Kim Nash - Book Blogger, and Publicity and Social Media Manager

Thank you to Ellie Holmes for this interesting interview with Kim Nash this month. As you will see, Kim is a woman who wears many hats! So, over to Ellie and Kim...

I am delighted to welcome Kim Nash to the RNA Blog's monthly series where we speak to book bloggers, reviewers and magazine editors and get an insight into their world.

Welcome Kim, tell us a little bit about yourself and your blog – Kim The Book Worm.

I am the publicity and social media manager for Bookouture (digital publisher), and a book blogger at Kim The Book Worm. I am also an independent consultant with Arbonne, an online skincare, makeup, and health and wellbeing company. 

As a book blogger I love to read and review women’s fiction and mix it up with crime and psychological thrillers, and I also love a good personal development book too. 

What made you start to review/blog?

I read a book called A Spring Affair by Milly Johnson.  It was about a lady who read an article in a magazine about clutter clearing and she decided to do it to her house.  When she’d done that, she realised that it wasn’t just her house that she wasn’t happy with, it was her life. 

This story really resonated with me and I wrote an email to the author who responded within an hour, which gobsmacked me as I never really expected an answer.  I’ll never forget her words.  She said “You lady, are the reason I write books!” 

I went out and bought all her other books and we kept in touch.  I had the idea to start a blog and she encouraged me to do it and mentioned it to a couple of her author friends who asked me to review their books.  So my Kim The Book Worm blog was born!   That was in February 2011!  So I’ve been a book blogger for nearly 7 years! OMG!

Has your blog ever won or been nominated for any awards?

Last year I won the RNA Media Star of the Year award.  What an honour and a privilege that was!  

What’s your review policy?

I don’t have a particular policy, I just only review books that I like the sound of.  It wouldn’t be fair on an author to review a book in a genre that I don’t like as it wouldn’t be a true reflection of the book.  Now that I’m working full time for a publisher, I don’t have as much time to read and review books as I used to.

Do you ever get to read just for pleasure or will you always write a review after reading a book?

I very rarely read for pleasure and try to review every book I read but I do sometimes forget! Obviously, I always remember if I’m on a blog tour.  And I do try to be very organised!   But with a manic work and home life, sometimes I’m only human and do drop a ball!

I know you are one of the organisers behind regular book blogger/author meet ups.  Can you tell us a little bit about how you became involved in this?

Author Holly Martin and I just decided one day to organise a meet up in London. It was just before Christmas and around 16 people turned up.  Not a bad turn out, so we organised one in Birmingham too.  It was really well attended with around 50 people and we were cramped for space at that one.  We did another London one and around 80 people turned up! Luckily there wasn’t much else on in the bar we met at as we really did take over the whole place! 

So we periodically do events in Birmingham and London.  We haven’t done a London one for a while though as not many people came along to the last one.  Holly has since moved to Devon so we organised an Exeter meet up in the summer this year, which was great and vey well attended and we have organised another event in Exeter for the end of November.

What’s the best thing about going to a book blogger/author meet up?  If members of the RNA want to find out more about a meet up in their area how do they go about that?

For me, it’s about meeting authors and bloggers that you know and love.  You can build really good relationships with people online, and to then meet them in person, is such a joy! I’ve made so many good friends both authors and bloggers that I know I’ll be friends with for life.
 

If anyone fancies coming along to our events, as long as they are an author or a blogger, then we’d love to see you.  We do need a rough idea of numbers so it would be great to hear from you beforehand to confirm whether you are definitely coming.   You can get in touch with Holly or myself to get an invite.

How do you like to spend your time when not working or reading?

I love doing stuff with my ten year old son, whether it be just hanging out or doing something fun.  I also run a book club in Cannock in Staffordshire.  It’s such a lovely group and we’ve made some fabulous friends and we really do love our little book club!  I love going out for meals with friends.  I also do some family travel reviewing and love that too.  I find reading very relaxing, and as I don’t get much other chance to relax, that’s my real sanctuary. 

We often ask agents and publishers what they consider to be the next 'big thing' - what do you hope to see more of in 2018?

I think we have an incredible mix of women’s fiction and psychological thrillers around at the moment and I hope that continues.  Maybe some different lead characters might be nice.  There are so many brilliant female detective-led novels around at the moment, but it would be good to see some different professions in the mix too.  I do like a cosy crime too.  I love a book that makes me feel the emotions of the characters whether that be getting my heart fluttering with gorgeous lead males, my heart pounding with breath-taking suspense or warming my heart with wonderful stories.  Please do keep them coming authors.  

