2014 is upon us and as is customary I plan to make some resolutions and goals for the upcoming year. I have loved my blogging experience of 2013 but I do think I can do a few things to make this new year run smoother and be a little less stressful.
Reading Goal for 2013:
I met my Goodreads Goal of 125 books! It was very close but with some Twitter support I buckled down and did it.
125 books
46,646 pages
View Challenge
My most popular and least popular posts (by pageviews)
Overall Post:
Most popular was my interview with Marissa Meyer.
Least popular post was my 8th week of Teaser Tuesday
Reviews:
Most popular Review: World After by Susan Ee–Oddly enough there weren’t very many comments
Least popular review: The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long–such a great book too
For this year I’d like to:
- Be better at commenting and responding to comments
- Write my reviews right after finishing the book
- Read and review the books that I have on my bookshelves
- Request only the books I’m very interested in and not let hype convince me to request a book even though the topic or genre doesn’t interest me.
- Create more original content for the site (interviews, Lego covers or new features)
- Meet my 2014 Goodreads goal of 130 books
Things that I’m changing on the Blog:
I really enjoy visiting other blog’s memes but feel that it takes up a bit too much of my time to participate. So for now, I’ll be dropping Waiting on Wednesday, Teaser Tuesday and Top Ten Tuesday. I will keep doing Stacking the Shelves/Showcase Sunday.
As my readers…is there anything you’d like to see more of/ less of?
And since World After was my most viewed review it is only fitting to give a copy away, yes? The publisher has offered to give away a copy to a US winner and so I’ll provide a copy to an international winner–so I’m giving away two copies of World After by Susan Ee
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I just love your Lego pix & posts! 🙂 Congrats on completing your challenge, too! #4 on your resolutions…I really need to make myself do this, too! Also, I’ve been contemplating dropping all the memes, too…like you said, it’s a lot of work responding to all the comments, and lately, I haven’t been too great about it. Also, I have so much stuff I want to post that those don’t really take precedence anymore.
Anyway, here’s to a great new year, Kristen! I hope you accomplish everything you set out to do! And try not to get sick! 😛
I am going to try my best NOT to get sick anytime soon. I am so worn out with it!
I really enjoy reading other folks memes but it really does take too much time to visit and comment (and feel that I have to) I like it more being something I can do if I feel like it. So I think dropping them will help to ease some stress.
Have a great New Year Jen!!
I am international. Happy New Year and thanks for the giveaway 🙂
Happy New Year to you too!
Congratulations on completing 125 books! That’s freaking amazing! I also love the Legos content, and your blog in general. Keep it up in 2014!
Thank you! This was my first time having a GR goal and it felt good to accomplish it. Already have plans for more Lego content so yay 🙂
I always love reading discussion posts or posts with more personal information. It’s great to get to know bloggers better, that’s why I’m so in love with Jessi’s new feature (Life of a blogger). I like your goals and I hope you manage to read 130 books!
I have a difficult time sharing about myself but I’ll def keep this in mind. Thank you so much for stopping by Mel 🙂
You did a great job on the blog! And YAY for completing your Goodreads goal!
I’d love to see more LEGO posts, because you guys do such a brilliant job and it’s so original!
One of your resolutions is also one of mine, review after reading!
Thank you Pili! I have two covers in the pipe line that I’m very excited about 🙂 I’m glad that people like them…it’s such a random thing to do. Thank you for being such a great support for me and the blog 🙂
I’m excited to see your changes in 2014! I’m so conflicted on memes. They’re easy (usually), and I assume it’s better than posting nothing, Without them,, I wouldn’t be able to post daily. Unfortunately, I just don’t have enough fresh ideas for original content, so I feel like I’m stuck with them unless I can come up with better ideas.
I’d love to do more interviews, too, but what concerns me about that is the ones I’ve done without a giveaway attached barely get any attention. And then I feel so guilty for having asked the author to participate and wasting his/her time. It’s sad that a Waiting on Wednesday post gets substantially more pageviews than an author’s thoughtful (but giveaway-free) interview. That’s the case on my blog anyway.
I have stopped posting daily and I realize I sort of like it this way better. I feel that when I do post people seem to visit more so my reviews are getting better traffic than they did when I posted everyday. I really do love looking at other people’s memes so I don’t consider them a filler post as much as a time suck for me personally.
Interesting… I’ll have to try that.
I always like it when you interview the author and we get to know he or she a little better. I enjoy hearing about some of the things that interest them and also personal things they are willing to share.
I love doing interviews! I have 2 in the pipe line that I’m thrilled about 🙂 thank you so much for stopping by!
I cant really think of any posts.. Some of the above comments look good, though..like more about the people behind the blog-that sounds interesting.. I love the Lego content and think its so unique and cute!!!!!! Congrats on the goodreads goal!!!
Thank you Sarah! I figure I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing–seems to be working fairly well. I was very excited that I made (just barely) my GR goal!
I love your blog, keep up with the good work.. I don’t know – maybe do some more interviews? I know I love reading them 🙂 thank you for the giveaway 🙂
Thank you Kristia! I have interviews planned for the next few months so that is very exciting. Happy New Year!
Congrats on reaching your goal of 125 books! That is amazing!
one of my resolutions is kind of the same as yours, I buy a lot of books for the hype and not because they are something that normally appeals to me. Don’t get me wrong, I have found some amazing books! But this year I have found so many fails due to the hype!
