Bloggiesta Reader Survey Results

I thought maybe you, especially those that participated, would like to know how my survey from Bloggiesta last week turned out. And what I learned from it. Thanks to all those who took the time to let me know what you think!

I had a total of 60 responses and here's what you had to say:

How long have you been a reader of this blog?

45% of you have been reading this blog for a couple of years or more, 17% forever, and 17% less than a year. The rest of you are brand new around here! (And while new ones are AWESOME, it also makes me happy that so many stick around, you know?)

How often do you read this blog?

Half of you come around several times a week, and 17% come every day!

What do you read and what do you skip?

As far as features and blog posts go I'm happy to report that 88% enjoy the book reviews. This is something I truly have wondered about because they don't generate many comments. Next most popular are the Top Ten lists with 60%, which is also good to know. I'll keep them up! It's a tie with 44% for both Sunday journal posts and discussion posts. I'll try to do better with them too! Other reviews came close with 35%. Everything else got small-ish percentages.....

......which leads us to conclude that the LEAST popular posts (or the ones you all skip!) are posts about Utah specific events and authors (makes sense if many of you are not from Utah... a question I didn't actually ask) and Book Club Reports (33%) and Authors Pick Five (26%). I guess it's good those posts don't come around very often, eh?

Commenting?

More than half of you (52%) don't leave comments because you feel you have nothing to say, or there's not enough time. Yep, that makes sense and I would have answered the same thing about my reasons for not commenting. But the thing I really wanted to know is if it makes a difference if I ask question... does that encourage you to comment? 72% of you said yes, it does! (Watch to see if I come up with more questions in the future.) And 82% said that you'll comment usually if you feel passionate about the subject of the post.

Clicking on tabs or sidebar links?

I wondered if anyone ever clicks on my pages found at the top or the label links on the side. It appears that you sometimes use the top links (57%) but hardly ever use the side links (50% said never.) Interesting! I'm guessing I myself use those side ones more often than readers of the blog!

Life Story posts?

I'm pondering another journaling type post, and so I wondered what your reaction would be. I won't be doing it all the time, maybe twice a month or so (more on that later) but thankfully, most of you  thought it sounded interesting (51%) and would give it a chance (39%) Even some (28%) said Love It! A few, however, said stick to books! (7%) Oh, well.

Who are you all?

It's not surprising that 72% of those that responded said you are fellow book bloggers, but I found it a little surprising that 20% are not bloggers, but just readers of the blog. Awesome, and now I wonder who you are! And I actually had two family members take the survey... I know one of them, but who's the other? Hmmmmm.

Several of you made some fun and encouraging comments, which was awesome to hear! Thanks to you for that! I will remember them on the down days!

What I learned:
-- keep writing reviews
-- ask questions
-- don't overly blog about Utah stuff
-- don't worry if I don't get a book club report up
-- it's okay to try some life story journal posts
-- don't assume everyone reading here is another book blogger
-- maybe I don't need all the sidebar links? Condense those perhaps?

Thanks again for participating and allowing me to get a little feedback once again.

And now your questions.... did YOU learning anything from this that you can apply to your own blog? Will you try conducting your own survey sometime in the future (if you haven't already?) What do you think about this being a mini challenge next Bloggiesta?

My Readers.. I have questions for you!

It's time I found out what you think.... again! Yes, I did this survey several years ago, but I'm sure (I hope anyway) that I have some new readers and follows and now I need to know again who's out there and what you think about things around here. And what better time than Bloggiesta time?

So here's a survey for you! It's fast, it's easy, so please make me happy and fill it out. Thanks so much for coming and reading and commenting and being here! You are all AWESOME!



 

Who's Your Author Rock Star?

Yesterday, I was asked this very question while I was working at the library. The guy in charge of programming is making a list of potential author appearances, and he basically said, if money is no matter, who would you want to see come? Yes, who is your author rock star?

Well, of course, if you've been reading here awhile, you know the answer I have to that question, though since he came just awhile back, my guess is he's not coming back anytime soon. :( (Just in case you are new reader, click here to find out who my rock star author is.) Except I know he has plans for Chicago, luckies.

So putting him aside for now, here are some others I suggested:

Suzanne Collins
Patrick Ness
Jeff Kinney
Neal Shusterman
Daniel Handler
Judy Blume
Melina Marchetta
Stephanie Perkins
John Green
Cassandra Clare


You may be surprised by a few on that list, but I was trying to keep in mind who would have a general wide spread rock star appeal, though a few of my personal rock stars did manage crept in. Also, I was not including of any of our local rock star authors such as Brandon Mull, Shannon Hale and Brandon Sanderson.

I'll be sure and let you know if we do manage to snag a real rock star author for a future event!

But it made me wonder how YOU would answer this question. If you could get anyone to come for an author event, who would it be? Who would you absolutely FREAK about, and stand in line hours for, then scream and jump for joy for when they walk into the room?

Who is YOUR author rock star?

A Bunch of Business (including a one question poll)

Just a few things on my mind:

First of all, I wanted to remind my Utah readers that the book blogging party is tomorrow! I know that came up fast, but why linger in anticipation, right? It will be at 6:00 at the Golden Corral in Midvale (about 7200 S and 13th E). Bring a book to exchange if you want. If you haven't been contacted, emailed, tweeted, or otherwise personally invited... that's okay, you are officially invited if you live here in Utah and have anything to do with book blogging or the bookish business. Please come!

Second... I've been wanting to ask everyone a question. This is a one question poll. I'm wanting to know how long you've been around reading this here blog. Because I'm staring to feel at times that I'm repeating myself, and am worrying that it's getting boring. But then I think... hey, there's some new people here I bet who haven't seen that story yet! Or whatever. So then I wondered what percentage of my readers are newish or oldish. And besides,  it's been awhile since I did a poll. Okay, so are you ready for the ONE question? It will be so easy I expect every single one of you to hit that one button!



See that was easy, right?

Finally, I'm wondering from my fellow American Idol fans... what do you think? Do we have some interesting people this time or what? Who's your favorite so far? I'm liking Stefano and Casey, and maybe Paul a little. Sad to see Tim go, I wanted to hear him more. Oh well. And as you know (or maybe you don't if you are a new reader...see what I mean? I need to know!) I'm not so much into the girls. I really like guy voices! :)

Okay I've been on this computer way too long! I'm off!

BBAW Giveaway Winner for The Maze Runner!

Congratulations goes to GAYE, winner of my BBAW Maze Runner giveaway according to random.org.

I've sent off an email requesting your mailing address. Please respond in the next couple of days so I can get your book signed and mailed quickly.

As part of my giveaway, I wanted to know what everyone's reaction was to Mockingjay. I had nearly 100 responses and here's how the answers broke down:

34% loved it

7% said it was okay

7% felt disappointed

7% enjoyed most of it, but thought the ending didn't feel right

and 43% have not read it yet!

Not one person said they hated it.

BBAW Giveaway: The Maze Runner

I rarely do giveaways, but being a part of the BBAW festivities is something I do want to participate in, so last night it finally hit me what book I'd like to giveaway:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I will be seeing him next week at our library and will get the book personally signed for the winner before sending it on. This is a worldwide giveaway. The winner will be randomly selected at midnight (US Eastern Time) on Sunday September 19 and announced on the blog here Monday morning, the 20th. 

Please fill out the form with your info in order to enter. As part of this giveaway I'm also asking the burning question: How did you feel about Mockingjay? I would love to gather some sort of statistic to determine where most of us fall on this important issue! So hopefully I've given enough choices so you can click on something that describes your feelings the closest.

Thanks for participating!! Be sure to check out all the other giveaways at this BBAW link.