Find out more about Kim via her Social Media links:

Website 

Twitter 

Facebook 

Arbonne 

Thank you for being such a fab guest, Kim and for giving us an interesting insight into your world.

*****

About Ellie

Ellie Holmes writes commercial women’s fiction with her heart in the town and her soul in the country. Ellie’s debut release was The Flower Seller. A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Alliance of Independent Authors, Ellie’s latest book, White Lies is out now.

Amazon 

Twitter 

Website 

Facebook 

Book Bloggers and Reviewers: Rachel Gilbey – Rachel’s Random Reads

 We welcome Ellie Holmes to the RNA blog with the latest in her series Book Bloggers and Reviewers. Today Ellie is talking with well known Rachel Gilbey.

Rachel Gilbey is a proud Londoner and lifelong reader who admits she feels naked without a book. 

Rachel with Helen J Rolfe

Since dropping out of university Rachel has followed a varied career path, working in IT and Brochure design for a travel company, qualifying as a Playworker, and working in after school clubs. She has also spent a few summers working abroad as a Children's rep.

When she returned to the UK her love of books grew to the next level and she started a book blog - Rachel's Random Reads, and has now launched Rachel's Random Resources too.

Welcome to the RNA blog, Rachel.

What made you start to review/blog?

I was always a prolific reader from an early age, leading Mum to have to take me to three local libraries on a regular basis to keep me in books. A few years ago, I was entering a large number of competitions, and discovered many fabulous book bloggers which I still follow to this day, and also Goodreads.

With any book I won from Goodreads, I went on to write a review, as it sounded like a condition on entry, and from there I discovered a few reading challenges some friends were running. At which point, I ended up reviewing almost everything I was reading.

Ultimately after a few others had suggested it, it was Laura Bambrey from Laura Bambrey Books that persuaded me I should blog, as I was doing 90% of the basics anyway.

Two and a half years on, I can barely remember how I filled my time without blogging, and adore being able to share my love of books to what I hope is an appreciative audience.

Are there certain genres you prefer to cover? Could you give us a link to your review guidelines?

Despite being a prolific reader, I'm rather narrow and set in my ways when it comes to the sorts of genres I tend to read, and thus cover on my blog.

I predominately read romance, women's fiction, chick lit with regular forrays over to the dark side of crime/mystery/thrillers and psychological suspense/thrillers.

My full review policy is available here.

Do you meet up with other bloggers and reviewers?

Given how solitary a hobby reading is, you may be surprised to hear that since starting my blog I have a far more active social life than I did before. I often attend the Blogger/Author Shenanigans events that the lovely Kim Nash organises, where I get to chat books with authors and bloggers.

I also attend book launches and panel discussions where there are authors or subjects of interest to me, and often bump into and other bloggers at these too. 

I have met so many bloggers and I love them all, it’s just that there are far too many to name!

What do you expect from the writer when they appear on your blog?

I'm not sure expect is the correct word. In an ideal world I would love an author to supply everything in a timely manner that has been asked for, which includes author bio, social media and purchase links, cover image and author photo, in addition to the guest post or interview.

The other thing in an ideal world would be some acknowledgement when the post is live, be it a thank you, a retweet, share just something.

What’s the best thing about being a book blogger?

Definitely the book events that I get invited too, some of them which appear to be completely star studded where I come over all fan girly and unable to string a sentence together, as I have met authors that I have been reading for 15-20 years in some cases. 

My other favourite thing about book blogging is definitely the direction my life is changing in, which I can answer best in the next question.

You have just launched an exciting new venture Rachel’s Random Resources. Can you tell us about it?

Rachel's Random Resources is my brand new business offering assorted services to authors to make their lives easier when it comes to publicity of their books, old and new.

I organise blog tours, shorter blog blitzes, 1 day publication day pushes, or Book Birthday Blitzes , to get a real buzz going on your special day, as well as cover reveals, which my growing family of bloggers will be eager to help out with.

I've got my Review Vault, which is where I will gain you potential reviewers without them having the pressure of a blog tour. This is open for reviewers that just review on Goodreads and Amazon too, to increase the exposure of the book on all the major outlets.

I'm also doing assorted graphic design for social media. This include header graphics for Twitter and Facebook, blog tour banners if you have organised your own, special offer graphics, images with quotes from the book or from your favourite reviews, all to enhance your social media, with a some variety.

Essentially, I am aiming to connect authors with bloggers, do the asking on your behalf, do the organising or graphic design on your behalf, freeing your time up to write the next book!

