[Armchair BEA] Blogger Development & Genre Fiction (with Giveaway!)

Button designed by Emily of Emily's Reading Room

For those of you who don't know yet, ArmchairBEA is a way for those book bloggers who cannot attend Book Expo America in Person to get together and meet great people. Below, you can find a bit about how I came to be the blogger I am today and my thoughts on genre fiction along with my favorite genres and some book recommendations. And don't forget, there's a giveaway at the bottom of this blog post!

Blogger Development

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been blogging for many years now. I will not go into the whole "how it started" again. Instead, let me tell you shortly how I feel blogging has changed over the years.

Way back, book blogging especially was mostly about telling other people about books we read, whether we liked them or not, what worked and what did not work. I would post a review (at least as soon as what I was writing could somehow qualify as a review) whenever I was done with a book. There were no cover reveals, no big giveaways (and thus no hoops you had to jump through in order to have a chance at winning the giveaway). There were not that many author interviews, in part certainly because the book blogging community was not yet perceived as a marketing tool by the industry professionals.

Nowadays, it feels like in quite a few cases it is more about promoting authors, getting the word out for the sake of the author, and no longer for the sake of the reader. I have encountered blogs that would post about one and the same book over and over again. In a few cases, this has turned me off a book or even a blog. I admit I have unsubscribed to a few (very few in comparison!) blogs because I would see one and the same book or author promoted over and over again without any content that was helpful to me as a reader who was not a "fangirl" of said author.

Among the major changes for the book blogging community is certainly the access to review copies. When I started out, review copies were - to my knowledge - for magazine and newspaper journalists only (and maybe book seller and other industry professionals?). Nowadays, in part because of the rise of the e-book, book bloggers all over the world can gain access to review copies and read books in advance. This was quite a game changer, in my opinion. When way back, you would have to order a book, wait for the publication date and the actual shipping to read the book, you can now start reading as soon as the publisher offers ARCs. Thus, the book blogging community is a lot more "part of the game and the system". In my opinion, this has both good and bad effects. On one hand, book bloggers can now talk about books and promote them as soon as they are published or even a few days in advance, which makes for an even bigger audience. On the other hand, and this is something that has been bothering me early on, the variety of books discussed on blogs has decreased and it is not unusual for me to scroll through my feed reader only to see reviews for one and the same book on ten different blogs posted over the course of two to three days. It may be only me, but this causes an oversaturation and almost a disinterest in a book if I have not yet read it. Another result of this is the run for the approval for the next big book. You hear about a book and everybody wants to be approved for an ARC for this book in order to read and review it (which then leads back to the original point of many blogs talking about one and the same book).

Granted, I have done the same thing. I heard about a book and felt the need to read it right away, without waiting for the official publication date. I am not saying I am different. However, I sometimes wish the book blogging community would not only promote the latest books, but also the books that have been out there for a while. These books are still worth being read, and this is something I hope to achieve with my blogging. (There's another review coming up for a book that has been published a few years back but is still worth reading this week!)

That being said, I love the fact that the book blogging community has grown so much over the years. I believe there is not one reader out there who would not be able to find a book blogger who has a similar taste in reading and thus can recommend awesome books. I can only hope this growth will continue and we will stay big, colorful, and all-encompassing! Let's read on and promote those wonderful books!

The many events now available within the book blogging community (but not only for book bloggers) have certainly helped us all to meet new people, be it the various read-a-thons happening throughout the year, the Bloggiesta, weekly events or more. One example for this is the Bout of Books, during the last I actually met a group of wonderful people, the Book BFFs: Lindsay from A Novel Life, Melina from The Pretty Nifty (YA) Reader, Kelly from Reading the Paranormal, Octavia from Read. Sleep. Repeat., Michelle from In Libris Veritas, Rie from Mission to Read, Danielle from Consuming Worlds, Camila from Alive or Undead, Lisa from Lisa Likes Books, Jessica from Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile, Amanda from On A Book Bender, Judith from Paper Riot, Angela & Loretta from Reading Angels, Lisa from Just Another Rabid Reader, Angie from Angela's Anxious Life, Aimee from Penmanship Smitten, and Melissa from Harley Bear Book Blog. These girls are wonderful and I cannot wait to read more books with them!

Genre Fiction

Genre fiction for me is a very interesting topic. You may have noticed that I do not stick to just one or two genres. When asked what kind of books I read, I always have a hard time explaining it and giving a concise answer.

Fact is, I love a number of genres both aimed at young adults and adults. These genres are, generally speaking:

Paranormal and fantasy - The world and the character building is fascinating. I enjoy being able to see how an author decides to change the world we live in to accommodate his or her imagination. Another big aspect for me is how it changes the characters' lives and their views of the world.

Contemporary - These books let me jump into another person's life in my time, my world. There are not too many changes from what I know apart from the surroundings and the people the characters deal with. One thing that appeals to me here is the easy way to enter the story.

Romance - It is such a nice change of pace for me, to see how other people get their happily ever after despite all the obstacles they have to circumnavigate first!

Mysteries and thrillers - The thrill of deciphering clues, figuring out who the perp is and why s/he is doing what s/he is doing is amazing! I love the feeling and always have! To figure out all that while reading the book and yet being surprised by the author is a big bonus.

Dystopia - The world building alone can be amazing if it is done right, which is something I absolutely love. Add to that the author's imagination of how characters deal with the world, the obstacles, and the hardships of life in this world, and I can be completely enthralled.

With all these genres, there is one catch: It has to work out for me. I can overlook certain flaws in the writing, but there is a line that should not be crossed. This varies from genre to genre and book to book, depending on my expectations. Nonetheless, there are some books that, in my opinion, are simply outstanding. For each of the genres mentioned above, I have one book that for me falls into this category of outstanding books that I can only recommend. (If possible, I will link to my review, which will also lead you on a time travel through my review writing.)

Paranormal and fantasy: D.D. Barant: Dying Bites (1st in series)

Contemporary: Ally Carter: Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy (1st in series)

Romance: Jill Shalvis: Christmas in Lucky Harbor (first 3 in series)

Mysteries and thrillers: Laura Childs: Death by Darjeeling (1st in a series - cozy mystery!)

Dystopia: Lenore Appelhans: Level 2 (review upcoming!)

Now for the giveaway: One of you can win one book of your choice that I have mentioned in this blog post.

I'm doing this old school with only three hoops I would like for you to jump (naturally, you must be of age or have parental consent to participate!):
1) Be subscribed to my blog one way or another (and let me know how).
2) Comment on this blog post or one of the linked blog posts with something insightful.
3) Leave an e-mail address for me to contact you (for example write kathrin.p AT gmail DOT com so that your address cannot simply be copied).

(Open until Sunday 06/02/2013 11:59pm EST) Good luck!