Welcome to Part 2 of the Sarah’s Book Shelves Reader Survey results! Yesterday, I shared all the results except your questions and comments in Part 1.
Many of you had great questions and comments for me in your survey responses. Since this survey is anonymous, I can’t respond to you directly, so I’m addressing any questions/comments that warranted a response here.
2018 Reader Survey Q&A
Q: At what point should you DNF a book if it isn’t interesting or going well to start with? I read to page 66-68 is that too short or too long?
A: There’s no hard and fast rule. I believe you should DNF a book when you realize you’re not interested in it. Personally, I give a book 25% if I’m undecided and will sometimes check Goodreads reviews or contact friends who have read already it to see if I should continue. I’ve DNF’d a book after reading only one page, at the 80% mark, and everywhere in between!
Q: I would love to see an audiobook list for people who listen while doing other activities. I am training for a half-marathon and am looking for audiobooks that are easy enough to follow when I tend to occasionally zone out. People who listen while doing chores and other activities would appreciate the list, too, I think. Thanks!
A: I totally understand your frustration…I feel the same way about audiobooks! And, I actually first tried them when training for a half-marathon as well! Kindred spirits. I found that nonfiction works better for me than fiction and lighter nonfiction works best. Here are some types of audiobooks that have worked well for me and my favorite audiobooks of 2017. I also enjoy listening to podcasts (and actually prefer them to audiobooks when working out).
Also, I’m getting more and more requests for audiobook content, so I’ll be sharing them in my weekly What I’m Reading Now posts as well as posting more frequent audiobook recommendation lists.
Q: Would like to see daily posts.
A: And, I’d love to give you daily posts! But, I have two young children and don’t have extra childcare to run this blog. I fit it in in my spare time. Unfortunately, this currently doesn’t allow for daily posts, but things could possibly change in the future!
Q: Children’s recommendation of the month.
A: Children’s books would be a whole new area to keep up with and it’s not where my true love of reading lies, so I won’t be adding children’s book coverage at this time. However, the blog Booking Mama hosts a weekly link-up where bloggers can share posts related to children’s literature that I recommend checking out for children’s book recommendations.
Q: I do not like chic lit, fluffy fiction, is there anyway to differentiate?
A: I tend to use the term “Brain Candy” when I’m talking about lighter fiction that many people refer to as “chick lit.” Steer clear of books I describe using that term! I’ll also start using the differentiators “Literary Fiction” and “Fiction – Brain Candy” in my genre labels; however, categorizing a book as lighter fiction is somewhat of a judgement call…it’s different for everyone!
Q: Enrolling in email has not worked for me. Also – talking about what constitutes “literary fiction” would be nice. I’ve seen you classify some things as more “literary” that I would classify as more “light” fiction…
A: I’m sorry you’ve had trouble signing up for the email list! Please email me at sarahsbookshelves@gmail.com and I’m happy to manually sign you up.
To continue from the last question, classifying “literary” vs. “light” fiction is somewhat of a judgment call, so everyone won’t always agree on this point. Talking more about what I consider “literary” is a great idea for further discussion. I’d love it if you could email me (at sarahsbookshelves@gmail.com) some examples of books that I classified as “literary” that you considered “light” fiction and I can discuss them in a blog post.
Q: (1) I have a book club in real life, but might be fun to try an online/facebook book club with your readers. Give notice about a book and then pick a day when people will discuss/post on Facebook about it. Not sure it will work but might be worth a try and a way for your readers, who are all avid books readers I assume, to get to know each other.
(2) feature a readers recommend each week or month — guest post and/or just a recommendation from one of your readers for a book that you haven’t reviewed yet.
(3) weekly or monthly book recommendation based on reader request and parameters (similar to what NYT is doing now).
A: (1) I’ve heard from many of you that finding people to talk books with is one of your biggest reading problems. The good news is I will be starting a Facebook group for Sarah’s Book Shelves readers (as part of my forthcoming Patreon page) and will absolutely consider some sort of discussion around a particular book.
(2) I love this idea! Thanks for sharing and look out for something like this in the future.
(3) Another great idea! Let me noodle on it…
Q: I like when you promote other blogs. I’ll keep reading yours, don’t worry. I would like to find some more to read.
A: I love promoting other blogs and there are some awesome ones out there! In my monthly round-ups, I include some of my favorite posts of the month by fellow bloggers. I also share other bloggers’ content on social media, mostly on Twitter (follow me @SarahsShelves) and Pinterest (follow me here). I also have a new feature coming up that will spotlight favorite blogs: a quarterly review of my Go-To Book Recommendation Sources (many of which are my favorite bloggers).
In the meantime, here are some of my favorite book blogs:
- Gilmore Guide to Books
- Novel Visits
- Running N Reading
- It’s Book Talk
- Modern Mrs. Darcy
- That’s What She Read
- Read a Latte
- Happiest When Reading
Q: All the book blogs I’ve scanned and the few I follow seem to be directed at other bloggers. You all get ARCs, have your conversation and it’s over. By the time “just average readers” have read the book (those of us who have to wait for publication dates), the conversation has passed. Which is why I generally skip the Discussion posts. If it’s a book I’m interested in, there are probably spoilers.
