I have a couple winners to announce and I also have some results of the 20,000 hits survey that I want to share!
The winner of the Monthly Contest is:
Hillary
Please let me know your choice of prize. You can email me. You can choose one (1) of the following titles:
Band Geek Love by Josie Bloss
Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab
Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fisher
Sisters of Misery by Megan Kelley Hall
Violet on the Runway, Violet by Design or Violet in Private by Melissa Walker
Now on the the 20,000 hits Finale! First off, I want to thank everyone who entered the contest and gave me some much needed feedback! It was great and I read everyone’s suggestions, at least twice!
The winner of the 20,000 hits contest and the owner of a prize pack of books and other bookish goodies is:
WannabeWriter
Congratulations!!
You may have noticed some changes around and hopefully I will continue to make changes based on your suggestions. Here are some samples of what you had to say:
When I asked what is your favorite thing about The Story, I got a lot of this:
“One of my favorite features on The Story is the Author Tales.”
“The author visits!”
“I love the author interviews you do, they give so much extra insight into the books!!! :)”
I loved to hear that! I’m glad everyone seems to be enjoying them as much as I do! Hopefully, I can continue to have Author Tales every Thursday! Also referring to Author Tales I also received this comment:
“I would like to see you asking your readers which authors they want to be interviewed. You know ask your readers for more feedback.”
I though that was a good suggestion and I would love to know what authors you would like to see! I’m going to be working on a suggestion post of some sort, and hopefully I can get the authors you want for 2009!
Another thing that seemed to be a plus was:
“The contests”
And I can’t say that I’m not surprised there! I’m glad that everyone is liking the contests. I hope to keep them coming in the future!
On another note: if there are any authors reading this that would like to donate a book for a contest/giveaway, I would GREATLY appreciate it!!
I also asked for ways to improve the site and I had a couple of these:
“sometimes in your reviews there are some grammer mistakes that I catch.”
“I’'ve noticed in the past that sometimes you have quite a few typos”
As perfect as I try to be, it obviously isn’t going to happen! I do try not to have any huge typos and I reread my post along with using spell checker and gramitic checker, but they and I don’t always catch everything. If you ever notice a typo, please tell me! I promise I won’t be offended! Embarrassed, probably! But also very thankful to have it pointed out!
Some other suggestions included:
“More interviews or maybe more about debut authors. Maybe even book lists.”
“I would like to see more book recommendations on the site.”
I will hopefully be working on this too. I’m not really sure how to execute it all right now, but I am thinking of something as I type this!
Another big suggestion was this:
“It's a little cluttered…”
“the clutter can be a bit intimidating”
“Your page is a bit too busy, and can be distracting.”
And I have to say, I couldn’t agree with you all more! You may have noticed that I’ve tried to cut back on the clutter! I’ve pulled some nifty html magic and now I have separate pages for some of the things that were taking up the sidebar! I like it a lot better! I hope that you do too. I still have some stuff on the sidebar, but hopefully it isn’t too overpowering!
Another thing I should probably work on is my layout. I had a lot of comments like these below and I have to admit that I totally agree with you.
“I would have to say that the only thing that I don't like to much is your backdrop to the whole site.”
“I feel bad saying anything but I don't like the gray background. It's dull, not a color I would think of with YA books.”
“Well i pretty much like the whole site the way it is, but i suppose it would be nice if it were more colorful. : )”
Okay, so do you like the new layout...?? I'm not sure about it, but is growing on me. Anyone have any suggestions!! Is it too much?? Should I tone it down? Be honest...
I thought another wonderful idea was this:
“Maybe a message board would be nice. A place where everyone could start up their own discussions with you and with one another.”
“I would love to see a book discussion area or book club or something.”
“I really like the site already but I'd like to see some discussion boards, about the books.”
You can now find a link to The Story Forum at the top with the rest of my links! I’m really excited for this new feature. If everything works out, I’m going to plan on keeping it. I've had it up for a day and I already had one spammer...
I also had a lot of people mentioning the following:
“I don't think I like the guest reviewer segments that you have”
“My least favorite thing is the guest review on the weekend. I'm just sort of bored by it. Sorry. :'(“
Personally I like the guest reviews, but if it’s something that isn’t going over well maybe it is time for a change. The last of the Be My Guest Reviewer posts will be until the end of August and then this feature will no longer be on The Story. It might possibly come back in the future, I don’t know for sure. But I was also having trouble getting people for reviews so, not a big deal!
I’m also planning on starting a new weekly feature. Actually I’m not planning on, I will be starting a new weekly feature. I haven’t decided as of now, on a specific day, but be on the lookout! You’ll have to let me know what you think!
Thanks again to everyone who filled out a survey! I really appreciated it! Don’t forget to sign up for the Twilight Series contest which ends tonight at midnight!!! I will be partying it up with my sister Laci at the Borders Bookstore’s Midnight Release Party in Fort Wayne! Stop by and say hi if you are going to be there!!