Tuesday, 18 January 2011

My Blogging Questions. Help?

Reading Vs Studying?
I've been blogging for about half a year now (wow!), and there's been a lot of things that I have simultaneously learnt and noticed, but am confused about. So I'd like to appeal to all of you for some advice and opinions, because many of you are a lot more experienced than I am.

  1. I 've been getting a lot of emails from online companies asking me to advertise their non-book-related products, offering to send me non-book items to review, or offering to give my readers a discount. I started this blog to talk about books, to review books because I genuinely love reading. I didn't start it to make any money from it, and it takes up way too much of my time for any money to be a compensation anyway.
    But I've been wanting to create a web domain for a while now, and I also want to host contests and giveaways...but my parents are strict about me spending my money. Buying books is already a huge concession, and it's not like I work yet, so I can't buy my own things. So I'd pretty much be using their money for my blog, and I feel guilty about that. I'd love to be able to get some money from my blog for my blog, but I don't want to be seen as cheap or sold out. But then again, I don't really mind ads, as long as they're not too intrusive.
    What are your opinions on putting ads on blogs?
  2. I'm going back to school in about two weeks, and this means that I have to cut down on my time blogging. Again, my parents are strict about this, and they are adamant about the fact that I prioritise schoolwork over reviewing books, and I agree. But I really do love blogging, and I'm kinda behind on reviewing the books that I've read, mainly because my reviews take me hours to write. I like to write longer reviews because I have a lot of things to say about books, but the problem with that is it means I don't have enough time to review all the books that I read.
    So my questions are:
    How many books do you review per week?
    How long are your reviews?
    Do you mind reading short reviews?
    Should I write shorter reviews for more books, or longer review for less books?

  3. Quality posts.
    I'm hesistant about this topic, but I find that most posts that I enjoy reading from other bloggers are reviews, and rant posts, or posts focusing on issues associated with blogging, like LitLife's recent online vs bookstore series and people's top ten lists. I'd like to post more quality posts other than reviews and memes. So this is kind of a survey question:
    What non-review posts do you enjoy reading? (tutorials, lists, debates...etc)
That's all that I can think of for now. I'd really love any opinions anyone might have, because your opinions are very important to me.

Many thanks,
A Very Confused Tina

Comments (16)

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1. I don't mind ads on blogs, as long as they're not too intrusive (pop-ups will turn me right off, but a relevant ad embedded in the page somewhere is okay). I've got a few ads on my page, but they're really not a source of revenue (unless I haven't figured out the secret yet); I've made less than $2 even though I've had ads on my site for months.

2. I do a review when I finish a book. Sometimes I'll finish two in one week. Sometimes there are a couple of weeks between reviews. I don't mind short reviews if they tell me everything I need to know to make a decision about whether or not I'd want to read the book. Most of my reviews are fairly short; I can write them in a few minutes. I have written longer reviews in the past, but I don't know if it's really worth it; I don't know how much of the review people actually read and how much they just go by the star rating.

3. I like rant posts (as long as they have something to do with books, of course), and lists (like top-ten lists) are fun to read when you don't have a lot of time.
1. I think this is perfectly fine as long as they aren't overwhelming.
2. The amount of books I review varies, sometimes 0 and sometimes 5. I usually set my reviews to when they are posted though and this helps me stay ahead because I too have a busy school life. Short or long reviews are fine too, sometimes I am lazy and write/read short reviews, while other times I like long reviews. It honestly does not matter to me, you can get a quality review in a couple of paragraphs.
3. Rant posts are great! I just started a "meme" for them. I also like lists.

You should do what you want to do with your blog, because it is your blog. If you see another blog that you particularly enjoy reading that does a list or meme, or something of that sort than by all means go ahead and do it! If you enjoy it then I'm sure there are other readers and bloggers out there who do to.
Okay ~ love this post and here's just my opinion :)

I'm not bothered it you want to put ads on your blog although I don;t know how effective it is? I never have clicked on any advertising on a blog...

I am random with my blog. I will review any review books, apart from that when i love a book I usually pump out a (semi-gushing) review. Review take me longer to review b/c I don;t always love them and spend some time constructing a fair look at it.

I sometimes go a few weeks without reviewing books :) My theory is the blog is for me to have fun with and not meant to be a burden or something I should have to maintain. I am a fan of people taking blogging breaks and not having to feel they have to update all the the time. I didn;t post once for over a fortnight and nothing bad happened :) it was all just waiting for me when I came back.

short reviews are fine (but if you've been given a book for review I think ppl should put in the time to give it a worthwhile review). I often put up 4 or 5 mini reviews in one post to save time and give a shout out to books i've recently read. there's no way i can review every book i read.

i say short reviews of more books :)

mostly ~ just have fun with your blog!
hi -

1. i turned down a lot of offers for ads because its not related to my book/movies blog. BUT it's really okay if you want ito post an ad or two. though like what Nomes said, I dont click on ads...

