Breakfast with the Bookie: There is No 'Me' in Community

Breakfast with the Bookie is a irregular feature here at Badass Bookie. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic: There is No 'Me' in Community

I haven't written a Breakfast with the Bookie post in a long time but I haven't felt the need to write a rant or discussion until now! This week I want to talk about reputation, actions and how they affect the blogging community. With the recent burst of new plagiarism claims, I just want to talk about how one person's actions can cause repercussions for the whole community.

The blogging community is really fragile, it the grand scheme of the publishing industry, we are a very small and quite insignificant part. I'm sure we make somewhat of a footprint in publicity, media and sales but we are in position to cause masses of drama and in turn give publishers a reason to say no to book bloggers. With sites like Goodreads and online bookshops allowing customers and users to post reviews, publishers could easily give up working with bloggers.

The foundation of anything in life is honesty and plagiarism is anything but honest. However I'm not here to lecture anyone about why plagiarism is bad and why you shouldn't do it ( like smoking and drugs!). I'm here to talk about how one action affects everyone. I like to think of this community as quite a close knit family and when something happens in the community, everyone is bound to find out. Everyone including publishers.

So when something like a plagiarism claim pops up out of no where, it's quite embarrassing not only for the plagiarist but for everyone. Book blogging is a hobby but when you add an industry like publishing into the equation, it's a professional hobby. Essentially your actions affect all bloggers because we are a community.

The last thing anyone wants is to hear someone say" Oh did you hear about the plagiarism in the blogging community? That's so pathetic, they must be a community of plagiarists." Of course this could apply to anything - the way you behave at book conferences, your actions against another blogger, author or publisher or some other drama that I forgot to mention.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that next time you're going to do something that's not "right" please think not only of yourself but the whole community. We have your back so please don't stab us in the back by doing something like plagiarising or biting librarians at conferences or calling people names. Keep it professional people.

I would like to know what everyone else's thoughts are on dramas that affect the whole community, what do you guys think is the most professional way to deal with a drama llama and just what everyone thinks community means. Let's discuss!

PS -  Matt Bomer is a sexual beast.

Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie: Is YA Fiction "Trashy"?

Breakfast with the Bookie is a irregular feature here at Badass Bookie. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic - Is YA Fiction "Trashy"?

Warning: Rant Ahead. 

Recently I joined a book club. Well really, it's just a group of friends who like to read. It's not a book club in the traditional sense like we pick a book to read each month and discuss it. It's more like we all read our own books and discuss them with the other members. In this book club, I'm the only member who reads strictly YA Fiction and other members of the book club have been making comments like "Lisa, all you read is trashy YA fiction" and "at least I have good taste in books and don't read trashy YA fiction".

Now I'm all for making it a joke that YA fiction is "Trashy" because let's face it some of the YA fiction out there is pretty trashy but the joke gets fucking old after the first 5 times. The generalisation that all YA books is trashy pisses me off because YA fiction is NOT trashy.

Anyone who says "at least I have good taste in books" and reads Classics clearly does not have good taste in books because you're just reading books other people have classified worthy to be read. You don't get to fucking judge people who read YA fiction and call it "trashy". You haven't read enough YA fiction to make that statement. It's true that in today's market,there are books about absolutely nothing but YA Fiction is the most popular genre of books to be read by both adults and children. It's the ONLY genre of books that has had a 150% sales jump in the last six years. More and more readers worldwide are reading YA fiction.

Some of those "classics" that you read were Young Adult fiction once including books such as -

- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- Little Women by Louise May Alcott
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Just because YA fiction is popular doesn't mean it is trashy. The whole point of YA fiction is to provide entertainment, it's not meant to provoke thought or have some highly intellectual backstory. I'm not saying that there aren't trashy YA fiction out there because I have read my fair share of completely ridiculous marketed YA romances but the majority of books have something more to offer.

As a YA reviewer, I work with many publishers. I'm lucky enough to be able to read books before they get published or as soon as they come out. This also means I read more YA "trash" then most people because it is my job to separate the "trash" from the decent. I don't think anyone has the right to judge me by what I read and how I review books. I'm quite a generous reviewer, I prefer to see the good in books than the bad so just because I liked a book and you didn't doesn't make it "trash". In fact, there are hundreds of other people in the world who agree with my opinion. If you don't like the way I review and the rating I give books, that's perfectly fine because this is not YOUR opinion it's MINE and I must be doing something right if there are people reading my reviews and taking recommendations from all around the world. If my recommendations don't work out for you, then don't take my word for it. It's as simple as that.

