*squee* (x2) E.H. and what LEGENDARY Steph Bowe has to say...

Okay, well I have jumped up and down like eighty times today. Two are blog-related.

1) Ellen Hopkins will be doing a book signing Monday, September 28 at 7:00 pm!!! I am SO completely excited for this, and her new book, Tricks. My mother went to Joseph-Beth in Lexington today to get Tricks while I was at school, and while there she discovered this AWESOME event. I'm soooooo happy. Expect full coverage of that, the blog will be up September 29.

2) A few days ago, I emailed Steph Bowe from Hey, Teenager of the Year (you can find the link over this way -->) and asked her a couple of tips and her opinion of this blog. I thought you guys (which, well, I don't have any "guys" right now, BUT I WILL) would like to see what she had to say: 

Hi Lindsey!

 

Glad you like my blog :-) Your blog looks great!

 

what I'd recommend to you, since your blog is pretty new and you don't have many readers is

1. Add the 'follower' widget. Right away! It makes it easy for people to keep updated with your blog, and if a specific blog doesn't have a follower widget, I'll forget to add itto my blogger dashboard.

2. Regularly post content. Sometimes I won't post for a few days, and the number of visitors goes right down. Posting daily brings people back the most.

3. Email book bloggers and ask if you can do guest posts. This is mainly for exposure, so that people know about your blog. Say 'Hey, I love your blog. Would you be interested in swapping guest posts? I can write a post about [topic]' or 'Could I write a guest post for your blog about a book I love/a book that changed my life/somethign else bookish'. Guest posts are really rewarding to do, and attract readers to your blog. One blogger who might be interested in swapping guest posts with is weronika (http://weronikajanczuk.com). She's really nice. Also, if you don't heaps of book blogs yet, check out my blogroll. I have so many blogs there it isn't funny, and lots of them are probably willing to swap blog posts or let you interview them.

4. Regarding reviewing books... I don't like to ask for books, but read lots of author blogs and occasionally you can register your interest for a review copy. Once you get a bit of a following on your blog, authors and publishers might start to offer you books. Last month, I was sent three books from one publisher, one from another, and a couple from authors directly. But there are only really two Australian book bloggers, and I'm assuming you're in the US, so there's a bit more competition for review copies (though there are a lot more books being published!) Put a review policy on your blog once you have a handful of reviews up there, so that people can see your reviewing style.

 

It's taken me about five months to build up the following I have on my blog -- asnd it's SO slow at first. I'm doing a thing called Books Change Lives month at the moment, so if you'd like to write a guest post for that, that would be fantastic!

haha, I'm not famous at all XD

 

Anyway, there are a couple of other things you might want to read:

Presenting Lenore has advice for book bloggers, which is super-useful: http://presentinglenore.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-book-blogger-faq.html

Plus Persnickety snark has a guide to YA blogging too: http://persnicketysnark.blogspot.com/2009/08/guide-to-ya-blogging_07.html
 

All the best,

Steph

Well, that's all for now, be expecting a complete Tricks review by this Friday.