Book Blogger Hop: 10/14-10/17

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Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!

Are you a book blogger? Are you a reader? Then welcome to the place where all of us connect over the weekend and chat about books!

Background on the Hop
In March of 2010, in response to what I thought was a void in the book blogging community, I started the Book Blogger Hop. I loved all of the #FF (Friday Follow) tweets on Twitter, where everyone spreads love to their favorite people in order to help them gain new followers. So I thought to myself – “How cool would it be to have something like that where fellow book bloggers could come and find new book blogs to follow, find new books to read, and gain more exposure for our blogs?” This CRAZY idea became the Book Blogger Hop!

The Book Blogger Hop is much more than just a “follow for a follow”. It’s about making connections. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of book bloggers around the world. It can seem like we are blogging in a bubble, always checking out the same blogs over and over again. The Hop is about taking the time to make a quality visit to another blog, getting to know the person who is writing, and seeing if you really *want* to follow that person! I am not a big fan of blindly following other blogs just to increase your follower numbers, because who is to say that the people will come back? Just because they are “following” you doesn’t mean they’re reading your blog. How many times have you “dumped” the messages in your Google Reader account due to the daunting number of messages there are, many from blogs you “had” to follow (in order to participate in a hop, giveaway, etc). I’d much rather have a lower “follower” count and know that these people are following me because they WANT to follow me, not because they HAVE to. I like the knowledge that I’m connecting with people on more than just a “have to” level.

With that said, let’s get some of the nitty-gritty out of the way. You may be asking – what exactly IS a book blogger? Here’s MY take: Do you have a blog? Do you blog about books/authors? Do you write book reviews on your blog? Do you rave about books and authors on your blog? Is your blog content primarily about books? Then you are most likely considered a book blogger!

How it Works

As long as you meet the qualifications of a book blogger, you may add your book blog link into the linky list below. But before you do that, there are a few requirements. Read up, to save yourself a headache with the linky!

1. Before you add your link, you must post about the Hop on your blog and link directly back to THIS POST (not just my domain, but the direct post for this Hop). The linky is going to review the link that you enter in your submission, looking for a link to this post on your blog. If it doesn’t find one, your link will not be approved. This is called back linking and I had to institute it because people were taking advantage of the Hop and getting some free advertising without promoting the Hop themselves. You can read more about this here.

2. While you are creating your post, answer the following question (there’s a new prompt each week)!

“What is your favorite spooky book (i.e. mystery/suspense, thriller, ghost story, etc.)?”

My Answer: Several years ago, I read the first book in Chelsea Cain’s Gretchen Lowell series, Heartsick. Before I read the book, I had heard from my Paperbackswap friends that this book was intense. They were not kidding. This book is not for the faint of heart. I don’t even know if I can call it a favorite. I haven’t been able to read the rest of the series – that’s how freaked out the first book made me! If you want to read about a really whacked out serial killer, grab hold of Heartsick and buckle your seat belt – you are in for a ride!

3. Now it’s time to enter your blog link into the linky below (after the list of instructions!).

Instructions:

• Click on: You are next – Click here to enter
• A new page will open
• In the “Link Title/Blog Title” box, please enter the NAME OF YOUR BLOG and in parentheses after your blog name, please state the main genre that you review (i.e. Crazy-for-Books (contemp. fiction))
• In the “Link” box, please put a direct link to your blog hop post
  (i.e. http://crazy-for-books.com/2011/10/book-blogger-hop-1014-1017.html)
• There is a note about the Back Link requirement. Please make sure you have linked back to this blog hop post in the post on your blog or your link will not be accepted! Be sure to read this important note!
• Please enter your e-mail address in the box provided in case I need to contact you about your link submission.
• The list is randomized, so your link will not appear in a specified order. If you are looking for your link, I suggest you do a Ctrl-F on your PC keyboard and type a few letters of your blog name so you can find it easily.

That’s it! Now you can start hopping around, visiting other links in the list, meeting fellow bloggers and chatting about their blogs and books they are reading. If you aren’t a blogger, this is a great opportunity for readers to find new sites to follow and meet some new friends who enjoy reading the same things that they do! I strongly encourage you to take some time to visit these blogs and spend some time with your blog friends. We all work hard on our sites and we enjoy getting company, so let’s read more than just the blog hop post – let’s connect! That’s what the Hop was created for! Happy Hopping!