A little while back I wrote
a post on the downside of being a book reviewer. The feedback on that post ranged from empathy to "If it's such a downer, then why do you do it?" Every hobby or job has a downside. Just because those unfortunate or downer moments happen does not mean that the joy in the job is lost. For every one bad experience I've had, I've been fortunate to have 100 awesome experiences! This post breaks down a few of the reasons as to why being a book reviewer (or any kind of reviewer) is awesome!
You have an endless supply of books - Whether you're hoarding free books from Amazon/eBook sites/NetGalley or spending your weekly pay on your wishlist or having your inbox/mailbox flooded with incoming requests, there is never a shortage of books! Sometimes it gets the best of you and you realize you just spent an entire weekend (...okay, week) doing nothing but reading. And you know what? That's okay! It's great! It's amazing! Because who doesn't love shutting out the crazy world for days at a time?!
You meet some awesome people - I like to establish relationships with authors. Knowing a little bit about where they come from and their writing history can add so much to the atmosphere of the book. Even more so are the awesome online friendships that come from it! Blogging opens you up to a lot of opportunities with other bloggers as well. For the most part it's a fun and inviting environment for everyone involved.
You learn a ton of stuff - This goes with the previous point. Because you get the opportunity to meet so many people from so many backgrounds, it becomes something like a world history/education course. Interviewing authors and reading their work opens you up to so many different lifestyles and viewpoints. You almost always walk away with a new piece of information to store in the "random trivia" part of your mind.
You get to improve your writing skills - Writing in a way that is understandable to yourself is one thing. Conveying those points in an understandable way to a wide audience is a whole different deal.
You can expand your skillset pretty easily - When I first started reviewing, I posted reviews on established sites. Then I naively thought that I'd start an "easy" blog. Well, sure you could just start a random blog and call it good. Or, you could research different platforms, learn coding jargon, and stumble through some web design. Then you might find that social media would be a good idea to help expand your audience. So you dabble in different networking platforms and apps. The next thing you know, you're a pro at managing 10 different social media accounts, basic Photoshop, HTML vs. CSS, and hacker security! Oh, and that's just for 1 "easy" blog. Hah! But it's a fun learning process that you can take on at your own rate.
You can be the first to discover a treasure - I love ARCs! I love being given the opportunity to be one of the first few people to read a book. A new book becomes just as exciting for me as it is for the author. And when you read something so awesome that you know it will take the world by storm in the next year - there's nothing like being the first person on the bandwagon.
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There you have it. Just a handful of reasons why being a reviewer is awesome. What are your thoughts? Do you have other awesome reasons to be a book reviewer?
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