So to all you YA haters out there, get off your fucking high horse. Until you have read as many YA novels has the rest of YA community, you do not have the right to call YA fiction "trash". Until you have stopped reading books other people have picked for you and started finding books for yourself, you do not have the right to call YA fiction "trash". Until you have become a recommender and not a recommendee, you have no right to call YA fiction "trash".

So after that long rant about YA fiction and ignorant snobs, I leave you with the following message.

Next time someone tells you YA fiction is "trashy". 

This is what you going to tell them -

This is what you're going to do - 

Do you think YA Fiction is "trashy"? What's your message to all those haters out there? Leave your opinions, comments and rants in the comments below! I would love to hear what the rest of ma YA people think! 

Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie - The Book Buying Addiction

Breakfast with the Bookie is a irregular feature here at Badass Bookie. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic - The Book Buying Addiction

Hi everyone, my name is Lisa and I'm NOT a book buying addict.

In fact I haven't bought a book since September 2011 ( Game of Thrones - if you wanted to know). It's not that I don't want to buy books. Trust me, I spend way too much time on The Book Depository and Fishpond for it to be healthy and it's not really an issue about money either. The reason I don't buy books is simply because - I have too many books I haven't read yet!

This is my TBR pile - 

There are 198 books in this pile and I haven't read a single one of them. The majority of these are review copies, others are books I've been gifted, won, traded for and bought. There are books in this pile which haven't been read for three or more years. There are books in this pile that I really want to read but haven't gotten around too. There are books in this pile that I've started but never finished. THERE ARE TOO MANY BOOKS IN THIS PILE.

And because of this, I've developed this thing called self restrain. As much as I want to buy books, I don't allow myself to because it's really not fair on all the books in THIS pile. However I know people who have a book-buying addiction. Some have it worse than others. I want to share with you one of these addicts. 

Exhibit A - Holly

Everyone this is Holly. She has a severe case of a Book Buying Addiction. This is a picture of Holly with her latest purchase from The Book Depository. Holly suffers from a rare disorder in which she panics whenever she is nearly finished with a book. This panic is caused by the fear that she will have nothing to read. Holly goes into this semi-conscious state where she orders books from The Book Depository, she goes through the checkout without even batting an eye and then when Holly wakes up in the morning - she has no idea what books she bought the night before. 

This is a severe case of a Book Buying Addiction. Holly is so deep into her addiction, she goes into a state of semi-consciousness before her next fix. Everyone please pray for Holly as she gets help for her addiction. Hopefully one day Holly can restrain her need to buy books every 3 days. 

This is a TRUE story.

Does anyone have stories about their book buying addictions? Holly needs all the moral support she needs as she overcomes this addiction. Let's all be here for her! Let's discuss!

Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie - Underrated YA Books

Breakfast with the Bookie is a irregular feature here @ Badass Bookie. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic - Underrated YA Books


It's been a while since I've done a Breakfast with the Bookie post with other posts eating away my Wednesday slot but FINALLY today, I have nothing else planned! Today I wanted to talk about Underrated YA books, this isn't really my typical discussion post but I feel like there are so so so many wonderful YA books out there that people haven't heard about or haven't read because of the lack of hype circuiting around the YA Blogosphere about them! Some of these are older releases, some are new but they're all fantastic and I would highly recommend everyone to read them! 


Also, if you have any wonderful underrated YA books that you would recommend - post them in the comments so I can check them out and so other people can check them out too! Anyway, here's a list of them!

10 Underrated YA Books ( In No Particular Order)

1) Entangled by Cat Clarke - This was one of my favourite books of 2011 and it's definitely one of my all-time favourites. Grace, the protagonist is such beautiful character and her tangled story left me in tears. It's so heartbreakingly beautiful!


2) In the Arms of Stone Angels by Jordan Dane - This was another one of my 2011 favourites. Probably one of the most underrated YA books I can think of, a psychological thriller with a supernatural twist - this one is just amazing! 


3) The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - This is probably more of a adult novel but it crosses over into the YA genre. I loved this book! I think I called it a "modern-classic" in the making! Beautiful novel!

 

4) Victoria and the Rogue by Meg Cabot - Everyone's heard of The Princess Diaries and pretty much read them but this is probably my favourite Meg Cabot of all-time! It's like historical romance for teenagers and it's brilliant! 


