I am delighted to welcome Kim Nash to the RNA Blog’s monthly series where we speak to book bloggers, reviewers and magazine editors and get an insight into their world.

Welcome Kim, tell us a little bit about yourself and your blog –
Kim The Book Worm.

I
am the publicity and social media manager for Bookouture (digital publisher), and
a book blogger at Kim The Book Worm. I
am also an independent consultant with Arbonne, an online skincare, makeup, and
health and wellbeing company. 

As
a book blogger I love to read and review women’s fiction and mix it up with
crime and psychological thrillers, and I also love a good personal development
book too. 

What
made you start to review/blog?

I
read a book called A Spring Affair by Milly Johnson.  It was about a lady who read an article in a
magazine about clutter clearing and she decided to do it to her house.  When she’d done that, she realised that it
wasn’t just her house that she wasn’t happy with, it was her life. 

This
story really resonated with me and I wrote an email to the author who responded
within an hour, which gobsmacked me as I never really expected an answer.  I’ll never forget her words.  She said “You lady, are the reason I write
books!” 

I
went out and bought all her other books and we kept in touch.  I had the idea to start a blog and she
encouraged me to do it and mentioned it to a couple of her author friends who
asked me to review their books.  So my
Kim The Book Worm blog was born!   That
was in February 2011!  So I’ve been a
book blogger for nearly 7 years! OMG!

Has
your blog ever won or been nominated for any awards?

Last
year I won the RNA Media Star of the Year award.  What an honour and a privilege that was!  

What’s
your review policy?

I
don’t have a particular policy, I just only review books that I like the sound
of.  It wouldn’t be fair on an author to
review a book in a genre that I don’t like as it wouldn’t be a true reflection
of the book.  Now that I’m working full
time for a publisher, I don’t have as much time to read and review books as I
used to.

Do
you ever get to read just for pleasure or will you always write a review after
reading a book?

I
very rarely read for pleasure and try to review every book I read but I do
sometimes forget! Obviously, I always remember if I’m on a blog tour.  And I do try to be very organised!   But with a manic work and home life,
sometimes I’m only human and do drop a ball!

I
know you are one of the organisers behind regular book blogger/author meet
ups.  Can you tell us a little bit about
how you became involved in this?

Author
Holly Martin and I just decided one day to organise a meet up in London. It was
just before Christmas and around 16 people turned up.  Not a bad turn out, so we organised one in
Birmingham too.  It was really well
attended with around 50 people and we were cramped for space at that one.  We did another London one and around 80 people
turned up! Luckily there wasn’t much else on in the bar we met at as we really
did take over the whole place! 

So
we periodically do events in Birmingham and London.  We haven’t done a London one for a while
though as not many people came along to the last one.  Holly has since moved to Devon so we
organised an Exeter meet up in the summer this year, which was great and vey
well attended and we have organised another event in Exeter for the end of
November.

What’s
the best thing about going to a book blogger/author meet up?  If members of the RNA want to find out more
about a meet up in their area how do they go about that?

For
me, it’s about meeting authors and bloggers that you know and love.  You can build really good relationships with
people online, and to then meet them in person, is such a joy! I’ve made so
many good friends both authors and bloggers that I know I’ll be friends with
for life.
 

If
anyone fancies coming along to our events, as long as they are an author or a
blogger, then we’d love to see you.  We
do need a rough idea of numbers so it would be great to hear from you beforehand to confirm whether you are definitely coming.   You can get in touch with Holly or myself to
get an invite.

How
do you like to spend your time when not working or reading?

I
love doing stuff with my ten year old son, whether it be just hanging out or
doing something fun.  I also run a book
club in Cannock in Staffordshire.  It’s
such a lovely group and we’ve made some fabulous friends and we really do love
our little book club!  I love going out
for meals with friends.  I also do some
family travel reviewing and love that too. 
I find reading very relaxing, and as I don’t get much other chance to
relax, that’s my real sanctuary. 

We
often ask agents and publishers what they consider to be the next ‘big thing’ –
what do you hope to see more of in 2018?

I
think we have an incredible mix of women’s fiction and psychological thrillers
around at the moment and I hope that continues. 
Maybe some different lead characters might be nice.  There are so many brilliant female detective-led novels around at the moment, but it would be good to see some different
professions in the mix too.  I do like a
cosy crime too.  I love a book that makes
me feel the emotions of the characters whether that be getting my heart fluttering
with gorgeous lead males, my heart pounding with breath-taking suspense or
warming my heart with wonderful stories. 
Please do keep them coming authors.  

Find out more about Kim via her Social
Media links:

Website 

Twitter 

Facebook 

Arbonne 

Thank
you for being such a fab guest, Kim and for giving us an interesting insight
into your world.

*****

About Ellie

Ellie
Holmes writes commercial women’s fiction with her heart in the town and her
soul in the country. Ellie’s debut release was The Flower Seller. A member of
the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Alliance of Independent Authors,
Ellie’s latest book, White Lies is out now.

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