Book Blogger Confessions (1)


Hi everyone! This week, I am going to be participating in a new bi-weekly event hosted by Karen at For What It's Worth and Tiger at Tiger's All-Consuming Media. Book Blogger Confessions is all about discussing topics that are relevant to book bloggers in a respectful way.

You can check out the other posts and link up your own here!


This week's topic is: 

Comments. The holy grail of blogging success! What type of posts do you leave comments on? How do you try to encourage more comments on your own blog? Do you respond to people who leave comments on your posts? How do you handle negative/spam comments? Do you use captcha?

My response:

I love comments!! Interacting with other bloggers is really the reason why I blog, I love to talk about books! And the best way to interact is to leave comments on other blogs, and read comments on your own posts!

If someone comments on my blog, I always try to go and check out their blog and leave a comment on one of their recent posts, as long as I can find their link in their blog profile. I make an effort to respond to every comment on my blog this way (unless I'm having a huge contest, I don't reply to every contest entry).

I don't leave a reply on my own blog post, because I feel like the reader is not going to come back to that post and read the reply. Instead I visit their blog and leave a reciprocal comment. If the commenter asks me a specific question I might reply by email or just leave them a comment that says "to answer your question about...."

I will delete spam comments, especially if they leave a link to a non-bookish or non-family oriented blog, and the comment is in no way related to the post. I don't use captcha because I don't like dealing with it when I visit other blogs. I don't think deleting a few spam messages a month is that bad. I haven't gotten very many negative comments, but I usually leave them there, but don't respond to them. I mean negative and disrespectful, not something along the lines of and "I disagree, and I enjoyed this book more than you" type of thing. If it's a polite disagreement, I totally welcome it! I love to hear other opinions on the books I've read.

Which brings me to what type of posts that I leave comments on. I love commenting on another's review of a book that I've read too. It's great to see the similar as well as different things they had to say about it. I also like to leave comments on memes that I'm participating in. Basically, if I've read a post, I might as well leave a comment just to let them know I was there and read it, why not?

To encourage readers to comment, I try to end my post with a question like....

 "What are your thoughts on blog commenting???"



12 comments

  1. I like to hear others' takes on books I've read, as well. I think it's interesting to see what everyone else thought. :)

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  2. I tend to be a reciprocal commenter also. I don't think people come back to see my reply.
    With the new reply option on blogger I do a little of both now just because it's easier to reply to a specific commenter.

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  3. hey Carrie :D

    i'm open to any post that catches my eye too.

    i'm a big fan of interviews in particular. i love learning more about the writer and characters behind the book :)

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  4. Blog commenting rocks :) I am so happy that people stop by my blog and I love stopping by their blogs too

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  5. I feel the same way that you do. I never really comment back on my own blog because I'm always busy trying to comment on the person's blog. If they were nice enough to come seek out my blog and comment then I want to find out if they are running a blog and give them comment love back. :)

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  6. I love getting comments and respond to each and every one. My blog is really new but I've gotten a few comments here and there and I love meeting and getting tips and recommendations from others.

    Adria
    http://book-haven.blogspot.com/

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  7. I definitely read a lot of posts that I don't comment on, and it's usually because I've got nothing to say but "I agree!" lol I'm trying to make more of an effort though, because I know how much I appreciate a thoughtful comment :)

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  8. I'm a hugeee commentor. I try to comment allot. And respond back.

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  9. I'm also more likely to leave comments on books I've read before. If I haven't read it, I can still make a comment on which parts of the book sound interesting, but if I've read it before, I feel like I can really hold up half a conversation about it. :-)

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  10. I, too, read way more posts than I comment on, but part of that is that I feel if I don't have a meaningful comment to leave, it's better to say nothing. I do try to leave at least 5 meaningful comments a day. Some of this occurs when participating in memes, which I tend to find are the easiest comments to leave. With reviews, I'm more likely to leave a comment if I already read the book, but if it's a book I want to read, I might leave a comment but probably won't read the entire review - I don't want to read any spoilers.

    One of the things I started doing with my reviews is to end with a question. I am finding that this is leading to more comments.

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  11. Love comments and try to leave a minimum of 10 comments every day. Sometimes I make my goal and sometimes I don't, but I try. I also do my best to visit and return the favor for anyone who leaves me a comment. I sometimes respond on my blog as well, as that helps me remember who I've already visited. Not using captcha helps, as that thing drives me crazy!

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  12. YAY COMMENTS! I think it's probably safe to say that all bloggers love receiving comments, but I'm a huge commenter myself as well, and I always return comments or go out and leave comments on the blogs I love to visit every day. Like you said, it makes the blog a little more interactive and is such a great way to "meet" people with similar interests!

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Thanks so much for your lovely comments!