5) Nichola and the Viscount by Meg Cabot - This is the another one of Meg Cabot's YA historical romances! I loved this one too, maybe not as much as Victoria and the Rogue but this one was so so so good as well! Read it!


6) Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel - Probably my favourite vampire novel ever. I cried. It takes a lot to make me cry. Especially with vampires but this book was so so so beautiful! Not your typical vampire novel. 

  

7) Enclave by Ann Aguirre - After Divergent, this is my favourite YA dystopian. I love survival based dystopian where the controlling society doesn't exist but ZOMBIES ( or things like zombies) exist! This one is so good! :)


8) Emerald by Karen Wallace - One of my favourite YA historicals yet very underrated. Just checked on Goodreads and only 75 people have rated it!?! WHAT? This one is amazing with mystery, romance and action! Must-read!


9) Au Revior, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber - A fast-paced adventure with car chases and assassins - what's not to love? 


10) 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad - This is the scariest book I can remember reading. This book really creeped me out yet it was so good! Sci-fi at it's best I would say! And I still can't look at the room the same way!

That would be my ten underrated YA books! There are plenty more but these are the only I can remember right now :D Let me know which one's you've read and which underrated YA books you think everyone else should read!


Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie: Don't Judge a Book by a Bad Review

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic - Don't Judge a Book by a Bad Review

DISCLAIMER: This is probably going to get quite ranty.

It makes me very sad when I see readers and especially book bloggers shun a book without reading it. I am all for an honest review but that's all it is - A REVIEW. It's is not the reviewer's intention to discourage you from reading it, the review only reflects on their own thoughts of a book. You can decide for yourself whether you want to read it or not but you do not have the right to form your opinion based on someone else's opinion.

What annoys me is when people read a bad review and then WITHOUT READING THE BOOK, go onto their own Goodreads profile and write some paragraph about what a crappy book it is. You know someone is going to read the uncalled for paragraph and back away from that book? THAT BOOK YOU HAVEN'T READ?

People who do this - you piss me off.

You have every right to decide whether a book is for you or not, after reading a review (after all, that's what they are for) but you don't have the right to go and write a ranty paragraph about how crap the book is SINCE YOU HAVEN'T READ IT.

There are People Who Write  - " After reading BLAH BLAH's review, I'm never going to read this book because it's a piece of junk that should be burned. Someone should go stone the author so they don't write anymore works of crap. WORST CHARACTERS EVER, this book is like just like [ Insert Title of Bestselling Novel] except it's written by a hobo. Don't read it because like, you'll go broke spending $15 for this crap"

My Reaction to Those People : 

Something Else that Get's on My Nerves - Readers ( and book bloggers) who write a review holding prejudice against the author or controversies that surround the book. When you take upon the role of reviewing a book, you're stepping into a professional position. Therefore please leave bias opinions you've collected by the door when you enter this zone.

A review should reflect directly on the book. Not the author or agent or whatever else you've found to hate upon. Going to use an example - The Selection by Keira Cass.

I'm going to start off by saying Wendy had every right to post her review because her review was fair. She backed everything up with quotes and reasons. What the author and her agent did in response to wasn't great, very unprofessional and I frowned upon that BUT what I frowned UPON MORE was those readers who started posting things like "never going to read this book" and do the whole "I haven't read the book but I'm going to burnnnnn the book with my two cents paragraph".

The author wasn't professional? Huh? AND YOU'RE PROFESSIONAL?

I have a few things to say to different people in response to this -

To Those Who Read the Book and Gave a Honest Review that wasn't Prejudice - Thank-you. You are the professional bunch *High5*

To Those Who Haven't Read the Book and Refuse To - You don't know what you're missing! Not every book is for everyone and for what it's worth - I LOVED THE BOOK.

To Those Who are Intent on Posting Opinions Without Reading it - Shame on You.

To Those Who Loved the Book and Weren't Afraid to Say So - I love you and your backbone.

I don't know what else I can say besides that I hope next time you read a bad review, you think back to this post. And I hope that those of you out there intent on doing the whole "I haven't read the book but I'm going to burnnnnn the book with my two cents paragraph" - DON'T.

It All Comes Down To - 

I just wish some of you would STOP hating or at least STOP TRYING TO GET OTHERS TO HATE. 

