Bloggernomicon - Knowledge Lost

It's October and Melbourne is still in lockdown, however I'm pleased to welcome Michael Kitto to the blog in the continuation of my Bloggernomicon series of interviews. Michael's blog is called Knowledge Lost.

Welcome to Carpe Librum Michael. When did you start reviewing books and can you tell me the story behind your blog name? 

Michael Kitto - Knowledge Lost

I was never a reader when I was younger, it was in 2009 when everything changed. It was all thanks to a Triple J radio show called The Culture Club with Craig Schuftan, which got me interested in learning more about art, literature, and philosophy. I had to learn more, so I started reading his book Hey! Nietzsche! Leave Them Kids Alone!, which lead me to read Frankenstein and that was when I became addicted to reading and needed a place to post my thoughts.

The title Knowledge Lost was adapted from the epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton. I decided on this title to symbolise the fact that there is so much to learn and so much knowledge out there that previously was lost to me.

What’s your most popular blog post? What can you tell me about it?
Surprisingly, the post that has the most hits on my blog is an art post called Nec Spe, Nec Metu (Without Hope, Without Fear), which I posted in 2010. Which is about Caravaggio and his motto in life. I am not sure why that gets so much attention but maybe people are just looking up Caravaggio or Nec Spe, Nec Metu trying to learn more about him and his life philosophy. 

Are there any reviewing clichés you’d like to see less of?
I am a cranky old man but review however you want to review. We all have our own opinions, I just hate when a book review is just a synopsis, I don’t want to read about the plot, I want to read what people got out of the book. Tell me what resonated with you about a book, and the themes that keep running through your brain. I am a fan of literary theories, so if you talk about psychoanalysis, feminism, queer theory, post-colonialism, and so on, you have my attention. I once did a post on Twilight where I briefly explained the book using different theories.

Do you have any advice for reviewers interested in starting a book blog?
Just start, I think book blogging is great and I love the visual representation of how much I have changed as a reviewer and a reader. My older posts are not great, but I think it is a great way to see the growth you have made over time. Also, when you get older, you might forget what you thought of books you read in the past, so it is useful to have a reminder.

Have you ever been pressured to give a positive review or had an author question a review of yours?
I will not go into what happened, but I was once told by an author that I read their book wrong because I didn’t like it. This novel used real life people as characters and I never agreed with the way they were portrayed. But it is a good reminder that we are reviewing books to record our own feelings about a book, we are not here to please an author.

When asked by an author, publicist or publisher to review a book, name something that can tip the balance in their favour?
That is easy. When I first started my reading journey, I was a literary explorer, trying all different genres and styles. I have found that I love books from around the world, so if you tell me a book has been translated, I am instantly more interested in reading it. Who knows, my taste might change in the future but for now I want to read books from around the world.

Do you use any of the reading statistics spreadsheets out there? Do you make any specific reading goals around trackable criteria?
I have a reading spreadsheet, which I started in 2009 and I love keeping track of my journey. I can tell you that in my reading journey so far, I have read 1225 books. I track all sorts of stats, like I know that 65% of my reading has been by male authors (even if 75% have been by women this year) and that 35% have been books in translations (75% this year). For a while I didn’t care about those statistics, but it is so easy to see imbalance.

If you could improve one thing on your blog, what would it be?
I would improve myself, but that is the beauty of the blog. I can see just how much I have evolved as both reader and writer. I hope to continue to grow and that my blog continues to reflect that journey.

Name something you’d like to achieve in the world of reviewing and blogging about books
I would love to be known as a literary critic, I love reading and want to continue to grow in my skills of criticism, and I hope that pays off. I am passionate about literature and my literary taste is different to many others, I want to continue promoting the joys of reading books from all around the world.

Do you have any blogging goals for 2020?
My main goal was to get back into the habit of writing regularly. I think I lost my passion and I regret not having reviews on so many books that I have read in the past. Recently I posted about the importance of book reviews, for me, having a recorded review of books I have read in the past really helps refresh my memory of my thoughts. 

Thanks so much for participating in Bloggernomicon Michael. I love the sound of your reading spreadsheet and thanks for being such a champion for translated fiction.

Bloggernomicon - The Book Muse

We've been in lockdown for many weeks now but some of us are still reading, reviewing and blogging despite the chaos going on in the world at the moment. Today I'm pleased to welcome Ashleigh Meikle to the blog in the continuation of my Bloggernomicon series. Ashleigh's blog is called The Book Muse.

