Alas, despite Racy Romance Reviews being shortlisted for Best Romance Blog in the Book Bloggers Appreciation Week (BBAW) contest, no.
For one thing, we know Dear Author and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books withdrew their nominations (thanks for making sure we all knew that, ladies! Luv ya, mean it! 
). And who knows how many others did as Karen Scott did, and blew off the BBAW nomination email? In short, many great blogs are not even a part of the process for one reason or another.
For another, shortlists were based on 5 blog posts. Who’s to say the submitted blog posts are representative? Maybe I only ever wrote 5 good posts.
Finally, the one bit of the panel process no one seems to be bothered by is the one that makes the least sense to me: the panelists do not judge blogs in their own area of expertise. (This rule was meant to avoid conflicts of interest, but I will take the threat of a COI over the threat of ignorance every time)
I could continue, but you get the idea. This is not rocket science. In fact, it’s no kind of science whatsoever.
Having said that, I am a person who gets excited when she finds an edible piece of candy at the bottom of her purse. As a person whose day is made by a measely $2 scratch off winner, the fact that someone saw fit to nominate RRR, and that a group of 5 people whom I don’t know read my posts, along with those of dozens of other blogs, and thought mine were among the best … well, that’s very nice! It’s really very nice!
(If you are curious about the process, visit the The Book Smugglers, who served as judges and lived to blog about it.)
This is also a fun way to cross pollinate the book blogosphere. I’ve already gotten new visitors here from the BBAW link, and by checking out the other shortlisted blogs, found out just what a small corner of the web I have been keeping to.
The other nominees for Best Romance Blog are Katiebabs’ Babbling About Books, AnimeJune’s Gossamer Obsessions, Marg’s Reading Adventures, and Holly, Casee, and Rowena’s The Book Binge. I’m in good company.
The shortlisted blogs are linking to the five posts they submitted to the judges. I love this idea. Here are mine:
2. Review: Not Quite a Husband, by Sherry Thomas
3. The Top 9 Most Romantic Love Scenes in Romance
4. Do Author Comments Have a Chilling Effect on Review Discussions?
5. Top Ten Signs you Are Reading Too Much Historical Romance
In my nomination email, I was also supposed to say something about how I contribute to social networking, reading challenges, and memes. I drew a big fat zero on that part of the application.
Voting closes on Saturday night. I think the other winners get either Neil Gaiman’s personal library, or a $20,000 gift certificate to Borders. The romance winner gets a backhoe and 30 minutes in her local WalMart.
Related posts:
- Monday Morning Stepback: Romanceland Kerfuffle Advisory System The weekly opinion and news post. 1. It was an eventful week in Romanceland last week, and with the Book...
- Top 10 Romance Blog Mysteries Can you help a newbie with some of these blogger mysteries? 10. Whatever happened to Paperbackreader.net? One day it was...
- New Blog Address and Email The URL for this blog is no longer http://racyromancereviews.wordpress.com You’ll now be redirected to the simpler: http://racyromancereviews.com or www.racyromancereviews.com Even...
- Who in RL Knows About Your Blog? I haven’t told anyone in real life besides my spouse and my mom about this blog. But I also haven’t...
- Do You Blog For Yourself or Your Readers? Lately I’ve been hesitating about posting on certain topics that are already under discussion on other blogs. I’ve been wondering...
- FYI: I’m tinkering with this blog You may have noticed that things look a bit different. I got annoyed with the limitations of WordPress.com and decided...
#1 by Janine on September 8, 2009 - 3:13 pm
Congratulations, Jessica! I don’t read enough blogs to say which are the best in all of romancelandia, but Racy Romance Reviews is certainly one of my personal favorites.
#2 by Amy @ My Friend Amy on September 8, 2009 - 4:45 pm
Well if we had just romance bloggers or even romance authors judge there would still be cries of corruption, favortism, etc.
#3 by Jessica on September 8, 2009 - 4:49 pm
Amy, yes, I know there would. And I do understand why you all made that choice.
I guess I’m more trusting of my fellow romance bloggers than others may be. I trust their judgment and I trust their integrity.
#4 by Amy @ My Friend Amy on September 8, 2009 - 5:10 pm
@ Jessica: That is truly a nice thing to hear.
#5 by Janet W on September 8, 2009 - 5:10 pm
Oh LOL … $20, 000 gift certificate to Borders? Really truly? Boy oh boy, I’d never have to rely on free shipping on orders over $25 if I had that. Even my dh has caught on to that little trick when I offer to order something or t’other!
