Tuesday 20 August 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Your Life As A Reader/Book Blogger Easier

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they suggest a title for a list and we attempt to answer it! 



Check out our list after the jump!



This week's topic is...

Top Ten Things That Make Your Life As A Reader/Book Blogger Easier


1. Goodreads
Synopses (that's a weird plural), covers, information about upcoming releases, chatting with authors, seeing what your favourite authors are reading... you name it, Goodreads has it.

2. Google (Images, Gmail, Blogger, Drive)
They don't pay tax but they do provide every service a pair of bloggers (and friends) need to stay on top of posts, as well as sending fangirl emails about the latest books we've read.

     

3. Photoshop (+ Tutorials)
Ok so our graphics aren't the prettiest but we're working on it! Moving on from Microsoft Paint has been time-consuming but useful, Caroline still can't use the pen tool though.



4. Twitter

Every time one of our favourite authors retweets us we get really excited and send each other emails that say "eeeeeeeek". Twitter is such a great equaliser, and a great way to share links to reviews. 

5. Bloglovin'
The book blogging community (as evidenced by this meme!) is awesome, there are so many interesting people blogging their reviews and sharing their excitement about new releases. Unfortunately, one downside to the amount of people blogging is that it's difficult to keep track. Since the sad demise of Google Reader, Bloglovin' has been our go-to tool for keeping up to date with posts. You can also follow us on Bloglovin' too- just click on the box in the column on the right!

6. Kindle/iPad
Ok so there's no beating the feeling of having an actual book in your hands, or wandering round an actual bookshop (see number 7), but there's no denying that eBooks have made everyone's lives a lot easier. Caroline has a Kindle and Feli has an iPad so now we both have a lot more space in our suitcase for clothes instead of books!

7. Online Bookshops
Don't get us wrong, we love actual bookshops. When we both lived in Bath a weekend wasn't complete without a visit to Mr B's or Topping & Company, two amazing independent bookshops in the city centre. Unfortunately for us, money doesn't grow on trees, and as students we had to economise somewhere! Amazon has a lot of slightly distasteful practices, and we know a lot of publishers are not big fans, but you can't argue with the prices. Fortunately, we've recently discovered the Harry Potter to Amazon's Voldemort: hive.co.uk. They sell physical and electronic books, at great prices, in a way that benefits independent sellers. Go check it out if you live in the UK and want to escape the Amazon machine.

8. Other Bloggers
As mentioned in number 5, we love reading other blogs. Reading their adventures in blogging was a big motivator for us to try it ourselves. Some of our favourites and their most recent posts can be found in the column on the right.

9. NetGalley
Free books! What more do we need to say? As a new-ish addition to the blogging scene, we don't have a huge amount of success on NetGalley (any tips would be appreciated!), but browsing on there has definitely led to us broadening out our reading habits - and trying some things we might not have bothered with previously. (Seven Deadlies for example)



10. Each other <3
As we'd communicated every other way possible (in person, Facebook, phone, Whatsapp, email, tumblr, telepathically), we thought why not try a blog? And now that we live on different continents (sob), and we can't just knock on each other's bedroom door in order to squeal about Throne of Glass, this blog is a brilliant way for us to keep talking, especially as the emails we exchange wouldn't actually make sense to anyone else...

7 comments:

  1. I do like Amazon, the prices are just so good. I know that doesn't help independent booksellers, but I don't have any around me. I must check out Hive though. Great list!

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  2. Talking of Bloglovin', I've just followed you guys on there.

    And yes, when authors tweet/retweet me, I do a happy dance! Luckily no one can see.

    Sarah

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    1. Thanks for following Sarah! Yep, I'm pretty glad no-one can see my happy dance either :P

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  3. Good list, google helps me out with my blog a lot too.

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  4. Great list! I really need to put the time into Photoshop, I just always start and never know what I'm doing and then hate everything I do!

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    1. I know, I'm having that problem too. I spend hours messing about on something and then just delete it because I decide I hate it. Not an efficient use of time at all!

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