Two Year Blogoversary Musings

Hard to believe that as of the 11th I've been blogging for over two years! A big thank you to everyone who reads this blog and everyone who has commented and encouraged me. I couldn't have maintained this without you. Seriously.

It's been a fun journey discovering great book bloggers, new authors, participating in cover reveals and of course reading lots of fun books. I've also experienced reading slumps and periods when I really don't want to write. But that's fine, there are more important things than posting a book review every week. So here are some thoughts about the future, reflections, and nine of the most viewed posts.

Thoughts for the future:
I think for the most part I'll continue as I've been doing. Though a semi regular series I'd like to start this year would be posts dedicated to an entire series and also a "links" post. I really enjoy Trevin Wax's Worth A Look posts and am a faithful reader of World Magazine's daily posts linking to interesting stuff around the world. There's so much out there that a lot gets over looked or lost amidst all the new content online. What do you think? Would you enjoy a weekly post (possibly on Thursdays or Fridays) with links to articles/news/videos/other things that I found interesting?

Six things I've learned about book blogging:
1. Affiliate links really don't get you any money. Don't go into book blogging hoping to earn more than pennies. It's great for free books though.

2. Comments are very encouraging. Especially if an author comments on your review of their book, always excited when that happens unexpectedly.  And commenting on other blogs is the best way to introduce yourself to other bloggers. Plus it encourages them.

3. Authors are real people too. I think as a kid I thought authors were older people who scribbled away with ink stained hands (think Jo March from Little Women, except she wasn't old). Nope, not true. They're quite young often, very approachable and these days there are so many opportunities to get to know them. Google their name and find out if they have a blog or are on Facebook or Pinterest. You can find some interesting extra tidbits about their work usually.

4. NetGalley is a great place to get ebook ARCs. I also really enjoyed WaterbrookMultnomah's Blogging for Books program until I requested a book I wasn't totally interested in and still haven't gotten back to writing that review...(wrinkles nose in shame and looks sheepish). The Goodreads group Christian Fiction Devourers has a great support group for that program.

5. Speaking of Goodreads. It is the place to go to snag a book cover, publishing details and a summary. Plus it's a great way to keep track of what you've read, in what order books fall in a series, and not forgetting books you'd like to read someday.

6. Include images in your blog posts. Makes it more interesting and sometimes the image will bring you visitors from Google.

Random Statistics (kinda):
As of Jan 18th according to my Blogger statistics and quick scan of 234 posts & drafts...
...my three most popular posts are:
 - The Fairy Tale Givaway and Author Interview (from 4/25/12) View count: 867
 - Footprints Prayer (from 6/12/12) View count: 674
 - Faith Like Potatoes (from 5/28/12) View count: 479

...the most popular book reviews are:
 - Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat (from 6/18/12) View count: 322
 - Ranger's Apprentice Series books 1-3 (from 1/17/13) View count: 237
 - Veiled Rose by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (from 1/16/12) View count: 107

...the meme that draws the most views is hands down Top Ten Tuesdays:
 - Rewind [Favorite Book Settings] (from 6/5/12) View count: 428
 - Best/Worst Last Books in a Series (from 10/8/13) View count: 148
 - Fictional BFFs (from 7/11/12) View count: 148