I think romance bloggers/romance judges would make awesome judges: they all certainly read enough of these blogs.
#6 by Ann Somerville on September 8, 2009 - 5:54 pm
I was flattered our review blog was nominated, but not surprised it wasn’t shortlisted. However, when I saw a blog shortlisted whose owner blatantly admitted to never writing negative reviews because it would stop publishers sending ARCS, and who had chastised one of her reviewers because publishers didn’t like her review style, I felt very cynical and depressed about the entire exercise. I don’t know why this blog was chosen when much better known ones were not (perhaps they withdrew or didn’t bother, though I think that’s unlikely) but I believe its presence in that category completely devalues the competition.
Unfortunately, this is the problem with such contests. Never seen one yet that didn’t generate wank and hurt feelings.
So, dear, though I believe you really do have a splendid, enjoyable and useful blog, I won’t be voting for it or any other. I just don’t want to be part of this operation any further.
#7 by Jessica on September 8, 2009 - 6:02 pm
@ Janet W:
sorry Janet, I can’t tell if you are kidding! So I’d better be serious: there is NO prize, beyond ego strokes and public recognition.
Ann Somerville wrote:
I totally understand, Ann. I think there will be a lot of discussion and perhaps changes in the coming year. The awards are a good idea whose time has come. The question is how to do it to minimize these kinds of problems.
#8 by katiebabs on September 8, 2009 - 7:11 pm
Ohh Neil Gaiman’s library! Gimme! Can I have his comfy brown chair when I win.
Jessica, I am so thrilled to have you and the other ladies nominated for Best Romance Blog in this category with me.
Yes, I will win!! BUWAHAHA. *pushes Jessica to the ground*
#9 by Jessica on September 8, 2009 - 7:48 pm
Gasp!!! You are so banned from this blog until midnight Saturday. I am going to make a wanted poster with a certain redhead and her filthy minded woolly sidekick so everyone knows who to be on the lookout for!
#10 by katiebabs on September 8, 2009 - 7:52 pm
@ Jessica:
Bring it on Professor! My sheep has the power of persuasion and being adorable.
We will crush you. *cue Rocky theme music*
#11 by Sybil on September 8, 2009 - 8:12 pm
@ Ann Somerville:
You should have helped out and been one of the judges… looks like most of them made it many times… at least the few I knew ‘worked’ on it
I was rather surprised to see Amy nominated. But I really didn’t pay any attention last year so maybe she allowed to be nom’ed last year too? I still can’t see the whole thing more than a meme.
Good luck Jessica, regardless you have a fabu blog
#12 by Kaetrin on September 8, 2009 - 8:16 pm
Life’s too short to take everything too seriously. I understand that some bloggers feel their blogs are more “professional” and want to be treated seriously etc and therefore conscientiously object to the awards in some manner – I’m not even disagreeing with that, but for me, personally, it’s all a bit of a storm in a teacup. My care factor is pretty low.
However and In any event:-
Congratulations on the BBAW nomination Jessica – I visit your blog every day so I obviously thinks it’s great. Like you, I get excited when I find $1 on the ground, so as long as it’s not a nomination for “axe murderer of the year” it’s probably a WIN!
#13 by Heloise on September 8, 2009 - 8:19 pm
At the risk of sounding petty I have to whine to someone that I responded to the strange (discussed earlier) comment from one of the BBAW minions on my blog and never heard anything further. So I give you yet another option, 1)removed themselves from running 2)never bothered to respond 3)their nomination got sucked into the emptiness of existential cyber nothingness. Boo Hoo.
#14 by Amy @ My Friend Amy on September 8, 2009 - 8:26 pm
@ Heloise: You don’t sound petty you most likely responded to me and your email may have gotten drowned in the mass amount of email I was dealing with in those days. We did grab the five most recent posts of any blog that didn’t respond (and in some cases those posts were quite excellent) to try to account for emails getting lost which seemed to be happening an awful lot.
We had a really really tight schedule this year and hopefully that won’t be repeated!
#15 by willaful on September 8, 2009 - 8:31 pm
Well, not to be kissing your ass or anything — and why the hell would I? — but this actually is my favorite romance blog and if I can figure out how the hell to vote, I will do so.
