Hello everyone! It's another new month and with that comes a new "Blogger of the Month."
This
will consist of a post that includes an interview with the chosen
blogger, along with featuring them in my sidebar for that entire month.
It was a new feature I started on my blog in April (Refer HERE if you would like to see the original post & if you would like to be apart of this as a blogger).
June's Blogger is Jamie from Books and Ladders, BAMF, AND Queen of the Bookshelves
~Interview Time~
Canadian
book blogger who owns more books than she can fit in her room. Typically reads
YA but has a soft spot for Science Fiction and Fantasy, so she carries those
around with her as well. Reads while drinking tea, curled up in a little ball
for maximum warmth.
Get in touch with Jamie through:
Get in touch with Jamie through:
~Interview Time~
Sabrina: **Stands up to shake hands**
Hello Jamie! It is such a pleasure to have you as my June blogger of the month!
Jamie:
Hi Sabrina! Thanks so
much for having me on your blog :)
Sabrina: How about we start off this interview
by you telling us a little bit about yourself?--Such as your likes and
interests.
Jamie:
I’m not too
interesting, to be honest. I obviously like to read or else I wouldn’t be
blogging and this takes up a lot of my time, especially with three blogs to
maintain. I also watch a lot of anime and TV shows, especially Brooklyn 99 and
Community. I am a fan of characters so TV shows really have this as an outlet
for me. Otherwise I really like hockey and soccer and watch those religiously.
Sabrina: Since this is an interview focused on
your blog and blogging experiences, how did you decide that you wanted to take
up blogging, specifically book blogging?
Jamie:
I kind of forgot about
Goodreads for a bit after I signed up in 2011 (for like 4 years) but I was
reading and saw someone on Facebook using it so I signed into my account. I was
looking at other people’s reviews, saw they were blogging, and thought “I could
do this.” I did some research about platforms, what it actually entailed,
googled some book puns to create my blog name, and signed up. Since then it has
just been coming up roses.
Sabrina: Which five blogs to you actively read
and follow?
Jamie:
Gah, I feel like I’m
picking favourite children. I read so many blogs and try to keep up to date
with as many as possible, although I always feel like I’m far behind. I get
like 20 emails a day that are just new blog posts because I love seeing what
other people are posting about and what they think of books or current events
in the bookish world. But here are five blogs that I think have great content:
Tea & Titles. This is a blog run by Ely and Michelle who are both lovely. They have such
interesting posts and are always looking for ways to highlight new books and
books they love and I really enjoy seeing what they come up with.
Emily Reads Everything. This blog is run by Emily and she is 1) great and 2) amazing.
She has a Twitter Chat Calendar which I regularly use and she has a
feature called “Awesome Indies” which shines a light on indie authors
which is always good.
Bookiemoji. Crystal and Jenna are both awesome people and run an
AMAZING blog. Their reviews are always on point and they both bring so much
goodness and light to the book community. I want to be like them when I’m a
real adult.
Chasing Faerytales. Mishma is literally the nicest person ever.
Not only is she hugely obsessed with Victoria Schwab like I am, she is also a
leader in making the bookish community, me included, more aware of diverse
books. We need more people like Mishma in the community. She also co-blogs on APerfection Called Books with Rachel and Julia.
The Candid Cover. Olivia is literally the best. She has such
great insight when writing her reviews and I love seeing her fangirl over books
she loves. I always smile when I read her posts because you can tell she puts
so much love and effort into her posts and I just aspire to be as dedicated as
Olivia is.
Sabrina: What is your favourite post to write
and share?
Jamie:
I love doing reviews. I
love telling people what I like and don’t like and inspire people to pick up a
book. The best feeling is when someone tells me they read a book because they
saw my review of it. That is like better than chocolate (okay that’s a lie).
Sabrina: I know that you are a part of three
blogs, how do you mange your posts and time?
Jamie:
I’ll have a post about
how to get organized for both blogging and reading in July on Books and Ladders
so you can learn all my secrets then! But, some days are better than others:
Some days I forget where I’m posting; some days I post across all three blogs
by accident. It’s mostly about balance, though.
