, in essence, rabid book lovers. Being a book lover myself, I could identify. Actually communicating with bloggers to ask for reviews and interviews was a bit scary for me (I feel a little funny promoting my self/book.) Some bloggers were highly receptive and communicative, and some less so. It was important to pair my book not just with the bloggers who’d be receptive, but also with bloggers who were interested in my kind of work, this historical medical mystery type thing. It took me awhile to understand how important that was. — Julie Chibbaro
I count bloggers as some of the best experiences I've had since being published. I had no idea such a community of women existed before. Some of my most joyful moments came from reading their reviews, because they are the real reader. These are true representatives of the people buying and reading my books. — Janenifer DeLucy
I went to my first kidlit blogger conference a few years ago, but honestly I had no idea the YA blogger community was so vast until Kristi at The Story Siren chose Tell Me a Secret for her 2010 Debut Author Challenge. Since then I’ve met some of you in person at events, had coffee with others, and have happily visited your blogs as a guest and on tour. You are celebrities to me! — Holly Cupala
I love bloggers! They have been so wonderful--they care about books and about spreading the word on good books. They're like the librarians of the online world. — Beth Revis
My experience with bloggers has been absolutely amazing! I first learned about book bloggers when I joined Twitter last year. I was very flattered by the warm welcome they gave me, and I continue to be so grateful for their excitement and enthusiasm about Other Words for Love. — Lorraine Zago Rosenthal
The funny thing about bloggers is that most of the time they are indistinguishable from readers. I can be talking to someone about books on twitter, goodreads, or wherever, and I'll be completely surprised to hear that person's a blogger. It just goes to show that anyone can develop strong opinions about literature and present them in a convincing way via a blog. As a result, I've come into contact with such a wide variety of opinions about different books that it's really helped broaden my sense of what readers are looking for. Because we're all a little different, I have a theory that no two people ever really read the same book, and so it's wonderful to read reviews on a number of blogs to see the variety of ideas and perceptions. — Jason Letts
Bloggers in general have been nothing but ah-maz-ing to me! Without their undying promotion and love of books, getting word out about great novels would be harder to come by. Many of these bloggers (including you) are now my closer online friends and they warm my heart with their kindness. — Brenda Pandos
* The second question for the bloggers will be posted tomorrow in 3 parts. USE GOOGLE if you want to know more about the blogoversary celebration.