Rachel Gilbey is a proud
Londoner and lifelong reader who admits she feels naked without a book.
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.
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| Rachel with Helen J Rolfe |
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?
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| 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:
Links to Rachel's Random Resources:
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:
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
