Changing directions (Ireland 2011)
It’s time for my annual anniversary post. The big change this year was my new blog layout, introduced in September 2010. I’m still very happy with it. I recently realized how nice it is to have exactly what I want, when I tried to revitalize my work-related blog with a new Word Press theme and found absolutely nothing I liked.
I’m sorry to say that the other big changes were not additive, but, er, subtractive. I blogged less, 146 posts, compared to an average of 200 a year the first two years, with some fairly long stretches of radio silence. I also discontinued the Monday Morning Stepback, a weekly links and opinion post, because (1) preparing it took too much time (at one point I had over 300 feeds in my Google reader), (2) other bloggers often ended up posting the same links a day or so later anyway, and (3) I came to dread the potential for tension and upset it seemed to generate on occasion. I planned to attend both IASPR and RWA in New York, but family needs kept me away. I tried a couple of new things, neither of which I stuck with: (a) a Behind the Lines feature where I interviewed authors about a passage in a book (I actually really liked both of those posts), (b) and writing for Heroes and Heartbreakers (a site I think is a great addition to the blogsphere). So far in 2011, I have also commented on, and read less of, other blogs (I only have about a dozen romance blogs in my reader right now, and visit other blogs if the tweets look interesting), something about which I feel slightly guilty.
Noticing that comments were down, and seeing other bloggers note the same thing, in December I asked: Can Blogging Survive the Twitter and Tumblr Assault?, and funnily enough, got 49 comments. Commenting bounced back up (total of 9916), and I now realize the comment thing is cyclical. Comments are still my favorite part of blogging, and they continue to provide most of the value of this blog. The ongoing discussion of Loretta Chase’s The Last Hellion (where I am, as per usual, getting argued into submission) is just the latest example.
I still love Twitter, maybe too much. I’ve posted about 12,000 tweets, and while it doesn’t seem like much when I compare it to the folks I follow who have 30,000+, it seems grossly talky to everyone in my real life. I consider deleting my account frequently, but one of the reasons I don’t is this: I honestly doubt you can have a blog and not tweet. When I think about where my readers come from, and how a post like the one I did on Susan Quillium: An Expert in What, Exactly? gets its thousands of hits, Twitter is always a significant part of the mix. I have about 650 subscribers (up from 550 a year ago), but 1090 Twitter followers. When I Tweet a new post, I am potentially reaching more people than when it gets sent to emails and feed readers, and they can pass it along much easier with an RT than feedreaders can. But maybe I’m wrong, and if you think so, please speak up, because I am looking for reasons to talk myself out of this line of thinking.
As far as stats go, looking back at my blogversary post of a year ago, I’m the same in daily visitors (300) and page views a day (500), which pleases me, given that my post output has diminished by 25%. I had remarked on this numbers plateau in an April post. Total visitors are 284,515 and total page views are 477,152. I had my best day ever in April, with 1300 pageviews in a 24 hour period. Naturally, it was due to drama. My home page is by far my most clicked page, but the top post remains, as ever, The Top 9 Most Romantic Love Scenes in Romance, with 30,900 views.
For the year, my post on Top 10 Signs You are Reading Too Much Paranormal Romance was a huge hit. I can add it to Top 11 Signs You Need to Lay off the Highlands Romance and Top Ten Signs You are Reading too much Historical Romance as perennial hit getters.
One widely discussed post was a guest post on Net Galley by Sonomalass. After the Home Page and Top Ten posts, oh, and a 2009 post on polyamory and menage that I am sure disappoints 99.9999% of the horny people who land on it, it’s the most read post of 2011, and I believe it stimulated a tremendous amount of discussion, including the participation of the Net Galley front man. I did participate in Net Galley about 4 times this year, and although I never like feeling that writing a review is a duty, I have appreciated the ability to get ARCs and try a few things I would not have otherwise. It’s a tradeoff I will continue to make.
Another very popular post was from Sept 2010, We’re All Mean Girls Now, in which I argue that snark in reviews is now just another tool of the trade, and no longer, if it ever was, a meaningful way to distinguish reviewers or review sites. I didn’t write many snarky reviews (I had good luck in my reading choices!) but of the three or so I wrote in the last year, my review of Catherine Coulter’s Midsummer Magic is probably the most amusing.
