Saturday Chaturday

Happy Saturday Lovelies!!

Can you believe it is the last Saturday of the month already?? We had the first day of Fall (not in AZ, haha). September has flown by! I hope it was great for all of you! Let’s talk a little today about what I did this past month.

Life Updates:

My husband and I saw Epica and Lacuna Coil in concert a week ago! Three days ago we saw Depeche Mode in concert with my mom, and yesterday was my birthday and my announcement of my big giveaway!

I am enjoying being an Independent Distributor for Nu Skin Products! My teeth have never been whiter! My eyelashes look longer and fuller, and my face feels fantastic every time I use our mud mask. Here in Arizona we have hard city water which dries out my skin and causes it to itch like crazy! Lately I have been using our Body Cleansing Gel and I have had so much relief from switching to it. I am in love with all the products I have tried that I sell with this company and have started reviewing them on my beauty portion of my blog!

Also wanted to point out that some of our amazing products have been featured in Elle and Cosmopolitan magazine over the past few years!

Our amazing Curl and Lash Mascara has been featured too, but I couldn’t not find the picture.

Blog Updates:

So, each Saturday I will be doing beauty reviews. It will be a mix of hot beauty products in the market that I own, and products that I sell as an Independent Nu Skin Distributor. I have always loved makeup and bath and beauty products! I was the little girl that could put lipstick on perfectly without a mirror, lol!

Each time I review a product that I sell, I will provide a link to my distributor site. I am also able to take orders and ship my on hand products directly to you, sooner, for a lower shipping cost, so don’t hesitate to ask about a product you are interested in!

For the past few months I have had a pretty great schedule going. I do tags on Mondays, reviews and author interviews and spotlights Tuesdays though Thursdays, and Awards on Fridays. Saturdays are now my beauty review days, except for the last Saturday of each month, and the first Monday of each month is devoted to the Calendar Girls Book Post. I have recently decided that I would like to slow down on posting about awards and eventually stop and let other bloggers have the opportunity to keep receiving them! I absolutely adore them but would like to add something else to my blog in their place.

I am also going to be adding a day each week (maybe Friday) where I review each installation in the Timeless Fairy Tales series by K.M. Shea. Once through all of those I would add another fairy tale anthology or series.

Blog Talk:

Let’s talk about affiliate links. Do you use them? How do you feel about them? Would you buy from them?

I have been considering signing up for several affiliate link programs lately. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Book Depository. Affiliate links are secure links through the retailer website that give a commission percentage to affiliates from sales made from their links. Affiliate links are similar to monetizing ads with the upgraded version of WordPress. Sometimes these things help bring in a little extra money.

As a full time book blogger and housewife, I am always looking to see what I can do that will help with expenses. We currently have one car and I am working on health issues at the moment, so I am not working. I enjoy reading and reviewing and would never dream of trying to charge for it (like I have seen some bloggers start doing) because it is a hobby and it is my way of supporting hard working authors. Affiliate links seem like they would be a great option to bring in a little extra money but also be able to provide purchasing resources for those who read a review of mine and want to go after the book right away.

So, what are your thoughts? If you have used the, are they worth it? If you knew a blogger used them would you steer clear?

I’ve created an anonymous survey for you all to fill out that I will be sharing with a few other bloggers who are using the affiliate links.

Affiliate Links Survey

How many book reviews do you like seeing when you view another blogger’s site? Do you like following blogs that keep up with the latest trends like memes, aesthetic boards, and reading challenges?

I have seen several bloggers state that they receive more blog views and discussion when they limit to 1-2 reviews a day and the rest tags and discussions. What do you think? Would you all like to see more discussion posts? What would you like to discuss?

Would you like to see me add a meme to my weekly schedule? Which one?

Do you like one post a day? Multiple posts?

Reading Updates:

These are all the book I read for the month of September. Most of the reviews are up on my blog and Good Reads, and several of the reviews are scheduled for later.

First Came Forever was my favorite YA/Romance/Contemporary read for the month! It is also included in my giveaway!

Search for Maylee was my favorite thriller of the year! Blog tour post coming soon! So excited!

The Punch Escrow was my favorite Hard Science Fiction novel of the year!

No Vain Loss, and the entire No Ordinary Star trilogy, was my favorite YA/Science Fiction story for the year! ❤

What did you read this month? What was your favorite?

Thanks for reading and chatting with me today! I look forward to some fun discussion in the comment! ❤

Have a great weekend! ❤

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Darque Dreamer

Blogger/ Punk Rocker / Quirky Housewife

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