After this week, the Book Blogger Hop will go on an indefinite hiatus while I think about the future of this meme. Thank you for your support for the last year and a half!
Grab the Logo!
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 Halloween costume?
Even if you don’t celebrate, what kinds of costumes do you like?”
My Answer: Here in the USA, we will be celebrating Halloween on Monday. Kids will line the streets in their cute costumes and candy will be flung into bags and plastic pumpkins. I love seeing little kids all decked out. They are so stinkin’ cute! I really don’t have a favorite costume. In kindergarten, I went as Strawberry Shortcake (loved her!). A couple of years ago, my brother went as a taco for a Halloween party. Yup. A taco. He bought a taco suit, which has lettuce, tomato, and pieces of cheese on the side. It’s a hoot!
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-1028-1031.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!
Jennifer-I wish to thank you for all your hard work in hosting this great community building event-thanks very much!
Sorry to hear you’re going on a hiatus! I really appreciate all the hard work you do for this hop.
I have really appreciated your Book Blogger Hop. This is my 3rd week participating and I have met a lot of neat blogs, which was the idea. I’ve been working pretty hard to figure out how to make a great blog and find Followers. The Reading and Reviewing is the fun stuff for me. I’m going to read and review… but blog about it?!?! That’s the tricky part. I just wanted to let you know that you have accomplished what you set out to do with lots and lots of wanna-be-bloggers who like to read and write about it… and connected us with other great bloggers, too. THANK YOU!!!!
Hey this is the first hop I ever did when I started blogging a year ago. Thanks for hosting this awesome meme, it will be missed by all, especially me.
Anyway, I love seeing kids dressed up as pumpkins!! I didn’t think to post about that haha!
Strawberry Shortcake is so cute! The taco is funny! lol
Thank you so much for hosting the Book Blogger Hop – I have really, really enjoyed, it and met two of my very favorite bloggers because of it.
There are other memes, and even other Friday memes, but what I love about the Hop is that (most) people really do leave meaningful comments and it’s NOT required to auto-follow someone. Plus, it helps me think of a topic to blog about and gives me a break from reviewing from time to time!
If you’re getting overwhelmed by the Hop, maybe you could ask someone to co-sponsor it with you, and alternate weeks. Or maybe you could do what Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and Bookish does and plan ‘em out for a whole year, so you don’t have to worry about it from week to week.
Thank you for hosting the blog hop for all this time. It’s been such a wonderful place to come and find other blogs and bloggers. I really look forward to Friday because of it. Even on weekends when I don’t have time to actively participate I sometimes come and hop around. The hop will be missed while on hiatus. I hope there is a way to bring it back in some form in the future.
Strawberry Shortcake was a sweet character. Where is she now?
You just jogged my memory when I was a kid I was strawberry shortcake. That’s when costumes came in a box and we would wear the plastic masks covering our faces. Anyway, thank you for doing this meme and devoting so much time to it…….
I have always really appreciated that you host the Hop, but I understand the need to take a break.
LOVE the taco costume! How original!
I haven’t hopped for a while but decided to part this week and sad to see it could be the last one. Thanks for all your hard work and I’m sure the spirit of the hop will live on in some way.
Two great costumes, happy Friday!
Thank you for all your hard work with the Book Blogger Hop. I’ll miss it, but I think I understand why you’re stopping them (for now). It’s been fun and I’ve really enjoyed meeting all the bloggers I have through the hop. Thank you!
A taco suit would be hilarious. And I’d probably melt if I saw a Strawberry Shortcake costume. Thanks for posting this every week. You’ve created a lot of friendships among those of us in the book blogging world. Your dedication is appreciated!
-Jenna @ Fans of Fiction
Ooooh…that Strawberry Shortcake costume is adorable! Don’t you have a picture of you wearing it? I’d love to see it, if you can find it! And that taco costume! Hysterical!!
I tend to prefer costumes that don’t scare anyone, and aren’t gross. All those monster masks with the dripping blood, and the Friday the 13th costumes…UGH! They aren’t for me. I guess it’s really guys who go more for the gore, though, right?
I like period costumes, such as ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, or the Renaissance, as well as costumes from famous literary classics. I also like movie & TV show costumes. One year I dressed up as Mr. Spock, from the original Star Trek series. (I never could get into the versions that followed.) I made this costume myself, too! The only thing missing was Spock’s tricorder, which I couldn’t get in time for the Halloween party I went to that year! Lol.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! And thanks for all of your hard work on this wonderful hop!!! : )
Here’s my BBH post:
http://anightsdreamofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/book-blogger-hop-8-102811-103111.html
I have really enjoyed taking part in the hop each week, although I have absent more recently. I have connected with other blogs & been introduced to some great people, blog & books; and I do hope your hop returns.
My current post is not up, but will be a little later.
I haven’t taken part in the hop for quite a while, but I saw that this might be the last one on another blog so thought I would stop by.
Thank you for doing this. It’s been fantastic to find some new blogs and really introduced me to the blogosphere. I will miss it.
Jennifer,
I would like to say thanks and congrats on such a successful blog hop. I found you a year ago via the hop and have taken part many times. There have been times I have just visited to find more blogs to follow and see what others are doing.
All best wishes.
carol
DizzyC’s Little Book Blog
Jennifer, you made an amazing mark in the Blogging community with this hop. Thank you for assisting me with finding so many blogs, some I am still consistently following.
I look forward to hopefully reading more of your reviews.
You should feel very proud.