I experimented by getting Facebook, Tumblr, and Goodreads accounts, and I actually do think all of those, like Twitter, are parts of the repertoire of a blogger who is serious about increasing her reach, because they provide more ways for readers to locate and share content. Alas, I must not be that serious about increasing blogging reach, because I nuked all of them without regret. I also experimented with writing a couple of reviews on Amazon, also not something I plan to do much of, if the drubbing I took from a few of one author’s buddies is any indication of what an honest review gets you around there.
I was very pleased to have wonderful guest posts from Jill Sorenson on sexuality and same sex romance, Janet Webb and Keira Soleore on academic credentials and writing romance, and a co-review of a problematic Harlequin Presents with Tumperkin.
I wrote a couple of film reviews, and the Labyrinth post is incredibly popular, although I am most proud of the Groundhog Day post.
As far as academics goes, I vented my spleen on a poorly contructed and researched article, going so far as to badger the journal editor for a retraction or to allow me -or someone actually qualified, ideally – to write a short rebuttal (she declined). But on the plus side, I cajoled a colleague in the English department to read Judith Ivory’s The Proposition, and to present a paper with me for our Women’s Studies Luncheon series on campus. She and I are taking our show in the road as we present at the Pam Regis hosted (and Nora Roberts Foundation sponsored) conference at McDaniel College in November. Not wholly romance related, but I also gave a paper at the national bioethics conference on vampires which was well received. I was also pleased to serve as a referee for the IASPR conference submissions and for several JPRS papers. I also wrote an article on The Hunger Games which is forthcoming in The Hunger Games and Philosophy.
As ever, it is my greatest professional challenge (some might say abject failure) to turn conference papers into published ones. At least I now have a very clear idea of the three article-length projects I want to pursue when it comes to romance, but I fear they may have to wait until my next sabbatical in a couple of years.
Overall, it was another great year blogging, despite the motivational and time challenges I faced actually doing it. Looking ahead, I am making some changes. You may have noticed that I got rid of my tagline, “Rethinking romance and other fine fiction”, and the links on the right sidebar. This is because a major change in my reading in 2011 has been that romance makes up a much smaller percentage of what I read. I love romance, and I will always love romance, and I plan to keep reading a lot of romance, and blogging about it. But, like most romance readers, I read a lot of other stuff, and I’d like to be able to blog about that, too. I realize that moving from a niche blog with an established place in an active reading community (aka “Romanceland”) to a generic “books blog” is not going to please everyone, and may alienate romance readers, but if I can’t blog about what I am into, then why bother? Luckily, there are loads of wonderful romance blogs — too many, really — to fill any gap this change might create. I hope to do a links page with annotated links for romance blogs, and other kinds of reader blogs, in the near future.
Wow, this was much longer than I expected. Thanks for sticking with my long reminiscence of Blogging Year 3, and thanks for reading this blog. I really really appreciate it.
Related posts:
I am so glad you have stuck to Twitter, because like you, I’ve got way too many blog feeds, so I don’t end up clicking through for new content, but I do when a tweet piques my interest. I like the approach you take here, and always have an enjoyable time visiting. I was in awe of your Monday Morning work, so I’m secretly schadenfreudeily relieved you’re stopping it, since I always felt guilty I wasn’t capable of doing something as thorough and well-done.
Cheers to you and three years of fun blogging!
Congratulations to you! I hope you keep on blogging for many years to come, Jessica.
Yeah, that. Some bloggers have gone the route of hosting separate blogs for their separarte interests – but for me that’s too much work. Also, it’s the added pressure of drumming up “content” for more blogs. I love mystery/suspense, but with my romance addiction, could I devote enough content/time to a mystery/suspense-centric blog? Uh, outlook not so good. So it all goes on my one blog, in one place. I figure if people aren’t interested in my latest lamenting about the Detroit Tigers or that suspense novel I just finished, they can skim or hit the “Mark As Read” button. Variety being the spice of life after all
I don’t “get” Tumblr and this makes me feel really dense. I’m guessing it’s just a longer format of micro-blogging? (which is sort of how I view Twitter, part micro-blogging part IM chat). It’s tempting, but since I don’t “get it” I’ve stayed far, far away. Like GoodReads, do I really need that much social networking in my life?