*rant pants off*

What's Your Opinion? :)

Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie: How Not to Write Bad Reviews

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic - How Not to Write Bad Reviews 

 It's been an age since I've done a Breakfast with the Bookie post and I think it's high time that I got back into routine! This week's topic is kinda of inspired by two things. 1) My own discomfort when it comes to writing a review for a book I didn't like and 2) Controversies revolving around negative reviews. Everyone remember "The Selection" Drama right? That whole episode was a little uncalled for because firstly, the review that started the whole shebang was fair.

What's the difference between a negative review and a bad review?

Well my grasshoppers, a NEGATIVE review gives honest opinions, even if that means criticism but also talks about things they did enjoy or at least talk about why they didn't enjoy the book.

A BAD review pretty much just slams the book. They're the ones that completely rip into the book or the author and pretty much just blabber about everything that went wrong but don't talk about why.

Bookie's Take - 

As book bloggers, many of us are given the awesome opportunity of getting review copies. Publishers send us books in exchange for an honest review. An HONEST review isn't a bad review. It's okay if you hated the book, seriously there are bound to be books that are just not your cup of tea but when you read one of those books the least you can do is write a solid review. Please don't "trash" an author or the book, don't discourage people to read. You don't like it? Fine, tell me why. THEN tell me if, is there any part your DID like?

What Shouldn't be Written -


1) "OMG worse book ever. The author clearly never went to school. This book is sooooo bad, characters were so fake. Don't read it, waste of time."

2) "Burn this crap. Waste of good paper. The only thing this book should be used for is toilet paper" 

What Should Be Written -


1) "To be honest, this wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't feel the plot because I felt it lacked action. However the writing was beautiful and the romance was very sweet."


2) "I couldn't really connect with the protagonist, the plot was a little bland and I honestly didn't feel for the romance. It wasn't what I thought it would be however I really liked ending."

Did I miss anything? Do you agree? How do you write negative reviews?

Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie - How to Deal with Blogger Drama

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

Today's Topic : How to Deal with Blogger Drama 


Recently a small (but made out to be big) "thing" hit the Book Blogging community. I only found out about it yesterday and I was shocked to say the least but I don't think the "thing" really deserves all the drama surrounding it. In case you don't know what it's about Sarah @ Smart Bitches, Trashy Books sums it up pretty well in this article - Plagiarism and The Story Siren. You can also read Kristi's apologies HERE and HERE.

I don't know about you but I like to avoid drama as much as possible. It's not nice to single out people and to make a huge deal out of a "small" issue. There are people out there who love drama and I'm not judging them but for me - I like to stay well away. Here a list on how, just in case you're with me on peace :)

How to Deal with Blogger Drama - 

1) Ignore It - I KNOW it's hard. You want to put your two cents in as well BUT - don't do it. Seriously don't get involved. The more people who get involved and bigger it gets. If no one talked about it or joined the "stoning" - the problem would die down in a day or two but if we all get involved, attack the blogger, gang up, tweet about it, send nasty insults their way or something - IT WILL NEVER DIE DOWN. Drama is so overrated and it just makes us all look like mindless b*tches. Publishers, authors and literacy professionals are going to start looking down on the whole community. Don't get involved for the rest of us.

2) Nothing Nice to Say? Don't Say It - Haters are always going to hate. There are those among us who just can't let something go. Those who like to egg people on and make a mountain out of a mole hole - I ask you not to join them. Insult them in your head but don't put it into words because it really, really hurts people. A common term for this is bullying. Treat people how you want to be treated. Besides dissing someone only reflects badly on yourself. Don't get caught in the whirlwind and say something that you will later regret!

3) Forgive and Forget - Word.

That's my top 3 - I can think of plenty more but I want to know how everyone else deals with blogger drama so let's discuss!

Badass Bookie xx

LATE Breakfast with the Bookie - E-Book Piracy: A Felony

 
Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy! 


This Week's Topic - E-Book Piracy: A Felony

I could rant for three days straight about this but unfortunately I don't think anyone would read that so I'm giving you the "shortish" version. It's a fairly long post but I hope you would all read it because E-Book Piracy is affecting everyone. If you could tweet, Facebook, blog a link to this post it would be great! Let's fight E-Book Piracy together!

Firstly, piracy is just a fancy word for stealing. E-Book Piracy in theory is the same as going into your local bookshop, pulling a book off the shelf and walking out. The only difference is that you're doing it anonymously behind the safety of your desktop.