2. How many books do you review per week? 1-3 (i have a full time job soooo i dont really have much time but i try.)

How long are your reviews? depends on the book, 1 - 2 paragraphs but if I liked/hated the book, well longer than 2 para. BUT i really try to limit my review because i usually don't enjoy reading too much because there might be spoilers posted in the review. and i agree, sometimes its taking me a whole day to write draft, review, finalize my book review.

Do you mind reading short reviews? yup yup
Should I write shorter reviews for more books, or longer review for less books? hmm i cant decide.

.3. non - review : rants, news about book releases or movies, about authors. . . .
i don't mind ads on blogs, i mainly don't notice them. it's really up to you. some people get free books from publishers who want their books reviewed. you could try emailing publishers and telling them about you blog and see if you get a response.

i only review australian books that i read. this mainly works well because it means i don't feel the need to review all the books i read, which at the moment is one every day or second day because i'm on holidays. the problem with this is that when i'm busy and reading less i sometimes don't do a review for a while. you could one book a week to review. and you could do other posts in between about new books coming out, booky websites you've found. you could even email writers and ask them if they wouldn't mind you interviewing them and publishing it on your blog. we did that with jaclyn moriarty and it was great.

a think having a few shorter reviews is better than one long one. maybe you could try using dot points? they take less time.

whatever you decide your blog is for you to enjoy. if upi enjoy writing it, we'll love reading it.

i hope that was some help. :D
1. I don't mind a few unobtrusive ads for relevant products. For instance, an Amazon ad wouldn't bother me at all, but an ad for something non-book related might. I don't know how good it is, but you might be interested in becoming an Amazon affiliate if you aren't already.

2. I try to post three book reviews and one cover review per week. My reviews are pretty long (I'm not sure if this is a turn off!), but I tend to overwrite. I was always the annoying kid asking my teachers if I could write more than the page limit on essays. Life allows me to keep up this pace right now, but that may change down the road.

I post every day, but I actually appreciate it when bloggers don't post all the time. My google reader is huge. If everyone posted a quality post every day I'd be beyond swamped. Never feel guilty about spacing out your posts! I am thankful! On that note, I would prefer fewer but longer reviews over shorter but more frequent reviews. Oftentimes short reviews just don't give me all of the information I'm looking for.

3. I like discussion posts, as long as they're kept friendly. I also like lists and cover reviews. As an alternative to a longer review, I like it when bloggers make bullet points about the pros and cons of the book.

Hope that helps! Best wishes with returning to school :)
Here are my thoughts on the questions. :)
-What are your opinions on putting ads on blogs?
I think as long as the ad isn't overdoing it then it's fine, and completely up to you. Like the others said I'm not sure how well they work, but you never know unless you try. :)
-How many books do you review per week?
I write the reviews to be fun and help people (now whether either of those hold true I don't know). I don't write them religiously, I tend to be sporatic. Once I finish a book I try and review it within a few days.
-How long are your reviews?
Hum I try to make them evenly,.Some books are so easy to review and explain why you do or don't like them others (for me anyways) is hard to put into words so those usually get a short review.
-What non-review posts do you enjoy reading? (tutorials, lists, debates...etc)
I love reading all sorts of posts like the IMMs, the follow friday/blog hop questions, random rants(I'm very good at writing those), or any of the memes.
Well now that I answered them all. I hope it was somewhat useful for you. Remember just have fun.
I'm a new-ish blogger, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt. :)
1. Ads. I don't mind them, but usually don't click on the, either. If you want to give them a try, go for it. I'm assuming it's something you can opt out of if you decide it's not working for you.
2. Reviews: I'm currently running 2-3 reviews a week on my blog, but only because I had some time recently to write up a bunch of books and scheduled them. My reviews tend to be on the shorter side, as I'm always afraid of giving away too much of the story with a longer review. I also enjoy reading shorter reviews for the same reason. I don't think the size of your review, or how frequently you post, matters as much as the quality of what you're saying.
3. Quality posts: I do mostly reviews on my blog, with occasional posts on book news and the 2 memes I regularly participate in. I love reading other bloggers' rants, lists, etc, and discussions are, too (like this one--it's great!).

Good luck heading back to school!
I'm not sure if you're asking out of curiosity or trying to gauge how other bloggers will react to possible changes. I know I'm not really answering your questions, but honestly, do what you want on your blog because you'll find that you can't please everyone else. There are going to be those bloggers who hate the ads and some who don't mind them. Your blog is yours to do with it however you want.
I personally don't like ads on blogs, I certainly won't have any on mine; my blog is about books, not beauty products or cheap holidays, but that's just my opinion!
And I love your reviews, they are very wonderful!
Ads don't bother me I usually ignore them anyway :) However, I don't have any on my blog because I think they distract from the looks of the blog and I like pretty blogs.

