Why Run a Book Blog?
A few months ago I started writing Book Nouveau, an indie-focused book blog. I’m terrible about keeping to an update schedule, but I do manage to post a few reviews a week, which are echoed over to Goodreads and Amazon. I’m a busy author-type, but I find that it’s a good use of my time. Why?
Book Blogging forces me to read
Seems funny to say it that way, but it’s true. I used to read a lot as a kid. Constantly. I didn’t so much keep my nose in a book as I did read books in school while the class was discussing other books that I’d already read. Somehow, though, over the years I just didn’t have the time to hit the library, or the money to buy books, or the attention span to pass up other, more passive forms of entertainment.
A writer must read. This is a truth. Your craft suffers if you don’t. Reading, to a writer, is second only in going out and having emotional experiences when it comes keeping your muse fully charged.
So, I started the book blog.
Book Bogging enables my reading habit
Hey, books are expensive. When I started the blog I typically entered Librarything giveaways to get free books to review, but after a few went up, indie authors started sending me books. More books than I can possibly keep up with. I download every copy I’m sent and read it on my commutes, in bed, what have you. The fact that these books are a gift does not mediate the way I review them, though if a book isn’t of sufficient quality that I feel compelled to read it, I’ll just stop and move on to the next.
Book Blogging has made me a better writer
It’s a well-trod axiom that a writer is the worst judge of his own work. It happens to be true in my case. Running Book Nouveau has given me exposure to a variety of work of a wide spectrum of quality. I’m learning to read more critically, and I’m applying what I learn into my own writing.
Why a self-published focus?
Book Nouveau focuses exclusively on indie and self-published books. Why? Independent authors need all the exposure they can get. Further, because they’re underexposed, I have the chance of discovering the next Wool, and that’s kind of cool. It’s mostly doing my part to give back to the indie-author community, though. The advice and stories of those who came before me enabled me to do this full time, and that’s a debt I owe.
Maybe it’s not something I can ever repay, but I do want to do my best to pay it forward.
Should you become a Book Blogger?
If you’re willing to invest the time and attention to read and review regularly, I say go for it. I’ll be trying to blog on a more consistent basis, but man, do I have a lot of irons in a lot of fires.
If you have a book you’d like reviewed, email a .mobi, .epub, or .pdf to booknouveau@gmail.com. It’ll go into consideration with the other titles I’ve been sent.
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