Respectively speaking, piracy of any kind is bad but I honestly think E-Book Piracy is the worst. Authors under no circumstances have a fan base as large as members of the music industry or the film industry (of course for every circumstance, there are few exceptions but let's face it not everyone can be J.K. Rowlings or Stephanie Meyers) this means that they aren't paid as much.

Your run-on-the-mill author's annual salary probably matches the salary of an everyday accountant. Add that to the fact that they get a pay check twice a year and mere 3% ( or less) in royalties for every book they sell. They can't afford to lose money. They have families to support, children to feed, bills to pay and every time you click download without paying, you're making that harder for them.

Here the bottom-line, authors want to do what they love most but if they couldn't support themselves with a measly pay check - they would give up writing and take up a steady job in a heartbeat. Every book that's not being bought but pirated is making it harder for them to continue doing what they love. Think budgeting fortnightly is hard? Try getting a pay check every six months. If you wouldn't steal from someone you meet on the street, then don't pirate books because you're stealing from these authors.

Also keep in mind that Piracy is a felony. If you're caught distributing or downloading works of fiction under copyright laws then you're looking at 5/6 digit fines and maybe even jail time. If this isn't making an impression maybe these statistics will -


- Twenty-nine percent (29%) of all e-readers surveyed, admitted to piracy. That's almost 3 out of every 10 adults!
- In the U.S., it is estimated that e-book piracy costs the industry $3 billion dollars every year
- One in eight women over 35 who own an e-reader, admitted to downloading illegal copies of e-books.
- At the end of 2011, an estimated 20% of all ebooks downloaded on to e-readers were believed to have been pirated.
- In the United Kingdom, the Publishers Associated issued 115,000 legal notices to websites who were offering free pirated copies of books, an increase of 130 percent from the number of notices sent out in 2010.


( Statistics Courtesy of Havoscope and All on Writing)

  What Authors Have to Say? - 

I understand the urge to take advantage of "free" books when you can't afford them or they're not available in your area, or even not yet released. And in the short run, that may be very satisfying. Free books! (Sometimes with viruses attached.) But if the ethics of pirating books doesn't bother someone, the long-term consequences should. Authors can write all they want, but if a publisher looks at their sales numbers and sees there aren't enough SALES (this is a business), then they're not going to buy and publish more books from that author. They won't be able to afford to do it. Of course, this is about people who download and read the books, not the people who just want to have them and wouldn't buy them anyway. The best way to get free/cheap books is in the library, from a friend, or wait for a used bookstore. Waiting sucks, but it's less harmful to an author's career. And people who want more books in the future should consider that. - Jodi Meadows ( Incarnate)

Special place in Hell for people who pirate books. There is a building that gives you them for free. It's call a LIBRARY. Pirating books hurts EVERYONE. But especially authors. It can actively prevent them from being able to publish more. - Victoria Schwab ( The Near Witch )

Creativity comes from a love of the work, of the art, and piracy belittles that. - Katherine Longshore ( Gilt)

If someone cares about my words enough to steal them, I consider that a compliment. Caring enough to pay for them is a bonus. - Jay Kristoff ( Stormdancer) 

Authors want to be paid for work and piracy's illegal. But it also seems inevitable—wish there was a way to harness it for good, not evil. - Elisa Ludwig ( Pretty Crooked) 

Alternatives to E-Book Piracy -


The Library: In some countries like Australia and Canada under the Public Lending Right - authors get compensation for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries. It's not as much as royalties but authors still get something out. Therefore every time you borrow a book from the library, authors are getting a little back.

Giveaways: The Blogosphere is filled with generous bloggers who giveaway books and ARCs! On any given day - you will find literally hundreds of book giveaways open internationally! You might not win but it's definitely better than e-book piracy.

Netgalley/ E-Galley Grabs: In exchange of a review, there are many sites that allow you to read e-books without charge. A good one is Netgalley but publishers also have their own e-galley programs - I know Simon and Schuster does! Edelweiss is another one, there are LEGAL ways to read e-books FOR FREE.

What's your opinion of E-Book Piracy? Are you fighting it? Do you encourage it? Let's discuss!

Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie: Trends in YA Fiction

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic - Trends in YA Fiction 

YA fiction is a very popular, it's also a very broad genre. It's read by a wide range of audience from teenagers to middle aged people. What I want to discuss this week is trends in YA fiction. What things, aspects, plots keep resurfacing? What do readers want more of? What do publishers keep pushing?

