Armchair BEA: Nurturing Relationships

I am probably very very bad at blogging relationships. I’m not around that much and of late I have been appalling at leaving comments, I read blogs but I don’t leave comments like I would like. I also don’t answer comments like I should. I really must get better at that. Most of my bookish relationships take place on twitter, where, since I got my beloved iPhone, I’ve been on a lot more. If you want to talk there you can reach me at @Zommie. I find that twitter is one of the best places to have relationships because it allows you to jump into conversations, make connections and see what is being talked about in the book blogging world, especially when you are on the go and your google reader goes to +1000.

Some of the bloggers I posted about yesterday are bloggers whom I talk to almost exclusively on twitter. They will tweet about their blog posts and I don’t lose them in the black hole that is my google reader at times. They also offer reassurance when I feel bad about my long spells of reading slumps or writers block and general busyness and I hope I manage to offer them the same.

I don’t have a lot of publisher relationships, mainly I think because I am in Sweden but I don’t blog in Swedish. Most publishers won’t send ARCs or review copies to other countries than the one where they are based (which I completely understand) and this makes it hard for me to have a real relationship with them. That said there is a lovely small publisher with whom I really hope to continue nurturing a relationship:  Peirene Press. Here is what they say they do:

Peirene specializes in contemporary European literature in English translation. We only publish books of less than 200 pages that can be read in the same time it takes to watch a DVD. We curate our books according to annual themes. 2010 was Peirene’s year of female narratives – three books with female protagonists and strong female voices (although not all are written by women.) 2011 is Peirene’s Year of the Man – male authors, male protagonists, male views of the world- from Germany, Holland, Austria. And 2012 will be Peirene’s Year of the Short Epic – novella length stories of more than 30 short chapters, from Finland, Denmark and Switzerland.

Meike and Maddy who tweet under @PeirenePress are always nice and positive and up for a good conversation. They also have frequent bookish events that I really hope I can go to one day (durn not living in England any more).

Peirene Press recently sent me their latest novella Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan Van Mersbergen which I hope that by the time you read this I will be reading (I have another book I need to finish to review first). The ladies at Peirene Press are easy to have a relationship with because they are open and personable and generally appreciate book bloggers and connections. And perhaps I should learn from them .

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.