It doesn’t matter how good your book is. Doesn’t matter how much work you’ve done on it. With over 350,000 titles being published a year, it’s almost impossible for an indie author to even get people to know your book exists unless you either have money for ads or help.
A lot of help.
Authors can find that help in different ways: friends, family, colleagues, other writers, and…book bloggers. Book bloggers read, review, and showcase books that we may not hear of otherwise. And they do it for nothing. The do it for their love books. Period.
This interview is the first of several I will do in order to shine some light onto this awesome community of readers and reviewers.
Today, I’m interviewing Melanie from Fang Freakin Tastic Book Reviews. I met her when we teamed up with Little Read Riding Hood for the Indie-Credible 2013 Tour. Every email from her brought a smile to my face, as she’s got a great sense of humor. Well, you’ll see:
How long have you been book blogging? Laura, at Little Read Riding Hood had me write my first review in March of this year I think it was. In April I was her first official “co-blogger”. I loved it so much, that at the beginning of July I started my own blog, Fang Freakin Tastic Book Reviews.
Why did you start? Laura made me do it. I’m mostly kidding. I’ve known Laura for a few years and we have similar taste in books. She had mentioned that she started her blog and for a few months dropped hints here and there that I should write reviews for her to post on her blog. I finally gave in and did it. The more I wrote and received feedback from others about my reviews, the more I wanted to write. I started my own blog because I’m a control freak. As much as I love Laura and working with her on her page, I wanted to also have control over something of my own.
What is the toughest part of being a book blogger? Getting the posts together! It takes me way too long to get my posts together! I’m really not any good with computers. It took me over a month to build my site myself because I had to learn to do everything myself. I wanted to be sure if there was a problem, I would know how to fix it. I’ve had to learn how to use html code stuff, and with each post, I have to add code to pretty much everything to make it look the way I want it to, and even then, sometimes, it just has a mind of its own anyway.
The most awesome part? Getting emails from my favorite authors telling me they appreciate that I told everyone about their book, and hearing back from readers telling me that they picked up a book because of my review.
How do you feel about Indie authors and self-publishing? I think its great that indie authors are able to get their books out there in a non-traditional way. I read a lot of indie authors. I think self publishing is great because you can find a lot of authors that you wouldn’t otherwise have been able to read just because a traditional publisher maybe didn’t care for it. There are so many great authors out there. I have a lot of respect for self published authors. They take a big chance, and I admire that. I also think of it as supporting a small business when I buy an indie book as compared to a traditional book, and I think that’s important.
How long does it take you to read a book? It depends on what else I have going on, how long the book is, and how into the book I am. I’ve got 2 kids and a husband who seem to need constant attention or apparently they will fall off the face of the earth or something. I can usually read a medium sized book in a day or two if it’s one I’m pretty interested in. I also tend to have several books going at once. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to read anything that has some great love story going on. Sometimes I would rather read about someone kicking butt or some kind of crazy supernatural thing.
Do you take review requests, and if so, where can authors contact you? I do as of right now. I can’t make any promises as to when I can get the reviews finished, but I am accepting requests. Authors can email me at
fangfreakintastic@gmail.com
Untethered is still a bottom-dweller as far as sales and visibility are concerned. But were it not for book bloggers, it would be buried under the sand. I am planning on interviewing bloggers once a month, but, unfortunately, I am not able to showcase everyone I really want to thank. So here’s a big, huge THANK YOU to all of you bloggers who have featured or reviewed Untethered. You all are awesome. And you all make a difference.
FYI: Keep your eyes on my blog! Untethered is getting a makeover and starting Tuesday, I’ll be giving a slow-striptease of the new cover!
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katiehayoz.com 
What a great interview! And I even discovered a new blogger – that doesn't happen all that often 🙂
Have a great day, Katie.
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
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Thanks, Lexxie. Hope you'll be my next interview! 🙂
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Great interview Katie! I enjoyed getting to know Melanie. Thank you!
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Thank YOU, Vashti!!
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