About book-reviewing blogs. . .

Thanks to James, I stumbled upon this post titled "How to Get Into Book Reviewing as a Blogger." While I don't disagree with the article as a whole, this quote made me laugh out loud:

If you treat your blog as a hobby you cannot expect others to regard you
seriously.

Damn, that's why the Hotlist will always be considered a failure to launch. . .

No but seriously, every time I'm asked how I managed to make the Hotlist what it has become over the years, I invariably reply that it's because I've never taken myself too seriously. I'm a fan first and a reviewer second. And though it's never been more than a hobby for me, it has never prevented me from conducting myself in a professional and businesslike manner.

Well okay, that's not entirely true, is it!?!:P But it wouldn't be fun otherwise!;-)

5 commentaires:

SQT said...

Heh. I'm terrified of being taken too seriously. ;)

Anonymous said...

Pat, I think you're taking that quote out of context. There are several clarifications in the post that you can be very personable and that she was only refering to the way that you conduct yourself with publicists, editors and authors. Just common sense advice when you consider the entire post.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and that reminds me...

I think it would be really interesting if you would do a post about how you got started as a reviewer blog. Provide some counterpoint to Dear Author.

If you've already done that, I'd be happy with a link, too.

The Evil Hat/Nat said...

The people making comments along those lines seem to have an odd opinion on what a hobby entails. Just because something isn't your primary purpose in life doesn't mean you can't put time and effort into it, does it? Besides which, I thought that not conducting yourself like an immature jackass was a given in ANY activity, not just jobs.

Andrew Taylor said...

I am pretty sure the only requirement you need is to enjoy writing and doing whatever it is you are doing. If you really enjoy it you will take it seriously and put in hard work without even realizing it.

You don't need to take yourself seriously to do that though in fact I get better work done when I just spew things up and take it lightly.