The times............they are a changing!

I've had the amazing pleasure of spending some time with a wonderful handful of Authors, Bloggers and others in the author promotion word and it got me started thinking about how I've been running the blog.  When I started this crazy adventure over a year ago it was on a total whim.  I woke up one day and thought, I think I want to start a blog.  Ok, not really....I'm one of those people that has to research an idea for days on end to figure out the best way to do things and how to do them.  So after googling the hell out of terms like "review blog," "ARCs for review," and "am I crazy to do this" I jumped in.  And at that point I only started it for the love of books.  I had just found an amazing love of books that I didn't know existed and had no idea what a huge community there was of indie authors, bloggers and wonderful readers.

 

Fast forward 1 year and I hate to say it but I'm burnt out.  At some point all bloggers go through it.  Blogging is pretty much an unpaid job.  We read too many books to count, review, and then post on the blog, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Pintrest, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads and any other social media site we can find to get our reveiews out to the public.  Add to that the fact that 99% of us have day jobs, husbands, kids, houses, pets etc and at a point it just becomes too much.  If you've followed the blog for any amount of time you may have noticed a drop off in posts.  Am I reading as much as I was......No, not nearly the amount.  And the "want" that I used to have to write reviews has been falling off.  I've read some amazing books but have been so burnt out the reviews never made it to the blog.

 

Things in the blogging world are changing at a rapid pace.  Each week more review blogs are popping up (that's not specifically a bad thing) and even more indie authors (again...not a bad thing) but it starts to become hard to keep up with it all.  It's started to feel like bloggers think they are in a contest for the most likes on facebook instead of posting reviews that are well written and truthful.  Blogging isn't about getting free books or becoming BFFs with Authors.  It's about sharing our mutual love of books in the hopes that you'll share that love with others.  I've always said that if even one person enjoys the blog and finds there next favorite book then I'm doing a good thing.  Unfortunately with my anxiety I fell into the "im not good enough" trap.  Specifically my anxiety about not being liked.  My old demons reared their ugly heads and started a downward spiral that made it hard to blog.  I couldn't figure out why other blogs were going from brand new to 5000+ Facebook likes in a matter of weeks, why some Author/Bloggers were becoming friends and feeling like I was getting left in the dust.  The total truth..........it sucked!

 

Back to my comments about hanging out with some amazing people this past weekend...I was talking with a friend who finally reminded me that it's not about the likes or the follows.  The blogs that continue to produce thoughtful, truthful, well written reviews will still be standing when the craziness dies down.  It's like the old saying of only the strong will survive.  And finally it made sense to me, I am good enough.  It doesn't matter how many people like or comment on my posts, what matters is that I'm putting good content out into the blogosphere.  I don't need to follow the pack and review the same books as everyone else, I don't need to market and join every giveaway known to man for extra likes.  What I do need to do is go back to blogging for the love of books.  To get back to doing it for the one reader who just might find there new favorite book boyfriend.

 

And with that there are changes.  As a blog I'm not going to be participating in very many blog tours, the fact that it's a large group of blogs reviewing the same thing becomes monotonous.  That doesn't mean I wont' be doing any, because some of the books I'm desperately waiting to read are going to be going as blog tours only and truthfully....I'm dying to read them.  I also won't be pushing myself to write so many reviews.  I've been trying so hard to keep up that the quality of my reviews has been declining.  I'm hoping that by reducing the number or reviews means I can put the real time into them like I used to.  But it means that I'll be reviewing more about the books I love, working to clear out my own TBR list that's been neglected for a VERY long time and working to find my love of blogging again.  I'm hoping changing things up and deferring from the norm will help me help you find your next great read.

But this is a good thing, it really is.  Every once in awhile we need a good kick in the ass to get moving again and I am so grateful to my friends who listened, and talked and reminded me of why we do this crazy ass blogging thing!  I'm thankful to my readers who continue to follow the blog because of the reviews and not because I'm doing a giveaway.  To the authors who continue to write amazing books.

Authors, this is a good thing for you!  It means that I have more time to read your books.  If you want to request a review visit the Request A Review page and see how to contact me for reviews.