A Incomplete List of Trends in YA Fiction

Composed by Badass Bookie

1) Dystopian Fiction - Coming onto the scene in 2010 with international bestseller Matched by Ally Condie, the dystopian boom has taken over YA fiction. Almost knocking Paranormal Romance right off the market, Dystopian fiction now dominates the majority of YA fiction. With more authors coming onto the scene with works of dystopia - just how long until it's gets too old? Will it collapse onto itself like the vampire era? 

Trenders - Matched by Ally Condie, Wither by Lauren DeStefano, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

2) Dresses on YA Covers - Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this trend was started Lauren Kate with her cover of Fallen. It didn't matter what genre it was or whether girls in dresses was even relevant to the contents of the book. It was pretty, it was eye-catching and people were attracted to the book. Hence we have "girls on covers in prom dresses" galore!

Trenders - Wither by Lauren DeStefano, Die For Me by Amy Plum, Starcrossed by Josphine Angelini, Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins, The Selection by Kiera Cass

3) The ( Dreaded) Love Triangle - DAMN YOU TWILIGHT! Not only did Stephanie Meyer's Twilight start a whole army of fan girls and give diehards a whole new meaning. It also made the idea of a "love triangle" popular. The year that followed the Twilight Craze was filled with YA paranormal releases with love triangles, some were good - others weren't so good. 

Trenders - Nightshade by Andrea Cremer, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, Vampire Academy Richelle Mead ( although this was before Twilight - I think), Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers, Matched by Ally Condie

That's a list of three, I know there are plenty more trends but honestly I'm a little tired! Hence, I going to leave the rest of them to you guys! Let's see if we can dig them all up! Let the discussion begin!

Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie: My Two Cents on Giveaway Hops

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic - My Two Cents on Giveaway Hops

Okay so recently I did a Breakfast with the Bookie on Giveaway: Are We Bribing Our Followers and I guess this is like a follow-up discussion about Giveaway Hops. I mentioned briefly in the first post that one of my peeves is the "Must Follow on GFC" rule and that kind of carries on into this post. This week - I will explore further into the topic of Giveaways! Beware - major ranting ahead.

In theory the concept of a giveaway hop is great. Massive giveaway of books, short and beneficial to both  host and the entrees. In reality - it's a nightmare. There I said it - giveaway hops suck. There must have been point my blogging career where I liked them because I used to enter them all the time! And then I came to a revelation - I'm not going to be entering or participating giveaway hops EVER.

Why? 

1) Too Many Giveaway Hops - If there weren't so many giveaway hops maybe I wouldn't be so put out with them but it's gotten to point where it's ridiculous. There are at least 3 every month! You can find a giveaway hop for every weird occasion ( Lunar giveaway hop...really?) and when there isn't an occasion to host one - let's just host one anyway! Honestly, I have nothing against all the wonderful bloggers who go out of the way to host them but the idea of the giveaway hop has been corrupted. 

2) They Clog Up Your Feed - I don't know about you but my dashboard looks like this three days out of five a week - Giveaway Hop,  Giveaway Hop,  Giveaway Hop,  Giveaway Hop, Review,  Giveaway Hop,  Giveaway Hop,  Giveaway Hop,  Giveaway Hop, Interview,  Giveaway Hop,  Giveaway Hop,  Giveaway Hop. What happened to book blogging? Where can I read some of these mysterious things called "reviews" and "interviews"?

3) Benefitting Who? - AGAIN. Must Follow on GFC - I'm sorry but I thought a giveaway hop is meant to be you know a giveaway hop. Not a chance to bribe followers! I completely understand that people want to get a little back for what they give but why force someone to follow you? Make it optional - you might find that people will become more willing to visit your blog and comment on non-giveaway posts

4) Waste of Time - Downside of so many giveaways to enter is that you spend the bulk of you sunday afternoon sitting there ENTERING THEM ALL. With so many hoops to jump - it takes 10 minutes give or take a few to just enter one of them! And then you ask yourself - how many times have you actually won? 0 and how many winners are there? 1 or 2. In the end - it's just a waste of time!

5) What Book is That? - I love discovering new books and all but a giveaway hop is meant to be about giving books that are desirable to read. I find blogs that giveaway E-Books I've never heard of and looks quite terrible or worse, non-fiction! I also find blogs who giveaway books that they don't want anymore - the terrible ones that you want to just burn... Seriously, what are you giving away?