Welcome to Carpe Librum Ashleigh and thanks for being part of Bloggernomicon. When did you start reviewing books and can you tell me the story behind your blog name?
I started reviewing books in about 2014 when I did an internship with Pantera Press. It was a search for bloggers for new release Akarnae, that got me started, and from there, I’ve built relationships with various authors, publishers and publicists, as well as reviewing books I buy.

How many books (on average) do you read each year?
Oh wow, this is a tough one to answer – probably at least 100, across a broad range of genres, for reviewing, personal reading for my work as a quiz writer. It does fluctuate and some years I do read more than others. I do focus on review requests, work books and my choices before the unsolicited ones and sometimes the unsolicited ones don’t get read – which I hope is okay, given how many books I get sent.

How many books do you have on your TBR?
At least ten to twenty – I have about six or seven review books; some I’ve bought and some that the authors in my Isolation Publicity series sent me. Some of the review ones were unsolicited so I’m tossing up whether to review them, and they’ve had release dates moved too.

Can you share one of your proudest moments as a blogger or reviewer?
I think starting my isolation publicity series – I love being able to provide Australian authors with a platform to talk about their books they’ve been releasing or working on during the pandemic, and I’ve had quite a good response. Some of my favourite interviews are coming up and I can’t wait to share them.

Do you have a favourite publicist or publisher you enjoy dealing with?
So many – but I think the publicists who work with the kids’ books – or any who are passionate about what they do and the books they’re publicising, and the ones who respond to what I do enthusiastically. It makes it enjoyable to know how well I am doing and being able to help them in these hard times. However Tijana and Tina from Puffin are really good to deal with, as is Sonia from Bloomsbury, who just loves everything I do for the books she sends me and what I do for the Harry Potter books.

Ashleigh Meikle hanging out
with her mate Sir Winston

Do you use bookmarks? Do you have a favourite one or collect them?
Yes to both! I have a box full of various bookmarks that I use all the time. It can be very hard to choose which one to use at times!

Have you ever been pressured to give a positive review or had an author question a review of yours?
Never questioned – but often self-published authors who don’t read my review policy about the genres and formats I accept have tried to pressure me into reviewing their work or told me that their book does fit into my blog and tried to contact me several times to get me involved. Since then, if a request doesn’t give me the right information or tells me they’ve received X amount of 5 star reviews on Goodreads so they think I’d enjoy it, I delete instantly these days – not enough time to fight!

When asked by an author, publicist or publisher to review a book, name something that can tip the balance in their favour?
Definitely giving me all the relevant information I ask for on my policy and respecting whether or not I have time. Also, keeping in mind that what I do read and not assuming that just because I have reviewed a broad range of things, doesn’t mean I’ll always review everything. Sometimes people assume I’ll read something on my DO NOT READ genre list and still request that I do it – and either don’t respond to my polite decline or respond with pressure to read it. I think respecting what a blogger reads as well as their time and the fact that we do this for free is key to requesting a review is something that can work in an author’s favour. I’d also say not complaining about a couple of average or positive reviews works in your favour as an author too – I don’t need to know how many starred reviews you got to make my decision – your book’s premise should speak for itself.

What’s the most intimidating book on your bookshelf?
For me? I’m intimidated by those unsolicited books or obligation books that I’m just given as gifts because I feel like I have to read them – and I’ve given up on one because it was poorly edited. What do I think people would be intimidated by on my shelf? Chaucer or Shakespeare, or my books about rebel women. Some people find some of what I read very intimidating at times. Of all the books on my shelf, I am more intimidated by the prospect of trying to hold some of them rather than the act of reading them. If I had to choose one, I am sort of intimidated by Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene – it’s a brick of a book I need to get my head around holding.

You're not kidding, that one is 1200+ pages long! Do you have any blogging goals for 2020?
To get on top of my requested books at least. I’m less worried about ones I didn’t request, so they get shunted to the side. I’m also trying to read more Australian authors, in particular many more Australian Women Authors and to read as diversely as I can - which largely depends on where and if I can access all those books. There are many reasons for the above, but my main reason is I think Australian authors need our support more than ever now, and I think Australian authors tell wonderful, and diverse stories in many ways.

