The Good
First of all a huge thank-you to all those who follow my blog, either via Google Friends Connect, Email, Twitter, Facebook, Feed and other means and sites. It makes blogging a lot more worthwhile when you know someone is actively following your posts.
First of all a huge thank-you to all those who follow my blog, either via Google Friends Connect, Email, Twitter, Facebook, Feed and other means and sites. It makes blogging a lot more worthwhile when you know someone is actively following your posts.
Lets start with the good bits; what did I get right.
Predicting S J Watsons fabulous Before I Go To Sleep would be a smash hit. This was my Book of the Month in November 2011 and then won the accolade of Book of the Year of 2011. The book really broke the mainstream market in 2012. It was a massive success with talks of the book now being adapted to the silver screen. I for one, cannot wait!
Predicting S J Watsons fabulous Before I Go To Sleep would be a smash hit. This was my Book of the Month in November 2011 and then won the accolade of Book of the Year of 2011. The book really broke the mainstream market in 2012. It was a massive success with talks of the book now being adapted to the silver screen. I for one, cannot wait!
A number of books were identified as ones to watch and future hits in the Books of the Month features such as;
The blog has diversified and I'm now reviewing self-published books by indie authors. The self-published market is massive and I've posted numerous articles surrounding the topic. There is the saying 'everyone thinks they can write' and so I assumed that the majority of self-published works would be dreadful. Fortunately in the majority of cases they are really good. I have also expanded my reading to those of other formats. Audio books and e-books. As a result, I am now reading more works published independently; either as a debut novel or follow up.
Authors, editors, voice actors and publicists are noticing Verdict as a reputable source of independent, in-depth reviews. So far Verdict has been contacted by 25 authors, 1 publicist and 1 voice actor to review their associated novels. The feedback I've got mainly surrounds the amount of detail I go into in my reviews; this is partly why there is only 4-5 books reviewed per month as I don't just skim read, I full immerse myself in the novel out of respect to the author, book and my followers.
I've also hosted numerous interviews and guest posts. Such posts do not focus or revolve around the persons books. These are aimed at getting an insight into the literary world where normally you wouldn't get such information. Discussions on self-publishing, editing, from draft to print, writing techniques and processes and advertising are all common in the interviews. As such I try to develop more than one view point on the subjects; having opinions from both authors, editors, publicists and so on is crucial to learning more about the industry.
Verdict has also been nominated for and won two awards! It was a privilege to be nominated by fellow bloggers as it meant that I'm respected in my field. The awards have helped to validate my blog and reinforce what I do best; reviewing.
The Bad
My blog is a hobby and though it's something I love to do, I also have a full-time job plus an active social life to contend with. As a result, sometimes my blogging takes a back-seat; my time management skills have improved though! I also do not think I engage with fellow bloggers more and this is something I hope to rectify over the coming year. Likewise my Tweeting is very poor.
...and The Ugly
When I first designed my blog, it was using the standard blogger templates and styles. I didn't really give it much thought; for instances the colour coordination would affect how visually people would be able to read my posts. As a result it looked amateurish. After 3-4 months I gave the blog a well needed make over. I learnt coding and incorporated 'buttons' to social networking sites, updated the template and style, revised my review format and so on to ensure my blog looked slightly more professional (well I hoped it worked at least)! The most comments I've had regarding the appearance is the banner at the top; it took hours to design and I prayed I hadn't made any spelling or grammatical errors (for which I always fall victim to).
Aside from the book reviews, a more organised approach. At the start of each month will be a new 'Verdict's Blogging Activity X Month 2012'. This will introduce the books I'm reviewing, indie author spotlights, interviews, guest posts, other blog sites features, books of the month, new releases, festivals and book awards, to name but a few.
As stated I'm will include a new monthly feature post called 'new releases' in which I will pick one of those books to read in the subsequent month. In order to increase my engagement with other bloggers I will also be doing a weekly feature of 'Blog of the Week' post for independent, indie book reviewing sites. I will be changing my monthly 'author spotlight' to specifically indie authors to promote up and coming talent. I will start hosting blog tours and giveaways!
I will be starting a page dedicated to 'Tips and Tricks' with quotes taken from the interviews and categorised into such literary topics as writing techniques, marketing your book etc. Hopefully this will group together similar responses and make it easier for followers to search for their desired answer. I will also be updating all of my pages to reflect these changes.
I shall also be starting up a 'Pin Interest' site alongside my blog. This will be used more for marketing purposes and featuring other bloggers. There will of course be more reviews, interviews and guest posts. My book of the month post will come at the end of the month, to bring to the forefront the best book I've read that month.
