I had never even heard of a book blog until March 2008 at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy. I hadn’t read a lot of YA recently either, except the Lemony Snicket series, the Artemis Fowl series and a few classics. But in Bologna, and especially at the SCBWI pre-Bologna conference, I was surrounded by YA authors and aspiring authors, and it was from them that I heard about book blogging and about Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series.
Of course, I didn’t hear about Uglies until the conference was over and I had missed my chance to meet Westerfeld himself. But I did buy the series as soon as I got back, read them, fell in love with them, and blogged about them. My first blog review ever: The Uglies Series by Scott Westerfield.
And then I was hooked. I found other book blogs, got recommendations from them, and bought more YA books. I also started looking into where I could get ARCs to review and found LibraryThing and several other programs. Not that I would ever do this now, but I also e-mailed a couple of authors and asked if I could interview them and promote their books. Shannon Greenland took a chance on a newbie and sent me all four of her Specialists series books to review.
As I look back at over a year of book blogging, at over 100 reviews, many fun author interviews, big contests, and tons of friends made, I could say I owe it all to Bologna, to Westerfeld’s genius, and to the amazing community of book bloggers who makes all the hard work seem worth it. Thank you!
[Heather's insert] And what's better than a picture of Emmy posing with the Uglies series? :D
Guest Blogger - Presenting Lenore!
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15 comments:
Great guest post! Nice to know more about how you got your start. :D And Emmy looks so wise!
LOL! Great picture! It sounds like I started into YA just a few months after you!
Emmy is the guardian of all my great books. Don't mess with her or she'll cuddle you to death!
I want to be cuddled to death!
Great post! Its always interesting to hear how other bloggers got their start.
Wow! How cool you were in at the conference in Bologna! It must have been a fantastic experience.
Ha ha Alea! Better come to Germany then and mess with my books ;) Your BFF is waiting!
And, yeah, Vivian, Bologna was a great experience!
If that's the only way to get a cuddle from my BFF I'll be there soon :P
Emmy is adorable...what a beautiful cat!
I remember your Uglies review, Lenore! And just so you know, I love reading your reviews and seeing your opinion of books out there!
Thanks, Lenore and Heather!
Wow! I did not realize you'd been blogging so short a time.
I *adore* your blog (and not just because of the free books!) You have very insightful reviews of books, and I love your take on them.
PS: Heather, BRILLIANT idea to have book bloggers as guests on here!
Yes, and then you got to meet Scott at TAC in New York... nice! A fun post, Lenore. :)
Steph - I SAW him at TAC but I didn't meet him until his book signing at BEA. It was VERY cool though!
I love reading about how/why people started blogging. And going to a book festival in Bologna is an awesome reason!
By the way, did you tell Scott this whole story? ;)
I absolutely loved this post Lenore, I never got to tell you in the emails before I left. And that picture of Emmy is priceless! I feel so honored my blog was able to be graced with a picture of her. :) And... I think you've won for the most comments ever received on a post on this blog. Congratulations!
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