HAPPY NEW YEAR, MY DEAR FRIENDS!
Instead of the short “Happy New Year” post, I show you my 2014 goals and resolutions! Yes, I have them! I don’t tend to make goals or resolutions at the start of the new year because I don’t tend to think about it. I make goals as I go about, but this year, I thought why not? I should have some sort of goal I want to reach with my blog. I want it to be the best that it can be. ;D I will definitely achieve these goals, but these resolutions…I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep all of them. I will do the best I can!
- Reach 500 followers.
This shouldn’t be hard. I already have a good amount of followers. I need a little over 200 at the moment and I have a year to achieve 500? Hells yeah. I can do this!
- Start requesting ARCs from publishers
I haven’t requested physical copies of ARCs from publishers because 1. I was still adjusting to book blogging and 2. I was scared about emailing them. I still am at the prospect of doing it. My reasons are mainly because it’s extremely discouraging getting rejected and I want the email to be absolutely perfect. I need to let go of those fears because it’s not the end of the world if I get rejected, and there are great guides to a good email to publishers. I should just do it.
- Get my TBR pile down to a manageable size.
My TBR pile is huuuugggeee. (I’m sure it’s the same with many bloggers.) I didn’t specify the quantity of the manageable size because I actually do not know how many books there are. :P
- Prep blog posts in advance.
I am rather horrible at prepping my blog posts in advance. (I even wrote a discussion post about it!) I want to get better at it though! I always get stressed out having to frantically type up reviews or discussion posts or memes the night before and that is no good to my health. If only I prepped in advance, I wouldn’t stress as much.
I feel like prepping my blog posts in advance won’t actually happen (at least for reviews and discussion post) because I tend to work well under pressure, but hey, it’s worth a try, right?
- Review a book twice a week.
For the last four months of 2013, I made sure that I posted a review a week. Every other week, I’d post two. This year, I want to post two reviews every week. (Maybe even three when I get the hang of it). *cross our fingers*
- Reply to comments.
I admit that I am absolutely horrible at this. Whenever people comment on my blog, I get so giddy. So the least I can do is reply back, right?
- More new original content.
Currently, I have my discussion and cover change posts. I want to create new features for my blog. I don’t know what, but I have all year to develop it. I was thinking about the books I read but don’t review, and I want to do something with those books. Maybe bring back my “letter to” feature and write to a character or theme or whatever.
I’m sure I will add more goals as we get into 2014.
What are your goals and resolutions? Any similar ones?
I want to start requesting physical ARCs as well but like you I want my email to be perfect. I’m afraid of getting a big fat NO. Especially because I haven’t been blogging long (only 3 months). I’ve been looking up guides and you’re right there are a lot out there. Maybe I’ll stop being chicken and actually try for some.
I’m so horrible at scheduling my posts! Especially my reviews. Mainly because I procrastinate and when I finally write them I just want to post them all at the same time so I can talk books with everyone. lol
I hope you get 500 followers :)
These are pretty good goals and resolutions! All very achievable and manageable. I want to maybe start requesting physical arcs from publishers this year too, but I’m terrified for the same reason you listed an don’t feel like my blog is good enough yet… I also want to make my tbr pile smaller before I start asking for more.
I wish I had the time to read & review enough to post twice a week. Uni is going to take up a lot of time when I go back in March so I’m trying to do as much as I can now (but keep getting distracted by the internet…)
Anyway, cannot wait for new posts from you in 2014 :) Good luck with your goals & resolutions!
YAY for getting TBR lists smaller and YAY for requesting ARCs (I need to do this too but I am so, so scared :( ). But you want to review books twice a week?! woooowsers, that’s a lot! Goodluck to you on that, I barely manage a review a month (I dont like doing them).
Requesting ARCs is so much less scary than it seems! There are a lot of really good blog posts out there about how to craft a form letter. And you don’t even have to worry about direct rejection…they just won’t email you back, haha. Good luck on all of your goals! You totally got this :)
You know, sometimes I think the not emailing back is worse! Like when you’re job-hunting and you get no replies, haha. The silence is the most disappointing, I think!
