I've had an epiphany. Not a real epiphany mind you, but one of those "You are truly an idiot because everybody in the book blogging world already knows this", sleep apnea induced epiphany.
You know the type right?
What do you mean "Nope, only you have those Mulluane..."
Ok, ok, can't blame a gal from trying not to look completely stupid right?
Anyway, this revelation was born from guilt, which is always a powerful motivator. This guilt was multilayered, as all really good guilt should be.
The first layer is all the cool books I keep finding on my doorstep sent by authors and publishers. You see the problem is, there are alot of them and I am but one person. I'm reading as fast as I normally do, which is pretty fast, but proving to be not fast enough.
The next layer of guilt is that some of these wonderful books are just not something I enjoy. I am not adverse to trying new things, and as a rule I will atleast attempt to read them, but those efforts sometimes fail. Not because they aren't wonderful books, but only because they do not appeal to my tastes. But, folks took the time and expense to send them to me so....you guessed it....I feel guilty.
Then there are all the really cool books I have purchased that I want to read, or reread because I want to share my love of them with Fantasy lovers anywhere. Believe me when I tell you that it is hard sometimes to make myself read and review a book that has an impending release date when I am really in the mood to read something else. But, if I do that, it makes me....yep....feel guilty.
I could go into the lack of interesting post ideas I have failed to come up with for this blog, but one can handle only so much guilt in one post.....
Sense a pattern here?
Anyway, one night, the type filled with mutterings of "I must go to sleep" mixed with lots of tossing and turning, it came to me. There is more then one way to promote a book!
Duh... (I tried head-pillow at this point but it just didn't have the same effect as head-desk.)
Why not just showcase them, one book or series at a time, in a post with blurbs, excerpts, author info...the whole nine yards. I mean half the battle is bringing good books to your attention right? You can't read them if you don't know they exist.
This will greatly relieve some of the self-imposed pressure I feel when faced with this huge TBR pile, will serve my readers by letting you know what is out here (past, present and future books) plus I'll be giving you links to go and discover more info if the book looks interesting to you.
Yes I know, this is something everybody else already does I just got around to realizing WHY they do it.
This does not mean that I won't be reviewing the books, though in some cases this will be the case, it means that I don't have to review them like...yesterday.
So, what do you think?
Good idea Mulluane, about time you thought of it!
Stupid idea Mulluane, you really need to get more sleep.
Or, the ever popular
We don't care one way or the other Mulluane, afterall it is YOUR guilt, not ours. Besides, we like the sporadic post frequency of this blog because it doesn't load up our feed reader...
And of course if you have a better idea, I am open to that too.
P.S. If you don't respond to this post it will make you feel guilty....
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12 comments:
Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I'm so impressed that you read the amount that you do. I'm good for a book every ten days, at best.
Good luck with it.
I think it's a great idea, and one I may possibly steal at some point if things get a bit too much for me too :)
I don't know if you'd find it helpful or not, but have you thought about trying Kristi of the Stroy Siren's meme, In My Mailbox? You'll be showing the new books that have arrived, and it's a post that's pretty much gaurunteed to get quite a lot of people checking it out. Just a suggestion.
John.
Thanks! And, thanks for stopping by to comment. I LOVE comments!
Jo.
Have I mentioned that I love suggestions? And that sounds like a really good one, I'll have to check it out.
Thanks to you also for stopping by to comment!
Great idea! I may send a few suggestions for the column if i find a good series.
I think that is a good idea. I personally like to see book covers and blurbs on books coming out.
You know, any idea that alleviates any amount of guilt is a good idea. Just saying. :)
Personally I could care less either way. But that's me, and you probably shouldn't base what you do on what I think. If you want to do it, great, if not, okay. Either way I'll keep reading.
Good idea, as long as you make it clear it's publisher information and not a review. I have the same problems with too many books and guilt!
Well, sounds like I need to get to work!
Thanks gang.
I think it's a good idea because I do something very similar. Nowadays, I showcase all books that arrive on my doorstep, or in cases where someone (author, editor, publicist, agent) took the time to fill out my little webform. Sometimes, as in the case of the Doc Wilde review I posted yesterday, my showcase and review are one in the same.
I also do Book Swag posts, where I take pictures of all books received (or even purchased at the used book store) and do one giant post about them. I only do that once a month or so.
And then, I review books as well, of course! If I can't get into a book, I ask Raven if she's interested. If worse comes to worse, I give the unread book to Kat at Fantasy Literature.net, because it turns out we live in the same town.
Hopefully, that's enough book love to assuage my guilt!
By the way, you have an award to collect:
http://jo-scrawls.blogspot.com/2009/05/spellbinding.html
I just wanted to say that I liked your post and that I sometimes hear that same voice whispering to me. Especially when I have a few library books or old favorites calling to me as well.
The In My Mailbox suggestion seems like a good approach.
This sounds reasonable to me. Especially since the only people who can read everything they want to read just aren't book people. {SMILE, wink, REALLY BIG GRIN}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
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