Tuesday, August 27, 2013

15-Day Book Blogger Challenge - Day 8: The Best Book Blogs

Click on the picture to check out the challenge and participate!

Today's prompt is "Quick! Write 15 bullet points of things that appeal to you on blogs!" In the interest of being "quick!", I'll cut to the chase.
  1. A good writing style. This one is absolutely vital, or I won't read the blog at all. Also, if the blog doesn't have the other things I like, really good writing can redeem it (for me). 
  2. A clean, uncluttered look. One of my pet peeves is when the content gets squished between two colorful sidebars. Just pick one! People hardly ever look at sidebars anyway. 
  3. A good "about" section. I like to know where the blogger is coming from, which genres they read the most, how blogging fits into their everyday life, etc. I don't need to know their whole life story; I just want to have something to go on. Which brings me to...
  4. A little bit of personal stuff, but not too much. I don't want to read someone's opinion on books when they completely hide their life from me, but I also don't want every other post to be about non-bookish stuff. If it's a blog about life, the universe, and everything, don't parade it as a book blog. 
  5. Mindful use of the space in a post. First I want to say that this is something I'm still working on, so I'm not trying to say I'm a good example of it! But anyway. When I say mindful use of the space in a post, I mean that they work well with the length of the post: paragraph breaks as needed, appropriate use of white space, appropriate use of pictures, etc. If it's a long post, they break it up with pictures; if it's a short post, they don't make it long by putting in a zillion pictures. You get what I'm saying. 
  6. Decent avoidance of GIFs. Now, I do read some blogs that use GIFs, and they can be funny. But after I've seen a GIF once, I have to scroll down so it's not in my line of sight anymore. I'm not saying I hate them, I just think they can be overused and somewhat annoying. 
  7. Artistic-ness. (No, I could not think of a better way to say that.) This is something I love about other blogs that my blog really lacks (but hopefully that will change, someday). I don't mind a straightforward blog in the slightest, but I do enjoy blogs with an artsy sense to them. 
  8. Books that I like. This is an obvious one, but I like it when the blogger talks about books that I've read or that I'm interested in reading. 
  9. Humor. I have a hard time with bloggers that can't find it in their heart to laugh at a book or at themselves. 
  10. Sarcasm. Maybe it's bad, but I really like a good sarcastic comment or two from the blogger. Sarcasm can be mean in real life, but in blogging, I think it can actually soften a more scathing review, if used in the right way. 
  11. Ample respect for the greats. I don't expect everyone to like all classics; I certainly don't like all classics. But I lose a lot of interest in a blogger who can't give respect where respect is due. 
  12. A good middle ground between cold-hearted critic and ALL THE FEELS. I like enthusiasm and I like criticism, and I hope I can see both in a blog, perhaps even in a single post. 
  13. Intelligent description of things the blogger liked/didn't like. I don't want the blogger to just say, "this book was horrible" and leave it at that. What was horrible about it? 
  14. A mature sense about the blog. I think this one speaks for itself. 
  15. Personality! I think we all like to see blogs that have personality. 
What kinds of things do you enjoy seeing on blogs? 

3 comments:

  1. OK, I was reading through your list here, and then noticed that you are currently reading Where the Red Fern Grows. I am, too. Ever since I had to think about a book that made me cry, I decided to read it aloud to my kids. We are a little more than half way through, and they keep asking me when the sad part is coming.

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    1. Aw! You should tell them to enjoy the happy parts while they still can. Ha, ha. I'm reading it aloud with my husband. I love that it appeals to any age group, any gender. :)

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  2. Great list! I especially agree with #12. Someone who likes everything, or who dislikes everything, loses me quickly.

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