I interview a lot of authors, we all do. And it is really a lot of fun, right? But who is it behind those interviews? You!!! So now I want to interview you! This post will run every Thursday (give or take a day due to scheduling) as long as I have people who want to be interviewed! Check out the tab up there in my tab index for this feature. That's where you can check out past interviews, upcoming bloggers, and sign up for your own interview! :)
Hey Everyone! One day closer to Friday!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!
Today I have Jen at Romancing The Book!! She was a lot of fun to get to know, so I hope you enjoy the interview! This week I have a terrific swag prize, which is pictured here.
And HEY! Jen is also featuring me today at her site! There's a few questions I answered and a GIVEAWAY for a $5 Gift Card! So check that out:
HERE
So let's get on with it!
And HEY! Jen is also featuring me today at her site! There's a few questions I answered and a GIVEAWAY for a $5 Gift Card! So check that out:
HERE
So let's get on with it!
Hey Jen! Welcome to Fictional Candy!
First, can you tell us all about Romancing The Book?
Romancing the Book has been around for about 5 years now, at least in some form. We officially changed the name to Romancing the Book in January 2010 when we finally figured out what we really wanted to do with the blog. We feature romance and erotica books and their authors with reviews, interviews, guest posts and of course contests. :)
Now I see Romancing The Book has a section called Romance After Dark. What a great idea! Can you tell us how this came to be, and maybe tell us a bit about it for new readers?
Romance After Dark (http://romance-after-dark.com/) is a new blog by a few of the staff members from Romancing the Book. We decided to start this new blog to feature the more hard core erotica books that we’re asked to review. And then we decided to expand into some product reviews as well. We’re still under construction and posts are sporadic as we get our feet wet. We’re hoping to be going full force once the holidays are over. As a side note, Romance After Dark is definitely for the over 18 crowd.
What do you do when you aren’t blogging?
Well, I have a full time office job and then blogging ends up taking up a lot of my “free time”. But my best friend and I have season tickets to our local hockey team, so at this time of year, you’ll find me at the Spokane Arena cheering on the Chiefs.
When I can, I try to get in some reading for fun, but more often than not, I’m reading for review. :)
What kind of special things do you have on Romancing The Book? Do you host any memes or have any features?
We don’t have any weekly memes, but we do try to post at the end of each month a recap of our reviewers favorite reads from the month. And then we have a monthly upcoming release post where we highlight a few of the books we’re looking forward to.
A couple months ago I came into several hundred books when a friend passed away. After I weeded through them for the ones I wanted, I have put the rest up for sale on the blog. (http://romancing-the-book.com/books-for-sale) Most of the proceeds will go towards the running of RtB. However, I’ll be donating 25% of the proceeds to the Red Cross on all sales through the end of December. If you’re looking for some cheap books in good condition, check out the database.
I see on RTB you have a mega ton of reviewers, and you even list past reviewers. How in the world do you keep up with it all?
Who says I do? LOL. I am a list maker, so I have spreadsheets of peoples assigments and due dates and so forth. I try to keep in touch with everyone through monthly emails. And we have Facebook group for the staff where we chat about books and just life in general. I have to say that I’m not just a leader of these ladies, but I’m proud to call them my friends as well.
What would you consider the best part of book blogging?
Well, you’d think that it would be the free books. But I generally end up giving away most of the print books I review. For me, it’s actually meeting the authors. I enjoy getting to “meet” the authors who visit our blog. I’ll admit I’ve had a few fangirl moments when some authors actually said “yes” when I asked them to guest with us.
And Jen, since you obviously have the system down, and a large following I know that you know what you are doing! What kind of advice would you offer to someone just starting out?
Just keep at it. Post on a regular basis to prove that you’re serious about it. If reviewing, be honest but respectful in your reviews. Don’t post what you think the authors or publishers what to hear because your readers will see through you. Follow through with your commitments. And reach out to other bloggers. 99% of us are willing to answer questions and share our wisdom.
If you were deserted on an island, which character from any book would you want to be deserted with you?
Harry Potter. Hands down.
Next I’m turning you into a superhero. What is your name and what is your power?
My reviewers say that my superhero name should be Fearless Leader and my superpower is that I have energy like an Energizer Bunny... I keep going, and going, and going...
Is there ever such a thing as too large of a To Be Read pile?
I hope not. My TBR pile is insane and is always growing. *sigh*
And lastly – other than your blog, what would you consider your favorite way to reach out to readers?
I’ll admit that I am a bit of a slacker in this aspect. We have Twitter and Facebook pages, but they are mostly updated via Networked Blogs. One of our staff members tries to update them, but health issues has been curtailing her efforts. Since I’m not a huge Twitter user, I find that Facebook is my favorite is my better bet.
And here are all all of the links where you can follow Jen and Romancing The Book! (And yes, I borrowed her buttons for this!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