Thanks so much for participating in my Bloggernomicon Ashleigh. I also enjoy reading and supporting Australian authors and participate in two reading challenges every year if you want to check them out. I hope you achieve your reading goals.

Bloggernomicon - Lost in a Good Book

I'm proud to welcome my second Bloggernomicon interviewee today. Amy Brownlee’s book blog is called Lost in a Good Book and her byline is: Read, Review, Recommend. It's a pleasure to welcome her to Carpe Librum today.

Welcome to Carpe Librum Amy and thanks for being part of Bloggernomicon. When did you start reviewing books and can you tell me the story behind your blog name?

I started reviewing books in January 2012 on the blog, maybe a bit before then on Goodreads. When I decided to create the blog I made up a list of possible names, probably all terrible if I could remember any of them, but I ended up with Lost in a Good Book because I loved the name so much and it seemed perfect for what I wanted to express on the blog. It was serendipitous too because at the time I had started reading Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series and one of the books in the series is Lost in a Good Book which ended up being my favourite of them all.

When I started working as a librarian in 2015 it allowed me to find some fantastic books to read I may never have picked up and getting to share them with a wider audience has been very satisfactory, especially when people tell me they’ve started reading a book because they have read my review. It makes it all worthwhile in a way, even though I was happily doing this blog when no one was reading it.
How many hours (on average) do you spend working on your blog each week?
If I am incredibly organized it can be almost none if everything is beautifully scheduled, but that’s rare. I might spend maybe 10 hours a week? Especially if I am scheduling and writing reviews or rearranging things and doing stuff behind the scenes.

How many books (on average) do you read each year?
It used to be 80 but the last few years it has increased so I’m reading 150 or more.

How many books do you have on your TBR?
Goodreads tells me it is 640 but it is probably more. I think the ones on that list I am realistically never going to read makes up for the ones I do want to read that I haven’t gotten around to adding on there.

How do you organise and keep track of your reviewing commitments?
In the beginning I was a lot more organised with a chart and order to what I needed to read requested books whereas now I am slack in that aspect but more organised in my scheduling. I have a yearly calendar and have a colour code for the days I need a post to go up and label what kind of post it is whether it is a special event, a blog feature post or normal post. I have coloured all the days for the year that need a post and then I override that with another colour when I have a post done for that particular day. That way I can see a whole year and see which days have posts done and which days I still need to fill. I still haven’t found the balance to get my requests that organised but I am trying to make it work.

Can you share one of your proudest moments as a blogger or reviewer?
I was able to review a debut book for one of my favourite musicians, Voltaire, and I got to interview him about his writing and how his music influenced his writing style. It was an incredible moment and seeing people share their favourite lines and paragraphs of the review was brilliant, especially since I was still starting out with my blog it was a great confidence boost.

What’s your most popular blog post? What can you tell me about it?
It’s actually a strange one; a few years ago I dedicated a month celebrating the book series His Dark Materials which was turning 20. My most popular post comes from one where I explored the characters from the first book The Northern Lights. I have no doubt many are from school searches or other research quests but I hope that one post gets them reading the many others I did about that series at the same time, or onto another part of my blog.

When asked by an author, publicist or publisher to review a book, name something that can tip the balance in their favour?
If it is a Young Adult or set in Australia I will probably agree to read it.

Have you ever been pressured to give a positive review or had an author question a review of yours?
In my first year blogging I had an author question my review. She tried to explain why I was wrong and explain the things I hadn’t understood/she hadn’t made clear then asked me to amend my review now that I knew the story better. I’ve had a good run since, maybe only a couple authors who wanted a better explanation than my review why I only gave the stars I did but other than that I’ve been pretty lucky.

What are 3 words that tell you immediately a book is for you?
Slightly cheating on spelling but “Fairy tale retelling.”

What’s your most anticipated new release for 2020?
The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson.

Do you have any advice for reviewers interested in starting a book blog?

Amy loved this book so much she was
 inspired to create a book blog

Just do it. Honestly. I started this because I had read a book that was so perfect I had to share it with as many people as possible and wider than just Goodreads (The Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard FYI). 

If you want to share your thoughts about books or bookish things then find a platform that works for you and make it your own. I started on another host site which was a nightmare but found my home on Wordpress. Even if it takes some time to find your feet (took me over five years to really get my groove) then that is ok because you will learn a lot as you go. Follow blogs who are posting things you like and see how different people do it and get ideas if you are stuck, but diving in and writing about whatever you like and however you like will make the blog your own and you can grow with it.

