Weekly Geeks 2009-40: Tools of the Trade: 10/17/09

Book blogging, as a concept, is essentially pretty simple: If you have Internet access and an opinion about a book, you can be a book blogger. However, actually maintaining a book blog is much more complicated — our blogs are labors of love that require a lot of time, energy and devotion. For this edition of Weekly Geeks, I want to focus on the little things that make your blogging and/or reading life a bit easier. Do you use sites like GoodReads, LibraryThing or Shelfari to organize your books? Do you swear by Book Darts? Couldn't live without your Book Buddy? Love connecting with other bloggers on sites such as Twitter? Tell us about what makes your blog tick. Is there something specific that keeps you organized or inspired?

In other words, this week's assignment is about workflow. My workflow for this blog has evolved over time and will probably continue to evolve. As this is a book blog, my process has the same basic steps that any book blog has: find book, read book, review book, post review. The blog part of the equation also has some basic steps: review comments, respond to comments, archive post.

The Books:

I choose my books to read from four sources: my personal collection (books I've bought or been given), my local library, Bookcrossing and finally review copies sent to me by authors or publicists. From my personal collection and bookcrossing books I often use the online random number generator to pick a book. I do the same with the review books. For the library books I read them in the order I got them so I can get them done on time.

I have a number of books going at any given time but I usually have one or two I'm focusing on most. Right now those two books are Thinking Differently by Javy W. Galindo (a review book) and The X in Sex by David Bainbridge (a library book).

While I am reading I keep track of my progress with GoodReads. I have GoodReads linked to my Twitter feed so that people who follow my feed can see what I'm reading. The "update status" feature at GoodReads allows me to keep track of favorite quotes or thoughts on the book. I use it instead of a Book Darts and later when I'm writing my review I can refer back to my progress reports.

When I have finished a book, I change the book's status on GoodReads from "currently reading" to "read" and I write some initial thoughts. I also add the book to my "needs review" shelf where I can keep track of all the books I still need post reviews for on my blog.

Writing the Reviews

Besides the GoodReads "needs review" shelf, I keep a list in Word of all the titles I need to review. I read faster than I post to my blog and I don't always have time to compose my review at the same time that I'm posting my review. Plus having a shelf of 114 books that "need review" is a bit daunting. So I've started writing my reviews ahead of time.

I like to give myself a day or so to think about a book before I write my review. To mix things up I go back to the random number generator to pick which review I will write.

While I write my reviews I also gather together other information I will use in my post. I find other blog reviews of the book, author websites, or other pertinent links. I also verify the publishing date.

The only reviews I still write on the fly are my Saturday short story reviews from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I suppose I could them into my regular reading and reviewing workflow but so far I haven't.

Posting the Reviews

I pick which review to post by random too. I used to plan out the reviews by the day of the week but doing it by random is more fun. Plus I seem to have a more even readership when I post at random.

I find the post I've picked and do the following steps:

1. Add the title with an Amazon Affiliate link (if they sell it) to my bibliography page. I don't make many sales on this blog (nor is that the goal of this blog!) but any sales I do make I use to buy new books.
2. I create the new blog post, including updating the meta tags for the post, the title and so forth.
3. I add the post to the current month for the blog.
4. I add the new post to my home page and remove yesterday's posts.
5. I add the post to my RSS feed. Since I'm not using a blogging platform, I have to do this manually. I keep ten days of posts on my RSS feed.
6. I update any challenges that the post my relate to.
7. I update my A to Z title list and my A to Z author list.
8. I copy and past my review into GoodReads and remove the book from the "needs review" shelf.
9. I tweet about my post and possibly make an update on Facebook.
10. I update my list of books reviewed for the month and the one I keep for the end of the year review.

Phew! That's it.

Maintenance:

Comments left on my blog don't get posted automatically. Instead they get emailed to me. As they come in I decide if they are on topic or are spam. The spam ones I ditch. If it's a repeat spammer I will block the offending IP address. The real comments I post on the corresponding blog post and leave my response. If the commenter left an email address I will email a copy of my response and provide further ways of contacting me. Once the comments are posted I will retweet about the post.

weekly geeks

Comments (10)

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Comment #1: Saturday, October, 17, 2009 at 18:12:39

Tara SG

I had signed up for GoodReads but wasn't using it... However, it never crossed my mind to start a shelf of "to be reviewed" or connecting it to my Twitter! Thanks for the great tips :)

Comment #2: Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 10:38:44

Pussreboots

You can also hook up your GoodReads to a Facebook account. I just don't like clogging up my wall with the updates.

Comment #3: Saturday, October, 17, 2009 at 20:28:02

Kerrie

You are certainly well organised. I do think the secret to a good blog is coming up with a system that suits you and that you can cope with on a regular basis. Like you I gather other information so that my book review is not just what I though of the book. I link to other peopl'e reviews, the author's website, previous reviews I've written about books by that author etc. Thanks for information about how you achieve your excellent blog. I was interested to learn how your Tweets are generated too.

Comment #4: Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 10:51:31

Pussreboots

Having a system is a must if you plan to post on a regular basis and on a limited range of topics.

Comment #5: Sunday, October, 18, 2009 at 03:39:01

Erotic Horizon

My word what alot of work - I am tired just reading... but I really am impressed with how streamlined you have made the process...

I find I am not very consistent with stuff like Facebook - Twitter and Ning isn't so bad because they have a RSS feed so those automatically update....

I haven't gone approved comment - YET - but then I have never been spam through my comments YET either...

Have a good Weekly Geeks week...

E.H

Comment #6: Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 11:46:21

Pussreboots

I've gotten so used to updating the blog that most of those steps I do by rote. I'm not very consistent with Facebook. I'm not as addicted to it as I am other sites. I don't use Ning much; I find the interface awkward and unintuitive. I have my blog configured to automatically tweet new updates for me but I often will do it manually to personalize the tweet.

The reason my comments need approval has nothing to do with spam. Yes, I do get a lot of it but the comments all go to email because my blog isn't tied to a database like most blogs are. I would have to completely rebuild my blog to have it do things automatically and right now I don't have the time or energy to do that.

Comment #7: Sunday, October, 18, 2009 at 09:17:50

gautami tripathy

That's very impressive! I can't for nuts be so organised. However, I do wish I was. I think I am a spur of the moment person!

Comment #8: Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 11:50:16

Pussreboots

I am trying to be a more of a spur of the moment person with my reading for this blog.

Comment #9: Sunday, October, 18, 2009 at 15:55:18

Louise

Wow, you just gave me a ton of good ideas. I have my books on good reads also, but never thought it could be used that way.

Comment #10: Monday, October 19, 2009 at 15:54:32

Pussreboots

Have fun customizing GoodReads!