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TBR 2012 update – slowly, but surely!

Oct16

Since my last update on July 1 chronicling my progress through the shelves full of pre-2013 books that I was determined to finally recommend on BooksYALove, I have

  • traveled to Singapore and Indonesia, via Japan and Korea,
  • driven several hundred miles in Texas presenting IASL’s GiggleIT Project for global student writing through school libraries,
  • moved 3 truckloads of  semi-tropical plants in containers to their winter home,
  • and read many, many eGalleys online with 30-60 day expiration dates.

Book cover of The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson published by Margaret McElderry BooksI haven’t written up as many TBR2012 Challengebook cover of Pearl by Jo Knowles published by Henry Holt Books books as I did earlier in the year, but did spotlight Nalo Hopkinson’s highly inventive Canadian-Jamaican fantasy The Chaos  (my no-spoiler review here) and Jo Knowles’ growing up novel Pearl  (more here), which brings my total to 51 for the year. Over one per week – not bad!

What’s on your to-be-read shelf these days?
**kmm

Getting back in the swing of things (or, Jetlag gets me again)

Sep6

Texas woman in sarong standing in front of Hindu temple BaliBefore I left for IASL2013 Annual Conference in Bali on August 20th, I had several book recommendations written and set for release on BooksYALove on different days while I was away (betcha didn’t even know I was gone), but only through September 2nd, the date of my return to the USA.

Surely, I’d be able to get the next review written and links prepared by Wednesday Sept. 4th…  nope. Jet-lagged.

Now I’m trying to get back in the reading-writing groove again, after nearly 2 weeks of traveling-meeting-presenting. Hopefully, I’ll be back on track by Monday.

Here’s a photo of me at Besakih Temple, the holy “mother temple” for Hindus in Bali, just so you know I was really there.

And yes, it’s hotter and more humid right now in Houston than it was in the tropical paradise of Bali!
**kmm

Thanks for the Shout-Out!

Aug8
Indian flower design by Dover Publications

(c) Dover Publications

In case you missed my Tweet a while back, here’s the link to my interview on Beth Fehlbaum’s blog as part of her Saturday Shout-Out series.

Thanks, Beth, for letting me share more about why I do what I do on BooksYALove!

**kmm

 

 

FTC, publishers, and me – expectations and requirements for book bloggers

Jul17
etching of woman's hand holding 5 old playing cards by Dover Publications

courtesy of Dover Publications

So, whose rules do I have to follow as I post book recommendations for y’all – the Library of Congress? the publishers? the authors?

Nope, the Federal Trade Commission! That’s right, the government agency that watches over advertisers so their promises don’t make you buy something bogus also has guidelines for social media so that consumers know when someone is Tweeting an advertisement or has been paid to review a product and so on.

There’s been some worry in the book blogging community about whether we’re notifying y’all properly as to how books land in our hands or if receiving free advance reader copies makes us unduly biased toward various titles.

And discussion goes round and round about what is the book blogger’s responsibility to the publisher or author who gave them the book…

Lately, I’ve seen reviewers splash an “FTC required disclaimer” on their book review (when there is no specific wording required by the FTC) or state that they received a book “in exchange for my fair and honest review” when most publishers don’t require that a review be written at all.

In fact, the graphic novel publisher First Second even blogged about that “in exchange” wording, saying that when they send out a book, they know that some folks will love it, some be on the fence, some even stop reading it because it’s not their thing, and that First Second would rather have a strong review (positive or negative) than one that says “this book is sort of okay.”

What does all this mean for BooksYALove readers?

While I’ve always noted whether I received the book I’m recommending from the publisher or have purchased it myself, I moved that disclaimer into the Book Info section so you know that before you read the full Book Talk which gives you the no-spoilers synopsis of the book. FTC guidelines satisfied, without bombarding you with lots of irrelevant text.

Of course, if I can’t give a book an A or B+ “grade” for its particular category (science fiction, adventure, etc.) and for fans of Young Adult books, then it never appears here at all. I don’t want you to waste your time or money on poorly written books when there are so many wonderful titles out there!

**kmm

Blogathon & TBR wrapup = busy month of June!

Jul1

The WordCount Blogathon I Did It 2013 participant badge
Whew! June just raced by, and we’re done with WordCount Blogathon for another year.

We had guest bloggers (hi, Alison!) and theme days for 5 favorites and haiku and word cloud  (I skipped the video day; it just wasn’t working out).

I found lots of interesting blogs to follow and tried to be supportive for those whose subjects aren’t on my current interest radar.

And I can’t wait to do it again next year! If you’re a blogger or want to start blogging, mark your calendar for the May sign-up for next year’s Blogathon. The community of support is great, and we keep sustaining one another through the next 11 months of blogging (although not posting every single day, thank goodness!).

Since I was concentrating on the many NetGalley electronic-format ARCs with upcoming expiration dates during Blogathon, I only recommended 3 books with publication dates of 2012 or earlier for the ongoing TBR2012 Challenge this month:

Ghost Knight,  by Cornelia Funke

Spy School,  by Stuart Gibbs

Stealing Kevin’s Heart,  by M. Scott Carter

So with my 46 TBR2012 titles read during the first five months of the year, that brings my total to 49, just under 2 “older” books a week recommended on BooksYALove… not too bad.

