Feature and Follow Friday #251

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 ayou 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 - Gizzimomo's Book Shelf

1. When did you start blogging?

I first opened the blog in December 2013 after many, many months of considering it, I do wish I had started with some reviews in my pockets but I just jumped on in blind.

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

My favourite part of blogging is getting exposure to so many new books and authors that I might have never found on my own. Book blogging has opened my bookish world in so many ways that I could never have imagined when I first started the blog.

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

It can vary a great deal as I love a wide variety of books. I love historical fiction, horror, sci-fi, fantasy and many of the in between but I do seem to favor paranormal and YA titles of late.

4. What are your favorite books?

I love me a paranormal tale but I think any book that takes me out of my own world and transports me into a strange new land that I have no experience of is good with me be it a medieval landscape, a dystopian war, a fantastical world of magic or anything new.... maybe that's the reason why I don't read a lot of contemporary books and have a passion for fantasy novels!

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

I think the best thing so far is the interaction you get to have with the authors especially when they are someone you've admired and been a fan of for years..... I love getting those gorgeous little tweets you get sometimes from authors (in fact I love them so much I feature them on the blog in my Fangirl Tweet tab!)

Question of the Week: How do you cure a book hangover/blogging slump/reading slump? - Suggested by Take Me Away....

I wish I had a good cure. Mostly time and luck. A good way for some is to re-read a beloved book, but often for me this makes a reading slump even worse, because then I start focusing on the fact that no new book that I read will be as good as this old book that I loved.

Really, reading slumps end for me when I luck out into a book that I love. Even better, if I read two great books in a row. Then everything looks sunnier. Loving is book is such a difficult thing to predict, though. The only suggestion I can give is to carefully select which books you're going to read to find something you're almost sure you'll love - although that's not a sure bet.

As for a blogger slump, time and slogging through is the best way to get through it. Find something new - like a new feature or new blogging friends - to get yourself excited again. Take some time off. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. On the other hand, just keep at it, even if it's not as much fun, because eventually you'll get through the slump and be grateful that you're still blogging.

How about you?

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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.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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

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!

Next Week's Question:

How do you decide what books to read? - Suggested by So Many Books, So Little Time.

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