In all - giveaways just don't make the cut for me and I know lots of people like them! That's perfectly fine - this is just my two cents :) And now, what's your two cents on giveaway hops?

Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie: ARCs - The Do's and Don'ts'?

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!


This Week's Topic: ARCs - The Do's and Don'ts'?


One of the perks of being a book blogger is ARCs. For those who don't know what they are ( although who doesn't!) they're Advanced Reader Copies. Often a publisher would produce a small quantity of books months earlier to it's release date and distribute them to librarians, booksellers and book bloggers. Basically, we read and review the book prior to the release date to create a hype or just to make others aware of the upcoming release. 


There is this whole controversy regarding ARCs and I thought it'll be cool if we all created a list of the Do's and Don'ts' regarding them! I've listed a few things below that I think are important. 


Do - Feel grateful when receiving an ARC whether from a publisher, author or blogger! Remember to thank them!


Don't - Feel obliged to receive ARCs. Quite frankly, you're not. We're not. You are not entitled to them so don't parade them around, don't whinge when you don't receive one and definitely don't persist people for one! 


Do - Think carefully before requesting an ARC. They're very expensive to produce and if you're requesting one just for the sake of requesting one - you shouldn't! Show a genuine in the book, do some research, READ THE BLURB and have a good feeling that you'll enjoy it!


Don't - Request an ARC that you know you're not going to enjoy or you're not going to finish. I often know before reading a book whether it will be my cup of tea or not! Do not request an ARC based on it's cover, popularity or whether other bloggers received a copy or not!


Do - Put thought into your review. Don't just write the first thing that comes to mind and definitely don't write a 400 word synopsis and then say "I liked it - read it!" at the end. That's not a review. If you don't like the book - not slam it. Talk about why, talk about the parts you do like and recommend it to the people you think WILL like it.


Don't - Not review the book, if you're like me and you are a slowish reader with not a lot of time that's fine! BUT don't request an ARC and not read it! Always keep in mind of the book you haven't read before you request new ones! :) 


That's a list of six do's and don'ts' any that should be added to the list? Pop them in the comments!


Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie: Giveaways - Are We Buying Our Followers?

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!

This Week's Topic: Giveaways - Are We Buying Our Followers? 


Okay so that's the questions, are we buying our followers with giveaways? Recently I've noticed that a lot of new blogs have grown in follower population excessively. We're talking two months blogs with 1000+ followers. Taking a look around these blogs I see a good effort into reviewing books, participation in memes and good blogging overall but more than anything I see giveaways. And that's gotten me thinking, are we ( bloggers) using giveaways to buy/ bribe people into following our blogs? 


Quality not quantity. I can't emphasis this enough - your followers doesn't reflect the quality of your blog. You might have 5000 followers but do they follow you because a) you host epic giveaways or b) you actually blog good stuff? Same goes with publishers, sure they look at your stats but they look at contents too. Let me sum it up - Your Followers Doesn't Reflect Your Blog Contents. Honestly, I would rather follow a less blog with great reviews, interesting interviews and funky contents then a blog loaded with giveaways. 


I can not tell you how much it ANNOYS me to click on a giveaway link and then find this message "must follow via GFC" - firstly why must we follow you to enter a giveaway if you can guarantee we'll win? Following your logic, if we don't win we should just unfollow you blog. It's gotten to the point where now I hardly ever enter giveaways. There are SO SO SO many hoops to jump it's not funny. One blog required people to follow on blog, twitter and email in order to enter the giveaway. IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING I GAVE THAT BLOG THE FINGER! 


I'm not saying you shouldn't get a little back when you're putting money into giveaways but you should always give the option. The only giveaway I've EVER used the "must follow via GFC" condition was my blogoversary/ followers giveaway and that was a giveaway FOR my followers. Sure, I have hoops attached to my giveaways but I always give the options of - "do as much as you want or as little". 


In all - basically I'm just ranting but seriously followers aren't everything and I mean GOOD ON EVERYONE for having giveaways but let's keep the secret agenda out of the picture aye? :) 


What's your opinion?


Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie: Series You Just Couldn't Finish (Eg. House of Night)

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning, let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!



This Week's Topic - Series You Just Couldn't Finish (Eg. House of Night)


I'm one of those people who HAS to finish a book if I start it. Even if it means constant torture of the badly written kind. I think I can count on one hand the books I have started but didn't finish. Same goes for series. I'm one of those people who compulsively seek out the next book even if I didn't like the first one in hopes that it would get better. 