A: I appreciate this feedback, especially since I discovered through this survey that less than 30% of my readers have their own blogs (so know that you’re in good company)! I’ll take this to heart moving forward.
I do try to post my book reviews on or after a book’s publication date, but you will see books pop up in my weekly What I’m Reading Now posts before their publication dates because I’m sharing what I’m reading in real time. This can be a good way to find books for your TBR list.
My regular book reviews and Read it, Skip it posts never, ever contain spoilers (I feel strongly about reviews that give too much of the plot away!), so you can feel comfortable reading those before you’ve read the book. If a post contains spoilers, it always has “Spoiler” in the post title.
Q: How would I know that a book is well written? With excellent language?
A: Such a great question and, unfortunately, a really hard one to answer! I think “well written” means something different for everyone. For me, it’s writing that speaks to me…and that’s usually simple, spare, hard-hitting prose. I’m not a fan of overly formal, flowery writing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t “good” writing. It just means it doesn’t appeal to me! I’ll often say a book has “my kind of writing” and I wrote a whole post trying to figure out what that means.
Q: Could you add direct links to the different series you do? For example, I love your pairings of the alcohol and hangover (since that is such a true reading phenomenon) but it would be nice to be able to click on a link and access all the pairings.
A: Yes – great idea! I’ll get these up soon. And, I’m thrilled you love the Alcohol & Advil pairings!
Did any of your burning questions get answered here? Always feel free to email me with your questions, suggestions, and comments at sarahsbookshelves@gmail.com.
Thanks for the link to the children’s book blog! I just followed it. My master’s degree is in children’s lit, and I read a lot of kids’ books.
You’re welcome!
These questions are all very thoughtful and have really given me insight for my own blog. I’m especially interested in the question about book bloggers getting ARCS and having a discussion with fellow bloggers while other readers apparently feel that they have missed the conversation. This really makes me think because I’ve always tried to post reviews on or right after the pub day as I think it benefits the authors as well as readers looking for the next book to add to their tbrs. This is a different perspective. I would love for readers of my blog who aren’t fellow bloggers to comment and join discussions even after I’ve posted my review…how to make this happen I’m not sure but food for thought. Thanks for the shout out and link to my blog as well!!
I agree – that was eye-opening for me and is certainly making me think. I personally feel like posting them close to pub date enables people to add them to their TBR list, but maybe that’s not how others look at it. I certainly think a discussion post should go up a bit after publication, but still trying to work out what I think about regular reviews.
For the reader looking for more blogs: might I be bold enough to suggest mine?
http://www.exurbanis.com
What a treat to read this post and the earlier one this morning! I have your blog bookmarked but sometimes forget to check it, so I missed participating in the survey. I have spent some time writing surveys in my varied career and can appreciate what went into creating yours. It is very well done!
I have now signed up to receive email notifications when you post.
I am a blogger, since 2005! http://keepthewisdom.blogspot.com. I am 70 years old, no children at home, and I read quite incessantly. I think you do a great job with this blog and appreciate how tricky it is to find the time to do all you want to do with it. Especially when all we really want to do is read!
Haha – so true about balancing reading time and blogging time. Sometimes I think I’d get tons more reading done if I didn’t blog. But, I love doing the blog and it gives me something to focus on and think creatively about.
And – thank you 🙂 I designed some surveys at my old job, so I know a tiny bit about it. Although this one was far from scientific!
Thanks for signing up for my email notifications 🙂
What interesting questions! Great perspective and I’m happy you got non-blogger responses. I’m pretty sure my blog is largely readers and I wish they’d comment more, but they don’t. I asked (begged) and the people I know say, “Oh, I just want to see what you recommend.”
I’m glad the majority has spoken and love your reviews- they’re my favorite part of your blog. Do you think the traffic they generate is from others who didn’t participate in the survey?
Thank you so much for the shout-out!
I know – I’m trying to figure out ways to get non-bloggers to feel comfortable commenting.
And, ha – now I just need to find the motivation to write those reviews! For reviews, they don’t generate as much traffic as other posts, but it seems like my most dedicated audience likes them, so that’s important. A few select reviews do well on Google, but those are very specific…spoiler discussions about hyped thrillers or bestsellers I didn’t like (Gentleman in Moscow, Eleanor Oliphant).
And you’re welcome – always!
I love this! I was thinking about asking you for a list of your favorite bloggers and here one is. Thanks for including me AND giving me some reading to do!
Perfect!
Thank you so much for the shout-out, Sarah! I am flattered! I also love these questions; I am especially intrigued by the mention of the fact that bloggers have a tendency to write to other bloggers and that we have the privilege of reading books early. This is something I’ll have to keep in mind!
Ooh, what an interesting post! I also never post reviews before their publication date, because I want anyone who’s interested my review to be able to go pick up the book. Although readers who aren’t bloggers should know you can often put books on hold at your library before there out, so I like hearing about books early for that reason even if I’m not going to try to get an ARC 🙂
Great point! I’m going to add that to an upcoming post.