Guest Post: Jess from Tales Compendium

Hi everyone! Jess from The Tales Compendium here. When Isme asked if I would be interested in writing a guest post I thought, ‘Yeh of course,’ but then I had to make the decision on what I would write about. So today I thought I would share with you why I blog and why I love it.

Before I started The Tales Compendium over eighteen months ago, I had no idea just how popular YA was. I mean, I knew it was popular because I worked in a bookstore and saw how well it was selling, but what I didn’t know was that its popularity reached SO many different age groups. I always thought I was in the minority being twenty-something and still reading YA books. Sure I read some adult books too, but they never seemed to grab me like YA did and so I always felt embarrassed reading YA in public, worried what people would think of someone my age still reading ‘kids books’. I started The Tales Compendium as a forum for me to be able to share my love of YA and to help get the word out about all the wonderful books and authors I had discovered. Through my blog I realised that while teenagers were the intended readership of YA, the amount of adult YA readers almost equals if not overtakes that of the under 18 readership.

I also found an amazing community of people sharing ideas and their love, and sometime dislike, of YA books. I’ve made so many friends through blogging, in Australia and elsewhere in the world, that I can’t imagine not being part of it. I get a buzz when I find someone who loves a book as much as me and can put up with me gushing about it. I love being able to contact an author and tell them just how much I loved their book. And I’m sure that gives them a buzz too. I love to hear from people who read my reviews, whether they agree with me or not. Blogs are ‘opinion’ avenues. I write to share, so I love it when people share with me. No matter how insignificant you think your comment may be, believe me, they’re not, and we do read your comments. Next time you’re reading a blog post and it makes you smile, or you think, ‘Oooh I’d like to read that,’ spend the 30 seconds it takes to leave a quick comment on that post. It will give the blogger a smile, brighten their day, and remind them why they do what they do and spend so many hours doing it.

Sometimes it does get all too much, the pressure to read and review the growing number of books sitting on my bedside table (and piled high on the floor!), to keep up with those reviewers who somehow manage to review a book ever day or so, and to be constantly keeping up with what is new and going on not only in the book world but also the blogosphere as well. At the end of the day though, that pressure isn’t coming from the other bloggers, or the publishers who are kind enough to send me ARC’s. No, the pressure comes from myself, one that I need not put on my shoulders. I started blogging as a fun way to talk about the books I was reading, new or old, and that’s the way I want to continue. I still review the latest books, but I don’t want it to be at the cost of the gems that could be waiting for me in my ever growing pile, regardless of how old they may be.


We do it to share the love.

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Thank you Jess for this great post, It's so true!

If you haven't been to Jess's blog before, check it out here.