Indie Life: Book Bloggers

Book Bloggers are an integral part of the reading community. They are passionate folks who invest their time in reading and spreading the word about the books they love. They write book reviews and host all sorts of bookish events like giveaways, cover reveals, author spotlights, and blog tours. Getting to know some bloggers and understanding the reading world from their perspective can be helpful for any indie author.

Today my indie life post introduces book blogger Cloey K of Cloey's Book Reviews And Other Stuff. One of the first things that intrigued me about Cloey was her passion for ebooks, tea, chocolate and Nascar. What an eclectic combination. 

1. Introduce Yourself.

Hi, my name is Cloey and I blog at Cloey's Book Reviews and Other Stuff at cloeyk.blogspot.com you are welcome to come by when you get a chance and say hello. I have many ideas for my blog and cannot wait to make them happen in 2013 so come be a part of something awesome.

2. Coffee or Tea or Water? Espresso, Drip, Instant, or French Press? Bag or Looseleaf? Bottled, Filtered, Tap or Rainwater?

I love tea and can drink a cup all hours of the day or night. I use prepackaged tea bags and looseleaf with bottled or filtered water, with or without milk/creamer. The flavors vary from black, peppermint, floral and many others. I used to buy bagged herbs to mix for the perfect brew and devoted a cabinet in my kitchen just for my teas.

While packing to move into my new home I found cotton tea bags, three tea balls, and three tea pots so look out! I may be blogging about my perfect brews at Cloey's soon, hehehe.

3. Why do you blog about books?

I was looking for a hobby with a zero dollar budget so I picked something that I liked to do which is reading and talk about books. When I originally started my blog I thought that it would be a win/win for me and authors, I get a free book to read and they get an honest review and I was right. Since starting my blog Feb 2012, I discovered that I really love showcasing authors, reading their work, and sharing my reviews with readers. I really hope that my blog will help readers to find their next hot read.

4. What inspired the design of your site?

I was looking for something funky and dark to fit in with the genres that I like to read and found an awesome design by @Parajunkee. My blog has an urban fantasy, paranormal, or dark fantasy feel but horror and science fiction fits well too. I also wanted a place where people would feel comfortable hanging out and browsing the pages without having ads popping up everywhere. 

5. What is your favorite thing about book blogging?

My favorite thing about book blogging is meeting like minded people. I am bringing readers and authors together in a comfortable place where everyone can express themselves - what's not to like about that? I get to read fabulous books and help to introduce them to readers. I feel like I am helping authors to get the word out about their work and saving readers the hassle of reading through the many books out there when searching for a good read. I also share my favorite TV shows and occasionally anything else that comes to mind.

6. How do you decide which books to read?

If the book is a request for my review, and I do get many review requests, I take a look at the cover art, description, and if it was edited by someone other then the author and a family member then I may consider it for reading. After that I go with my mood. No matter how much I try, if I want to read something Scifi an Urban Fantasy will not be interesting to me no matter how good the book is.

If I am picking out the book for my pleasure then I look at what other people are reading. I checkout other book blogs, read reviews by my friends on goodreads, and always read the reviews on book selling sites. I have also found books through Twitter which were very good reads.

7. How much time do you invest reading and blogging?

About 10 - 15 hours a week. Most of my spare time is spent reading and you will always see me reading at lunch time and when alone waiting in lines.

8. Care to comment on the Alice Hoffman quote: Books may well be the only magic?

I agree with Alice Hoffman because where else can you live a thousand lives and walk side by side with heroes without leaving the safety of your home?

While a movie gives us a flat view of the story world based upon someone else's imagination a book gives us a description and our imagination brings that description to life... that's part of the magic. 

A story in a book can invoke a memory of a scent, or a feeling and also make us feel like we are right there in the story on the sidelines watching the scene as it happens. We can be in the present moment reading a story taking place in the past or future and get so caught up that we lose all concept of everything going on around us... now that's the magic. 

9. On a scale of 1-10, how eccentric are you? 10 being VERY...

Haha! I'll say a 3. I am eclectic and open minded. I never picture myself living with 10 cats but I can picture myself living in an eco friendly house mixing transitional designs with a touch of modern.

10. Is there anything else we need to know about you?

I love NASCAR - my driver is Jimmie Johnson.  I began watching NASCAR  in 1990 while taking naps because the races where just too long. Then in 2004 I paid attention and in 2006 I became a fan of Jimmie Johnson and have been going to races twice a year since 2008. Other drivers that I quietly cheer for are Tony Stewart (I love his attitude), Martin Truex Jr (go Jersey!), and Danika Patrick (who said girls can't drive?).

