I love the beginning of a new year. So, here's to new beginnings, fluffing off all the excess crap that has happened in the last year, and starting over fresh. I love that new blogger smell!
I'm one of those people that likes to make resolutions personally and blog-wise. I think it's important to set goals and try to achieve them. Something I'm always interested in doing, is making the blog more enjoyable. I blog because I like to, but it's still nice to get some feedback from the people that visit.
You might remember I did a survey earlier this month and I do want to share the results of that survey with you. Address some of the issues and ultimately make some goals for 2010.
The first question I asked was:
What do you like about The Story?
The majority of you were satisfied with the blog over all. Lots of readers appreciated the honest, short and to the point reviews. Contest were often mentioned as a good thing, as well as In My Mailbox and Books to Pine For.
Here are a few quotes from this section of the survey:
"I like the reviews are short, sweet, and to the point most of the time. I can always go to The Story.com and find new updates on the things I am looking for. New Author books, new releases, and anything upcoming in the Young Adult litereary world."
"I love the variety of books that you review, the contest, and the information that you share about blogging and the blogging world, whether it's directed at new or more experienced bloggers. I like that you get good conversations going in the comments of your posts and are not afraid to address tough issues (I'm thinking of the great ARC debate here.)"
The second question I addresses was:
What don't you like about The Story?
Most of you mentioned that you'd like more detailed reviews. I try to keep my reviews from being spoiler-y so I tend to leave details out, but if that's what you'd like to hear about, I'll definitely try to work on that for the new year!
I really enjoyed the comments in this section, it was really insightful and I really appreciate the constructive criticism.
There where some comments that mentioned the same basic theme. Because of that I'd thought I would bring those to light and address those issues.
"Sometimes I feel like Kristi accepts far too many books for review when she knows she can't possibly read them all. She should consider that the authors give her the ARC to review, even if she doesn't promise reviews, she should still review most of them."
My response: I do get a lot of books. I know, I do. I'm not denying that. But here's the deal... I don't request books. I mean I have... I may if I really want a book, but I can honestly say I cannot remember the last time I sent an email requesting a book.
Authors email me and publishers email me, and yes I do accept books that I would be interested in reviewing, but I don't guarantee a review. Most of the books I get for In My Mailbox are books that I don't even know are coming. Books I haven't request, nor accepted for review. This is the case with, I'd say more than half of the books I receive.
In addition to my blog, I also have a full time job and a husband. I do try to review most of them. I think I do anyway. But I'm always hoping to read more, so I'll work on that.
"Not so welcoming to new bloggers ie. the post about arcs being received by newbies."
My response: Ouch... I try to go out of my way to be welcoming to new bloggers, well I thought I did anyhow.
The ARC post wasn't a jab at new bloggers, the arc post was meant to be an informative post for all bloggers. In addition to the information, I did want to stress that new bloggers shouldn't be worried about getting advance readers copies. I don't recommend starting a blog for the sole purpose of receiving advance readers copies. I didn't mean to be unwelcoming, but I can see how it may have come across that way. I apologize.
"That you earn money from your reviews."
My response: I don't earn money from my reviews... I wish I did though! LOL! I definitely wouldn't be going to work everyday if that was the case!
"It's hard to find back dated posts, I have to click 'older posts' all the time which gets a bit tedious. There's no labels list so I can choose to read a certain post."
My response: If you are looking for something in particular, I would suggest going to the search bar in the upper left sidebar. That search bar only searches within my posts so you can find what you are looking for. The reason I don't have labels is because I have about 200 of them and I don't like looking at that huge list on my sidebar!
"That's tough. I'd have to say that what bothers me is most of the contests are for US only. I understand why, postage and shipping costs so much and the majority of readers are US, but maybe every once in a while allow Canadians to enter too?"
My response: This was a frequent comment! I understand that it can be discouraging when you can't enter a contest, but I really can not afford to make every contest an international one. It can cost over 10 to send one book! I can send four or five books within the US at that price. A lot of the contests I host are also for publishers or authors that send the books out directly. The majority of publishers will not send outside of the US, so I have no control over that.
Would international readers be interested if I made an option for you to pay for shipping?
On another note... there will be announcement tomorrow for those participating in the 2010 Debut Author Challenge, and you international participants are included!
Here is some more information gathered from the survey:
Most of you visit a few times a week or daily.
Your favorite feature is Reviews! Followed by In My Mailbox with Books to Pine For close behind. The least favorite feature is Fresh Face Friday.
Top three favorite genres were Paranormal, Fantasy and Love & Romance. Biographies, Memoirs and Manga scored low.
As far as contest go, the majority of you agreed that the amount was just right!
I'm always unsure of what people think about personal content, but it seems that most of you enjoy it! Something I thought was funny was a comment from someone that they wanted to see what my husband looked like... maybe I can work a picture of us into a blog post. I guess it never crossed my mind that you guys would be interested in that aspect of my life!
And you'd like to see more personal content.
I asked you to rank my reviews, and I have to say I'm surprised by the results. Happy with them of course, but still surprised. I wasn't expecting that good of a score. But from the looks of it, I'm not doing too bad a job.
I also wondered about comments, if you left them or not. It looks like the majority of you do. I also asked, if you said no, why didn't you comment. Most of you said there was a time issue, which I completely understand! Some said they were just lazy... I understand that one too! Some of you said you just don't have something to add, or slow internet times.
I do want you to know that even though I don't respond to every comment. I do read every single one! Most of the time, if you have a blogger account, I reply to the comment through email, since I have every comment delivered to my inbox I have the option to do that if an email address is provided. Most of the time when I respond to comments I do it that way.
I really appreciate you all taking the time out of your busy schedules to participate in this survey. You've given me a lot of things to work on for the new year!
Here's what I'm hoping to implement in the next year... or MY BLOGGER GOALS FOR 2010!
- write more detailed reviews. work on my reviews period!
- read more books!
- more discussion posts... i need some topics!
- more personal posts
- try to comment more!
- answer my emails in a timely manner
- write my reviews sooner rather than later
- just try to be a better blogger in general
- avoid drama
- eat healthier
- start working out again
- spend more time with J & X
- save more
- be a better friend
- start taking better care of myself
- appreciate the things I have
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!