OMG THE FONT WHAT IS THAT FONT. The button…the font…. I can’t stop staring O_O
*coughs* Yeah, I need to work on commenting back and scheduling blog posts too! I should probably do my own goals and resolutions post…but I’m too lazy for now. >.<
Good luck with all your goals darling!!
I’ve been horrible at spacing my posts out and having regular content. Ack! So much I want to do but so little time. I guess I want to have better time-management for 2014?
Good luck with all your goals, Cee! Requesting physical ARCs isn’t too bad, I think. I’m sure you’ll be fine! ^_^
Those are some great resolutions! I am pretty sure you’ll reach 500 by the end of the year. I mean, come’on your blog is super great and your posts are very interesting. And that narwhal! So cute. :D This year, I requested ARCs from publishers and omg they intimidated me so much haha. But they all accepted me and I was so happy. I thought they weren’t because they didn’t e-mail me back, but they surprised me with books on my front yard. My number 1 resolution is to definitely read all of my Edelweiss ARCs during winter and spring, and then I’ll tackle Netgalley during summer and fall. That should do it! LOL. After that, I’ll tackle my physical books on my bookshelf. I’m not really concerned with commenting because that was my resolution for 2013 and now I’m used to commenting. I comment about 12-20 blogs per week and now it’s a habit.
You thought of some resolutions! :D We share two — commenting more and requesting ARCs. All of your resolutions are doable though, so I’ve no doubt that you’ll accomplish them all! Well, except maybe the TBR pile, because that’s always growing. I think an empty TBR pile is pretty much a myth by this point.
I am just going to adopt your blogging goals and resolutions.
In the next two months, I would like to start emailing publishers for print review copies. I have managed to get a few ARCs here and there and it is always so nerve-wracking to email them with my review. The email to the publishers takes twice as long to write as the review did! If you find a really great how to post on this, will you please share it? It would help soooo much.
I definitely need to prep my posts in advance. (In fact, the discussion that went up on my blog today was written last night at about one in the morning. I’m not proud of it, so I definitely need to work on it!)
Part of my blogging goal is to publish at least 100 reviews. I figure that is about two reviews a week, and, while it is manageable, I know it is still going to be challenging.
Good luck on meeting all of your goals and resolutions! You can do it!
These are great goals and resolutions, I think I might try 200 – 250 followers for this year. I have just under a 100 at the moment but as you said it’s all about the content. I’m stopping tour stops and weekly memes altogether this year, I feel I have too many people stopping by but not really taking note of the content except for them commenting and hoping to receive something in return.
Replying to comments and taking my time to really engage with other blogs is one huge thing for me, last year I really didn’t reciprocate which is probably why my blog didn’t get as much love as i would’ve liked, but I’m going to really start taking my time with everyone’s content especially reviews!
Good luck and I hope you reach all of your goals!
I love your resolutions! I agree with most of them, I hope to read and review more often. Also another HUGE resolution for me is commenting, both on other blogs and to reply to comments left on my blog. So far I think I’m doing pretty well, I hope you do awesome with your resolutions!
Lisa
http://www.turningpages94.blogspot.com
Great blogging goals!! I definitely have a few of these in mind for this year!
These are great goals to set. I hope to just gain more readers this year. I’d also like you love to review a book twice a week, as I end up slacking from time to time. Also I’d like to work on posting original content too, I’ve started to post personal life posts and find that people enjoy them.
Best xoxo,
KG
http://www.thatgirlkg.blogspot.com
great resolutions! I do love al the new year posts, the resolutions and goals people set for themselves never fails to make me smile :)
The reaching 500 followers is a great goal… Honestly, I have a long way to go in order to reach that many followers, but you just got yourself a new follower!
You have a great blog!
x Iris