Tell me about the person behind the blog?
Hello! I’m Emma from Emma The Little Bookworm. I am thirty-four, wife, mother to my four gorgeous bambinos and one bearded dragon called Toni. I am a freelance copy editor and I work mainly with Bloodhound Books, as well as a fantastic group of indie/self-published authors. I also work with authors on their book publicity, so anything from an online cover reveal to a week-long blog tour.
When did you start blogging and why?
When I was looking for a job last year, I stumbled upon a book reviewing website who were looking for people to read and review books for them, so I signed up. I had to provide a review and take it from there, they ‘took me on’ (obviously not a paid role) and I was delighted, but the way they wanted the reviews formatting was really crazy and extremely time consuming – on the day in question, the lady who dealt with them had sent it back to me for amending about five times as she wanted it worded differently, or there was a glitch in the links – it was just madness and I nearly threw my Surface at the wall in frustration. It was then that my hubby asked if there was anywhere I could write my reviews and asked why I didn’t just do them myself. And that was it, instead of job hunting the next day, I ‘discovered’ book blogging. I had seen one or two before but never followed any religiously – my family and job simply didn’t allow me the time. I set up on blogger originally but soon moved to wordpress and I have never looked back. The first book I reviewed on there was Silent Scream by Angela Marsons and about ten people read it that week – I was over the moon! I put some other reviews on there from books I had on my shelf and I started setting up my social media accounts and interacting with other people in the blogging world – I loved it. I now get an average of one-hundred hits a day, from people all over the world and I have made some amazing friends.
What are your proudest moments or achievements todate as a blogger?
My proudest blogging moment … gosh this is hard … I have had feedback from authors about my reviews which has made me ugly-cry happy tears! There are a couple who have told me that they have printed off my review and pinned to their wall so that they re-read it if they are feeling down, that means the world to me. It’s a cycle with the reading/reviewing/writing process – the author writes something so emotive it makes the reader feel so passionate about it, they then write a review which makes the author emotional and then stirs their passions to write another book that will make the reader emotional again! I love it!
I must say though that one of my most stand out moments was having Peter James on the blog. I was feeling a little brave one afternoon and found his email address and asked him if he would take part in my book hangover feature, I remember about four weeks later, I was laid on the couch reading, the kids and hubby were watching a film on the Sunday afternoon and an email pinged up on my screen from a Lara James. I didn’t fully register who it was till I started reading it and by the end I was in tears! I have been a huge fan of his books for years and years and to get a personal response from him and his wife one random Sunday afternoon was just amazing.
If you had to breakdown the components of your ideal perfect book what would they be?
The perfect book … it has to start very well – it doesn’t have to have a dead body (although it helps) but there has to be something there, pretty much straight away for me to stay invested. I want to know that there is something worth reading on for. Brilliantly written characters are an absolute must, they don’t have to be physically or mentally strong, they have to be written right. I Louise Jensen is fantastic at character development, Grace and Charlie, the two main characters in her debut, The Sister, are still in my head and they gave me my first book hangover! Structure is also important, I don’t like being confused to the point of having to re-read so that I know where I am at in the story – I love the whole then/now set up, I think that when it is done well this is the perfect style of book (for me) – but done badly it really does put me off.
Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories was genius. Debut novel gold. He brought something different and fresh and unique to the table.
What is your favourite genre to read?
My favourite genre is crime/psychological thriller, whether that be a police procedural or a really gritty, ‘hiding under the duvet’ style thriller – I love them! However, historical fiction is my guilty pleasure, along with a really good rom-com to cleanse the reading palette! I found, a few months ago, that the books I was reading weren’t shocking me anymore, the twists and turns that would normally have me gasping were starting to feel a little a flat and I put that down to overkill on the reading front – so I took a couple of weeks off reading that genre and read of the funniest, most heart-warming books I’ve read for a long time!
Finally, tell me more about your blog and why we should subscribe?
As much as my blog is a place for me to share my book reviews, I see that part of it more as a personal diary, which I love to share. My blog has enabled me to help authors reach people they may not have had access to before, I celebrate indie/self-published authors and a lot of my posts are about them. Whether sharing in their good news or a guest post, interviews or book news – there are a whole host of posts on there that you may find introduces you to someone new. Someone who perhaps isn’t backed by a large publisher and who doesn’t have a team of publicists behind them.
Pop over, your new favourite author could be featured on there!
You can read more from Emma and follow her blog here