However sometimes, I just can't stomach it anymore. 


An example is House of Night. 


Why I gave up? House of Night actually started out really good. I was addicted, fantastic novels but then things went to hell. I got up to book 8??? But then I had to stop because even I couldn't convince myself that it was going to get better. WHY?


1) Too Many Books - House of Night takes "Never- ending" to a whole new level. I read somewhere that the mother-daughter duo plan to write 14ish books for the series? Honestly, to me it seems like the plot dried up after book 5 and after that the duo has just kept making more stuff up! In my opinion, the series should have ended at Book 5. 


2) Too Many Boys - I never thought I'll be saying this but there are way too many boys in the series. This Zoey girl just can't seem to make up her mind! Every, EVERY book she seems to be juggling no less than 3 guys! I grow attached to one guy and then next thing you know she's dumped him for some new guy! Too many!


3) Heath - I really hate this guy. Zoey just can't seem to get over him but seriously I hate his guts. I rejoiced when he died ( I know I'm cruel) but than at the end of Book 8, they decided to BRING HIM BACK TO LIFE??? That was the last straw, he should have STAYED DEAD. 


Hence why I stopped reading the series. Now did you stop reading House of Night? Why? and what series have lost your interest?


Badass Bookie xx

Breakfast with the Bookie - Let's Talk Blogger Manners, Attitude and Etiquette

Breakfast with the Bookie is a semi-weekly feature here @ Badass Bookie which is making a reappearance in 2012. Every other Wednesday morning ( read - when I'm not drawing a blank), let's all grab our teas and coffees to gather and discuss and share our opinions! Everyone is welcome to join and make sure you leave a comment to state your opinion. Don't be shy!


This Week's Topic - Let's Talk Blogger Manners, Attitude and Etiquette


Okay I'll start off by saying - I hate the fact that I have to revisit this topic every year - EVERY YEAR. If you scroll through my blog archive you will see that I have posted something along the same lines in 2010 AND 2011. BUT this controversy just keeps reappearing in the blogosphere. 


Book bloggers are very nice people, extremely friendly and generous! Meeting new bloggers is like reuniting with old friends - there is no such thing as an awkward moment when it comes to book bloggers. However, there are just those "few" bloggers who ruin it for everyone else. I'm not having a go at anyone - in fact while I know there are nasty bloggers out there, I'm not aware who they are. BUT people, you got to stop this BITCHING! 


I said this on Twitter and I'm going to say it again - Bitching about other bloggers only reflects on yourself, please adopt a more professional, more mature and friendlier attitude.


That's all it comes down to you need to 1) Remember your manners, 2) Adopt a Friendlier Attitude and 3) Learn the Proper Book Blogger Etiquette. 


Things to Remember - 


1) Twitter is NOT your Personal Diary - Do not use Twitter a ranting source, do not write mean tweets to other bloggers and definitely do not tweet about bloggers behind their back on twitter. WHY? Because someone is going to read that tweet and word will travel and before you know it, a bunch of bloggers will have the wrong image of you. And then that image will be passed onto publishers, authors and professionals and THEN you've screwed it up for yourself. It's pretty much "Book Blogger Suicide"


2) Keep Your Bitch on a Leash - If you have nothing nice to say - don't say it! Stop the bitching, whinging about other bloggers isn't going to solve anything. Really, the name-calling is really just not on. AND you know what else is not on? Ganging up. Do not recruit other people to fight your battles for you. 


3) Image is Everything - Ask yourself this: do you want to be known as "that bitchy blogger" or "that blogger with no manners" or "that blogger who is totally unprofessional". People might not say it to your face but that's what they're thinking. Book bloggers are pretty tight and if you attack one of us, you attack us all. In other words, the chances of you being shunned are very high. Be the better person and keep your mouth shut, go punch a cushion but do not verbally slam other people. NOT ON. 


Conclusion - Every time, an episode explodes on Blogosphere ( mainly on Twitter), it doesn't only give yourself a bad name but the whole blogging community. We are not the only ones with social networking, the chances that a publisher, agent or author picks up on an episode is really high. Obviously, if you feel the need to bitch someone has obviously done something to piss you off. Be the better person and walk away. Don't be the person who ruins it for everyone. 


What's your opinion? Do you think lashing out at other people is right? Do you think it's right to fight back? And what are others things to be remembers?


Badass Bookie xx