Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Why I Love the Book Blogging Community

Let me start by saying I tried to think of a flashier title for this post. Something fancy and poetic and possibly derived from a famous philosophical quote. I came up with zilch so you get the very original 'Why I Love the Book Blogging Community'...

I don't usually do posts like these. Wait what do I mean usually? I mean never. And it's because I've never felt the need to (among other reasons). But as of late there has been a post and if you know the post then you know what I mean and if you don't then it's still A-OK. I agree with the post and the fact that each blogger has the right to express what they want. However, some drama has also arisen due to a difference of opinions. Guys let's not forget that we're all entitled to our own opinions and that is what makes me love you all - what makes everybody unique. It seems some negativity(?) has come about around the book blogging community - the way some people say/do things that others don't agree with...



Which is why I want to go back to the reasons why I love the book blogging community. There's #LoveAThon coming up in February to spread the blog positivity, so don't forget to sign up for that on either Alexa, Cee, Mel or Hazel's blogs. 

It's no secret that this blog has struggled. I've mentioned it a million and one times so won't bore you with the details. But if you read between the lines enough you might have noticed that underneath, I had notions of quitting. I don't though. I keep on hanging on because of reasons:

I was welcomed with open arms. When I first started using Twitter to discuss books and writing on my blog, everybody was SO welcoming. My friend Mariam introduced me to people and Saz tweeted about my blog and then all these amazing people started talking to me and following me (Alice, Shirley, Pavan, Claire, Hannah, Kim, Kerrie, Kat... and so many other Aussie bloggers). I don't want to stop talking to these beautiful people. When I met so many of them in real life at my first book event after only blogging for 3 months, everybody treated me like I was one of them.

Publishers are so inclusive. I started to hesitantly email and introduce myself to publishers after reviewing for 3 months and ALL. THE. AUSSIE. PUBLISHERS. ARE. SO. FREAKING. NICE. I still remember how daunting it was to send my first email to a publicist introducing myself and asking if I could be added to their database to know about new books. The replies I got were welcoming and I felt so grateful. To this day, I try to regularly email publicists to not only maintain that relationship, but yes while they're busy at work, sometimes a nice email that simply says "hi how are you" puts a smile on people's busy days - hey we're all human.

Interacting with publishers is so fun. Beyond the emails publishers hold chats (PTA Chat) and blogging events (PTA Live, BTCYA Bloggers Night just to name a few) which are open to all. I love getting to interact and joke around with the publicists on social media and in real life. It's a bit of heckling and a lot of fangirling and it gives me all the warm and fuzzies to see how PTA basically reply to all the tweets on a PTA Chat night.

Butting in to Twitter conversations like yeah. The amount of times I do this and have had people just include me in conversations warms my heart. It's such an open community and a lot of the time I lurk and lurk and sometimes I take the plunge and add my comment - people will reply and the spamming begins all over again yisss.

Getting to meet bloggers in real life. Every time there's a bookish event I get to meet more of the amazing people I fangirl with on Twitter. And it's just so good to see everybody and chat books and fangirl about stuff (EVAN WALKER AFTER THE 5TH WAVE MOVIE YEAH).

Friends beyond the blog. So many of these people I've met I now text and chat to on a weekly if not daily basis. We go to movies together (Joy), go out shopping (Jess), text when we feel like it or when we need someone to talk to (Kat and Mel) and it feels so great because you guys get me. You get me more than people I've known since high school get me.

Sharing is caring. And every time we meet up I love the book swaps that happen. We share the book love and just keep on giving.

The friendships have no borders. I've talked a lot about the Aussie YA book community but I've created friendships with so many like-minded people overseas. There's my fellow Sarah J Maas fans Alexa, Rachel, Judith and Katie. Alexa always takes the time to talk to people and she is such a caring person. I go fangirl crazy with Judith and Ellis who are in Europe. And I've bonded with Lisa and Siiri over Melina Marchetta and the Calloway Sisters series. Lyn is my resident KH fan and Hafsah, Cee and Josephine inspire me with their beautiful blogs and designs. 

I don't want to stop meeting such wonderful people. Along the way I've met so many other amazing bloggers and my fingers would fall off if I wrote everybody's name (YOU'RE ALL TOO WONDERFUL) but people like Jeann and Emily who always take the time to read posts and leave thoughtful comments, the people I talk to on Twitter yeh now I'm rambling... I want to keep forming these friendships.

The blogs themselves are beautiful. I love traversing and lurking on people's blogs. I get a bit envious seeing all the amazing post ideas and wonderful designs I admit. I admire the thought people put into their reviews and how their opinions are different/eye-opening. I like the way discussion posts are thought provoking and have people sharing ideas. I love seeing the features that people do that showcase their books and likes/dislikes and tell me more about the blogger. And I especially love the sweet comments that result from all this.

These are just some of the many reasons why I love the book blogging community. I'm not gonna lie and say we haven't been shaken up once in a while by drama but the overall community is so supportive and can come out stronger.

If you feel that you can't speak up as a new blogger or whatever, don't feel this way. Send me a tweet saying hi on Twitter - I swear I don't bite!