I saw on your blog that you are big West End musicals fan (a woman after my own heart). How else do you spend your free time when not reading?

Rachel with Sheryl Browne

I'm supposed to have free time when I'm not reading? Not sure I was ever told that!  As you spotted, I am a huge fan of musicals and will try to visit the theatre as much as I can in a year, although it’s a rather expensive habit to have. That does remind me I don't have any more shows lined up yet to see, I must go and buy some more tickets!

Cheaper than my other main love which is going on holiday, I love spending time abroad, sitting, relaxing soaking up the heat, and oddly reading at the same time!

I'm also a huge fan of sports, watching not participating, and events such as The Olympics or the Football World Cup will see me stuck to the TV no matter the time difference to soak up as much as I can.  I try to get to some live events each year.  I'm lucky enough to live near Wembley, and also within an easy enough journey of The Olympic Stadium (or The London Stadium, or The Queen Elizabeth Park, or whatever it is currently being referred to as). I was lucky enough to attend the World Athletics Championships recently, and had a wonderful time cheering on Team GB!.

We often ask agents and publishers what they consider to be the next 'big thing' - what do you hope to see more of in 2018?

That has to be the hardest question on the whole interview, especially tricky as let’s face it most of the lists for at least the first half to the year from traditional publishers are likely to be finalised already! 

So how to answer this question?

At the start of 2017, two other bloggers and myself embarked on a massive challenge, to between us see if we could read around the UK in 144 books, and see just how much of the UK we read about in books. Although we seem to have stalled, what I have discovered is a large amount of the UK just doesn't necessarily get featured in books often if at all.

I would love to see more variety of location in the books that I read. So often I spend most of my time virtually in Cornwall and Devon, despite there being pretty coastline all around the UK.

Thank you so much for inviting me to be interviewed today. It is a great honour and I really appreciate the opportunity.

It was a pleasure to talk with you Rachel. Thank you for giving us an insight into your world and good luck with your new venture Rachel’s Random Resources.  I’m sure you’ll have lots of RNA members beating a path to your door.

Links to Rachel’s Random Reads:

Website

Twitter

Links to Rachel's Random Resources:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

About Ellie:

Ellie Holmes writes commercial women’s fiction with her heart in the town and her soul in the

country. Ellie’s debut release was The Flower Seller. A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Alliance of Independent Authors, Ellie’s latest book, White Lies is out now.

Links:

Twitter

Website

Facebook

Thank you Ellie and Rachel for a most enjoyable interview. Good luck with your new venture, Rachel!

If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Ellie Holmes: Writers Rock!

Welcome to Ellie Holmes who writes for the blog on living up to the ideals of being a writer.

I recently had the good fortune to visit the Winchester Literary Festival.  The keynote speaker was the

charismatic and energetic performance poet Lemn Sissay.  If any of you are unfamiliar with this powerhouse of a talent do check him out on social media or better yet in performance – I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Lemn touched on many themes during his inspirational speech one of those being how hard it is to be a writer.  As he put it: ‘There are not many areas of life where you sit down to do your job and are faced with the prospect that you may be crap every day’. 

I know I am not alone in finding it a constant struggle to live up to the ideal of all that I hope to achieve with my work, to capture that perfect idea and wrestle it on to a page or to hit a self-imposed word count on a day when the words are harder to pin down than jelly to a ceiling.

So often we get caught up in the push and pull of deadlines, the demands of our work in progress, the desire to post, tweet, pin, blog and vlog our way to that elusive sunlit upland called success that we lose sight of who we are and why we started down this road in the first place.

It’s a tough gig this writing lark. The fact that we turn up and keep going, often in the face of adversity, is something we, as writers, do not give ourselves enough credit for, I think. 

Writers must have the soul of a poet, the hide of a rhinoceros and, above all, the heart of a lion.

The wounds inflicted by disappointment, rejection or broken hearts are subsumed into our writing psyche to feed the well as much as the joy, excitement and fun we experience. We then take that pain and re-live it, using it to inform our characters and plumb the emotional depths needed to reach out and touch others.

That is the reality of life as a writer and yet we still find the courage to sit down and do it anyway,

facing the fear, doubt and pain and working our way through it. Go, us!

As Lemn says, ‘Writers rock!’ and he’s right, we do!

About Ellie:

Ellie Holmes writes commercial women’s fiction with her heart in the town and her soul in the country. A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Alliance of Independent Authors, Ellie’s latest book, White Lies is out now.

Link to Amazon

Thank you, Ellie and good luck with White Lies!

Would you like to write for the RNA blog? Contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com