The Importance of Blog Designs
by P.E.
Judging by the reaction to our post on our new blog design, it seems like a lot of bloggers care a lot about their design. I think one underrated thing a new design does is rejuvenate your love for your blog. It's clean and new. It's like the blog underwent spring cleaning. The content of the blog is the same, but it's like renovating a room: there are differences, and that's exciting.
Review Book / Required reading?
by Mari
There is no feeling like the one a book lover gets when she/he gets offered a book for review. It's one of joy, accomplishment and eagerness. However, I find that after a few days and a few chapters the eagerness dies down to a pang of requirement. The review book no matter how good turns into required reading. It's too bad because if my mind would get over the required part and journey onto just focusing on the story, I would enjoy the books a lot more and same could be said to all the books I've had to read for school.
I Have a Netgalley... Now What Do I Do?
by P.E.
I signed up for a Netgalley account, because I think it's a great way to access more books. Except now I'm in Netgalley purgatory because I am clueless as to what to do next! Wait, let's correct that. I know all about what to do, I'm just undecided. The thing about Netgalley is that I feel like it's an enormous honour to be able to do this. It means you are no longer just a blogger, but you are taking an active role to promote books. So, I want to make sure I do it right. I want to have an awesome Netgalley ratio, I want to pick books I feel like I'll not just like, but love. So, you can probably tell it's taking me a while to get going.
I realize that our blog is named after a fairytale -esque mythical creature but I've come to realize that I don't know many fairy tales (excluding Cinderella, Snow White, Mulan, The Little Mermaid). "Don't know" in the sense that I don't know details because I've never really read many. I'm currently reading Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge and I'm mesmerized. I know the general idea but I didn't know that the beast asked the princess a question each night. At the same time, I like not knowing too much because it lets me enjoy a commonly known story with fresh eyes.
Fairy Tales
by MariI realize that our blog is named after a fairytale -esque mythical creature but I've come to realize that I don't know many fairy tales (excluding Cinderella, Snow White, Mulan, The Little Mermaid). "Don't know" in the sense that I don't know details because I've never really read many. I'm currently reading Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge and I'm mesmerized. I know the general idea but I didn't know that the beast asked the princess a question each night. At the same time, I like not knowing too much because it lets me enjoy a commonly known story with fresh eyes.
Fun new feature! Totally agree, re: blog design. Sometimes it's just nice to have something fresh, even if it's not wildly different. Also totally agree, re: required reading. We don't accept books for review, but we are part of book clubs, and we do have enormous TBR piles, and even that can start to feel like pressure... Aaaand we recently joined NetGalley too! Each of us is approaching it a bit differently -- but all tentatively, haha. With great power comes great responsibility, after all. ;)
ReplyDeleteI kinda like this feature because it's about little thoughts that matter, but maybe aren't developed enough for a full post.
DeleteThe hard part to remember about reading pressure is that often, it's something controllable because we're the ones pressing ourselves.
Absolutely agree! I'm only picking stories I think I could end up loving.
-P.E.
I love your blog design, it's really easy on the eyes and it makes wanting to visit even more enticing. I've only been blogging for around a year and a half, but in that time, I've given myself three makeovers, the longest one I've stuck with is the one I have now. I like fresh and uncluttered blogs, you've got that one down perfectly.
ReplyDeleteAhh, Netgalley. It can be a bloggers best friend, or nightmare. I remember how nuts I would be in requesting anything that looked remotely alright on there, but not any more. These days, I only request the ones I REALLY can't wait to read and have managed to get myself up to a 72% feedback rate on there, so trying not to request more than I can read.
Awesome post!
This is our second design and we got it after one year of blogging. I don't know how long it will stick, but it's so hard to work on a design that it's not something we can pull off too often.
DeleteThat's exactly what I'm going to try to do: only pick books I find extremely exciting. Course, my issue right now is getting approved lol, but I'm working on it :p
-P.E.
Love the new feature Your design is really great and works really well. I redid mine a while back with the help of another blogger and, whilst I like it, I'm not completely happy with it. I have only been blogging for about 10 months so I am still pretty new at this and design isn't something I am amazing at. It's definitely something I will need to work on in the future.
ReplyDeleteNetgalley! I had no idea what I was doing at first. I requested a lot and ended up having way more requested accepted than I had assumed I would. My ratio isn't bad but it isn't what I want it to be - 90%+ and I'd be happy. I am rubbish at stopping myself from requesting books, so I am probably not the person to go to for advise.
I think what helped us immensely for our design is the HTML/CSS workshop we took a year ago. We learned how to create a website, and although I don't remember most of it, I remember the general format for HTML and CSS so we knew how to customize the template. Google is also a lot of help. We had a test blog we practiced everything on.
DeleteLOL I was on Netgalley a while ago so talk of this ratio is new to me. I'm hoping I can start responsibly and keep it extremely high! & sometimes it's hard when you see so many books that you can have and they're all so pretty and shiny and new :p
-P.E.
i think i already mentioned it in a previous comment, but i love your new design. i also have a netgalley but i suck at it. my ratio is so bad that i don't request books through their anymore because i'm so embarrassed by it and i know i'll get rejected. i'm so grateful that i'm still pre-approved by a couple of awesome publishers so i can download their books without requesting or sometimes i get an email with a pre-approved link to a title... but i really need to raise my ratio.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI think Netgalley can spit out of control extremely quickly. Being preapproved sounds great though! All the books you want without the wait. I kind of structure my requests right now assuming I probably won't be approved. :/
-P.E.
I like your new design a lot. It really looks great and easy to navigate. My netgalley ratio was bad for a while. I didn't realize I even had a ratio! But it great now and it feels good to have a high rating. Now I only request books I know that I will read.
ReplyDeleteThis post speaks to me on so many levels. I want to change my blog design, I've had the same design for almost two years now, and I'm over it. But I have a vision for the change, but I don't want pay. I want to learn coding so I can completely change my own. I understand it well enough, but I still have a ways to go before I can code for myself.
ReplyDeleteI love/hate getting requests for reviews. I love the opportunity but hate the sense of attachment to the book. Just because I want to read it now, doesn't mean I want to read it later, and I hate those pesky publicists. Most publicists are pretty cool and chill, but there are some that basically stalk you. Gah.