It's Time To Make Some Changes

Over the past month, I've been thinking a lot about this blog. I ran the Author-fest throughout October and had so much fun with it. It made me realize how many amazing authors there are out there and how I want to get to know them better.

Having had a chat with Brenda, we think it is time to make some changes to our blog.

YAlicious is all about celebrating Young Adult books and movies. So it's time to start doing that a little more. From now on, we are going to dedicate this blog to book and movie reviews, author guests posts, blogger guest posts and chats about what author's are working on.

We want this to be a place of discussion and fun.

If you are an author, or know of an author you think would be good for this blog, please let us know in the comments section. This also applies to book bloggers. You guys read so many amazing books, we'd love to hear your favourites and find out what you think about writers as well.

We're also on the hunt for questions you want answered. As a reader or writer, what kinds of interview questions do you want to ask an author or book blogger?

Thank you so much to the followers we have and thank you in advance to all the wonderful guests we will having visiting our blog. We're so excited about these changes!!

Let the fun begin :)

PS - Posting times are going to shift as well. We will now be posting on a Monday and a Thursday. 

The Honest Truth

There has been a lot of discussion lately about some very underhand tactics to get a ton of reviews on Amazon and therefore shoot books into stardom. For example, authors paying for reviews or making up phony aliases so they can write their own reviews. Many whom I have spoken with are appalled and sadden by these methods. I'm sure you feel the same way.

I don't want to harp on about it, but since I am getting ready to e-mail a copy of Betwixt to all the blog tour participants (Betwixt blog tour hosted by A Tale of Many Reviews, Dec 3 - 8), I thought I'd touch on the subject today.

What is an honest review worth?

To me, as a reader and a writer, the answer is simple - gold. An honest review is what I'm looking for. I don't want to give buyers false impressions about my books. I also don't want to buy a book based on false reviews. I want my books to be reviewed by readers and I want to know what they think. I value readers' opinions and I particularly love reading a review that is well thought out and shows the reviewer has really understood the book.

Whenever I review a book, I tend to keep it brief as I never want to give away spoilers. I hardly ever read a book that I think is perfect, but I try to err on the positive when I'm writing a review. If I have a huge issue with something in the book, I will mention it, but on the whole I like to be upbeat. I will never write anything I don't agree with though.

What kind of reviewer are you?

I'd like to finish by saying a huge thank you to anyone who has reviewed or rated my books. I so appreciate the time you have taken to read them and then share your opinion on them. It's people like you that help us indie authors get exposure for our work, so a thousand times thank you :)

Friday Favourite - Blogs to follow

Betwixt is preparing for a blog tour. A Tale of Many Reviews is hosting it for me and so far we've had quite a few sign ups. Squee!!

So anyway - as I'm getting all excited about this upcoming tour, I started to think about some of my favourite blogs to follow and what attracts me to them.

The first one that jumps to mind is Refracted Light Reviews. Dani started the blog and then brought two more reviewers on with her - Heather and Aly. It is such a gorgeous blog. I love the design, the posts always look gorgeous and the reviews are always thorough and well thought out. I subscribe to receive updates by e-mail and I always love flicking through the latest posts.

Another blog I look at daily is Indies Unlimited. I love the variety of their posts. Each day there are five posts put up and there is always something interesting to read or learn. I love that there are so many contributing authors. There is a wealth of knowledge to be shared and support to be given, and I think IU does a fantastic job of this.

There are screeds of other blogs I follow, but those two were the first that jumped to mind. I guess it tells me that I like blogs to be visually appealing, have well thought out posts that contain information that will teach me something or lead me to an excellent read.

What do you look for in a blog?
Do you have a favourite blog that you love to check in on frequently?

MP