Thanks so much for the advice and for participating in Bloggernomicon today Amy.

Bloggernomicon - Proud Book Reviews

I'm proud to welcome the first official Bloggernomicon interviewee today, Anthea Proudfoot. Based in Melbourne, Anthea's book blog is called Proud Book Reviews and her byline is: expanding my library one book at a time. It's a pleasure to welcome her to Carpe Librum today.

Welcome to Carpe Librum Anthea and thanks for being part of Bloggernomicon. When did you start reviewing books and can you tell me the story behind your blog name?
I started reviewing books on April 1st 2018 because I wanted to keep track of what I thought of all the books I was reading. Thankfully my partner (Rick) helped me out with the name coz I'm really shit at naming things! I told him I wanted it to represent me but also make it clear it was about books and he came up with Proud Book Reviews since my last name is Proudfoot (no, I'm not from the Blackfoot tribe but my family is mentioned in Lord of the Rings!).

How many books do you have on your TBR? (Virtual and/or physical)
In physical books I have I think 30-40, but virtual I have like 1500+ free books on BookBub. Kinda why I needed to start a blog to remember what all these new books were about and which ones I loved enough to want to reread!

How do you organise and keep track of your reviewing commitments?
I've been using Trello since I started to get more tours approved and author requests in the later part of 2018 and have started using a whiteboard calendar this year. Trello I use to keep track of whether a book has been committed to, ready to be read, reading, needs a review written, artwork needs to be made/received, is ready to be scheduled, scheduled, published etc. Then I archive them once I've copied the review to the appropriate sites. My whiteboard just has what I'm reviewing/writing on what day so I can visually see how busy I am and where I have space so I don't go crazy requesting too many tours/ARCs.

Can you share one of your proudest moments as a book blogger?
I have two. My first is the first author review request after just 3 months of blogging. Adrianna Gavazzoni asked me to review her debut book even though I felt like NO ONE knew who I was. I now need to get her 4th book which was released in November 2019. My other achievement was the first time I could see that at least one person had visited my site every day for 30 days. I'm super proud of that coz it meant people were finding my little corner of the internet and were liking what I had to say enough to keep coming back 😀

What's your most popular blog post? What can you tell me about it?
Hahaha yeah... My most popular post is called "Pottermore inconsistencies - did you see them?". Basically I wrote this up after watching Fantastic Beasts - Crimes of Grindelwald because there were a few things that even my semi-oblivious partner picked up didn't make sense after we'd binged all the Harry Potter movies. I just had to put it out there and I guess people liked it and had something to say too which is cool.

Do you have a favourite publicist or publisher you enjoy dealing with?
She's not really a publicist, but Rachel from Rach Random Resources is amazing. She works so hard to bring great books on tour and it really shows. She makes sure you have the book and all the artwork etc with plenty of time to read and set up your reviews. I also want to give a shout out to Harper Collins Digital, who started pre-approving me for books on NetGalley after they noticed how many of their books I'm getting, loving and reviewing.

Do you spend money on your blog?

Anthea Proudfoot - Proud Book Reviews

Yes. I pay for the domain name, web hosting (My Zuver, I love their support service and they are based in Australia which is awesome) and page builder (Elementor Pro). I try not to pay for anything else though since I'm not making any money.

When asked by an author, publicist or publisher to review a book, name something that can tip the balance in their favour?
Having read about me, my review policy etc so they get a sense of what I'll like. For instance, I just had an author submit a review request and he was able to quote information on my website and say why he thought I'd enjoy his book. Taking the time to see that I've liked similar books, (OMG the people who ask me to review YA when I've explicitly said I don't take requests for that genre annoys me!) and having taken 5 minutes to look at my site just warms my heart and butters me up. Makes it much more likely I'll say yes!

Do you use any of the reading statistics spreadsheets out there? Do you make any specific reading goals around trackable criteria?
I've just started to this year. I found out about them a couple of months into 2019 and my OCD wouldn't let me start a spreadsheet that's meant to track a year when I was going to have a few months missing. I've actually combined two spreadsheets I liked the look of and made further modifications to make it suit me. You can find out more in my "2020 - The Yr to Come" post. My goals were more to read one book a week and to read more sci-fi and books from my TBR pile (both trackable with my spreadsheet).

