Feature and Follow Friday #105

Welcome to the Feature & Follow

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Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.

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How To Become a Featured Blog?

We pick our featured blogs randomly each week from the blogs who participated the week before.

Please be sure to feature your e-mail address clearly on your blog. Either on the main blog, on a Contact page, or on an About Me page. If I can't find your email easily, I will choose a different blog to feature.

Our Feature -A GREAT Read

1. When did you start blogging?

I started blogging in January 2009, as you may know the story. Rachel Vincent was having a contest for her next book release of Prey and I wanted that early copy! So I had to post a review in as many places as possible, and so I went to Blogger.com and decided to create a blog! I went with the title a GREAT read--spelled like that purposely because Pride really was a GREAT read! My blogging career then started taking a slow start--I didn't win the contest, but kept the blog anyway. So I started posting and following other blogs and picked up a million tips along the way and made some GREAT friends!

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

I definitely like the reading! I love reading and always have, so I really like having this place where I can gush about the books I read to other avid readers! None of my friends were ever really big paranormal readers--I was ahead of my time since paranormal wasn't big when I was in high school. So I love being able to talk about paranormal books with other paranormal readers!

3. What is your favorite book(s)?

Oh man, seriously?! That is like a dreaded question! I have wayyyy too many favorites! I seriously have an incredibly hard time narrowing it down! I love authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Jenna Black, Shannon Delany, Rachel Vincent...the list goes on and ON! You can check that out on my sidebar! And new authors are always being added to! Although the book that started my paranormal obsession was Demon in My View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. I read it when I was 13 and just loved it! It was about a girl named Jessica! Who was a writer! Who wrote vampire novels! Basically the story of my life! Ha! But no, I did enjoy those little factors, but the story was just really good too and I was amazed to learn that the author had written her first book at 13 or that was when it was published...

4. What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

Definitely has to be all the other bloggers I've met! Seriously! I am so glad to finally have other people to talk to and gush over paranormal books! One of my friends is getting into them finally, but it's still a work in progress! I love having my blogging buddies around to get recommendations from and to give them! And getting the occasional ARC is a nice perk too! ;)

Q: What drove you to start book blogging in the first place?

I wish I had a really good, big event reason that I started blogging. But not really. I've enjoyed reading blogs for the past 3-4 years. I've tried various blog concepts, but never found anything that clicked enough to get me to stick with it. In the spring of 2010, I started posting my reviews on Amazon (these early reviews are atrocious). From that, I somehow figured out there was this big YA book blogging community - not sure exactly how I made that connection. I started my blog in June 2010, because I thought it would be fun. And...I'll offer a non-politically correct answer...I thought it would be cool to get some free books. So here I am 2 years later, the occasional free book, a busload of library books, and some books I actually bought with money earned by my own blood, sweat, and tears. Plus, hundreds of reviews and thousands of hours spent on this little hobby of mine.

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Now for the Follow Fun!

With GFC going the way of the dodo bird for many bloggers, there is no better time to start following blogs via RSS feed. If you use a reader, it would be great if you followed my RSS directly.

We have a new button, so update your blogs if you are used to doing this meme!

<a href="http://parajunkee.com/category/ff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_e3140444bf_o.png" /></a>

RULES

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
8. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

CAPTCHA:

If you have CAPTCHA word verification enabled on your blog, please take it off. It makes it much more difficult for readers to comment. Please look at my CAPTCHA Eradication Post to learn how to get rid of it.

Happy Follow Friday! Come back at midnight CST for the Facebook & Twitter hop!!