I try to do 1-2 reviews a week and I do a few meme's a week because I love them. I like doing them and I like reading them on other's blogs.

I write and like shorter reviews because they are less likely to contain spoilers. I hate spoilers!!!!
I usually look at the number rating and decide from there whether or not to spend the time to read a long review. I follow a lot of blogs so usually I only have time to read the shorter reviews. Main thing though is this is your blog and you should run it the way you want too. Have fun! That's what it's all about.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
I've replied to everyone's comments on their blogs, but I'll reply to yours here and hope that you'll see it someday?
Thank you for giving me your thoughts! I try to keep spoilers out of my reviews too, but you're right, I tend to avoid long ones because of them. That's exactly how I feel too, so from now on, I'll write shorter, easier-to-read reviews that are to the best of my ability. I'll then be able to write more and it will be easier on readers too.

Thank you, Shari!
Tami Jackson's avatar

Tami Jackson · 726 weeks ago

Great blog. I understand your question about ads ... always worried that adding such would make my blog look cheesy. I carry ads under postings that I make from an intuitive reader blog but that's about it. Interestingly, what gets advertised there is posted by other psychics trying to gather up my readers for their own business. Because I didn't know who any of those advertisers were, I felt as though I needed to put a disclaimer at the bottom of each posting (reminding my readers that I don't know the advertisers so cannot really endorse their credibility). That was sort of a pain.

*Followed you today. Excellent blog you have set up here.

~ Tami Jackson http://VampireReview.blogspot.com
1. Ads on blogs
Well, this is just my opinion, of course, but I have to admit... I HATE ads on blogs. I do! Generally, if there are ads on a blog, I won't read it. The one exception that I can think of, where big advertisements are done really well, is the design blog, Better After, where she does a "sponsored" post once a week, featuring a company or product (they pay her for the review and recommendation)

I guess I don't mind the amazon book links with a sentence or two like, "Clicking on this link profits my blog" Although, I've heard amazon pays... pennies, if that, so I don't feel it's worth it. Seriously, you think I'm going to clutter up my blog with ads for 3¢ a month? No way. If it paid... $50, or even $25 a month, that might be worth selling out for. But, I can't be bought for a mere 3¢, no way.

I dislike sidebar ads tremendously, because they often aren't relevant to the content (even when they purport to be) and they flash and jiggle, or sometimes contain disturbing images (anything to get your attention, I guess)
And pop-up ads are RIGHT OUT, obviously.

I get a lot of e-mails asking me to review some product or other on my blog - and a lot of them are really random. Vacuum cleaners? Hair loss prevention for men? Wha? I'm a kids and teen book blogger, why on earth would I review those kind of things? I used to send thoughtful replies explaining why I wouldn't review the item, but now, I just delete them.

I've always been rather adamant about not losing money on my blog. Blogging can turn into a very expensive hobby, if you let it. Domain hosting, hiring professional web designers, postage for giveaways, conferences, workshops, etc. etc.
I got my own domain about a year ago. It was shockingly cheap, like ten bucks a year! And totally worth it, as it makes my blog name short and easy to remember: madiganreads.com
I used godaddy.com, but there are plenty of other cheap web domain companies.

I draw the line at paying for postage which is why I don't do giveaways or contests even though I dearly wish I could share some of my ARCs with fellow reviewers. And I hear hosting giveaways will result in hundreds of greedy followers, clamoring, "pick me, pick me!" I donate them to my local library (where they use them for summer reading giveaways, since they can't be sold)

2. Review length.

I think a good review is 250 to 750 words. If it's shorter than 250 words, then really, why bother?
But I have read many picture book reviews which are actually longer than the book that they are about, which I think is absurd.
I just switched from blogging 3x a week, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, to blogging everyday, so I'm still not sure how many books I'll review each week. Luckily, I have a huge back-log of things to review, still, and I do write reviews for shorter books for kids, which don't take much time to read.

3. Quality posts.

I think you can do all sorts of non-review posts, as long as you mix it up.
I love to do list posts. Or the occasional book trailer post (really, a repost, since I don't make them, I just feature ones that caught my eye that week)
Cover critiques. -why you liked or didn't like a certain book cover. It's best to pick something that is either deliriously wonderful, or so horrible that it's awesome for these.
And I enjoy reading tutorial or debate posts, although I don't often do those on my own blog.

Hope that helps!
And congratulations on your upcoming year-aversary!
I don't just do reviews, my blog is a mixture of different things so can't answer your review questions. I don't like loads of ads, but use Amazon widgets on mine so that if someone likes a book they can click on over to Amazon. I also have widgets for my own books. I actually prefer shorter reviews unless the book warrants more explanation. I keep mine pretty short but as I said my blog isn't specifically a book review blog.
Pretty amazing that you've accumulated so many followers in a short time.
Ann
Thank you to everyone for your comments! They are so valuable, and I'm slowly making my way through all your blogs to leave a comment.

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