Chat Between Chapters: How long have you been book blogging? And has your blog changed over time?

For this discussion post, we are joining the Tell Me Something Tuesday challenge run by Jen at That’s What I’m Talking About. Here’s the topic for this week. How long have you been book blogging? And has your blog changed over time?

 

 Julie:

I started this book blog with Rose in April of 2013. That’s a heck of a lot of years. A lot has changed in a decade plus. A whole lifetime ago seeing as I had my son in the early part of our blog journey and he’s going on 10 this year! Lynn joined us shortly after and then Rose took off. So the original start of this blog looks different than it did then.

We started on the free wordpress (the .com version) and after a few months we got hosting and a domain name to do things with more fun scripts and have more control. As we were transfering, we got a bit more selective on what we wanted to move, since we moved each review post one by one to get it set up in the Ultimate Book Blogging Plugin with the author, book title, categories, etc. We decided not to move the tour-only posts with little content other than the book details, and since then I don’t participate in any new book spotlight only posts.

I am always willing to share an author’s book, but I request a guest post or interview to go along with it. I still don’t accept too many review books because real life is busy and I don’t have as much time to sit and read. So, I’d rather not be stuck with too many review books that I’m reading as a chore instead of because I enjoy reading.

That’s really why we started this blog to begin with – because we loved reading and talking about books. We were all even part of a book club where we selected and talked about those books, then blogged about them here. Most of us have moved around since then and while the book club still exists on Facebook, Lynn now runs it virtually and only a couple people attend. Sometimes, I attend. Not always though. Time zones and all that.

I still enjoy the book fun topics – the discussion posts (like this one or our Cover Chat), the challenge posts (like our Book Bingo), the book tags where we pick a book that fits a theme. The reviewing part, that’s my lesser favorite.

 

Lynn:

Yeah, what Julie said about when we started. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Julie. It’s also a good thing she does all that technical mumbo jumbo as I have little interest in learning html!

I also like these fun little posts. They don’t take much time to write. Or much mental space to compose. I do really enjoy book bingo as well. It’s always fun to find new square topics! Reviews are the worst! How many ways can I possibly say I liked it, the book was good.

I used to worry about making sure we were posting frequently, engaging with our readers. That led to more meh feelings about blogging. Now I post what I want to post and I don’t worry about the rest!

 

 

What about you?

 

 

We are also linking up our discussion posts with the 2024 Book Blog Discussion Challenge hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!

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