Welcome to Buffy’s Corner, where I take a look at what’s coming up this week on the blog! I’m linking up with The Sunday Post over at Kimberly’s blog, The Caffeinated Reviewer:-D
The weather here is glorious! With apologies to anyone who is still dealing with winter weather. It’s time for me to break out the flip flops and paint my toenails, lol.
Let’s talk about blog tours. I’ve had this conversation before and I wont’ go into the awful experiences I’ve had in the past, but I seem to have forgotten my personal rule about NOT DOING BLOG TOURS. I have a couple of very nice publishers I work with who have been inviting me to participate in them, and I’ve said yes for whatever reason (because they are very nice people and it’s hard for me to say no.) But I’ve found myself in that sticky situation where I’ve agreed to post a review for the tour and find myself not completely loving the book in question. My new rule from this point forward is to participate if I want but not do a review for the tour. That way I can post a review later and not worry if I don’t like the book. After tomorrow’s post (see below), I have one more review commitment for a tour and then that’s it. And wow what’s up with blog tours anyway? They seem to be everywhere these days. What’s your opinion? I find that readers don’t really engage in my blog tour posts anyway, and I do keep track of which posts are most popular on this site, and which posts crash and burn (stat wise, that is). Blog tour posts consistently rank low in my stats, which is one reason I don’t want to do too many of them. Let me know your thoughts and experiences in the comments, do you enjoy reading blog tour posts? What has your experience been?
Upcoming reviews:
My reading stalled a bit this week, not sure why. I started Birds of Paradise and then panicked because I knew I would have to read All the Murmuring Bones for a blog tour stop (tomorrow), so I ditched it and will go back to it this week. All the Murmuring Bones was super atmospheric, but the overall story was lacking for me. My copy of Later finally arrived this week and I’m already about halfway through and really loving it. Yep, I’m actually reading a book I bought, not a review book! What a rebel, lol.
Upcoming reads:
As I said, I’m diving back into Birds of Paradise, which started out great and hooked me right away! After that, I’d like to get one more March book in if I can, so maybe The Lost Village, depending on how I feel. And then it’s time to start my April books: Titan Song is up first because I cannot wait to continue this amazing series!
The usual memes…
Wednesday I have three new books to share in Future Fiction, The Friday Face-Off is “picture within a picture,” and Saturday I’ll be sharing my latest book haul post in Over-Booked.
In case you missed:
Last week’s posts:
Blog Tour Guest Post: Rosie Shadow by Louise Worthington
We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart – Review 4/5 stars
The Fall of Koli by M.R. Carey – Review 5/5 stars
I have cut down a lot of blog tours and have to make sure its something I really think I am going to like. My problem with tours is I am a mood reader and when I feel like I am forced to read a book when I don’t want too! Then I feel bad if I don’t like it, but I am honest with the tour people and I will tell them I didn’t like it can I post a spotlight instead or an excerpt and most are pretty cool with that. I only really work with two tour companies now on a limited bases.
I am reading Later but I think it’s kind of slow but okay. I am about 90 pages into it.
Have a great day and happy reading!
I really loved Later but I can see why you think it’s slow. It’s sort of different for SK. My problem with not liking a book for a blog tour is that I’m usually reading it at the last minute and there’s no time to substitute another kind of post, lol.
There are several things that seem to be staples of the blogging community but take me a while to figure out. Tags were that way. It seemed everyone but me knew what a tag was. But eventually after seeing enough I mostly figured it out. Blog tours are another. I suppose I know what they’re all about but I’m not often drawn to them. What I’m most drawn to are the opinions of the bloggers (you! :-)).
When I saw the picture for Titan Song I knew you’d be looking forward to that one. 🙂
I got a little excited by this weeks nature photo. A birding/photography blog I visit had posted about an eastern towhee, a favorite bird of mine in this area that I don’t see often enough. Then I saw Moses’ photo and thought that looks like a towhee, but it can’t be an eastern one. I’m guessing it’s a spotted towhee? Beautiful bird, that’s for sure, and you’re right about the toenails. 🙂
Yes, it is a spotted towhee. I love the way he’s “yelling,” lol. And I agree with you, I really don’t like “spotlight” blog tour posts that don’t have any of the blogger’s opinions or personality. They are just filler in my opinion. Saying “no” to things I really don’t want to do is something I’m working on;-)
I have not engaged in many blog tours, mostly for the reason you quoted: should the book in question not meet my tastes (like it happened in a very catastrophic way with my first ever blog tour!) I might find myself in a very awkward position, indeed…
Book-wise, I am very, very keen to read King’s “Later”, having already read one positive comment, so I look forward to your review! 🙂
Oh, that bird picture is amazing: the contrast between the reddish breast and the rest of the picture is quite striking 🙂
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I loved Later! It was not at all what I expected, but on the other hand it was classic Stephen King and so much fun to read. In fact, it was nearly impossible to put down and I read it in a day!
I only do blog tours for books I’m pretty certain I’m going to like, usually by an author I’ve read or a series I’ve really enjoyed. Totally get the stress of having a less-than-strong-enthusiastic review, I had a 3.5 for one of my tour and I was anxious the whole time leading up to the post!
Caitlin G. recently posted…Review: THE UNBROKEN by C.L. Clark
I’ve been anxious for several as well! The book for tomorrow is probably a 3 star (maybe 3.5) and I’m going to leave my star rating off until after the tour.
I sometimes do blog tours if they have a giveaway or if it’s the only way I think I can get a review copy. But they often don’t get the ARC or materials to me until late so it’s a rush. I don’t do the spotlight only ones on the blog but I do those sometimes for favorite authors as a facebook post. Our weather is warming up here too!
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Yes, if it’s a book that I’m already planning on reading, or a publisher I work with, I will do a blog tour. But this month I’ve had too many and I’m going to take a break:-)
I used to participate in lots of blog tours but I stopped mostly, because it was taxing to read “on command”. I became a very mood reader and it did the books a disservice to read on a schedule.
Now that pic of the bird is AMAZING!
I agree, reading on command is stressful for everyone!
Beautiful picture and I’m glad you’re liking Later. I loved it and would have given it 5/5 but there was something thrown in at the end that I didn’t think it needed and I was kind of like “huh?” I am excited to have read it so soon though.
You know I do quite a few blog tours but I only really work with one organizer and if don’t like the book, she will provide me with an excerpt to post instead so it’s worked out okay in the past. Hope you have a wonderful week!
Now I have to go back and read the end to see what you’re talking about! I loved it too, I read the whole thing start to finish yesterday. I know you like your blog tour company. I think that’s the key, finding one that is easy to work with and also has interesting books.
Lol! That bird looks like it’s about to make a long speech, lol.
I’m not big on blog tours. I avoid participating in them (I may have done one or two), but I might check out a post for it if it’s a book I plan to read or the post interests me in some other way.
I know, I love that bird photo:-) I often find lots of blog tours are for indie books I’ve never heard of, so I generally don’t visit those posts.
I used to do a fair number of blog tours but have gradually backed away from them. I didn’t like the pressure of having to post on a specific date and like you, I didn’t feel like I was getting much interaction on those posts. Love the bird photo. The detail your hubby captured is incredible!
The pressure is real for sure!
YES, I thought Later was really addictive and a quick read. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
I literally couldn’t put it down. I lay around all day on Saturday reading, lol.
I really hope to start Stout series this Spring, because you are just making me so curious!!
And the pic is lovely!!
I hope you get the chance to start the Titan series, it’s one of my favorites:-)
Can’t wait to see what you thought about the new Stephen King book. It’s one I’m really looking forward to reading.
It was so good! Hopefully my review will be up later this week:-)
I think I tend to feel very similar ly about tour posts. I enjoy participating in them and promoting books (and seeing others participating in them), but it definitely gets tricky when I don’t enjoy the book in question as much as I’d hoped and/or I get rushed to read it. I have a few more to do that I signed up for a while ago, but outside of that I’ve tried to start getting a bit pickier about them, and I’ve also started being clear that I won’t necessarily include a review/long review depending on what happens (I’ll still post reviews, but if they aren’t super high rated I’ll wait until after the tour). I still love spotlighting books because I just find it really fun to share books with people, haha, but overall I’m with you on trying to be more selective about how I go about them (I also have a hard time saying no!). I try to spread them out usually also, but sometimes I’ll realize I have 2-3 scheduled in a one-two week period, which I don’t like to do.
I am so curious to hear your thoughts on The Lost Village when you get to it! Same with Stephen King’s new book. Hope you have a great week! 🙂
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We seem to have similar thoughts about blog tours. I had four in March which is way too much!! And I think I have three in April, so after that I need a break:-) I loved Later!
When I was a baby blogger I did blog tours, cover reveals, you name it and after finding myself reading a couple of books then writing up reviews the morning of the review I started easing back from them. I think I’ve done three maybe since I’ve restarted blogging but now it’s only if I really really really like the book and have the time. In fact I have my first blog tour post in ages this Thursday!
Have a great week!
I don’t really participate in many blog tours at all and when I do it’s *rarely* with a review attached because I’m crappy about reading on a schedule. I think I have done one or maybe two in all the time I’ve been blogging that have included reviews. On the other hand I don’t mind participating by posting an excerpt or something like that because it is low effort content for me and fills up the schedule on my blog but I don’t even do those that often haha. And usually only with people I’ve worked with before.
Glad the weather is great there, ours has improved as well. I am ready for it.
That little bird – it looks like its about to shout things from the rooftops and I didn’t notice those wicked claws.
Lynn 😀