And what you said on Amazon reviews. My gut is telling me with the rise of more self-publishing it’s only going to get worse over there. Blah.
Happy anniversary and thanks for thinking out loud, in public. Always interesting.
Happy anniversary!
RRR is one the few reader/romance community blogs I continue to follow because I find the posts–both from you and occasional contributors–thoughtful and nuanced. Which reminds me–moar contributor posts!
Three years goes by so fast! I’m impressed you could keep up such a frequent posting pace for so long. 150 posts in a year is still a damn fine rate.
You should definitely post on what *you* want to think and talk about. You might lose some romance-centric readers, but you might gain new ones, so who knows what the bottom line will be? And either way, if you’re not blogging about the things you care about, it’s not going to work for you or the readers. This is still supposed to be fun.
Maybe you could have as your tag line “rethinking fine writing across genre boundaries” or something.
Missed this earlier but I completely disagree with this because you can blog and not tweet a thing to anybody. I have zero interest in promoting myself so maybe there lies the difference? I leave it to others to do it for me if readers are moved enough or if the content is good enough or whatever for which I am grateful. Many have been blogging even before Twitter was created so certainly you can do without it.
Well, I for one always thought of you as more than a romance blogger. Then again I think of most of the bloggers I read with any frequency as more than romance bloggers. So I guess that’s a whatever label works for most people.
I miss the Monday Stepback because of the conversations they provided. Although I was quite happy with the Friday Five. Maybe you’ll consider a similar type of posting every once in a blue moon with only one or two topics that strike your personal fancy.
If you ever decide to do a kickstarter project say to write a book on say Wonder Woman and popular culture (or any other topic you and your colleagues decide to tackle), please let me/us know.
I may not have a lot of money to spare but I’d kick in a few dollars to get something like that published. I know not the traditional route and you could probably just self-publish it yourselves. Still, I’d love to see and be a part of a community project like that to show that there is a market for it.
Actually I think it would mean more to me to be part of something of that nature than just to buy it from a bookstore. I know all about me. LOL
Congratulations on your anniversary. I look forward to the coming year and whatever topics you choose to blog about. You make me consider things from different avenues and push me to think and be clearer. I much appreciate that.
AQ
Congratulations on your 3rd anniversary! Mostly I lurk, but just wanted to say that although I really miss the Monday Morning Stepback and I do mostly follow romance-related blogs, I really enjoy the fact that you include other topics and types of books. I come here for the same reason I joined a book club, to pick up something I definitely would not choose on my own. You’ve introduced me to some interesting topics that made me go “what?”, and go hunting for more information. So keep inspiring me please!
Congrats Jessica!
Hey you!! Happy anniversary! I think it’s great you’re making these changes and aligning the blog more to your interests. Even if I’m personally reading almost entirely romance and SFF, it makes me feel connected to wider reading to dip into your posts about other books.
Hey, I came here from twitter. I think you’re right. If nothing else, at least post about your posts there. How long can that take? That was kind of a joke. Twitter. The ultimate slippery slope. Hey, congrats on getting the article in the Hunger Games book, too.
I appreciated the opportunity to post my NetGalley thoughts where they would attract wider feedback; it was a useful discussion in many ways. Thanks for hosting it.
You should definitely blog what you read, regardless of genre!
Congratulations on your 3 years! I am one of your daily visitors and always look forward to a new post. I would not mind at all if you expanded your reviews to other genres. Go for it!
Three years has flowed by so quickly. I am very glad I found your blog and that you have worked out what you need from blogging and how to keep it going on your terms because I enjoy reading your thoughts on anything and the added enjoyment of the conversation you and your readers generate and the sense of connection that comes from that.
Thanks for all of this.
My goodness, it’s been three years already! Congratulations! I’ve been reading (though mostly lurking) since the beginning and have very much enjoyed this blog in all its incarnations.
Romance is a teeny, tiny part of my total reading so your moving to a more broadly focused book blog is no problem for me. I like the posts here that highlight philosophy, ethics, and feminism and I hope to see more of those in future. I believe it’s very important for a blogger to be passionate about what they’re writing about and I’ve stopped reading blogs where I feel like the blogger is going through the motions just to churn out a certain number of posts per week or to satisfy reader expectations about what should be covered. Blogging should be fun! And it should enhance the intellectual life of both the blogger and her readers. I hope you’ll continue to write about whatever strikes your fancy.
