Feature and Follow Friday #143

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 - Book Cupid

1. When did you start blogging?

I started blogging last December. Kept pushing the idea away saying I have no idea how to run a blog. But I still gave it shot and don't regret it one bit.

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

Fellow bloggers!! It is so refreshing to comment with other readers. I was getting tired of talking to myself about Jace Wayland.

3. What type of books do you mainly blog about?

I blog about YA and Middle-Grade books.

4. What is your favorite book(s)?

The Harry Potter series, Vampire Academy, The Gathering, Divergent... (we're going to run out of space)

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

Chatting up with Indie authors like Jen Minkman and T. Rae Mitchell. As a writer it encourages me to see that hard work does pay off in the end.

Q: Have you ever read a book that you thought you would hate -- ? Did you end up hating it? Did you end up loving it? Or would you never do that?

I'm in a bit of a hurry tonight so I'm going to take the less creative approach with my book choices. Good thing they both fit into this category!

Harry Potter and Twilight

Harry Potter: I hated fantasy prior to HP. I read it the summer I worked at Barnes & Noble only because everybody else was reading it. To my great surprise, I ended up falling in love with it. My obsession with all things HP has only grown over the years.

Twilight: I didn't read Twilight until October of 2008. By this time, the book was over-hyped and already controversial - even though the movies weren't out yet. I expected to find it to be a bit silly, but got hooked in immediately. Lately the series doesn't hold quite the cache that it once did, but I'm still a Twilight defender.

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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://www.alisoncanread.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8366/8474595901_873f4993f4_n.jpg" alt="Alison Can Read Feature & Follow" width="320" height="320" border="0" /></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!

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