A Belgian perspective on reviewing books
Mieke Bijns is a book blogger and reviewer who writes for both English and Belgian audiences. Here Stephanie Cox interviews Mieke about book reviews, and platforms and also asks about differences in cultures in publishing between different countries.
1. Please introduce yourself and give us a background of yourself and your career.
Hiya! My name’s Mieke, I’m 25 years young, I live in the Northern part of Belgium together with my boyfriend and two cats and during the daytime office hours I’m a full time Data Entry Coordinator at a company that creates and distributes thermal imaging and infrared cameras. In the evenings and in the weekends, I’m a book blogger and reading addict.
2. When and why did you start reviewing books?
I started reviewing books pretty much in high school, though I never published book reviews online. I only started my blog at the end of last year, so I’m still pretty new to all this. I started reviewing books because I was “forced to” at school but the more reviews I wrote, the more I started to like it and actually see the purpose of it. Writing down my opinion on the books I read helped me to remember them more easily, especially when someone asked me about my opinion on a book I read. As to my blog, I publish my reviews online because I want other people to know what I thought about it and probably help them decide whether or not they’re going to read the book I reviewed.
3. What platforms do you use for reviewing books?
Well, obviously I use my own blogs (http://www.boekenvlinder.be for the Dutch reviews and http://loveforbooksandbutterflies.wordpress.com for the English reviews), and other than that I also use Goodreads and some Dutch websites like dizzie.nl, hebban.nl,bol.com and standaardboekhandel.be. I also use my Facebook page and Twitter to publish links to my blog or to other book-related websites or news items.
To read more of the interview, head over to Stephanie’s blog: Words are my Craft