17 comments:

  1. I LOVE THIS POST. <3 I think the book blogging community is wonderful and maybe I'm just oblivious, but I don't even see half the dramas that go down. And when they do, it kinda shocks me that people think the community is such a negative place. Because??? It's really awesome???? I see SO many nice bloggers. SO MANY. And omg I love how nice the Aussie publicists' are <3 even when I have embarrassingly requested the wrong book to the wrong house and nearly DIED they were just so kind and all "oh don't worry about it". Omg. Lovely, lovely folks. XDXD

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    1. THIS COMMENT EXACTLY CAIT. I actually think we've been sheltered (idk how, timezones?) to a lot of drama so I don't see a lot of of it either but see it secondhand.
      Either way the community is lovely and you are one of the awesome people I've been privileged to meet *hugs*

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  2. The book blogging community is amazing! Always so welcoming and inclusive, no matter how long it's been since I joined in a conversation. Interacting with this community has actually helped me get over a lot of my fears. And I've made some of the best friends. Sure I've had some rocky times while blogging, but in the end I'm always reminded exactly why I love book blogging so much. The community makes it all worthwhile and blogging would be so boring without it.

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    1. I LOVE YOU BEC! I can't even remember how I met you now but all I know is you're one of the awesome friends I've made.

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  3. A great post. I've been a book blogger for 5 years but have only really been part of a "community" for the past year or so thanks to the great work people do on Twitter (namely PTA chat and OzYaChat). I write about books because I love books. I do it on a blog because I want to share my favourites with people. I talk about books on Twitter because newsgroups don't really exist any more, and that's where I went when the Internet was young. Twitter is where it happens now. It's inclusive, it's a democracy, and people need to remember that it's not life. It's meant to be enjoyable. We're not curing cancer here.

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    1. Wow 5 years! And yessss I love the way PTA Chat brings so many book lovers together, it's my fav chat.

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  4. I totally relate to so much of this post, Jaz! I have had the biggest struggle with blogging this past 1.5 years or even more tbh and I only published 9 blog posts last year which speaks for itself. I have thought about quitting more than enough (almost every time I think about writing a blog post I wonder whether or not this will be the post that turns out to be the final catalyst), but there are so many things that stop me from doing it, because this community is amazing! Most of the time that is. Same for me: the people I have become friends with are some of the most amazing people ever and they are so nice, warm and wonderful! Even when we don't discuss books, but irl problems, I know they have my back and are there 100% when I need them. Heh! Seeing Penguin Teen AU everywhere -- they are so lovely and magical! Always brings a smile to my face and I'm always so giddy seeing you and Jeann talk to them all the time :) Exactly! These people mean the world to me and if it wasn't for my blog that has brought me together with these amazing people --> I probably wouldn't dare to be so much of myself? It has brought me a ton of joy to see that there are so many people like myself out there who geek out over such silly yet precious things and who cry over and laugh with characters like they're a piece of yourself. So much amazingeness! AND CALLOWAY SISTERS AND MARCHETTA!!!!! <3 TRULY SOME OF THE BEST THINGS IN THIS WORLD. I SERIOUSLY CAN'T IMAGINE IF I COULDN'T TALK TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE ABOUT THEM! OUR FANGIRLY CONVOS ARE THE B EST OK! <3 YES!!!!! I love reading discussion posts, because I may not always have the words to say stuff or ideas on what to write about, but I love seeing what other people think and discussing things with them. It's such a neat way to learn about someone. You're a precious gem Jaz! Don't ever change <3 *hugs you tightly*

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    1. THIS COMMENT SIIRI. DAYUM GIRL. My heart warmed up reading this thank you girl <3 I adore your Coballoway edits so much pls don't quit and don't stop making them. I feel that so many of my Twitter friends now are there for me when I have irl problems they're better than talking to my rl friends. You know you should totally join in on PTA Chat ESPECIALLY WHEN WE TALK MARCHETTA. It's not limited to AU!
      Thank you Siiri *hugs again*

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  5. This post is so sweet! Blogging is such a sweet community, they're all so welcoming and warm and it's surprises me when drama happens! But I guess that's life, there will be drama everywhere we go and we must find the positive side of things. This post reminds me why I started blogging in the first place :)

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    1. Yes we must definitely try to stay positive! And so glad to hear this post reminded you of why you started blogging (:

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  6. Such a lovely post! You summed up everything that makes the blogging community so special to me and to so many other bloggers out there <3

    ~ Booknut101 @ 21st Century Once Upon A Times

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  7. FEELING THE LOVE. And it's at times of drama that everyone really becomes even closer - awful but still. And within my sphere at least, the drama seems to be always very far away.

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    1. SPREADING THE LOVE. I'm glad the drama feels far away. I would hate to be caught in the middle!

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  8. Ah this is a much needed post at times like this when all the drama tends to create divisions. I'm incredibly grateful for difference in timezones too because most of the times it means that I'm not awake during all the drama. While I understand the need to speak out against things that we don't agree with, it's quite horrifying to see the lengths that people would go to ascertain their views.

    I positively (yay for unintentional puns, haha) love this post, Jaz. :D

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  9. You summed everything up beautifully! I have always avoided any drama and I've seen only the good side of blogging. I think some people just like to create drama for attention (just my thoughts)..

    I can also relate to wanting to give up (I'm currently on a 'break') it's great you have stuck with it.

    A great post! Thank you for sharing.

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