Thanks again to all who follow and continue to support this blog; I really do appreciate it. I'm very much looking forward to the next year of Verdict and I hope you are too.
- The Songs of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Winner of the 2012 Orange Prize for fiction. Short-listed in December 2011.
- Hilary Mantels Bringing Up The Bodies, Winner of the 2012 Man Booker Prize. Selected as part of Verdict's 2012 Summer Reads.
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, short-listed for the 2012 Man Book Prize. Selected as part of Verdict's 2012 Summer Reads.
- Gangsta Granny by David Walliams, recently short-listed for the 2012 Red House Children's Book Awards. Selected as part of Verdict's 2012 Summer Reads.
The blog has diversified and I'm now reviewing self-published books by indie authors. The self-published market is massive and I've posted numerous articles surrounding the topic. There is the saying 'everyone thinks they can write' and so I assumed that the majority of self-published works would be dreadful. Fortunately in the majority of cases they are really good. I have also expanded my reading to those of other formats. Audio books and e-books. As a result, I am now reading more works published independently; either as a debut novel or follow up.
Authors, editors, voice actors and publicists are noticing Verdict as a reputable source of independent, in-depth reviews. So far Verdict has been contacted by 25 authors, 1 publicist and 1 voice actor to review their associated novels. The feedback I've got mainly surrounds the amount of detail I go into in my reviews; this is partly why there is only 4-5 books reviewed per month as I don't just skim read, I full immerse myself in the novel out of respect to the author, book and my followers.
I've also hosted numerous interviews and guest posts. Such posts do not focus or revolve around the persons books. These are aimed at getting an insight into the literary world where normally you wouldn't get such information. Discussions on self-publishing, editing, from draft to print, writing techniques and processes and advertising are all common in the interviews. As such I try to develop more than one view point on the subjects; having opinions from both authors, editors, publicists and so on is crucial to learning more about the industry.
Verdict has also been nominated for and won two awards! It was a privilege to be nominated by fellow bloggers as it meant that I'm respected in my field. The awards have helped to validate my blog and reinforce what I do best; reviewing.
The Bad
My blog is a hobby and though it's something I love to do, I also have a full-time job plus an active social life to contend with. As a result, sometimes my blogging takes a back-seat; my time management skills have improved though! I also do not think I engage with fellow bloggers more and this is something I hope to rectify over the coming year. Likewise my Tweeting is very poor.
...and The Ugly
When I first designed my blog, it was using the standard blogger templates and styles. I didn't really give it much thought; for instances the colour coordination would affect how visually people would be able to read my posts. As a result it looked amateurish. After 3-4 months I gave the blog a well needed make over. I learnt coding and incorporated 'buttons' to social networking sites, updated the template and style, revised my review format and so on to ensure my blog looked slightly more professional (well I hoped it worked at least)! The most comments I've had regarding the appearance is the banner at the top; it took hours to design and I prayed I hadn't made any spelling or grammatical errors (for which I always fall victim to).
What you can look forward to next year?
As stated I'm will include a new monthly feature post called 'new releases' in which I will pick one of those books to read in the subsequent month. In order to increase my engagement with other bloggers I will also be doing a weekly feature of 'Blog of the Week' post for independent, indie book reviewing sites. I will be changing my monthly 'author spotlight' to specifically indie authors to promote up and coming talent. I will start hosting blog tours and giveaways!
I will be starting a page dedicated to 'Tips and Tricks' with quotes taken from the interviews and categorised into such literary topics as writing techniques, marketing your book etc. Hopefully this will group together similar responses and make it easier for followers to search for their desired answer. I will also be updating all of my pages to reflect these changes.
I shall also be starting up a 'Pin Interest' site alongside my blog. This will be used more for marketing purposes and featuring other bloggers. There will of course be more reviews, interviews and guest posts. My book of the month post will come at the end of the month, to bring to the forefront the best book I've read that month.
Thanks again to all who follow and continue to support this blog; I really do appreciate it. I'm very much looking forward to the next year of Verdict and I hope you are too.
2 comments:
Well done. Your blog is interesting, informative and very valuable to the authors you help to promote. You do a great job and I enjoy reading my email updates from Verdict. I hope my own blog is beginning to match up to some of the others like yours out there.
Thank-you Adele for your very kind words. I am glad that the blog is of value to those authors books I review.
Your blog is simple and elegant; the posts themselves are always comprehensive and interesting - I always look forward to your posts. I wouldn't say that about many blogs.
Thanks again for your lovely comment; it is appreciated.
Sophie.
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