Name something you'd like to achieve in the world of reviewing and blogging about books.
I would LOVE to be mentioned on a book cover ANYWHERE! I see people noted there and until last year I always thought they were paid critics, but I found out last year that they can be regular book bloggers too so I would love to be one of those people! Preferably for an author who I've read and worked with previously because then I've built up a relationship with them. It'd be even better if it was an Aussie author coz I feel like they don't get as much love as the US and UK based authors.

Thanks so much for participating in Bloggernomicon Anthea. Being a fellow Melbournite, I do hope you can join us at the GoodReads catch-up next month.

Introducing Bloggernomicon - An ongoing series of interviews with book bloggers and reviewers

Today I'm excited to launch Bloggernomicon - An ongoing series of interviews with book bloggers and reviewers.

I realised I enjoy learning about fellow book bloggers and reviewers almost as much as reading about favourite authors so I thought I'd devise a platform by which I could get to know them a little better. I've come up with a selection of 30 questions to choose from and have at least 22 book bloggers and reviewers keen to participate in this new series of interviews here on Carpe Librum.

I thought it was only fair to launch Bloggernomicon by setting the example and answering some questions myself first. So, here we go.

When did you start reviewing books and can you tell me the story behind your blog name?
I started my blog in 2005 and it was originally called My Four Bucks, because I always seemed to have more than 2 cents to contribute. In August 2012 I re-branded to Carpe Librum, a name aptly chosen by my husband who drinks and names things.

How many hits does your blog receive each month?
I've received an average of 11,400 hits per month over the last 12 months.

How many books do you have on your TBR? (Virtual and/or physical?)
I have 78 physical books at home to be read, a virtual TBR on GoodReads of 117 and a Maybe shelf on GoodReads of 105 books. Those on the Maybe shelf are books I think I'd like but haven't decided or committed to yet. If I add them together, I have 2.5 years worth of reading on my TBR. Not bad, but I'm very fussy and selective about what I add.

How do you organise and keep track of your reviewing commitments?
I use a spreadsheet to track all review requests and unsolicited books I receive, with dates and notes. I keep a few email folders for correspondence and record the books I request from publishers in Outlook Notes. I then keep a list of all blog posts I want to write (reviews, giveaways etc) in my bullet journal.

I use the private notes function on GoodReads for each book to record title specific information (e.g. requested on x date, received on x date from x publisher etc) so I can stay organised. Books I've requested always receive first priority, then unsolicited books and those from my own backlist jockey for position.

Can you share one of your proudest moments as a blogger or reviewer?
The launch of my logo in 2016 and reaching a million hits in 2017 were both super proud moments for me. I was on cloud nine for weeks both times. Being asked to be a blogger for the Melbourne Writer's Festival two years running was a major highlight and something I'm very proud of.

Does your blog make money?
Unfortunately no.

What book have you had on your TBR the longest? How long has it been there?
I've had Inheritance by Christopher Paolini on my bookshelf waiting to be read since.... 22 June 2011. Eeeek!

What are 3 words that tell you immediately a book is not for you?
Zombies, espionage and virus.

What are 3 words that tell you immediately a book is for you?
Twins, mansion, secrets.

If you could improve one thing on your blog, what would it be?
I'd love to increase my email subscribers. Having 11,000+ hits per month is fantastic, but having dedicated email subscribers who want to read your posts when they pop up in their busy inboxes gives me immense joy.

What's your most anticipated new release for 2020?
That's easy, The School of Glass by Bridget Collins. The Binding by Bridget Collins was in my Top 5 Books of 2019 list so I can't wait to read her new novel. I haven't even seen the blurb yet so I have no idea what it's about but I hope it's another masterpiece.

Name something you'd like to achieve in the world of reviewing and blogging about books.
I've had the pleasure of being mentioned in an author's acknowledgments and praise section of a book on a few occasions and that's always a huge achievement so I'd like to continue receiving that level of recognition. It's such a buzz every time and maybe I'll make it onto the back cover one of these days. I know some of my fellow bloggers have achieved this so it's definitely possible.

I hope you'll enjoy Bloggernomicon and are as excited as I am about the series. I'm pleased to announce the first interviewee is Anthea Proudfoot, author of Proud Book Reviews. Stay tuned!