Happy Third Anniversary!
You should start a blog of children’s book reviews. You’re always reading children’s books anyway. You might as well review them.
Inspired by those words spoken by my husband, this introverted resource teacher and aspiring novelist launched a blog. Allison’s Book Bag started with an average of ten hits per day and about three hundred hits per month. From there, it climbed to an average of fifty hits per day and about fifteen hundred hits per month. This past fall, it fell just short of two thousand hits.
My blog also started with the modest goal of reviewing books recommended by my students. About eight months in, I interviewed my first author, loved the contact, and began more serious promotion of authors. From there, I worked on increasing connections with authors and publishers. I continue to receive many complimentary emails.
By my second year, I was also sometimes having to dedicate entire months to requests which I had accepted. Not wanting to lose sight of my original goal of reviewing books for fun, I tried to find balance by squeezing in Quick Takes and setting aside time for Round-Ups. Midway through my second year my husband pointed out that, despite my steady growth in hits, I was receiving minimal comments. This led to my participation in Memes.
So what’s next for Allison’s Book Bag?
- I have already implemented a review rotation schedule. This allows me to accept the best requests for reviews, but also to review classics, popular books among my students, international books, and even bestsellers.
- Just as importantly, I hope to continue with my participation in Memes, something which has left me with less energy for reviews but has also proved more enjoyable than I expected. It’s been fun getting to know other bloggers and to write about more than just the strengths and weaknesses of my latest read.
- Inspired by my recent reads of picture books, however, I do plan to make one change. Instead of posting Quick Takes on Mondays, I intend to review picture books and maybe other short stuff like collections of poems or essays.
To celebrate my blog’s anniversary, I’m dedicating this month to reviews of four editions (2008-2011) of The Best Teen Writing by The Alliance of Young Artists and Writers. As normal about this time of year, I’ll also cut back on my posts during the months of June and July. Expect to see only my Memes and a weekly review. This will allow me to focus on summer courses and of course vacation time.
Thanks to everyone who reads my posts. Also I greatly appreciate all the kind words from fellow Meme participants during my time of grief (job loss, miscarriage, death of pet) this spring. I love this online community of readers!
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Allison's Book Bag 
July 21, 2013 at 8:43 pm
That’s a great idea! Allison, thanks again for the Liebster Award; I’ve finally got my responses up on my blog. Wooh! A ton of work, right, but it was a lot of fun doing it! Congrats on your two years.