Well, good morning everyone! How’s it going? I have my coffee and spinach pie ready, and I’m excited to share some really cool posts with you.
Opinions are like buttholes, everybody has one. Some people however seems to be particularly militant about shit that either doesn’t matter, or has nothing to do with them whatsoever. I personally find these crusades hilarious, so here we go.
Apparently people who take pictures for the purpose of posting them on various platforms are now taking a creative approach now, and they are all out there to deceive us. Well, according to some people anyway. What? Your coffee in your picture is Coke? You didn’t actually hunt down rare butterflies to pose with your books? The horror! Want some more? Morgana has a whole list of offences for you to giggle about.
If taking artsy photos is not bad enough, there’s another kind of evil lurking just around the corner. Reviewers who are just doing it all wrong! Oh, the humanity! Well, Drew is certainly onto something with his thoughtful exposé, and I couldn’t agree more.
Yes, there are review formats I prefer over another, but I can’t see how that makes one way more right than another.
Ain’t nobody ever forced me to read the ones I don’t like, and frankly, I have way better things to do than waste my time on things I find uninteresting or not up to my liking. I mean, this spinach pie didn’t cook itself, did it…
There’s nothing like a good fight to get your juices flow in the morning! I’m sure many Klingons would agree. Considering we are not fictional space warriors who love totalitarian structure and war however, I tend to think the less fighting the better. Especially when it comes to fighting over things that don’t matter all that much. Sure, fight for your freedom, your constitutional rights… But should the book community fight over advance copies of books? Siobhan brought up the question, and the fact that this is actually a thing did not fail to amaze me. There’s never a 100% return rate on promotional items, and while it’s somewhat disappointing, it’s just how things work in real life.
Promoting things the wrong way? Well, that’s kind of like saying everyone is the same and responds to the same things. Excuse me? I do love reviews, and bought many books because of them. But I checked out and obtained just as many of them after seeing them on a poster in a bus stop, tube station, in an intriguing picture on Instagram, or just simply saw them in the hands of someone completely random on the street. So no, I don’t think reviews are the only way to sell a book. Take my friend. She’s never read a review in her life, but she loves pretty pictures on insta.
Another popular thing among the militant opinionists seems to be putting people down based on their age. I’m sure you’ve met people who are under the impression that you need to reach a certain age to qualify for sharing your views. When Kelly shared her experience, I shuddered. I’m pretty sure most of us have been there. Does that make it okay? Well, not really. Of course there always will be people who will disregard us, or dismiss our opinions based on something entirely stupid, and the sooner we get used to ignoring them the better, but it’s not pleasant. Can we just be nice?
Talking about nice… Books are not only a good way to spend some chill time, but they can also teach us about people, relationships, and sometimes even completely random things we didn’t even know we wanted to know. But I digress. Tiffany shared three things she learned about relationships from books, and it just makes my heart melt.
Kat has put together a handy guide for fonts and graphics you can use on your blog, or wherever you wish, and that’s not all! She’s also hosting a giveaway where you can win a complete makeover for your blog.
Even though I’m not keen on romance, I know falling in love is a natural part of many of our lives. Hell, when it comes to my dude, I’m just a little marshmallow on the inside! In contemporary fiction love and romance often are the center of the story, which just doesn’t work for me, but The Orangutan Librarian is here to the rescue! Check out these books that have much more going for them than their romances.
I am militantly opposed to this post on some grounds or other! You’re WRONG! about something, I’m sure. Therefore you are now the ENEMY!!!!! ROAR.
Yeah. even when I get all up in arms about something (like the oxford comma), I also realize that it doesn’t really matter. I might not like how someone does something but usually that just means I don’t follow them. Life is full enough of real problems for us all to deal with without making up pretend problems. And if someone’s life is so easy that they have the time and energy to get truly outraged about “book opinion X”, well, Life will smack them down soon enough.
That being said, I don’t have a butt hole. I simply have immaculate bowel movements. One moment I have a filled bowel/bladder, the next, the toilet is full. Amazing! I am sure you wanted to know that…
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Rawwr! 😂 Yes, i had to know that. Now i will sleep better not having to wonder about it, haha.
I find your posts super funny. I think it’s all about presentation.
I agree about the fake problems, and the whole artificially created stress. It’s ok to have opinions, the only time it grinds me when it’s used to make others feel bad, stupid, etc. especially in a topic that shouldn’t matter, and harms nobody.
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I just ended up down a rabbit hole of new blogs! Thank you for sharing all these posts. Also I’ve been thinking about redoing the look of my blog. Now it’s def happening. The font guide was a winner.
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I loved that post! Been itching to make some new graphics as well 😄
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They are going to inspire us all to redo our blogs. After reading the post, I now notice fonts, colors and layouts way more than I did before. 🙂
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I feel like we’ve all been there when it comes to getting creative when taking a photo for the internet! I don’t see anything wrong with at all tbh, I felt so bad about that girl who got a lot of hate for using tortilla wraps and claimed they were pancakes – if the shoe fits, why not! Most of the photos on the internet are fake, doesn’t mean they aren’t fun to look at. Looking forward to reading that post by Morgana 😂
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Omg, but tortilla wraps are pretty much like pancakes… lol. 🙊🙈
Exactly… some people just can’t seem to appreciate pretty pics…
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I found a lot of interesting posts to read, thanks for sharing these, Norrie!
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🤗
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Brilliant post and some epic other blogs that you’ve shared. My mind is blown though – do people *really* get that upset about Instagram photos and faux coffee??!!! I mean, I believe you – that’s not why my mind is blown because I absolutely believe it.
My mind is blown because I just don’t understand that’s what some people get upset with in life. Wowsers. I mean do these people get upset when others wear make up because it’s a false representation of their face??!!
Probably. They’d hate me then!
