We are lucky today to have Sharon and Katie from I Smell Sheep "Our Little Corner of Crazy" as they call it, join us today. You're going to love meeting these gals. You can tell the fun they like to have. And what a great service they do for authors, actors, and talented people everywhere!
1. What kinds of books do you review and why?
Katie: First,
thanks so much for having us over! We review paranormal romance and urban
fantasy the most, but anything in the speculative fiction arena we will take a
look at! Plus we review comic books and interview both authors and actors!
We're at comic
book conventions and readers gatherings. The Sheep are taking over the world!
Sharon: I
personally prefer dark urban fantasy, but I dip my toes into the paranormal
romance pool occasionally…as long as there are monsters involved. I adore
horror comics that have a dash of campy humor too.
2. Do you review audio books and why?
Katie: We don't
review audio books right now, but maybe in the future!
Sharon: I
haven’t reviewed any because I don’t have slots of time conducive to listening.
I can read faster than I could listen.
3. Give us a little rundown on the blog's
history: when formed, how it grew, how you helped make it grow and where you
are headed in the future?
Katie: I started
the website 5 years ago, after my Mom pretty much forced me to finally start
writing down all my random and at times off-beat opinions. I'm not a strong
writer by any means and totally admit that! I try and write from the heart and
make, not only my writing tone colorful but add some facts along the way.
Not long after
the site started, I reached out to some folks who were leaving comments and the
first guest reviewers came on board. About a year into the site Sharon Stogner
burst into the scene. She's now a huge part of what we do, while it's a
collective, Sharon keeps us all in line and on track to meet deadlines. We
wouldn't be where we are as a site today without her.
I don't know
what the future holds for the Sheep, but I'm excited to find out!
Sharon: Don’t
let her fool you…her writing style is truly unique and her enthusiasm, when she
writes about a book she loves, is infectious! We also have some devoted
followers who spread their love of all things sheep. The I Smell Sheep Facebook
group is where the crazy happens. Everything from the reviews to the interviews
to the guest post topics is quirky and fun. You never know what you will find
each day when you visit us. But behind the scenes, we are serious about what we
do and our professionalism when dealing with authors, publishers and readers
has helped us become what we are today.
Here's our 5 Sheepversary Post of April l, with a giveaway going on right now.
4. How many followers on each post do you get
per daily average?
Katie: It
depends on the post and honestly we try not to focus on the day to day numbers
of visits. For those out there needing a number, we have an average of 50,000
page views per month. (Holy Smoly- ed.)
5. In your opinion, why is your blog so
successful? Why did it win the awards it has?
Katie: I think
the website has been successful from all our hard work. Through marketing on
other online sources, creating a Facebook and Twitter page. Social media has
really helped us spread the word about I Smell Sheep. Though it could also just
be that we are something a little different. Strange even. Offbeat and proud of
it. We are weird and we are proud to be this way. Normal is scary to us.
We recently won
the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll for Best Review site 2014. That's
still shocking to say, we never in a million years thought an award this big
would come our way!
Sharon: Katie
developed, before I came onboard, a quirky style for interviews. Authors/actors
often thank us for the atypical questions. We also have unusual guest post topics and features. We also try to be flexible when working with others. And
under all the fun and quirkiness we have built a foundation of trust and
integrity.
Shout out to our
followers who voted for us! Big sheep kisses to everyone. It is quite humbling. (You guys are baaaaaaaad. -ed.)
6. If you could give advice to a struggling
blog, or someone wanting to start blogging, what would you advise, based on your
experiences.
Katie: I would
say, do whatever you love. No matter what it is. Don't hold yourself back or
shut any doors with inner thoughts of doubt. Be realistic though, there's a
very slim chance you'll make enough money to blog for a living. But if you want
to find another way to be creative, then go for it and don't look back!
Sharon: There
are a lot of bloggers out there willing to help and give advice. Visit blogs
you admire. Talk with the people behind the scenes and ask questions. We have an
amazing network of blogging friends. We help each other out. Integrity and
trust is crucial to success in blogging. You can’t build trust overnight, you
have to earn it from readers, other bloggers, publishers and authors. Break
that trust and you are done.
Thank you Sharon and Katie. I'm sure your site will be a must read for many of our authors and readers here. Thanks for giving us such a quirky glimpse into your world of fun.
Here are the ways you can contact I Smell Sheep:
website: http://www.
tumblr: http://ismellsheep.
twitter: https://twitter.com/
And you can contact them by email:
