Don’t worry, I’m not leaving book blogging, it’s the one thing I’ve kept constant over the past however many years, this is more an observation of something I randomly stumbled upon earlier this week.
I originally wanted to call this post “RIP Fellow Book Bloggers,” because what I’m writing about is sad and it’s also October, so makes sense right? Well earlier this week, I’m still not sure why or how I did it, I found myself cleaning up my RSS feed. I had about 120 blogs under my “Books” label (individuals, libraries, bookstores, etc.). Well I started clicking on them individually and seeing when the last post was made and I was saddened by what I found. By time I finished I found out 57 of the book specific blogs I followed at one point no longer existed. Let me say that again, In the past 3-4 years ALMOST half of the book blogs that I discovered have ceased to exist. It was a bit surreal as I kept clicking and kept finding blogs that no longer existed, blogs that felt like they ended mid sentence and blogs that had turned private.
I know this isn’t really that shocking. How many of us have started other blogs and just let them fade away (I have two others that are just there), or followed blogs friends’ have started to see them disappear within 2-3 posts? Maybe it’s getting “old” in the blogger world, but for some reason it really hit me hard when I found this. Have people disappeared because of that article last year about how book bloggers are destroying the industry? Who knows?
On the plus side(!), I found out that a few book bloggers were definitely still blogging and their RSS feeds had changed. Hi Bridgit and Grace! Can’t wait to catch up on all I’ve missed! (If you’re reading this and I used to comment but haven’t recently, leave me a note because I’ve probably messed something up!) AND some people who started around the time I did or that I started reading then are still going strong! There were even a few bloggers I kept on my list because I know they’re active elsewhere on the internet and I don’t want to miss if they do randomly post again!
So it’s not all boohoo and woe is us. I discover new book blogs all the time and there are still plenty out there I don’t/won’t read because of subject matter and other choices. Honestly, I’m not sure why I felt the need to write this post. I probably could’ve just wrote it in my journal and forgot about it, but I part of me wanted to commiserate with all of the now defunct book blogs (among other types) and say that I hope they’re all doing well.
Does anyone know where I can find stats on average blog age? (It doesn’t have to be book based.) I’m curious, I know the overwhelming majority won’t ever make it past a few weeks/months, but what about those that do?
I have only been around for almost two years now, and have noticed a lot more start-ups than drop-offs. Then again, the dropped blogs are harder to notice. It would be interesting to see some stats on it all.
It really is so much easier to notice all the new ones (which is a positive), but keeping track of those that keep going is so much harder! I also thought you’d been around a lot longer than two years 😀
Time flies! 🙂
I noticed that too. 🙁 I started a large scale remodel around the time Google reader disappeared, and haven’t been that connected to the blogging world since…I think I finally have those things sorted out though and need to get reconnected! Where is your favorite place to find new book blogging friends?
I do a lot of blog hopping. Someone will mention another blogger and I find my way there. I’ll occasionally follow a tag on a book or look for responses to a book I really enjoyed/despised.
I’m two years too and glad to have made it this far! I think I started two other blogs which got abandoned within a matter of months. I’ve noticed a few people that I followed only a year ago have gone quiet for unknown reasons.
Haahaa it’s funny that most of us can follow a trail of blogs we’ve started and left. It just depends on when you find your niche.
Um… link to that article? I Googled and only found an article from 2012 with some dude from the Booker Prize complaining about bloggers (lol that 3 yrs later they have official vloggers.)
I’ll see if I can find it again. I can’t remember where it appeared, but it could’ve been that one knowing my sense of time these days.
The worst is when you find a new blog, giggle with glee at finding your perfect book blog soul mate, and then realise their latest post is from two years ago.
YES!