A mug of tea casting a curved shadow on paper, with a drawing of a seated child reading a book positioned on the paper to make it look like the child is sitting on the shadow, leaning against the handle of the mug. Art by Debbie Ridpath Ohi.

For many reasons, it's a challenging time for those in the book publishing industry to get their books noticed.

I've decided to open up this blog to other contributors in hopes that I'll get a variety of perspectives from those with a wider range of experience. The URL of the blog will be https://books.leaflet.pub/

My goals for this book blog

  • There are so many book blogs out there. Like getting one's books noticed, it can be a challenge getting a book blog noticed. I am more hopeful for blogs built on atproto since there are so many more ways for posts to be discovered, especially as more atproto tools and apps are developed. šŸ¤žšŸ½

  • Because of this, I am seeking only contributors who are already part of the Atmosphere (e.g. have a Bluesky account or other atproto identities). I'm only looking for those who have a account (free is fine), because you need to be on Leaflet to be able to collaborate on a Leaflet blog.

What I'm looking for in a post

  • An image showing a book that you enjoyed reading. It can be just the cover, or a photo of the book in an appropriate setting, or someone reading the book (but please make sure the front cover is showing).

  • At the beginning of the post, please include the basic info about the book: Full title (and subtitle, if there is one), author, illustrator, publisher, and a link where people can find out more info about the book.

  • The rest of the post is up to you, as long as you include the above info, at least one paragraph about how you discovered the book. Word of mouth? A specific platform? Reminders from the creator? You don't have to write as much as I did, but feel free to browse my sample post here.

  • Note: At the end of your post, feel free to promote your website, blog(s), etc! Just make sure the length of your self-promo is reasonable compared to the length of the rest of your post. If you only have one sentence about how you discovered the book, don't write an entire paragraph with self-promo.

What I'm NOT looking for

  • Posts about books that will generate outrage, flamewar discussions, drama (either the book itself or your post).

  • Posts about books you haven't read, didn't finish reading, didn't like, or are not available for pre-ordering or purchase.

  • Posts that are basically just promo for your friend's book UNLESS you go into detail about steps taken to promote the book, whether or not each step worked e.g. make the post more of a how-to for those hoping for tips on how they can promote their own book, tips that go beyond the usual.

  • Reason: I lack the time to moderate. If this book blog becomes too much of a hassle for any reason, I WILL shut it down. It's one reason why I am only opening this up to educators, librarians, and booksellers for now. Thanks for understanding.

If you're interested...

If you are interested in trying out my collaborative book blog experiment, please let me know! Again, at present I am just looking for those already familiar with and who are educators, librarians, or booksellers.