5 Reasons Why Twitter Is not Evil and 5 Tips for Making the Best Out of It

So, my darlings...as you may have noticed, three weeks ago (Feb. 17) I took the plunge and joined Twitter, creating the account @offbeatya. You probably all know I've always been extremely wary of social networks, for a ton of reasons. Anyway, they seem like a requirement for a self-respectable book blogger. Most publicists will never take your blog into account if you're not on Facebook or Twitter - even if it had a million followers (well, in that case, maybe, LOL. But even a couple of hundreds or three might probably mean nothing to them if you have no social media handle). So...I opted for Twitter, because:

1. it seemed the most book-blogger friendly;
2. it also seemed the right place for someone who didn't have many friends to begin with;
3. I loathe Facebook with a passion ;P.

Yes, dear friends who have a FB account. No offense meant :). But I had a brief taste of it years ago, with a page in Italian, and bailed after a month or two. In my experience (and everyone's is different of course) there was zero interaction, zero feeling, zero interest in what other people had to say. It may be due to the fact that those who are not your friends will never read what you write, unless someone points it out to them. Or it may be due to the format, because you can write I-don't-know-how-long posts and pontificate and feel like a philosopher who doesn't need to read what the rest of the world writes. Anyway, I felt so utterly alone on there.

Now, Twitter. In my extremely brief experience with it, I've already spotted 5 points in its favour - some of them unexpected...

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A Reader's Quirks #3: Tips for Slimming Your TBR List Down

I'm back with a new installment of my random feature about the who, what, where, when and why of reading, where I talk about my own relationship with books/genres/authors, and ask my visitors to do the same if they feel so inclined. This could have been easily turned into a meme, but there's a reason why it didn't...I still don't see myself as an established enough blogger to host yet another meme. Even those with an impressive number of followers aren't necessarily overwhelmed with participation, so I'm not going there just yet. This doesn't mean "A Reader's Quirks" won't be promoted to meme status one day, should it be the case. It's all up to you, really :).

A quick reminder...everyone can comment on my blog, spam or not spam. It matters to me that anyone can join the conversation. As for CAPTCHA...everyone hates it...so you won't find it here. Relax and breathe ;).

This time I'm going to talk about...

TIPS FOR SLIMMING YOUR TBR LIST DOWN

Because I've been on a destructive streak lately.

No no no. I'm still my usual kind, gentle, considerate self ;). It's just that, these latest days, I've been a reader with a mission: to reduce the size of my TBR list.

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To be precise, I have two different lists for unread books: a TBR (To Be Read) list and a NS (Not Sure) one. As a rule, my NS list is comprised by books I don't have enough info about yet. Maybe they will be released in some months, so they only have a few reviews (including those VERY suspicious ones by enthusiastic zealots you discover to be fellow authors). Maybe there's no excerpt from them anywhere. Sometimes, the two previous conditions don't apply, but I'm still waiting for the definitive review that will help me make up my mind. (Which may prove dangerous, because in the process, I'm likely to stumble upon a happily oblivious Goodreads reviewer who spoils the ultimate twist for me. GRRRR. Ever heard of the spoiler tag?). My TBR list usually consists of books about which I have what I consider a fair amount of info (excerpt included...because you know, writing style). Nevertheless, in the few past days, I've erased more books from my TBR list than from my NS one O_O. (I'll explain below). Some of them were even featured in my Most Anticipated Books of 2014 list and in two of my Book Blogger New Year's Challenge posts: The Book of 2013 You Are Sad You Missed and The Books of 2014 You Won't Miss. Go figure.

Now, the erasing act is crucial to me, since I buy the vast majority of my books - while it may not be a huge problem for you, if you read on an electronic device or have ARCs delivered most of the times. On the other hand, ARCs have deadlines, and even your eReader gets full ultimately. So, here are some of the considerations that have helped me decide which books to axe from my bills lately...or even before...I hope they can be useful to you, too.

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