#16 by Keishon on September 8, 2009 - 8:43 pm
I envy you the fact that you can come up with some decent content. Me, I’m more for poll gatherings and data collection(s). Too lazy for anything complex or worthwhile which is why I try to stick to discussing the books that I read. But I commented to say that I really do enjoy your blog because of the myriad topics of discussion and your wicked sense of humor. Glad you’re back on Twitter, too.
But anyway, keep on rocking on.
#17 by Heloise on September 8, 2009 - 9:09 pm
@ Amy @ My Friend Amy:
Oh now I feel really bad! You actually gathered people you didn’t hear from, you are a good person Amy!
#18 by AnimeJune on September 8, 2009 - 10:36 pm
*shoves Katiebabs off of a building* NO! I WILL WIN! ANIMEJUNE SMASH!
Either way, it’s such an honour to nominated with awesome blogger such as Marg, Katiebabs, the Binge Girls, and Jessica. I love your blog, even though I don’t comment as frequently as I should.
#19 by Violet on September 9, 2009 - 12:29 am
I LOVE your blog, you not only give romance books reveiws but also discuss many things related to the Romance world. I’m tempted to vote for you without even looking at the other nominees but that wouldn’t be fair, would it? Rest assured, you have an awesome blog
#20 by Ana on September 9, 2009 - 12:56 am
I have to echo what everybody has said already: I do consider yours one of the best romance blogs out there.
The Smart Bitches withdrew?????? but they made the final shortlist! I know that because we are running against them for Funniest Blog <<<<<<<*insert hysterical laughter*
#21 by Ana on September 9, 2009 - 1:01 am
Nevermind – they withdrew from the ROMANCE race. duh.
#22 by Tumperkin on September 9, 2009 - 3:06 am
In answer to your question, yes.
#23 by SarahT on September 9, 2009 - 3:46 am
Well done, Jessica! Also glad to have you back on Twitter.
#24 by Jessica on September 9, 2009 - 6:56 am
AnimeJune wrote:
Too late. Katiebabs and I are sparring just for show. In fact, we have formed an alliance to kick you off Shortlist Island. She’s promised to give me 1/4 of her Walmart book haul if she wins. Muahhhhhhhhh!!!
#25 by Kari on September 9, 2009 - 8:49 am
Ha, Walmart. Maybe you can go hang out with these people.
#26 by Sherry Thomas on September 9, 2009 - 9:59 am
Congratulations!
And I so totally agree with that review of NQAH. Moral repair. I swoon every time I think of it.
#27 by Janet W on September 9, 2009 - 10:11 am
Reluctant as I am to disagree with your personal self-assessment, I think you do a lot for social networking — how? By all your great links, on the side bar and within your blogs. I’ve discovered a lot of new blogs since starting to read you.
#28 by katiebabs on September 9, 2009 - 11:42 am
Psst AJ: Maybe we can for an alliance and take out Jessica.
#29 by Jessica on September 9, 2009 - 12:46 pm
Sherry Thomas wrote:
Alas, I did not make it up. It’s subfield in narrative ethics. You’ve given me an idea to do a post on it!
#30 by Sherry Thomas on September 10, 2009 - 12:59 pm
Wow. Not only have I never heard of moral repair as a subfield, I think it might be the first time I come across the term “narrative ethics” too.
I feel woefully undereducated. Please, yes, go ahead and let’s have one of your lucid and erudite posts.
#31 by Belle on September 11, 2009 - 9:59 pm
I don’t read very many romance novels, but your blog is in my Must Reads folder in my feedreader. Your posts are irresistible, always guaranteed to make me smile, laugh or think (and often all three). Congratulations on being shortlisted! Very well-deserved.
So, how do I get in the running for Neil Gaiman’s personal library …?
#32 by Wanderer on September 13, 2009 - 4:19 pm
OMG you were chosen? I HATE your blog! You make me think too much LOL
Congrats and great job! I agree with Belle, above. You make us smile, laugh or think (really, really hard).
In fact, I feel your blog should be renamed to something like “Reviews and Commentary by one Super Smart Lady.”
There are other blogs that have similar tones except I find some of them to be a little too judgemental, my-way-or-the-highway, for my tastes. Your blog feels more conversational. Like, “Here’s my point of view and why, what’s yours?”
Good luck with the awards!
#33 by Jessica on September 13, 2009 - 4:34 pm
Wanderer wrote:
That is totally my favorite comment right there. LOL.