Weekly Musings: Book Pet Peeves

This week's exciting topic is... Book Pet Peeves.

I know for a fact that I have MANY pet peeves when it comes to books that I kind of annoy myself sometimes with the fact that I have so many. I mean why can't I read a book with bent pages, a bent spine, built-in stickers on a cover that no longer fits with the other covers in the series all while having someone talk to me at the same time? 

Here is a list of all the book pet peeves I can think of.

When a cover changes in the middle of a series. I like having all matching covers and it irritates me so much when this happens! Even though I hate it, I still will buy the book because I'm not going to stop reading just because the cover doesn't fit the previous books. 

When people dog ear pages. I can't even imagine ever doing this to a book. Why would anyone ever purposely bend and damage a book! Just WHY!
 

When people bend the spine of a paperback. This one kind of goes with the dog eared pages. Again why would you break a book. I see people do this all the time and I *sometimes* glare when they do.

When there is a sticker on the cover or a "sticker" that is part of the cover and can't be removed. I don't like things obscuring my view of a book cover. Stickers can be hard to take off but when they are part of the cover, I feel like it ruins the whole thing. I mean why can't you just have a sticker-free book cover? Is it too much to ask for?

Having one hardcover book in a series of soft covers and vice versa. I don't have this problem in the sense that, if one book in a series is hardcover, I'm going to get them all in hardcover. Same with softcover. I will never have a series be a combination of both.

When you lend out a book and never get it back or you get it back in horrible condition. Oh this one is awful! I've lent out my books before and have sometimes never gotten them back or they were damaged. If people do this to me I make them buy me a new one. Now though I'll only let my closest friends use my books. Everyone else has to fend for themselves.

When people ask you what you are reading even though they can see the title. Have you ever had this happen? I've had a few times but what I have found to be even more annoying is when I'm reading on my kindle and people ask me what I'm reading. I don't know why but it just irritates me when people ask - I'm reading, I'm in my happy place, leave me alone sheesh.

When people thinks it's okay to talk to you while reading a book. I don't what it is with people that makes them think that reading a book means I want to have a conversation with them. I'm serious, it's not even funny how times I get interrupted while reading a book. You'd think that reading a book clearly means you want to be left alone.

So there you have it! I know there are other book pet peeves but I feel like these are some of the most common. What kind of book pet peeves do you have?

Weekly Musings: Street Teams

This week's topic is...Street Teams!

Street teams for books are great for everyone! As the author, they have a group of people to get the word out about anything to do with their books. As the street team member, you get to know things ahead of time, get teasers for books, get arcs, and much more!

Did you know you don't have to be a blogger to be on a street team?

See I didn't know this until after I became a blogger but after being on a couple street teams I found out you didn't have to be! And for the most part, a lot of the stuff from the street teams I'm on never makes it onto this blog. 

This is because... I get teasers for books that are only made for the street team's eyes (which is favorite part), asking to announce a deal for one of their books (which I use twitter for), or basically anything else.

I mean of course I do cover reveals or get some arcs and review them here, but everything that can be done on a blog can be done just as well without a member having a blog when it comes to street teams.

Do you have a facebook, twitter, google+, goodreads, tumblr, or some other social site account? Cause that's all ya need and most people I know on street teams have no blogs and use these sites to help out their authors.

Did you know that there is actually a "best part" of being on a street team (at least for me)?

There is and it's totally amazing to be a part of! Two of my street teams are very interactive. Meaning I basically have chats about normal everyday things everyday with the author and the other members of the street team! We will talk about random things, just say good morning, or have posts that start with "today absolutely sucks please tell me something happy". It is so much fun and so amazing to be close to so many other people. It's really like another family, albeit a bookish family, but one nonetheless.

I had no idea that when I joined street teams I'd find another family. And street team families are awesome. The connections I make with other authors and people are simply the best! I'm always so happy to be able to connect with them and these connections made are lasting ones.

So basically... Anyone can join a street team and when you do, you make new connections and gain a new family and then get perks for being part of that family. So go join a street team today if you haven't already. And if you haven't found a family with ones that you are a part of, I'm sorry to say - go find a new family (I'm kidding, not all are the same!). Happy Reading.

Weekly Musings: Book Covers

I'm starting to do these new posts which will obviously be called Weekly Musings. They will be any topic that has to do with the book world - book covers, street teams, authors, pet peeves with books - anything! I already have enough topics for three months and I know I'll come up with plenty more. So without further ado...

This week's topic to muse over is... Do people really judge books by their cover?

I have heard, and often though I was guilty of this until recently when I started thinking about it - did I really judge books by their covers?

Everyone's heard the saying "Don't judge books by their cover". I think the only way to judge a book is by thinking that if the cover is bad, then so must the book or vice versa. But does that mean if we have a certain preference for book covers that we are still judging them?

For instance, I'm drawn to books that have really bright, vibrant colors or ones that have something to do with geometry/symmetry. 

Examples of Bright Colored Covers

Examples of Geometric (i.e. cirlces!) Covers

BUT that does not mean that I'm not going to look at or buy a book that does not look like the ones above or don't appeal to me. Just because I have a preference, does that mean I'm still, in a way, judging a book because it's cover doesn't draw me in? I don't think so. 

Take school for example. Everyone loves school. Well, what I mean is everyone has some class they like, some class they hate but are good at, and some class they like but hate doing anything in. There may be other categories but these ones are the relevant ones to my point! For instance, I like Biology, hate math but am good at it, and I like chemistry but absolutely hate having to do anything in that class. My point is, there is nothing wrong with any of those classes per say, just that some people have a preference as to what they like and don't like but it doesn't mean they are judging that subject. You don't have to like history or language arts or math or science but you can like them. If you don't like a class, you don't like it! If you do like a class, then you like it! You're not judging it as good or bad you simply like it or you don't.

Work with me here! 

The school analogy isn't going to work for my next point because if you have the choice to take a class and let's say it's one you don't like, you aren't going to take it. Not true with books. You can like a cover but might not ever read the book or in the end not like it. You can hate a cover but read it and love it. Or you simply love a cover and it's story or hate a cover and it's story.

In the end, you can't judge a book by it's cover. You can have preferences for what you like in book covers but it doesn't mean you are judging the book based on whether or not you find a cover appealing. The only way to "judge" a book is to read it and find out for yourself whether or not you like it. Simply looking at covers won't do. 

So do you judge books by their cover? Do you think having preferences are wrong? Did you understand the school analogy or did I lose you? 

Remember a book is more than its cover, it's what's inside that counts.