Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and Dini @DiniPandaReads! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.
Today’s Prompts: Do you participate in blog tours? What do you like or dislike about them? Do you trust reviews that are written for blog tours? When you participate in blog tours, do you connect with other bloggers involved? Do you think blog tours build community?
Again, the end of this week is near, and Friday means another LTB discussion!
Do you participate in blog tours?
LOL, YES! I don’t often do it, but I quite enjoy it when I do. I have a couple of upcoming tours, so I am looking forward to that.
What do you like or dislike about them? Do you trust reviews that are written for blog tours?
Hmm, maybe the only things I can say I “dislike” about them are that they limit you when it comes to lower reviews; if the review is 3 stars or lower, they might ask you to withhold posting your review until the tour is over. Which I don’t really get, honestly. I often choose books that are rated low because I am most likely to end up loving that book more than those that are overhyped and overrated. Take, for example, Before the Coffee Gets Cold, We Were Liars, Everything I Never Told You, The Alchemist, just to name the ones on top of my head. These books do not have a high rating, and they fall on the 3-star 3. something and are some of my favourite stories. Apart from this, I don’t think there is anything else that I dislike, at least nothing else comes to mind as of now.
The short answer is YES, I do trust book bloggers. But to come back to my previous point with the rating, there might be reviewers who would boost the rating so they could still be part of the tour, however, it is impossible to say so, you just have to trust the bloggers. And I always say the best way to see if a book is for you is to actually pick it up and read it yourself. Yes, reviews absolutely help you make that decision, but at the end of the day, reading it and experiencing the book on your own is how you decide whether it’s a nope or a yey! I personally never alter any rating and always speak my mind even when I know the majority might not agree with me, but this is the beauty of it, we are not all meant to like and dislike the same things, books included.
When you participate in blog tours, do you connect with other bloggers involved? Do you think blog tours build community?
I always make an effort to visit other people’s stops and interact with them. I find that blog tours are not for the authors and promoting their work only, but rather a way for us bloggers to get to know each other and create a channel for communication and a sense of belonging and a community. Thanks to blog tours, I have discovered some great bloggers and great content. In the past, we even did secret Santa, and I got paired with a blogger (who I think is no longer active since I can’t find the blog anymore Death by Tsundoku) from Wisconsin in the US, and we decided to send each other a book or two and something that represents our hometown/country. It was really exciting and we had so much fun and learnt new things about new places and fellow book lovers.
Here is what I received, and Jackie, if you ever stumble upon this post, THANK YOU! I still cherish these gifts (the candies are long gone, though)!
So, absolutely, yes, community can be built from everything. Through us just doing LTB and other bookish memes, or book tags and so on and so forth. I believe that the book community is one of the strongest and inclusive communities I have ever had the pleasure to be part of, and I really would like to stay here for a looong time. Keep connecting with people, build relationships and why not friendships?! The internet can be a wonderful place if we all knew how to use it properly and for the right things… But this is a topic for another time!
This is my take on this. I really loved this topic, so please let me know your thoughts on the matter and leave your links below!
Lin's Perspective 
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