@Megan: Thank you! and
see, this is why I love folks who visit!
@KB/KT Grant: Thanks Kate!
@Keishon: Thanks Keishon! Same to you.
@SuperWendy:
Exactly! But the Tigers! It’s a good season so far, the key words being “so far”…
@Pam Regis: Thanks Pam. Can’t wait for the conference!
@Evangeline:
Are you volunteering?
What do I do to get guest posts? Any suggestions? When people offer I always say yes, but not sure how to recruit.
@Sunita: Right, it IS supposed to be fun.
LOL. I am liking the bare look at the moment, but I like that one very much.
@Keishon:
I was semi-shocked you did not call m on this at first, knowing you have blogged without twitter, then with it, then without, so you would have an opinion!
I do want to promote this blog, to some extent, and I think Twitter is a great tool for that. But I am glad to hear that you are happy blogging without it.
@AQ:
Well, Wonder Woman is out of my league, but I have wanted to convince the folks at the pop culture and philosophy series to do one on romance. I plan to keep trying.
And thanks for your comments!
@RobinC: Thanks so much!
@Carolyn Crane:
See, that’s the thing. I am addicted! In the past, when I quit twitter, it was so pathetic, because I would just lurk anyway. So am probably stuck with it until they come out with some pill.
@SonomaLass: Thank you! And you are one of my inspirations for blogging when you want about what you want.
@pamelia: Thanks for the vote of confidence. So grateful for your comments.
@Merrian: thank you Merrian, and thank you for your comments here as well.
@Marie-Thérèse:
*clings* thank you! I am teaching Ethics and Fiction this fall, and plan to blog quite a bit about that.
@Jessica:
Wonder Woman was my placeholder because I was too lazy to search the archives for the strong females you mentioned in relation to the previous pop culture proposals. That and Super Wendy already had BatGirl. I was serious about Kickstarter though. If you ever feel like it’s just not going to happen through your preferred channels, I hope that you will consider reaching out to your community(ies) to make it happen rather than waiting for the pop culture gatekeepers to admit the ideas through the gate. (Okay, a long redundant sentence. LOL It stays in because internal editor is already working on the painting project and can’t be bothered.)
I think you should keep your Twitter account for my convenience, so I will see your blog posts instantly instead of when I check my blog feeds.
*ahem*
I’m late to the party (work was very busy yesterday), but want to add my congratulations. Your blog stretches my brain muscles frequently, and I’m grateful. Anything you want to talk about is fine with me, and it’s good for someone like me, who reads historical romance almost exclusively, to get slapped up the side of my head with new things.
Congratulations on year 3! And bah to anyone who thinks that you shouldn’t write about whatever you want to write about. It’s your blog, as they say, and I personally enjoy your nonromance posts as much as the romance ones.
(Also have to slightly disagree with the blog/twitter statement, but I think it just needs a clarification a la @Keishon above – I don’t tweet but then again I don’t anticipate making my blog anything more than it is. I think if a person is blogging and promoting themselves, twitter is probably quite useful at this point.)
Ah, Ethics and Fiction…I will be a keen lurker on those posts
Congratulations Jessica. I don’t often comment, mainly because by the time I get here it’s all pretty much been said. But I do enjoy reading your blog and look forward to more of your contributions to romance bloglandia.
@AQ: I’m afraid I’m not there yet, but maybe someday, and thanks for thinking we could pull it off.
@Victoria Janssen: lol!
@Karenmc: Glad to hear it. I love hist rom and completely understand why someone would find everything they sought in that subgenre.
@Kate: Thanks Kate! And yes, I agree with Keishon’s and your suggested qualification!
@Sophia (FV): I really appreciate it Sophia!
I found your blog when I just finished THATH, and needed some companionable thoughts about it… So I came for the romance, but stay for the wide range of mind candy you hand out here. (once in a while i even get ideas for my work! – outreach for a civil rights org, so it’s unexpected serendipity) Hooray and congrats, looking forward to whatever this evolves into.