I was kindly nominated for this Blogger Recognition Award, which is rather exciting, so here goes!
Blogger Recognition Award
I was nominated for this award by Melissa Snow over at The Bookworm’s Fantasy. She has a brilliant blog and I really enjoy reading her posts, so definitely go and check it out – she enjoys a good crime novel, as well as psychological thrillers and the odd romance, just like me, so I always enjoy her reviews! (Follow her on twitter too – @SnowMel1)
Rules Of The Award
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Write a post to show your award.
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
5. Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
6. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide a link to the post you created.
How Did My Blog Start?
The main reason I started my blog, back in May 2014, was because I realised I read so many books and often advised or just discussed books with my friends and family, so I thought why not start a blog too? I have to admit that learning about Netgalley and sites like that (plus a recent addiction to Goodreads) helped encourage me to start a proper blog to review on, as it would hopefully mean I’d get to read some amazing books before they’re released, and I have loved book blogging ever since – despite sometimes struggling to get everything read alongside work (and life!). However reading is something I hugely enjoy (obviously!) so it’s never a chore to have to work my way through a big TBR list! It’s only been in the last 6 months or so that I’ve realised I needed to get my arse in gear with Twitter, too, as it’s a key way of promoting my blog and getting new followers. I do a lot of digital marketing at work so it’s ironic that I didn’t consider how much using Twitter would help my own blog, but there you go… my handle is @lauranazmdeh if you don’t already follow me but would like to 🙂 I also have an Instagram account (@snazzy_stuff_) too, but I don’t have many followers on there!
Two pieces of advice for new book bloggers:
1. Don’t go crazy and request 50,000 books on Netgalley/ Edelweiss/ anywhere you can get your grubby hands on books, because there might be delay with approvals (particularly at the beginning) and then suddenly you’ll have 50,000 books waiting for you and about a week to read and review them all in! (To be fair, I still do this today so I’m obviously not learning from my own advice!)
2. Just because someone’s sent you a book, don’t feel you have to lie if you didn’t enjoy it. Fair enough, if you hated it maybe contact them to explain before posting an awful review, but don’t feel pressured to change your opinions, otherwise you’re undermining your credibility as a blogger. That’s what I reckon anyway……
15 bloggers to pass this award on to:
It’s hard to pick just 15 as there are so many amazing blogs I follow! So here are some great bloggers that I don’t think have been tagged already, and who I’d like to see do this tag (apologies if you have been tagged before!)
Thanks so much for including me in your nominations, I have been tagged already but it’s always lovely to be on someone else’s radar. Great advice – I think we all learned the first one the hard way (I’m still clearing a backlog). I was late to the party with Twitter as well and still not entirely sure I’m “doing it” properly. xx
No worries at all, and glad you’ve already been tagged. I have no excuse as I did the same before and got out of the backlog, and didn’t learn from my mistakes and requested far too many again! Embarassing haha. Lovely to have so much to read though!
Congrats Laura! I’ve enjoyed reading your reviews and good advice…I’m currently trying to dig myself out of my net galley hole:)
Thanks so much – glad it’s not just me trying desperately to get on top of Netgalley! It’s getting there slowly but surely – just got to resist requesting new titles!
Congrats on your nomination, you’ve offered some wise advice there! And thank you so much for the mention too 🙂
Haha thanks very much! ????
Thank you! ????
Yay! Congrats!