How’s your TBR shelf looking these days?
**kmm

WordCloud Day – I see a theme here…

Jun30

wordcloud of BooksYALove terms in heart shapeWordCount Blogathon 2013 is complete – 30 posts in 30 days, theme days, guest blogger, and all that good stuff.

For our final day is my favorite theme day: Word Cloud Day.

I just love Tagxedo – easy to use, lots of color and font choices, nifty shapes (and free)!

Many thanks to Michelle Rafter for starting Blogathon and to Jan Udlock for assisting this year.

I already have “Blogathon Sign-up” on my May 2014 calendar!

Did you add a favorite from this month’s recommendations on BooksYALove to your To-Be-Read shelf?
*kmm

Haiku Day – oh, the writing life!

Jun24

Teachers Write project 2013 logo

It’s Haiku Day for Blogathon2013!

(Coincidentally, it’s also the first day of TeachersWrite, an online summer camp where great kidlit authors are coaching teachers and librarians in their own writing, so they can better teach their students about writing, revising, and such. Yes, I’m doing it, too!)

Jane Reichold’s many articles on haiku include her overview of several techniques which can be used in crafting the just-right haiku.

So I wrote this haiku about BooksYALove:

Images, pages,
so many, varied and deep,
Stories yet to share.

**kmm

ARCs, book reviewers, and maxed-out shelves (reflective) – facts, opinion, and a shared rant

Jun13
woman in green shirt reading newspaper

(c) ClipartHeaven.com

Have you ever wondered how those book reviews get into your local paper, national television shows, and blogs before  you can actually buy the book?

The answer is as simple as ARC – advance reader copies, also known as advance readers’ editions. proofs, “galleys” or F&Gs (for picture books).  Whether print or digital, these ARCs are essentially final drafts of the book, so they include typographical errors which will be corrected before the book goes to print, often have placeholders for spot art or illustrations, and frequently include the initials TK to indicate information that’s “to come” in the published book (no one seems to know why this isn’t TC).

Reviewers know that these things will all get fixed before the public reads the book; we just skip around and over the glitches so we can read the story or text and be able to write our review/recommendation for the audience that we address. Publishers are hoping that our reviews will create enough “buzz” to spur sales of the book and make up for the high cost of print ARCs.

What happens to print ARCs after reviewers read them should be crystal-clear, as every ARC I’ve ever held says plainly “uncorrected proof – NOT FOR SALE” or some variation of those terms.

It infuriates me when anyone sells ARCs on eBay or anywhere else, as this (1) violates the terms that allowed that person to acquire the ARC, (2) takes revenue away from the authors and their publishers since the ARC buyer probably won’t purchase the finished book, and -worse- (3) puts an imperfect copy of the author’s work into a reader’s hands when that person is unlikely to realize what an ARC is and why it’s not “a real book.” I’m not alone in ranting about this – see Afewmorepages’ post here as she collects several blog posts about not selling ARCs.

Of course, that means I cannot donate print ARCs to Goodwill, Salvation Army, or other charitable group which sells items (reselling is still reselling), nor can they go into a library’s collection unless the ARC is purposely there for comparison with the finished book (maybe in a university library to support a publishing degree program?). As selective as I am in requesting ARCs which fit into BooksYALove’s stated goals – young adult books beyond bestsellers, especially by debut authors and smaller presses – I still have lots and lots of ARCs.

What to do with ARCs and still do the right thing? Simplest yet hardest thing to do is just “pulp” them by tearing apart and putting the ARC into the recycling bin (“but…” I sniffle, “it still is a book…”), just as I would any misprint paper.

Thankfully, some publishers have begun including this wording in their ARCs: “After the publication date of this book , please consider thoughtfully donating this ARC to a juvenile detention facilty, shelter or other youth program” – THAT is a win-win-win scenario! Kids who’d otherwise have no access at all to books can get books to keep; the books don’t wind up as landfill fodder; the authors’ works are enjoyed and read and re-read by their target audience.

So where are my ARCs going? For sure, the upcoming fall collection by HEB grocery stores for their Read 3 program, which I discovered at the Texas Library Association annual conference last year. I’m also checking with area agencies that serve at-risk youth.  Everyone will win… and my bookshelves will be happy!

Where would you send ARCs in your area?
**kmm

Clipart image of woman reading newspaper (c)ClipartHeaven.com

My Fave Five apps for bloggers and readers (plus a bonus app or two)

Jun5
cartoon of billiard ball 5 by ClassroomClipart.com

(c)ClassroomClipart.com

Today’s WordCount Blogathon theme is Five Favorite Apps.