I have two great
co-bloggers, Nicola on Queen of the Bookshelves and Dani on Books Are My Fandom, so it is
pretty easy. I read really quickly and schedule really far ahead so I never
really have to worry about having the content. For me, the hard part is
PROMOTING the content I produce because I am usually so far ahead of myself
that I forget about the right now. I use Hootsuite to schedule tweets and
Buffer to keep a backlog of posts I have already done so I constantly am
keeping people in the loop about what I am writing.
Sabrina: How long have you been blogging and
apart of the bookish community?
Jamie:
It was officially a
year on May 7th, 2016 since I started blogging on Books and Ladders. It’ll be a
year on Queen of the Bookshelves in August 2016 and a year for Books Are My
Fandom in January 2017. But I was always a part of the “community” even when I
wasn’t blogging. I followed Kristen (http://www.myfriendsarefiction.com/) before I started blogging and was
actively involved with keeping up with new releases and all that. It was a
pretty easy transition from “reader” to “blogger” for me because I was reading
100+ books a year BEFORE blogging. Now it has just increased since then.
Sabrina: Where did the idea for BAMF (Book are
my Fandom) blog idea come from?
Jamie: Dani from Dani Reviews Things , Iris from IrisJexx , and I decided to start Author
Services including proofreading and beta reading as a group and that slowly
migrated into being THAT plus a co-blogging experience for all of us, although
Iris is on a hiatus right now so it’s just Dani and me running BAMF right now.
It’s been really helpful to have another outlet for features because I can use
BAMF to focus on promoting authors through our Pro Talks and Where Are They Now? features and use Books and Ladders and
Queen of the Bookshelves for reviews and discussions. Plus Dani is my best
friend so it is great to be able to do this with her.
Sabrina: What are a few tips you would give to
book bloggers who are just starting?
Jamie:
Most of my “tips”
revolve around branding and time investment. Your blog is how you communicate
to the book community whether through reviews, discussions, memes, etc. If you
are only putting in 10% effort, you won’t get 100% result. I spend about 5
hours a day working on posts JUST for Books and Ladders; double that and you
are close to what I spend A DAY working across all three of my blogs. If you
don’t put in the time and effort, you aren’t going to get results. This is a
hobby, yes, but it is also something to be proud of and put 100% of yourself
into.
And on top of this,
your blog is your brand. You want people to be able to recognize you and your
blog for something positive. I know a lot of people know me because of
two things: 1) I can read REALLY quickly and 2) the Air Awakens Series by Elise
Kova. While the first one is just because
of interacting with people on Twitter and having them see that I start a book
and three hours later am done, I also like to maintain this “image.” Before you
start blogging, think about what you want to be known for and DO THIS A LOT and
have people NOTICE you do this.
Realize, though, that
this works both ways: if you are always negative in some respect, i.e. always
posting negative reviews, always complaining about something or the other, THAT
is what people will remember about you. It is your space to say and do as you
like, but remember that other people can see it and therefore you should
think about how you represent yourself and your blog.
Sabrina: What 2016 ARC book are you eagerly
awaiting to have the rest of the world read once it releases?
Jamie:
ALL OF THEM?? I think
at this point, it would probably be IVORY & BONE by Julie Eshbaugh. I really liked this one and thought
it was such a unique writing style and concept. I was really lucky to be able
to read this one early and I will definitely push it on people when I have the
chance.
Sabrina: What is one random thing about yourself
that you wish to share? Kind of like a hidden talent.
Jamie:
I play the piano and
could have gone to university for it but chose to study something else instead
of music.
Sabrina: It’s
been super fun interviewing you Jamie! Thank you for sitting down with me today
and giving us some insights on you and your blogging. I can’t wait to read more of your amazing
posts!
Jamie:
Thanks so much for
having me! I really enjoyed answering these questions and giving some nuggets
of insight into my blogging.
With
that, this concludes the my third blogger of the month. It has been a
great pleasure getting to know all these bloggers even better. Make sure
to check out Jamie's multiply blogs, and make sure to chat with her over on twitter
1 comment:
So you can imagine my surprise that Jamie mentioned me because in all honesty, Jamie is one of the MOST dedicated bloggers that I have ever seen! Seriously! She runs three blogs, a rocking Instagram and is so tuned into everything that goes on. I seriously do not know how she does it all! What a wonderful idea for a post and you definitely are showcasing one of my favourites! :)
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