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“There’s never a 100% return rate on promotional items” is the perfect summary! Thank you for the mention. 💜
I think we bloggers will just fight about everything.
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It certainly seems like it! 🙂
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I think some people have too much free time? And maybe not enough books to read? 😀
It will never fail to amaze me what kind of things some people care about and spend time to get upset about.
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Ahh thank you so much for sharing my post ❤ I really love this blog post idea, and I'll definitely be checking out all the others you've shared. BTW your spinach pie looks so delicious and now I'm freaking hungry!
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Haha, oops 😀
It was yumm, thank you.
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I have been loving Kat’s series on blog design and fonts and everything else, it has been so instructive 🙂 Thank you for sharing all of these fabulous posts!! ❤ I hope you're having a fantastic weekend ❤
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Thanks for stopping by!
Have a lovely week ❤ 🙂
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Thanks for sharing my post and lol at the introduction and being polite. Buttholes, it’s assholes.😂😂😂
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My pleasure 🙂
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“Opinions are like butt holes, everybody has one.” Bwahahahah … enough said. I don’t do drama, which is why you don’t find me on social media. I have a life thank you and I’m very happy with it. 😀
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Wise choice for sure!
I’m pretty sure i’m using a twitter of an alternative universe, cuz i’ve never seen anything dramatic there 😀 But it’s true i don’t spend too much time on it.
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It also helps to only ‘friend’ certain people on twitter to avoid all the drama. I do book bloggers and authors, pretty safe with that combo. 😀
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OH THE HUMANITY! How dare people be different and have different opinions!?!? What a great roundup of posts this week, Norrie!
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I know, right? 😀
Thank you! ❤
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Great post!
I’m finally about halfway through reading my latest book, Love, Simon. So good!
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Yay 🙂 Nice to hear you are enjoying it.
Hope you have a great week!
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Thanks so much =)! Hope you have a great week as well! I actually just finished reading Love, Simon yesterday. Total recommend, really great book!
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Terrific post! Thank you for the links. You make so many great points. Thanks again for such a wonderful post.
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Thank you 🙂 ❤
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We humans have a special skill. We can be individuals, in our style and opinions, whist also part of a single collective mind. There doesn’t have to be a choice. Book review blogs are the perfect example….in my opinion,
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I agree! 🙂
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I don’t really know what the picture business is, but I agree that there’s no right and wrong way to review books. I do some book retweet page, a major one, who only retweets reviews that are written in a very specific way (no discredit to the reviewers), but it does showcase an elitist element that’s lurking beneath the surface. Similarly, you’ll see book companies who require editors/writers/etc to write in a specific way which is nonsense because you’re alienating a huge demographic, especially considering that the books they’re promoting aren’t written the way they’re being reviewed. Plus, the reviews all sort of blend into one another when you stick to one type of review for a book company that it ends up looking the same, and, frankly, boring and makes me less likely to read book company reviews or rely on them. It’s 2019, why does elitism still exist in the literary industry where we’re supposed to prize creativity, variety and the different? What’s the point of hyping all these characters in books who are misunderstood, unique and different, only to treat the different in a wholly different and snooty manner at your own companies. It’s baffling, and the lack of awareness is real.
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You made a really good point!
The reviewers i follow religiously all have a unique voice, and often a different take on the same book, which i find awesome.
And the whole thing about reaching different people but at the same time not catering to them when it comes to reviews… i haven’t thought of that before, but you are so right!
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Some truly intriguing posts have been shared out there in the blogosphere! Thanks for sharing them, Norrie! Got to admit that some people sure do love to express their opinions without thinking twice at how relevant it is to everyone’s lives… 😛
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Right? On one hand i envy the amount of free time they have, on the other… just why… 😀
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aaaaand I am late to the party again but whatever! This post is brilliant and you make a fantastic looking pie, you do! 😀
I am one of those people that always either misses the ‘web dramaz’ or just ignores them… I can’t believe how people have the time and willingness to always complain about something.. always complain and criticize… ugh… so, your post made me laugh, too! 🙂 well done!
PS! I hope to be here on time the next time it’s time for a Sunday coffee 😀
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* heart hands *
I’m in the same boat… unless some blogger friends posts a summary of the drama, chances are i’m going to miss them 😀
Thanks for the sweet words! The pie was a great success! ❤
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Lovely Post
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Omg. I didn´t see you mentioned me! Thank you. Yeah, the coffee issue was fun to talk about. But as it is with many things- the fun ended when an angry book blogger spent her day/evening bombarding my comment section with idiocy. * sigh * I´ve never been in need of a cocktail as much as that day I published the post.
What is this about fighting over advanced reader copies?! Is that the new thing? I´m going to check that post out. Promoting the wrong way- I never knew there was a right way to begin with. And what´s with the age business? You know what I think? That it´s time to pick a piece of land somewhere and hide.
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Ah, i’m sorry you had to put up with that. Kinda just proves the point that they got too much free time 😀
The fight to first blood thing must be new, cuz i never encountered it before. I don’t think i will ever fully comprehend the age thing either, cuz when i was 16-17, i rarely went online, and even then i haven’t interacted with people, so i’m not sure how it is nowadays for teenagers. It sucks, by the sound of it.
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Meeh, it’s okay. It’s not like I didn’t survive.😉🤦♀️You’re right. That lady had way too much time on her hands. She turned aggressive and released her pent up anger by lashing out and getting personal. I couldn’t believe fake coffee was able to do that🤷♀️. I asked her 3 times to drop the subject and leave. She didn’t. *sigh*
Same here on the age bit. Being 16-17 was different back then. I’m not sure why people think it’s okay to bash young people instead of encouraging them. All this is just so surreal.
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Thanks for sharing my post- sorry I took so long to get to this ❤
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