I have been described as Bohemian and opinionated (well, in my defense, I am child 5 of 6). I am a meditator and live as holistically as possible with my old school minded fiancé who often shakes his head and laughs at my quirks and affectionately calls me crazy while my 2 kids call me mom.

Find Cloey at:
Twitter: @CloeyWorld
Blog: cloeyk.blogspot.com
Facebook: Cloey's Book Reviews
Instagram: cloeyworld

Thanks for stopping by the Indie Life blog hop!

Indie Life: Showing Up

When I was younger, I didn't realize that showing up is more than half the battle. I might withdraw, disappear, or otherwise absent myself with relatively minor excuses, and certainly I felt justified in not showing up when larger, easier to rationalize events occurred.

All this achieved was missing out on a lot of wonderful opportunities, experiences, and relationships.

Fortunately, I've since learned that showing up does a lot of the work for you. 

Two examples. The first, Indie Recon. I was in the middle of that first draft of the third book in my series. My goal was to finish it by the Friday of the following week. It was hard to convince myself that I could attend both the con and get that draft done, even though I could attend the con in my pajamas. Which I did, once I reminded myself that all I had to do was show up.

Turn my computer on, get to the IndieRecon website, and follow along with the schedule as best I could.

Thank goodness I did. I was inspired, motivated, educated and had tons of fun. I even got the nerve up to ask some questions in the virtual sessions. The responses I got from the presenters were more than helpful. And I'd never participated in a Twitter chat before, so I did, and loved it. I also won a first chapter critique from best selling indie author, Denise Grover Swank.

It all began with showing up.

Then the con was over.

It felt pretty much like every single fuse in my brain had been blown. I had been exposed to so much information that I was on overload. Certainly, it would be impossible to finish that draft on schedule.

Here's the second example. Showing up for writing. I coaxed myself. Turn on the computer and start pressing some keys. String together a few words. Go for a sentence. I did. And I finished the draft on schedule. 

Why? 

Because a lot of times all we really need to do to succeed, to have a wonderful time, or to experience a life-changing moment is show up. And I'm beginning to believe that one of the most valuable things we can do as indie authors is: Show up.

Show up for writing, show up for our blogs, show up for twitter … show up for our readers.

Indie Life: Keeping it Real

Being genuine. Keeping it Real. 

How to do that in an online, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Google + world?

I have spent a year trying to answer that question for myself. What I have learned is this: By jumping into the river and swimming, I begin to discover things. As I'm paddling and floating along, my heart and mind connect to things that turn me on, make me feel more alive, and help me grow my way of seeing myself, others, and the world around me.

Those are the things I retweet, share, and comment on. It feels good. There's an impulse to be random, formulaic, and mechanical, and I have experimented with that. For me, it might involve some time savings, but it never feels quite right.

I struggled a lot last year with my website and blog. Having blogged in the past, I knew what a time suck it could be. I didn't want to start up anything I would come to resent, or worse feel disconnected from. Like I was just going through the motions, or just doing it because everyone says I need an author platform.

There were a lot of false starts. I kind of went off in this direction and that one; I felt kind of stuck and uninspired. As the year wore on, I was reading a lot more and then I picked up Leaf Storm by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I fell in love with the stories in it and wanted to chatter about it. Out of all that, Eating Magic, my stream-of-consciousness eating journal, inspired by the Alice Hoffman quote: Books may well be the only true magic was born. 

I get more regular traffic from Eating Magic than anything else I've experimented with, and the truth is, I would continue with it even if I didn't get the traffic, because I love it and it's a lot of fun to write.

Russell Blake is a successful indie author who I follow on Twitter.  He made a comment on his post New Year, New Hurdles & Opportunities: They are singularities. He was referring to John Locke, Amanda Hocking, E.L. James, John Grisham, and Hemingway. He meant their particular road to success is not repeatable. So what are we to do if we can't mimic, copy, or follow behind in their footsteps?

It seems, indie authors--and authors--who experience break-out success don't follow any set rules; they follow their passions and find their own way to keep it real. I know that's the key to accessing the excitement that fired me up to take this journey in the first place.

So every now and then I ask myself: Are you keeping it real?

What about you? Does being genuine feel important to you as an indie author?