1. Awards: People spread the love by giving awards to other blogs, but this didn't feel right to me. It's a bit too generic and broad.
2. Featured Blogger: Rebecca at Lost in Books features a different blogger by having them write out answers to twenty bookish questions (which I adore, and hey I'm on for Thursday, March 19 if you are interested); I've seen a few other like this, one with libraries but danged if I can remember where that one is).
3. Featured Posts: I adore those blogs which have a post recapping the top reads of the week, but I'm just so laaaaazzzyyyy. I must read 150-200 posts a day, and taking the time to pick an dchoose which of those to feature just sounds like a ton of work. But this is the one I'd like to try. I'm thinking of adding in a section to my Sunday Salon posts which features a few posts from other blogs that I particularly enjoyed.
4. Tempters Feature: Some bloggers give credit where credit (and blame) is due by posting about new books added to the TBR list and linking to the post that tempted them. I rarely make a post telling people what's been added to my TBR list as the list is long and gets quite a bit longer every day.
5. Other Reviews: Whenever I write a book review, I search for and link to reviews of the same book on others' blogs. For the most part, I only link to those blogs I regularly read so as not to run amok with links. I think this is a good way to promote others' blogs.
A Few Posts I Adored Today
Amanda from The Zen Leaf celebrates Friendship Day
Ana from things mean a lot blabs about Victorians
Jenners from Find Your Next Book Here gets relevantly personal in a book review If the Church were Christian
Promoting others is such a cool thing to do. I know when I first started out in blogging, posts like these really made my day (and brought new readers to me!). I loved Ana's blabbing about Victorians!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a feature blogger. I would defiantly like to read about that. I also think promoting others is a big thing. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI know I could do better in this area ... I'm just so forgetful and then I worry about leaving someone out or I feel like I'm telling everyone about something they read already. I'm totally with you on awards though. I'll have to think about how I can do a better job on this.
ReplyDeleteI do something a bit different with awards. I don't like passing them out usually, so I spotlight the person giving it to me as a way of saying thanks. I love Rebecca's 20 Questions thing and can't wait to see your answers! I also try to give credit for each book that got recommended to me by someone else. I keep track of that when I add to goodreads and then include on the post, as well as my weekly journal. And I only search my Google Reader for posts to link to at the end of my reviews, which keeps it to blogs I read, though sometimes misses blogs, especially if the search criteria isn't perfect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that awards sometimes feel generic, although I remember when I first started blogging getting one really made me day. I always wish there was a good way to share that excitement in a unique way. I love linking to other reviews though, and doing some featured posts occasionally.
ReplyDeleteThanks for blogging about the BIP this week (and nice title!).
Aw, thank you so much for including my Victorians post!
ReplyDeleteAwards don't feel quite right to me either - like you said, they're a bit generic, and plus there's some potential for hurt feelings there.
What I do is always make sure I link to people when I mention it, and also scavenge for other reviews to link to. I love doing the latter in particular, as I think it's useful for bloggers and readers alike.
As much as I like to give and receive awards, and recognize other blogs that I enjoy or like, the award thing is very time consuming. Maybe just spotlighting a few is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI barely remember my name let alone who recommends what. Although I do have a few books that I remembered to write down who told me about them. Just haven't read them yet.
I will definitely check out your Q&A tomorow and this blog improvement thingy. I can always learn something :)
Sandy - I have to admit that I found quite a few blogs through the blogs I already read too, so that is definitely a plus to acknowledging blogs.
ReplyDeleteMorgan - I like reading those blogger features too as it makes the blog more of a person and less of a thing.
Jenners - I'm still trying to think of how I could do better; like you I worry so much about forgetting or offending people by not acknowledging them that I find it easier to just not do the awards.
Amanda - I do like the way you do awards, so I might have to steal that idea.
Kim - I will never forget my first award as it practically made me giddy. But I also remember that evil part of me feeling a bit left out when I wasn't receiving awards every freaking day like other bloggers were. It's a catch 22.
Nymeth - The hurt feelings really keeps me from giving out awards. I've always found the links to other reviews to be the most beneficial type of promotion. I always read those other reviews to get a broader sense of a book.
Jenny Girl - Haha! I can't tell you how often I've forgotten where I saw a particular book. I try to name the blog and even include the link when I add it to my LibraryThing wishlist, but even that can be too time consuming for my lazy self.
Wow, you're brave in starting to plug posts! I have a hard time reading all blogs, let alone posting about them LOL. Good for you!
ReplyDeletegnoegnoe - I'm going to try, but I'm not making any promises! It's pretty time consuming.
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