
I meant to combine both topics for today, but then I got wordy. Two posts it is!
I’ll be honest here–I feel like, as far as this topic is concerned, I have almost no idea what I’m doing! I am terrible at marketing, even when I really believe in something, or when it’s something I’m proud of. But considering I’ve been blogging for seven years now, it seems like I should be a little better at this. I love some of the cool features that other blogs have, but I have had a lot of trouble coming up with any for myself.
Recently I have started a few things, though:
– Participating in Top Ten Tuesdays. I find the topics really helpful in kickstarting my brain when I just don’t know what to write about, and that way I have at least one post per week.
– Also, posting more frequently. Even if I’m not putting up a full review every day, I can talk about what I’m reading.
– Picture Book Monday: I read a lot of picture books and early readers for my job, and I wanted a way to talk about them. I try to do about one a month. (Which reminds me!)
– I also do several book displays for my job and I’ve started talking about those occasionally. I’m working on a crazypants display for Summer Reading, so look for a post on that coming up shortly!
– Since pretty much the beginning of the blog, I’ve written a post about the books I read each month. Most of them should be here, although I think I’ve missed tagging a few.
– I’ve also started talking about the new releases that I’m excited about each month. I don’t have a specific tag for this one, but it’s fun!
I’ve also been working on developing my favorite authors page, and I hope to eventually translate that into a bit of reader’s advisory–ie, if you really like Megan Whalen Turner, you should try this author! Overall, I think that my blog is developing partly as I’m learning more about librarianship. For instance, I’m trying to mention who else might like a particular book–Hunger Games fans, or LM Montgomery fans–even if I myself didn’t necessarily like it.
I do comment on blogs occasionally, and I interact a lot with authors and fellow bloggers on Twitter. (Oh, Twitter, I ❤ you, never leave me!) I could probably do better about this, and about reaching out to the wider community. I don't quite know how people go about doing partnerships and readalongs and so on, but right now I'm (mostly) okay with that.
Really, overall I'm quite proud of the work I've put into this blog, although I'm sure there are things I could or should do differently*. Mostly, I think I'm learning to just be myself–enthusiastic, nerdy, sometimes slightly awkward, overly fond of semi-colons. And at the same time, I'm learning to challenge myself to try new things and share what I love. I don't know if I'm there yet, but I think I'm getting there.
* I really am open to suggestions!