Who Is Mistral Dawn?

Mistral Dawn is a thirty-something gal who has lived on both coasts of the US but somehow never in the middle. She currently resides in the Southeast US with her kitty cats (please spay or neuter! :-)) where she works as a hospital drudge and attends graduate school. Taken By The Huntsman is her first effort at writing fiction and if it is well received she has ideas for several more novels and short-stories in this series. Please feel free to visit her on FaceBook or drop her a line at mistralkdawn@gmail.com

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

ABibliophilesJourney Book Tuber Interviewed By Mistral Dawn

Hi Everyone!! :-)

Keeley, on the ABibliophilesJourney YouTube Channel, has been kind enough to join us today.  She's a book tuber on YouTube, and you may remember that she was kind enough to give Taken By The Huntsman a shout out during her #25DaysOfIndie project.  She also just recently reached the 200 subscriber mark for her channel!  Congratulations, Keeley, and can you tell us how long have you been book tubing on YouTube? :-)

Keeley:  Only since May of 2014. I didn't even know book tubing existed until I decided to Google "book hauls" to look for book ideas. 

Me:  Wow!  That's quite an achievement in such a short time.  What made you want to start? 

Keeley:  I really felt like I had finally found a community I could join in on. Reading has been a huge part of my life for a long time and I have been a book collector for as long as I can remember. If I could make friends from all over the world as a result of sharing my books, I figured why not?

Me:  Awesome!! I agree, one of the best things about the internet is meeting wonderful people from all over the place. :-)  When did you learn about indie books vs. traditional publishers? 

Keeley:  I definitely knew there were self published books out there, but I really didn't start looking into any specific authors until I saw someone use #IndieBooksBeSeen in one of their tweets. At this point I can't remember who it was either. I was intrigued so I looked into it and was instantly hooked. 

Me:  Yeah, Mark Shaw is amazing for what he's done with #IndieBooksBeSeen.  How do you decide which books to read? 

Keeley:  Mostly from ones that I grew up hearing about which constitutes the majority of my horror/fantasy/sci fi choices. Then of course a lot of my more recent choices have been heavily influenced by what other book tubers are talking about and indie authors that I've been discovering. 

Me:  That makes sense.  How does your rating system work?

Keeley:  I pretty much start out with every book at a 4 in my head. Then as I'm reading I'll adjust based on if I'm enjoying it, the dialogue, if the plot is predictable, etc. More often than not it seems that books stay around a 4 for me. I try not to give 5's anymore unless a book really blows me away or if it was super fun to read. It's rare that I'll give below a 3. 

Me:  Ha! You sound like some of my teachers who hate to give As. ;-)  How long does it generally take for you to read and review a book once you receive it? 

Keeley:  It varies. I try to read and review books that I've received ASAP, but I also try to read what I'm in the mood for so that I give the book a fair chance. I found that if I force myself to read something because I feel pressured, I won't stay engaged and often will give the book a lower rating. Now if it's something I'm super excited about I'll normally start it within a few days and try to review it the day that I finish it. 

Me:  Yeah, a book you're not in the mood for is hard to get into.  What do you like best and worst about book tubing? 

Keeley:  What I like best is probably meeting new people and getting new ideas for books. What I like the least is the amount of "drama" that happens because of misunderstandings or disagreeing with someone else's opinions. I typically stay out of it because book blogging is something I do for fun. I'm a graduate student and work in victim services so I'd like book tubing to stay a fun hobby rather than an added stressor. 

Me:  Yes, drama is definitely something to be avoided. ;-)   Is there anything else you'd like to talk about or say? 

Keeley:  You're awesome! This is super exciting and thank you so much!

Me:  Awww!! Thank you!! That's very sweet of you! :-)  You're pretty awesome yourself! :-) Are there any links you'd like to share with these fine folks?

Keeley:   Be sure to check out the Indie Book Club!!! We just started in January of 2015 and read Seed by DB Nielsen. 

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/151595-indie-book-club

Me:  Absolutely!! :-)  And thank you so much for joining us here today Keeley! :-) You can check out my review of DB Nielsen's Seed here:


Check out and subscribe to Keeley's YouTube channel here:


And watch and like her videos! :-)  Especially her kind words about Taken By The Huntsman! (Sorry, couldn't resist ;-) )


Thank you everyone for joining us today!! As always, please stay tuned for updates, interviews, and random musings! :-)

2 comments:

  1. Really interesting post! I know so little about book tubing! I'll definitely have a watch! Thanks for sharing. :)

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    1. Thanks EJ! Keeley's channel is definitely worth a look. :-)

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