The other day, I received an email from the first author ever to contact me to review a book. She was thanking me again for my review so many months earlier. This warmed my heart, because I will never forget her, her book, or the way I felt when I saw her first email in my inbox.
This prompted me to think about book blogging and how awesome it is.
When I first started blogging, I didn’t have a direction and it wasn’t really about books. I used goodreads often and would post some of my reviews to facebook. At the end of the year, a few of my friends asked me to write a short blurb for all the books I read for the year, since they trusted my opinion. This small suggestion is what caused me to begin book blogging. I just wanted another place to share my thoughts and reviews. Then, I stumbled upon A Novel Challenge and signed up for 2012 challenges. Next thing I know, I have 121 followers and do a meme virtually every day.
I had no idea I could get free books for review. A few weeks into book blogging at the start of the year, I realized that most of the other bloggers were reading ARCs. I knew I had so much to learn. I was in awe!
Then, I got my very first email from an author asking me to review her book. I immediately called my husband, full of excitement. I had no idea this happened! I was ecstatic. I am so thankful now that my first author review request happened to be for a book that I still love and still recommend to people. I will never forget all the excitement I felt about being contacted and being able to share my review.
This is why I do reviews.
I have always been the kind of person that wants to share my opinion about books. I want more people to read and I want to raise awareness. Now, I have a place that is mostly dedicated to shouting, “hey, you over there, check this book out! here’s why I loved it.” It’s such a good feeling to share great literature with others. It’s a little less awesome when I share bad literature with others, but I realize it has to be done and if I put why I didn’t like a book, someone else can judge whether it might be right or wrong for them.
Six months into this hobby, I’m still just as excited to finish a book and post my review. I’m just as excited to receive an author request in my email inbox. I’m just as excited to win a book via a blog giveaway, librarything, or goodreads. I am happy to get approved for a request via NetGalley. And I’m even excited to download a self published Kindle freebie and share it with others.
But I will never forget my first time being contacted about reading a book in exchange for a review.
So, bloggers, do you remember your very first author request? Will you ever forget it?
2 comments:
I do indeed remember. I was so flattered. I had no idea that there would come a time that I would be inundated with requests and would have so many books of my choosing to review. I am still very grateful for each author who has entrusted me with their treasure. It is good to look back. I try to bare in mind what it felt like then and to be of assistance or encouragement to those who are new.
Thanks for posting this. It has given me something to reflect on.
I'm glad you enjoyed my post. Even though I'm still new, it's so nice to kind of sit back and reflect. =)
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