This was my second time posting for The A to Z blogging challenge, a massive blog hop with 1500+ blogs signed up to create a post corresponding to every letter of the alphabet during the month of April. Here are my thoughts on this year's challenge:
Positives:
- Categories: I loved how much easier the categories made sifting through the linked blogs. I could easily identify writing and book blogs. After those, I chose blogs based on a fun name, or if it was specific like Jane Smith, YA Author, which identified the type of blog I'd find.
- Fewer dead links: I ran across far fewer dead links and spam sites, so nice work moderators!
- Great blogs and themes: Like last year, I found new blogs to follow. My favorites included fun themes, short and concise posts with an obvious tie to a theme, and a question to prompt some interaction.
Room for Improvement:
- Make categories part of the sign-up: I'd like to see two or three text fields: name of blog, category, direct link. Many blogs were unlabeled, probably because the sign-up did not prompt to enter a category.
- Comments: I noticed fewer comments on the blogs I visited and to my own. This could be a trend in blogging in general based on the sheer number of blogs flooding the internet. The hosts certainly promoted posting comments, so this may be a trend that doesn't have an easy solution.
Advice to future A to Z bloggers:
- Use a creative blog name! Sorry to say, blogs with names like: Another Random Blog, or Useless Info & Ramblings, I skipped. If you can't sell yourself, why would I click your link? (FTR, I just made those up!)
- Choose a theme and pre-plan posts. I suggest doing at least one of these, if not both. I saw many blogs that petered out around "E" or they seemed to struggle with how to formulate a post about a given letter. A theme provides structure and focus, plus it makes a post more engaging. Pre-planning means you aren't frantic the day of, or forget entirely when life happens.
- Find a relateable theme: This may be a personal preference, but I did not connect so well with blogs that were solely about characters in a writer's book. I applaud the effort, but it's hard to comment and interact about a post in someone's work-in-progress novel, or something that isn't widely read. An exception might be say, a line or two from a personal work, and then a few paragraphs in a broader theme like villains, where readers can comment on the larger topic.
Well, those are my thoughts. Did you participate, or did you visit any blogs doing this challenge last month?
Posts
Congrats on your accomplishment! I applaud any writer who completes the A to Z.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just noticed you're now represented by Sarah LaPolla. She's my CP's agent too. Deana thinks she's wonderful. Congrats!
I think the relatable theme is a good point. Of course, that's relative, but I found it hard, too, to comment and interact on the posts that talked about characters from WiPs etc.
ReplyDeleteI pre-scheduled all of my posts this year and I found it so much easier. I also find it easier to use a theme - it does give focus :)
ReplyDeleteGreat advice. I took part for the first time this year and found it a lot of fun. I scheduled my posts in blocks of 5 so that I wouldn't miss any days should real life get in the way (which it often does).
ReplyDeleteI tended to post in blocks of five too - must be the magic number.
DeleteI think this is good advice except that we are not all 'writers'. I wanted to read more personal blogs and I found them rather hard to find also. This was my first A to Z. Maybe I will get better over the years.
ReplyDeleteI visited some great blogs with different themes than writing or books--I love the travel themes with photos of places I've never been. I read a cool one that featured US national parks, and a cooking blog that inspired that night's dinner!
DeleteLast year and this year, I had themes related to my own writing; last year was characters, and this year was chapters. Both years I got people who enjoyed reading a little about these people, and reading snippets from favorite chapters I've written. Next year I'm thinking of places I've written about (like Abony, Hungary, and Bulun, Siberia), so it won't be so completely focused on my own writing.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds interesting--I love reading about different places. :)
DeleteIt has been interesting to read all these reflections posts!
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree with you about the difficulty of relating to a blog post all about the characters in a writer's book or WIP. Since I don't go back to the same blogs each day it is hard to follow the story line. Your suggestion of adding a few lines and making most of the content more general seems like a good solution if a person is looking for followers and comments.
Some people did the challenge just for the motivation to blog every day, and for them the comments and followers weren't important, so I guess it takes all kinds!
tm
Well, this was my first year, and I hope the name of my blog was acceptable! I don't care what people call their blogs really, it is a reflection of them, or what they wanted when they first signed up. Some of the writers blogs I ran into could have had different names for their blogs, but again...it is what they wanted to call them, and gee I was always interested in what they had to say! I certainly didn't pick and choose, I followed the rule of what was under my name.
ReplyDeleteMy point was, with so many blogs to choose from, after the I visited the ones with listed categories, I clicked on blogs either with an interesting name that told me something about the blog, like say Teresa's Travels, or Judy's Family Recipes, etc. It just made it easier to choose with so many available.
