Now that I’ve gotten my feet wet, and I’ve figured out how things will be running each week, I thought I’d give you the rundown, and ask your opinion about a few things.
Each Monday, I’ll be linking to the review and giveaway at 5 Minutes for Mom, as well as giving you an information about the week or month to come here at 5 Minutes for Books.
In this week’s 5 Minutes for Books column, I am featuring a parenting book called I Brake for Meltdowns: How to handle the most exasperating behavior of your 2 to 5-year old. Click on over to read more.
Today, I want to let you know about the schedule for weekly featured columns. Stay tuned for information on two new monthly features that you can participate in.
Weekly, you can look forward to Books on Screen on Thursdays, and On Reading on Sundays. I think that I will make Wednesdays “Winning” as well as “Wordless.” We will participating in Wordless Wednesday (booklover style), but I will also use that day to announce any winners on giveaways for the week, and perhaps post a new giveaway as well. The giveaways are still open through tomorrow for Love as a Way of Life, and Begin Smart, and Kung Fu Panda (which will stay open another week), so if you haven’t entered click on over.
You’ve heard a lot from me, so now I have a few questions for you:
- We have averaged about 2 posts per day. Is this too many? Not enough? Would you like to see more reviews in a particular genre? It’s my thought that all of you won’t be interested in every review posted, so you can skip over the ones you aren’t interested in, but I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much new content. My reviewing team is doing a great job of supplying me with reviews, so I could easily publish 2 reviews a day (on top of the non-review content), but I’d like to hear from you!
- Are you looking for suggestions about books to read, or to recommend to your children? Leave a question here with details (for example, “I loved the Mitford series. What other fiction might I enjoy?” I will publish the Ask the Bookworm column with answers as they come in.
- Are you interested in author interviews and guest posts? If so, what sort of information would you like to learn about the authors of the titles that we feature?
If you leave feedback on this post, answering any of these questions or providing input, you will be entered to win your choice of one of these books that we have reviewed here since we launched:
Danny Gospel
From a Distance
The Meghan Rose series
The Mommy DiariesI’ll announce the winner (or maybe winners) next Monday.
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan is a contributing editor at 5 Minutes for Mom. She has been blogging at Snapshot for over two years. You’ll almost always find her holding either a book, a fork, a child’s hand, her laptop, or some combination therein.
a – I love this site! Reading has always been a favorite hobby and the reviews give me new books to read.
b – I love Karen Kingsbury’s books (but I’ve read most of them) and I also love historical fiction. Can you make any suggestions? Thanks!
Hi! This is such a great site, and I think that the amount you’ve been posting has been great. Not any more though, or I won’t be able to keep up! I don’t like sites that post more than twice a day, it gets a little “in your face” annoying 🙂 And this is just me, but I would probably not read author interviews unless I had specifically read one of that author’s books.
So far, so good!!! Thanks!
It might sound lame – but I just like to read. Whatever you post, I’ll read. As it stands now, it’s just the right amount of hodge podge of goodies to read up on. I like it.
I love books – all books 🙂 so the variety is great.
I do enjoy reading author interviews – as long as they are short and personable.
I’m way behind on all my blog reading (working is more important, I guess…) so I’m probably not the best to ask about post frequency but I really think that one or two reviews a day is plenty – especially with the other content as well.
An age/skill level appropriate reading list for kids might be nice…
I think 2 posts per day max. Otherwise it gets to be too much. I like book reviews so I can find new books to read. Not so much on kids books, but that may change in a few years as my son grows up.
I’m not a fan of author interviews. 🙂 I just want to know what their books are about and if I might like to read them. If I’m really curious about an author I’d probably go look them up. Otherwise I’m just happy to read their (book) writing!
I think that 1 or 2 posts per day is great. More than that gets a bit overwhelming, since there are a lot of blogs I like to read.
I like mysteries, including those by Agatha Christie and Mary Higgins Clark. What other authors would you recommend?
Thanks for the great work!
hi, great questions!
what you’re doing so far is great….2 posts a day is readable! 🙂 i would love author interviews as long as they were short and sweet. suggestions are great too…like if you like this type of genre you’ll love this…
thanks, this is a wonderful site, love it!!! 🙂
Love this site, and I’m so excited to come and see everyday what you all post. I agree with the previous commenters that 1 or 2 posts a day is just about perfect.
I used to read voraciously, but have really slacked off the last few years. I am looking forward to ANY good suggestions that you all put out there…I need to broaden my reading horizons. Thanks!
i really enjoy this site. a few comments and gentle feedback 🙂
1) it would be helpful if you could somehow tag the books, like adult versus kid, boy versus girl (if applicable), that sort of thing.
2) i’m always on the lookout for great books to read to my kids. last year, during NaBloPoMo, i decided to dedicate the month to recommending — or dissing — books.
you can find them, eventually, here if you’re so inclined.
3) along that line, and this is meant very, very gently — it would be cool if there were a stronger POV in the book reviews. i know my POV probably would have annoyed some, but boy, people responded. and in a blogging environment, you are looking for responses.
for example, i loathe the giving tree, a book so many people adore. i also loathe love you forever, which others think is a classic.
i don’t expect anyone to agree with my assessments, but i just love to make people get excited enough to think one way or another.
would love to see more of that here 🙂
hoping you understand my criticisms are meant in the kindest way possible!!! i love family book sites 🙂
I think that two posts a day is a great amount. So far I’ve enjoyed reading what you all have posted…it’s nice getting examples of books I wouldn’t normally think to pick up.
I would enjoying reading author interviews. It’s always nice to know where their writing inspiration came from, as well as their background and what lead them to publish their works.
I would also love examples of great books to read to a toddler.
Thanks for the great site!
One to two posts (max) is what I prefer. I can’t read blogs every day so it can be overwhelming if there is too much.
I would love to have suggestions for great chapter books. My daughter has just begun reading chapter books and while I know many wonderful preschool books, I’d love to have a list to go to for chapter books. She’s four years old but is able to read books such as those written by Thornton W. Burgess.
I’m not too worried about interviews with authors, I just like reading reviews to get an idea of what I’d like to read or what I’d share with my children.
(I agree with another comment asking you to group reviews by various categories. It would be quite convenient.)
Hi Jennifer & team – congrats on a great site! Here’s a topic for “Ask the Bookworm” – I have an interest in reading biographies of famous authors/poets, etc. Sometimes the back-story on their lives is as intriguing as the material they write. Do you have any suggestions for good reads on this topic? Keep up the good work.
Two posts/day is okay but no more please! Signed up for email updates too!
I’m always looking for good read alouds for my littles that are clean and wholesome.
I like reading a bit about author’s family lives – do they have children? How many? I don’t like a big long interview though.
I also agree, no more than 2 per day. 1-2 per day is perfect for me!
I love what you’ve been doing!
Apologies for the late reply – still catching up from vacation!
I agree with the suggestion of tags/categories for adults, kids, boys, girls, non-fic, etc.
I would also like reviews or suggestions on chapter books to read to my 5 year old who does not yet read on his own, or that he can read when he does learn how. So many book reviews are geared toward older kids and it’s hard to judge what’s appropriate.
Oh and yes – definitely no more than 2 posts per day!
I could go either way on author interviews, I would likely only read them if it’s an author I read and if it’s short and sweet.