Armchair BEA : Impact of The Author Blogger Relationship

Hello Everyone! welcome to my First ArmchairBEA post. I chose the topic of Author/Blogger relations because I've had such positive results with Authors on Twitter that I wanted to share. The Impact of Twitter on my Blogging is considerable. In fact I don't think I would be a Blogger if it wasn't for the tremendous support from fellow Bloggers. I would highly suggest following The Story Siren on her Blog: http://www.thestorysiren.com/  I've learned so much from her and avoided many Blogging blunders because of her. I'm going to share some tips with you about steps I've taken that have given me positive results with  Authors:

1) SHARE YOUR EXCITEMENT

My very first Author connection on Twitter was with Author Kami Garcia. In July 2009 I attended San-Diego Comic-Con Kami and Margaret Stohl were signing Advanced Reading Copies of this:

This was their first Novel. While on vacation in August i was tweeting away about how wonderful Beautiful Creatures was and how everyone should mark their calendars for the January release. I found Kami was on Twitter and sent her a hello, now she and Margaret are followers of mine!

I had the same great response with Devon Monk and Rachel Vincent  and more authors than I can count!

2) DONT ASK and you May Receive:

Since my blog is quite new I've been focusing on building content and followers before approaching publishers directly.  I'm constantly amazed at the stories Authors post about demands for free books and promotional materials from readers :o I've had better results with the following:

a) Provide your own books for giveaways or reviews.Authors get limited amounts of books for themselves, the best way you can support an author or a series you like is by buying their books!

b) Do frequent posts about your giveaways, Twitter is great for this, I always use the Authors @ name in my Tweet if they are on Twitter.  By doing this I've had Devon Monk and Rachel Vincent mention my contest on their Blogs! I had toyed with the idea of asking both Authors to mention my giveaway but eventually decided against it. I was suprised and pleased that they both posted links to my contest.  

3) BE RESPECTFUL

You never know who may be reading your Blog. It's ok to not like a book but bashing an Author may be a turnoff to others reading your Blog. I recently purchased a book that I had heard great buzz about,(I don't want to say which book) I was so excited I followed the Author on Twitter and sent her a message about how excited I was to read her book. Once I started it though I realised it wasn't for me at all, I enjoy this Author as a tweet pal so I decided to forgo the review and pass the book onto someone else.

I started a new feature on my site called Sunday Is Blogday on my site. One of the sites I visited was an author called Denise Robbins. I liked her site and made a mention about it in the post and her website. http://www.deniserobbins.com/  Her first book Connect the Dots seemed interesting.  I commented in the post that I was adding it to my wishlist.  Two days later i received an e-mail from Denise. She was so excited by my mention of her book she offered to send me a copy!!! I was so honored and she also sent me two signed copies!! You never know who might be reading your posts so honesty and politeness are a must.

These three things have really increased my Blog following and also allowed me to have a blog I am proud of. I'm looking forward to reading all the Armchair Bea posts :)