My hands-down favorite is 30/30 for iOs and Android (didn’t find it for Windows phone yet). This timer program allows me to set up alerts for a sequence of tasks – as long as the blocks are under 60 minutes – and sounds an alarm when it’s time to switch to next task. I can pause a timed task, add or subtract time, move off the list for now, all on the fly.  Add in the ability to create and save multiple sequences, and you have a truly useful app that’s FREE.

I use  30/30 to schedule in stretch breaks, remind myself to check email and Twitter on a regular-but-not-constant basis, and so on. Rewarding myself with a 15-minute block of gameplay satisfies my need for some non-writing time while keeping me from getting so engrossed in the game that I ‘forget’ to get back to work. Super-super-super for ensuring that I’m not sitting still in front of computer for hours at a go.

Finding BufferApp was delightful. I use the free version to pre-schedule tweets at times when more of my followers are on Twitter, which lets me write the perfect tweet about a new blog post, put it in a scheduled slot on BufferApp, and not have to worry about remembering to tweet as soon as that post goes live. Recent enhancements let me Buffer retweets directly from Twitter, rather than having to copy-paste. Also available for iOs and Android, it works with Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. You can have up to 10 tweets buffered at a time with the free version, more with paid subscription.

Next is Dropbox (free for computers, iOs, Android, Windows Phone) which gives me access to my saved Dropbox files from nearly anywhere. As I routinely move between several computers in multiple locations, I save essential documents (optical prescriptions, frequent flyer numbers, book reviews) into Dropbox so I don’t have to remember which hard drive they’re on. It’s also great as photo/video downloader and repository, as I don’t have to locate cables to directly download phone photos to my computer.

Number four is a catchall of apps, since I haven’t yet bought a dedicated eReader because the eReader format wars haven’t shown any clear winner. I use the free Kindle and Nook apps on my phone (and desktop and laptop and netbook) to access those eBook types. Many publishers provide ARCs (advance reader copies) to reviewers in Adobe Digital Editions format, so that’s on all my computers, too. Adobe doesn’t have ADE for iOs yet, and user reviews of phone apps which claim to read ePub and ADE format are uniformly dissatisfied with those alternatives; hope Adobe has their own reader app available soon.

My fifth app helps me keep up with all the wonderful blogs I follow. When Google announced they were discontinuing GoogleReader this summer, I joined the mad dash to find a good substitute. After trying a few, I’ve settled on feedly as my preferred blog-reader and have happily changed my 30/30 task name. With a robust ‘back-end’ to harvest the blogs you subscribe to, it’s time to say hello feedly and sayonara GR!

And the bonus apps for everyone are Sun Wise from the EPA (all smartphone platforms) which gives you the current UV Index for any zipcode and Charity Miles which donates money to your choice of several charitable causes for every mile that you walk, run, or bike while you have the app activated. That’s right – you give the physical effort and someone else donates the funds! Among their current charities are Wounded Warrior Project, The Nature Conservancy, Autism Speaks, and StandUp2Cancer. Their initial $1 million pool pays out 25 cents per mile walked or run and 10 cents per mile biked to the charity you’ve selected. So download this app for iOs or Android, then get out there and move!

What apps do you use to keep your life/work/fun/relationships balance successfully juggled?
**kmm

Blogathon2013 on the horizon; TBR2012 rolls on

May31
Phillip Martin cartoon of girl lying down with book

image (c) Phillip Martin

The merry month of May…
reading, writing, reading,
slow progress on TBR2012 shelf,
WordCount Blogathon2013 dead ahead!

Oh, I recommended plenty of books in May, but only 2 from my to-be-reviewed shelf had publication dates of 2012 or earlier:

Renegade Magic, by Stephanie Burgis
Arm of the Starfish, by Madeleine L’Engle

So totaled with my January, February, March, and April TBR2012 Challenge title lists, that makes 46 pre-2013 books that I’ve offered for your consideration this year (just click on the link to get to that month’s wrap-up post with titles and links to my recommendations; each opens in new tab/window).

Now, I’m poised to take on the blog-every-day-of-June-challenge of WordCount Blogathon2013! (remember, if you sign up by 11 pm EDT/8 pm PDT today and blog each day in June, you’re eligible for nifty prizes)

I plan to take full advantage of the traditional Blogathon days for haiku, word clouds, “my top five” and at least one guest blogger, as well as sending a guest post to another Blogathonner’s blog or two. Even with those special days counted in, that still means over two dozen new books will be recommended for you in June as I #blog2013!

During the summer, I will be joining many librarians and teachers in trying to read a #bookaday (thank goodness I also review picture books for www.abookandahug.com!), Tweeting my progress @BooksYALove. Since I read fast and write with due deliberation, there may be quite a gap between my #bookaday tweet and its appearance here on BooksYALove. If you spot a title that you can’t wait to hear more about, give me a holler here, and I’ll try to move its recommendation post up the calendar.

Of course, not every book I read makes the cut for BooksYALove – only the best are good enough for YA readers to spend their time and money on, in my opinion.

So, what will you be reading and writing this summer??
**kmm

Image of reader lying down copyrighted by and courtesy of Phillip Martin http://reading.phillipmartin.info/la_reading_comprehension.htm