Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Shifting Blog Gears


When I started this blog, back in September, 2010, I knew I wanted to review all of my favorite genres. So my initial intention was to have an eclectic blog. As time went on, though, I found myself enjoying the YA genre more and more, and publishing many reviews of these books. I also found myself gravitating more and more toward paranormal romance and urban fantasy. However, I do like other genres, and wanted to review those, as well, so I did, although not enough to satisfy me. I yearned to do much more.....

As I continued blogging, participating in blog hops, plus reading and commenting on other blogs, I began to realize just how much of the blogosphere was dedicated (and is even more so now) to YA blogs. Thus, whenever I published a post -- whether it was a review or something else -- having nothing to do with Young Adult Fiction, or paranormal romance and urban fantasy, those of my followers who were only interested in these genres would not comment on those posts, which is pretty much understandable. Furthermore, if I published a post related to classics, science fiction, or literary fiction, it was not noticed by bloggers who only blog about these genres. In this case, it was because one visit to my blog, and a swift glance at my design, especially my sidebar, would immediately convince them that this was a blog dedicated only to Young Adult fiction.  Therefore, they would move on right away, and never return. (Or perhaps they did, but if so, they never commented on posts covering those other genres I love.)

Last year, from September to November, I co-hosted a read-along of the classic novel Jane Eyre. My co-host was Brian Joseph, who blogs at Babbling Books. This is an excellent blog, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with YA fiction, or paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Brian publishes posts about classics, literary fiction, some science fiction, and nonfiction. I thought (how naive I was....) that  doing a classics read-along would bring some of those bloggers who prefer the genres Brian blogs about, over to my blog to comment, but that didn't happen. In fact, only Brian and maybe one or two other bloggers commented on my posts, all during the read-along. I was very disappointed, as Jane Eyre is a masterpiece, and easily lends itself to lively discussion. In contrast, Brian's read-along posts had a lot of comments, as all of his followers and regular commenters (except me) are folks who blog only about the same genres he blogs about.

So I have come to another decision: this blog will now be dedicated exclusively to Young Adult fiction, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy, with an occasional contemporary or historical romance post thrown in. In order to cover the other genres I love, I have revived, as well as re-designed, a blog I originally started in January of 2012. I only published a few posts in that year, and then put it on hiatus. Lack of time was the problem then. I began posting on it again on July 4th of this year, and am hoping to have enough time to post on both blogs.

This other blog, titled MindSpirit Book Journeys, will only cover those other genres I love to read and review: classics, literary fiction, science fiction, and nonfiction. I will be blogging differently, too; I will only be posting reviews, with perhaps one book meme -- "The Book Lover's Den", which I will be moving over to this 'new' blog. As for my book cover meme, "Shelf Candy Saturday", I will continue with it here, at A Night's Dream of Books, for the time being.

I know I'm not the only blogger doing this. I have another friend, who goes by the name of "Ao", who has two blogs, as well. One is for popular fiction, and the other is for classics and literary fiction. The first one is aobibliosphere, and the second, aobiblioclassique. Both of them are great! Another blogger who comes to mind here is Mary, who has the blogs Bookhounds and Bookhounds YA. While the first blog is not dedicated to classics and literary fiction, it does feature adult fiction only, while the second blog features YA fiction paranormal romance, and urban fantasy. Both blogs are fantastic!

I would like to thank all those who have commented on the posts on this blog in the past, whether or not they have been about YA, PNR, or UF. You truly ROCK! 

I'd like to invite any of you -- whether visitors or regular readers -- to go over to my other blog (click on the link above, or in my Pages, below the header) and sample the book fare there. If, like me, you enjoy those other genres as well, I look forward to seeing you there, and perhaps 'chatting' with you about these books!





What do you think of my decision
to have two blogs?
Would you do this yourself?
Why or why not?





   

4 comments:

  1. I personally think it would be neat to have two blogs both dedicated to what you love. I think it would be awesome to be able to handle both blogs.

    Now I personally couldn't do it but I have tried. I have two blogs but one is a book blog and one is mommy blog, the mommy blog has been on the back burner since like forever because I just couldn't come up with topics or spark an audience. My book blog seems to be doing better and I feel more passionate about it then my mommy blog. I do plan to return to the mommy blog eventually but i'm not sure if I will.

    Best of luck! I'll try my best to stop by both blogs! Have a nice day!

    Tina @ Tina, The Bookworm

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  2. Hi Maria - Thanks again for your mention and your kind words.

    As I think about it I do believe that the divide will allow you to segment your efforts and will likely bring more interest to your Mindspirit Book Journeys.

    One thing that is a little bit of a pity, is that many of the Young Adult and other genre books, especially the ones that you review, do contain aesthetically strong plots, characters, themes, etc. Sometimes folks lose site of that. In fact, you had sent me some recommend titles that I will hopefully get to in the coming months.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, Tina!

    I came to this decision precisely because I feel so passionately about all of these genres, so I will do my best to keep both blogs going. One thing about the second blog, though -- I will only be posting reviews and 'think pieces' -- what I like to call 'literary musings' on it. There will be no blog tours. I will only have one meme, as I stated in this post. I know I won't have as many followers, but that's okay.

    How cute that you have a mommy blog! You are truly blessed!! I don't have kids myself, and I envy women who do. I will stop by and take a look!

    Thanks for dropping by and leaving such a super nice comment!! Hope you have a nicd day, as well!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey, Brian!

    You're more than welcome! Your blog has always been an inspiring and thoughtful read for me! And I now realize that posts similar to yours really won't be noticed on A Night's Dream of Books, precisely because of my blog design, which has a very upbeat, YA look.

    I'm so glad you appreciate the fact that many YA books do indeed have important themes, and are very well-written. Just because a book is in this genre doesn't mean it can't be a thoughtful read. One novel I remember recommending to you was "Of Beast and Beauty", by Stacey Jay. It's basically a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast", but it's much more, too. It deals with such themes as prejudice, the abuses of tyranny, and the healing of an entire planetary environment. And the story is so beautifully told, as well! So I'm glad that you're not 'a literary snob', and are considering reading such works!

    Heck, even The Twilight Saga, which some people love to criticize, has lofty themes -- such as loyalty, the value of a united family, the ethics of controlling one's impulses for the sake of the safety of others, and the sanctity of human life. These books are deeper than people give them credit for.

    Well, I could carry on forever.....lol. Maybe I should keep "The Book Lover's Den" on this blog, and write a post on this very theme.

    Thanks so much for the great comment!! :)

    ReplyDelete

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