Yep. It's November, which means I haven't posted on here in 3 1/2 months, and.... I'm okay with this. I might post more about why I've taken such an extended (and unannounced) break later, but that's not the important part. The important part is I miss blogging, I have for a while, and then something miraculous happened this week: I wanted to blog. Not just that I missed blogging, but I wanted to and I had ideas. That's important. So let's skip to what I want to talk about today:
Book Recommendation Bribery
Fans are funny people. We want people to like the things we like, and we often get offended if someone doesn't like what we like (ie the great battle of the 90s: Backstreet Boys vs NSYNC or the great battle of Which Member in 1D is Actually the Best [although this, too, started earlier, but probably with New Kids instead of BSB/NSYNC]). But HOLD ON TO YOUR HORSE if someone reads/watches/listens to/otherwise experiences what we like and then *gasp* tries to like it MORE than us, the original fan (ie BSB fans suddenly liking NSYNC and vice versa). SAY. IT. AIN'T. SO. Like, bitch, I KNOW you aren't trying to get all up on Nick and Brian when *I* liked them first (yes, I was an original BSB-er, and yes, I did eventually split my loyalties between boy bands, and yes, I do still love them both)!
And the same thing happens with books too. For instance, I AM an original HP fan (I actually did read it in the 90s). I also liked Suzanne Collins long before The Hunger Games was A Thing. I am not, however, an original Twilight fan. I jumped on that wagon halfway between Eclipse's release and Breaking Dawn's. Everybody has that fandom (or five...) that they "discovered" and try to pass on to everyone, and that's cool.
I managed to get Harry Potter to exactly two people–my sixth grade best friend and my sister– before it exploded past the point of recommendation, and that's good enough for me. But both of those people more or less willingly chose to read HP merely because I loved it and gave them a brief description of the books and why I thought they'd like them. SOME of my friends, however, are not so accommodating, and those friends require, erm, extra incentive to pick something up.
In 2015, I issued a reading challenge to two friends to pick up one of my all-time favorite ya series: Richelle Mead's bestselling Vampire Academy series.
Maura is a huge Melissa de la Cruz fan, and I figured I could read one of her faves in return for her reading one of mine. Status of our challenge: Maura read Vampire Academy in May, which means I have two months to make good on my end of the bargain.
This is when I brought in my secret weapon: Crystal of Bookiemoji, fellow Adrian lover and bad cop to my good cop (unseen tweets in this part of the conversation were hilarious, but probably just for the three of us so I did not include them). Seriously: she grounded Holly and everything. But anyway, to stay on track, Holly then said she was a rebel and the cool kids didn't need to read blah blah blah it was ridiculous.
TL/DR: Holly also hasn't read Vampire Academy so I told her I'd write a fanfic about some of our favorite YA guys if she'd give it a shot. Also, do NOT tell Crystal that you haven't read VA or she will CUT you.
So my question for you guys is, have you ever bribed someone into reading a book? If so, what was it and what did you offer as a bribe? What would you accept as a bribe in return? I'm curious!
I managed to get Harry Potter to exactly two people–my sixth grade best friend and my sister– before it exploded past the point of recommendation, and that's good enough for me. But both of those people more or less willingly chose to read HP merely because I loved it and gave them a brief description of the books and why I thought they'd like them. SOME of my friends, however, are not so accommodating, and those friends require, erm, extra incentive to pick something up.
In 2015, I issued a reading challenge to two friends to pick up one of my all-time favorite ya series: Richelle Mead's bestselling Vampire Academy series.
Challenge #1
My first challenge was issued to my bestie Maura of The Whimsical Mama, who is actually one of the friends who got me into Twilight. Maura and I have very similar taste in ya books (as long as they aren't contemporary) so I knew if I could get her hooked, she'd love them. I already got her hooked on both Jodi Meadows AND Amy Plum, but for some reason Maura was stalling big time with VA. So in January, I issued this public declaration.
Maura is a huge Melissa de la Cruz fan, and I figured I could read one of her faves in return for her reading one of mine. Status of our challenge: Maura read Vampire Academy in May, which means I have two months to make good on my end of the bargain.
Challenge #2
And then the other day I was reminiscing with my friend Holly of The Fox's Hideaway about the start of our friendship (she won a giveaway on my blog, actually) and this beautiful trainwreck of a conversation happened: 
This is when I brought in my secret weapon: Crystal of Bookiemoji, fellow Adrian lover and bad cop to my good cop (unseen tweets in this part of the conversation were hilarious, but probably just for the three of us so I did not include them). Seriously: she grounded Holly and everything. But anyway, to stay on track, Holly then said she was a rebel and the cool kids didn't need to read blah blah blah it was ridiculous.
TL/DR: Holly also hasn't read Vampire Academy so I told her I'd write a fanfic about some of our favorite YA guys if she'd give it a shot. Also, do NOT tell Crystal that you haven't read VA or she will CUT you.
So my question for you guys is, have you ever bribed someone into reading a book? If so, what was it and what did you offer as a bribe? What would you accept as a bribe in return? I'm curious!
IS HOLLY FINALLY GOING TO READ VA?! I really hope so.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I've ever bribed someone into reading a book. I may have to try it, though. ;)
I WILL GET THERE SOMEDAY, KAITLIN.
DeleteAlso Mary, I love your bribery system. LOVE. I need to bribe my friends more often (except Kaitlin bc she actually listens to me w/o needing SOMETHING).