Moving On– is a chance you take every time you try to stay together…
“Moving on is a chance you take very time you try to stay together. You say a word out of line you find that the friends you had are gone forever. Forever” Billy Joel– Say Goodbye To Hollywood
I have a confession. I have grown a bit tired of constantly writing book reviews. I’ve been producing Libdrone Book Reviews for more than three years now, and I am finding it harder and harder to devote the time and muster the enthusiasm to read and review book after book after book. I first created a blog on Google’s Blogspot mainly in order to keep up with a couple of very long time friends whom I mostly kept up with via their blogs. I included book reviews from the very beginning because I have always been passionate about books, reading and writing. And then one day I started to learn a bit about blog promotion and was launched into a career in web publishing that has been, to say the least a long strange trip.
In retrospect, it is rather unfortunate that I chose a niche and settled quite comfortably into it before I ever started learning the ins and outs and economics of website publishing. While book reviewing was and is an ideal fit with my background and interests, for anyone interested in making money by publishing web sites, the niche is frankly a dead end. I believe that I succeeded in creating a quality book review site. Over the years, I came to the realization that the chances of the site ever earning enough to cover its hosting fees are pretty much nil.
Over the three plus years that I have been publishing Libdrone Book Reviews I have learned rather a lot about website publishing, website marketing, search engines and search engine optimization, online advertising, affiliate marketing and hundreds of other subjects that are part and parcel of being a successful web publisher. I have grown weary of having to read and digest an entire book for every 300–500 word post I write. I have become interested in writing for a citizen journalism newspaper and am working on creating two new web sites which I believe will allow me to continue to grow as a writer and a web publisher.
It is for this reason, that I have migrated Libdrone Book Reviews to WordPress.com. I do plan to continue to update this site and add new book reviews as my time and interest permit, though I am no longer willing to spend hosting fees nor invest much time and energy in promoting this site. I am very grateful that WordPress.com allows me to continue to make my years of archived content available, without continuing to incur hosting fees. I am also deeply grateful that I now have the opportunity to develop other sites and continue on my journey into becoming a professional web publisher. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of my friends and readers who have visited and commented here over the years. I hope that you will continue to visit occasionally to read the reviews I will continue to post. I also hope that you will read my articles on BrooWaha and will visit my new sites when I introduce them. My best to you,
Alan
Alan,
Sorry to be so late to comment on this. You are great at what you do, and you definitely have put together a wonderful collection of reviews on this site. Your concerns about niches and blog marketing, though, are probably right, and I think it makes sense to move on. You can still enjoy many of the same things in your new ventures, and I’m sure you are learning an awful lot about successful web publishing. Best of luck and I’ll be interested to see your new projects.
Exciting times ahead Alan. All my good wishes and hugs for every success with your new ventures – looking forward to seeing the new stuff.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Juliana. I am genuinely excited about writing for the newspaper and my new sites, which are coming along and will be introduced soonish.
I can see your frustration. I realize that making money on a book blog is a hard proposition. Still it would be nice to see an occassional review once every two weeks.
I found my learning more about citizen journalism and activism than I care to think of. If we are to have libraries and many other things it will be increasingly necessary.
I still am evaluating the idea of other social media options as well. I do it almost every day. In this environment it is quite difficult to say the least.
Good luck in your new endeavors. I think you will be quite successful in the citizen journalism part, even more than the book reviews.
I am indeed enjoying the citizen journalism very much and am amazed at how very many more readers those pieces attract. Thank you so much for your good wishes!
Alan, all the best in your new endeavors. I like reading your book reviews, and don’t stop in as often as I would like, they have helped me to decide on which book I wanted to spend the money on or if I really had an interest in it. Thank-you for that.. You are a great writer and no matter what task lies ahead of you, you will experience success, because you love what you do and it shows..
Thank you so much for your kind words, Articulates. I really appreciate it.