Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Community

Welcome to Book Blogger Appreciation Week! I was nominated for Best New Blog and didn't make the short list, but I'm SOOO honored to have made the list at all!! Thanks BIG time to anyone who nominated me. It's very appreciated!!

Today's blog post is all about community and giving back to those who have given to us. I would like to highlight a couple bloggers who really stand out in my mind. I also want to add Wednesday's post here because I have so much going on on Wednesday! That one is about connecting with the community and how to do so. So without further ado, here are some of my fave people in the community in no particular order. My thanks go out to you for being so awesome.

Anna @ Anna Reads

Her blog is the first one I ever ran across. It was a random Goodreads updating day when I somehow got to her blog. I so wish I could remember how it happened, but I'm so glad it did. My boyfriend has been telling me forever that I should find a job reviewing books since I read so many. When I saw Anna's blog, I knew that this was something I could do. And while it's not paid work, I do get lots of books for review, along with other cool swag from giveaways and such just for being a part of this great community. My blog might not be what it is if I hadn't found her blog.

Parajunkee

Twitter made my life so fabulous one evening. Loss did, too, I suppose. Parajunkee couldn't find her feature post at about 7:50 PM Arizona time and posted on twitter that she needed someone to feature. By some crazy stroke of luck, I was on and saw the tweet. I responded right away and she replied with instructions on what she needed for the feature. The next day I had 100 more followers on my blog. Thank goodness for Follow Friday and Parajunkee's blog!!

Ren @ Ren's Rambles

This girl has been so sweet and supportive of my blog. She is who she is, and that's that. Her blog is TOTALLY adorable, and she's always working on making it better and better. She provides content reviews so you always know what to expect and if it's okay for a certain age. She's certainly dedicated to finding great reads that are appropriate and still awesome. She's also always willing to help out and listen to me whine on Twitter. Thanks, Ren!

The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is something I hardly miss these days. This is one of the first memes I started to participate in when I decided to blog. It has connected me with a bunch of other awesome blogs, bloggers, and new followers! Following them on Twitter has been fun as well. I'm just thankful for their blog as it keeps me connected with the book blogging community in a couple different ways. I always look forward to creating my Top Ten Tuesday post, so I'm glad I found it!

Neri @ In The Name Of Books

How we found each other, I don't even remember. But I will not forget what she did for me. I've mentioned this on the blog before at least two different times already, but it just meant SO much to me and still does. This girl and I were talking about book recs on Twitter one day, and we got to the Richelle Mead Succubus series. She mentioned that she had an early copy of the final book in the series and I was so jealous! She offered to mail it to me when she finished as long as I mailed it back. DONE! Instead, this girl did one (WAYYY) better and got me my own copy from ALA and mailed it to me, asking nothing in return. I still haven't figured out how to repay this girl, but she's got something awesome coming to her!! One of these days. Man, that was SO amazing. THANK YOU!

Ashley @ The Bookish Brunette

Goodness, I love her blog. I love her style and ability to speak her mind. I love her reviews and her tweets on Twitter. If you're not following her, seriously do it. Just the other day I totally butted into a conversation she was having with someone else about the movie Titanic. I mentioned that My Heart Will Go On came on the radio a few days before while I was in the car and I belted it out, hard core. She responded with, "WIN!!" Then we had brief interaction about being karaoke queens in our cars. This why the book blogging community is SO cool. Thanks Ashley!

Melissa @ Just One Opinion

This girl has been there for me on twitter quite a bit. She RTs all my stuff, which is amazing. She enters my contests and spreads the word. She's just been awesome and her blog is super fun. Melissa is usually good for a laugh too. The story about her son's room smelling like something dead is one to ask her about. She's fun to follow on Twitter, so do that too if you're not already!

Jessica @ a GREAT read

Jessica comments on almost every blog post I put up! I have no idea where I would be if she hadn't found my blog and started commenting. And she's been commenting on my posts (with thoughtful comments) for a very long time at this point! I don't know how she keeps up, but she's awesome!!

Those are just a few people I'm glad I connected with through the book blogging community. I also have to be thankful for my book blogging partner, Stef! Some reviews would never have happened if it weren't for her. There are so many other people I'm thankful for. I do have a terrible memory, and you weren't left off the list on purpose. I also don't have enough room to thank everyone. I just really love you all. I'm so grateful for everything! THANK YOU!!

As for connecting in this community, my advice to new bloggers would be all the things that worked for me. And I love lists, so here it is:

• Participate in the memes, such as Follow Friday, Top Ten Tuesday, Waiting on Wednesday, etc. They get people to your blog if you link up your post, and then you can find other people who may have stuff in common with you by visiting other blogs.
  
• Visit other blogs. Put yourself out there by following blogs you like and reaching out to them. Leave a link to your blog and perhaps they may follow you back. It's not guaranteed but it's at least a step forward in trying.
  
• Use social media sites. Twitter and Facebook are good as well. Twitter is fantastic while Facebook is just alright. I don't feel like I have much of a reaction from my Facebook page. But Twitter really gets the message out there and allows interaction with authors, publishers, and other bloggers. The interaction with authors is important too - they are usually available for interviews and they may have review copies of books!
  
• Find blogs with the same niche as yours. If you blog about a particular genre, find other blogs that also enjoy that genre. They usually follow other blogs with similar interest and your fan base should grow from there.
• Be nice, helpful, and upbeat. It pays to talk to followers and new friends in the blogging community. You never know who will be there when you need them or know something that's of use to you. Sharing is caring, people! So conduct giveaways if you can. Authors and publishers can help provide prizes and shipping, so you don't even have to spend money sometimes. It's fantastic.
  

I hope all that helps! I've had a mostly great experience in this community. We all seem to take care of our own. It's been a fantastic few months of sharing and learning and growing. I've learned so much from the open, awesome people who blog. So thanks again to everyone who's ever helped me out, sent me something, given me a heads up, or just been there! You're always appreciated, and I'm trying to pay it forward. Thank you!