Happy new year hun and have a great reading year! 🙂 xxx
I’ve found many great books that way too but sometimes it just puts more stress on me than is needed. Glad to see I’m not alone in letting the hype dictate what I read. Thanks so much for stopping by Alex, Happy New Year <3
Congrats on meeting your reading goal and for a successful blog year! Love the Lego covers and interviews. Looking forward to seeing your changes in 2014. Happy New Year!
Got Lego art and Interviews in the pipe line. Great that those are popular since they are my favorite types of posts to work on 🙂 Happy New Year!!
As the new guy, the LEGOs are totally cool! More please!
Hi Jamie! So glad you stopped by 🙂 More Legos on the way
Happy New Year to you! I really like the Stacking the Shelves. It’s the first thing that I don’t bother to open whenever I read my emails. Wish you luck this year. Thanks for the giveaway!
Hi Francis, I really love looking at people’s book hauls too. I believe that will be the only meme I keep around. Happy New Year 🙂
I love book reviews and top ten lists. 🙂
Happy 2014!
I love reading top ten lists much more than making them 🙂 haha. Happy 2014 to you
Great goals! Commenting more is always a big one for me….
I’ll be good at commenting for a bit then completely fail later on. I guess all things come in waves. Happy New Year Kate!
I love your lego picture! I like the color choices — and is that YOU leaning over 2014, reading to grab it by the horns? 😉 Congrats on meeting your reading goal for 2013. 125 books seems like SO MANY, and then I realize I read 121 in 2013 and I still can’t believe it!!
It’s interesting how sometimes reviews are popular but don’t get a lot of commentary. One of the search terms that brings me the most traffic is “eleanor & park review” but my actual review has only a few comments on it.
Best of luck on all your goals for 2014. I actually think I’ve got all the same goals as you, even if I didn’t write them down anywhere. I especially want to be more diligent about writing reviews (and reading all those books I already own before getting more!). I don’t blame you for ditching most of the memes. I did the same thing halfway through last year. They seem like easy content, but somehow they felt like such a chore sometimes, and sometimes they just got in the way of other, original content I’d rather be posting. Anyway, happy new year! 🙂
Thank you, and yes that is Lego me! I just barely made my goal and hope I do a better job of keeping on task this year. I feel motivated so we’ll see how long that lasts 🙂
It is very interesting how many people visit, read but don’t comment. I’m guilty of that myself.
I really have got to get better at writing my reviews soon after reading. I take some notes but I feel like I miss the emotional energy when I write it later on. Totally agree with the memes. I quit doing them a month or so back and felt free.
Love all your resolutions! I have pretty much the same ones, except for #3, because one of my end-of-year goals was to get rid of most the books that I’d accumulated and was kidding myself about meaning to read. I sat down with a HUGE stack and read the first few pages of each book, and if I wasn’t really tempted to read further, I put it in the donate pile. Then I just mailed two big boxes to a great charity that another blogger told me about. I did keep a few to read 🙂
I have lots of ideas for new 2014 content — we’ll see if I’m able to make that happen. We’ll have to encourage each other to make the time!!
Jen @ YA Romantics
I am very eager to see your new content ideas! I will def help encourage you to make the time.
I love your idea of reading the first few pages to get a sense of your interest level. I try so hard not to hoard books but I still find I have such a difficult time parting with them. So happy that worked for you and think I’ll be trying that out. Sounds like a great plan. 🙂
Amazing post Kristen 🙂 Aw, I’m sorry that you are dropping those meme’s. But I don’t blame you; blogging does take up a lot of time 🙂 Still excited for all your other posts, though. <3 thank you for sharing 😀 Not entering the giveaway, as I do have my own copy of the book, hih ;p
I’m also hoping to have more original content on my blog in this upcoming year. That’s so awesome you met your challenge last year, too! Good luck with all your goals 🙂
More of those Lego pictures! Thanks for the awesome giveaway! 😀
I really love memes and reviews! Thanks for the giveaway! 😀
Writing reviews right after finishing the books is one of my goals too. I usually write reviews in bunches so that I sometimes publish them weeks after I read a book which I don’t like at all.
I love author interviews!
I’m a new follower – so I don’t know what I want to see more of, haha!
HAPPY NEW YEAR from Greece!!<3 ps.World After was one of my favourites of 2013 (amazing book and series)
I like reviews mostly but I also like to see upcoming books highlighted too.
MOAR OF EVERYTHINGGGGG!!!!
haha kidding 😛
I can definitely understand why you’d want to drop some of those memes, TTT especially takes a really long time! Mostly because I can never narrow my lists down to only ten books… (or actually five, since my coblogger and I would usually do half a list each)
I really like the lego art you do! It’s so creative 😀
Good luck for all of your goals!
Happy New Year! And thank you so much for hosting the giveaway (:
I like pretty much all the posts you post to be honest, although I am not a big fan of the memes sometimes, but that is because it’s usually so over done and every one does it. I hope to see some original content and I really love the lego art!
I think that you are already doing a great job with the blog – and I think it is more authentic if you post about what YOU are interested in as that will resonate with like-minded people, as well as attracting new followers due to your authenticity. 🙂
author interviews, and book covers
Happy New Year =)
I love posts with more personal information about the blogger, so that’s my choice or maybe some interviews with authors would be awesome!.
Thanks for the giveaway!
I will always say reviews, because I love reviews!! They are the best things about blogs. And I do like discussion posts!
I always love blogs with good discussion posts. Also, your Lego posts are awesome 🙂
Happy New Year! More reviews please.I spend my mornings reading reviews,Thanks for the giveaway.
Happy New Year and wishing you much success with your 2014 goals!