I have only really fallen in love once.
Meeting my husband in high school was the greatest moment of my life, but I have felt great love before…just not for other living, breathing men.
Instead, I have fallen in love with the characters in the books that I read, and as a book blogger I help to spread that adoration around.
Book Bloggers Are Really Matchmakers
When you hand someone a book (a read that you just know they will love) you are saying an enormous amount about your relationship. Book recommendations are like blind dates-we all don’t know if it will work out, but we keep trying anyway. We take a gamble, and as book bloggers we are excellent matchmakers.
Our matches don’t just give our followers great books.
Our matches also tell people that we know a lot about them. A book recommendation tells your friend that you see who she wants to be, you understand her fears, you get her frustrations.
Not everyone can do that.
Book bloggers can.
Book bloggers become honorary matchmakers because we know more about the publishing world than most people (maybe more than most people want to!). We do the legwork for the readers and the friends in our lives. We travel to book conventions. We interact with the authors. We read more in a month than the average American does all year.
We use our over abounding knowledge about books to help people find love in the characters they read about and love in themselves. Book Blogger Matchmakers do an enormous amount to help people feel loved and appreciated.
Feeling isolated and over wrought…try Allison Winn Scotch.
Need a little escape that will drive you straight into action…how about a mystery by Tana French?
Our matches might not be marriage material, but they do last a lifetime.
Book bloggers infuse the publishing world with our love of books. And it is our enthusiasm that creates a love for a particular author that lasts his/her entire career.
We Do the Impossible
Book recommendations are very personal, and like a real-life matchmaking set-up, they can go very badly. But never one to be cowardly, book bloggers put themselves out their again and again. Risking failure, hoping for a match, we plug on always telling our readers and our friends which books will speak to them and why.
So don’t sell yourself short. You are doing a lot more than just reviewing books.
You are helping people find themselves. You are helping people feel less alone.
You are a matchmaker, and who couldn’t use a little more love?
Jennifer blogs regularly at Girls Gone Reading
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This is so true!
love love loved this post that’s for sure! I will remember this on those rare times when a little voice nags me that I should be doing homework or laundry or fixing supper instead of blogging or reading.
I also like putting books I loved on into the hands of someone else I think will love them. Books are high maintenance love…they need a lot of people to reassure them
This is such a great post. I love making good recommendations but am always nervous too.
A friend sent me a text this week: “Need a book for jury duty. What do you recommend?” He’s a guy, one I don’t talk to all that often. I had to ask him some follow-up questions, but in the end, I recommended books I think will be spot-on for him. It’s such a fantastic feeling.
Thanks for this post!