DeleteExcellent Reflections Post. I am very much in agreement with the points you make here. Especially about the relateable posts. Hopefully we will come up with a better registration system to get on the list that will eliminate link errors, ad blogs, and other problematic entries while separating them into categories and other defining properties. We want the cleanest list possible that minimizes having to go through it repeatedly and makes the list more user friendly during the Challenge.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the 2013 Challenge.
Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
I agree about a creative blog name - it is just a platform after all, so don't get too specific or narrow on that choice.
ReplyDeleteEven having a theme (as I did) doesn't mean that all of the letter prompts come easy, and preschedule!
Good point about the writers who just posted about their characters. While I can appreciate the effort they went to composing the storyline, it does not appeal to me at all.
Cheers from an AtoZ cohort ~
thriftshopcommando.blogspot.com
Congrats on finishing and thanks for stopping by today. This was my third time doing A-Z and definitely the most fun. I took an entirely different approach - seeking depth rather than breadth in finding new friends. I didn't get as many new followers as last year but I got A LOT more comments.
ReplyDeleteI visited about 250 blogs, which seemed like a lot, until I reminded myself how many were signed up.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on completing the A to Z! Great points above!
ReplyDeleteExcellent 'Reflections' and I imagine just what the Hosts want to hear for improvements and suggestions for the future.
ReplyDeleteAdvice to Future Bloggers...good job...particularly 'relateable theme'.
Thanks for 'digging' my pink typewriter...appreciate your stopping by.
Sue CollectInTexasGal
AtoZ Reflection Post
I think your opinions are valid and they do a great job of hearing and responding to everyone's concerns and suggestions.
ReplyDeletebtw thanks for stopping by my blog..
I started the challenge with the intention of writing only about my work in progress. This stopped after A. I realized quickly how unrelate-able it was.
ReplyDeleteI think you've made good points here. I know of a few people who "pants"ed it and were still worth reading but those with a given theme certainly did better at drawing me back.
Great tips and observations, and congrats on completing the challenge once again - I guess you could say we finished "sophomore year" a little wiser! I agree about the category, I didn't sign up for one because at the time I joined the hop, I still had no clue what I was writing about. By the time I decided I wanted to focus on music fans, there was no way to go back and add a category. But it all worked out well in the long run. If I do it next year, I will be even more prepared!
ReplyDeleteYou make SUCH an important point about the categories that I NEVER thought of. As a host, they were kind of hassle, but I never considered how awesome they must be for most standard participants.
ReplyDeleteAlso, off topic, and I'm sorry I'm just noticing this, but I just realized you're one of Sarah LaPolla's clients! I'm really good friends with both Kate Walton and Christa Desir, and Sarah is a bit of a dream agent for me, but please don't ever say anything to her, because, you know.
Anyway, it's been so cool to get to know you a little better last month. Stay in touch!
I read Sarah's blog when I first started finding author and industry blogs--who ever knew I'd end up working with her. Kind of mind boggling some days when I think about it--just that I had no idea what I was doing writing-wise a few years ago. Still learning every day!
DeleteYou reflected on the challenge in an orderly and insightful way. I've enjoyed reading your post, and agree wholeheartedly!
ReplyDeleteI didn't even look at categories, except to make sure I didn't hit adult content, and was still surprised when I did hit blogs that should have been flagged. I like a variety of things and have been surprised by peoples comments/reflections that they only visited blogs they already knew, or only blogs of one genre. That seems boring and sorta pointless to me, you can do that without the added work of the challenge.
ReplyDeleteHad to laugh when I read you notes on titles of blogs, cause as I made my way through the linky I often though hum, that sounds interesting, but then found the title of the blog didn't relate at all to the post, so then I got to the point that I just clicked one after another and went in order.
I totally agree with the character thing though, it was hard to participate in a blog that talked about 1 book the whole month, or one character the whole month. I guess they were hopeful people would read everyone of their posts to know what they were talking about?
2 of the 3 blogs were themed, Flat Stanley, Traveling Suitcase, though it traveled everywhere, the 3rd blog was misc. I really liked not having a theme, the white canvass was much broader to pick from.
Oozing Out My Ears
I was also less inclined to return to blogs that focused on one book. I fully support promoting your work, but I needed a little something more to grab my interest.
ReplyDeleteI loved the categories. It made it so much easier to find the types of blogs I enjoy reading and possily following.
Themes made it fun to come back and see what the next post would be. Most of the blogs I ended up following had a theme for the month.
I'm with you on the "choose creative names" business. All those Ramblings tired my legs out. :-)
ReplyDeleteSome Dark Romantic