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This Week's Question
Do you ever go "way back" to
when you first started blogging,
and look at your old review posts?
Do you see any differences from
then to now?
(Submitted by Elizabeth @
My Answer
Okay, here are the short and sweet answers to both of these questions: !.) From to time, and 2.) Absolutely!
Of course, my answers can NEVER be THIS short. I HAVE to go into details. This is just the way I am! Lol.
I definitely see some differences between my early reviews and my later ones. There are not only differences in format, but also in writing style, although the latter has not changed drastically.
I will first discuss the format changes. In my early reviews, I included smaller pictures of the book covers of the books I was reviewing. Also, I always placed my rating stars (which I got courtesy of the blog Parajunkee) at the top of the review, underneath all the book information. Nowadays, I use bigger cover pictures, and place my rating stars at the end of my reviews. I have also added the words "My Rating", underlined, and all in caps, to the left of the stars.
Another difference: back then, I did not use "Bold" on my text, nor did I change the color of the font to white before publishing the post, as I do now. In the post editor, the text appeared as black, but, when I published the post, it showed up as light gray. Somewhere along the line, I decided to change it to white, for easier reading. I also decided to use Verdana as the font for reviews, and Arial or Helvetica for the book information. I did experiment with Trebuchet, but didn't like it, so I abandoned it. The Blogger interface system doesn't provide much variety in fonts. I have also changed the font size. I tend to use a bigger size now. This is because I want to make my posts as easy to read as possible.
Speaking of font size, at some point, I began making the title of the book larger than the rest of the book information. This was a subtle change which I felt would make the title really stand out in the minds of my readers.
Another difference: in my early reviews, I never included a book synopsis, whereas now I do. Also, some time back, I began color-coding the synopsis to match the main color in the book cover. However, I've noticed that sometimes I don't do that, so I might be moving away from doing this.
Yet another difference: in my earlier reviews, I aligned the text to the left. One day, this began to bother me, for some reason. I then began using justified alignment. I think this change was due to aesthetic reasons; to me, the post looks much better with justified text.
More formatting differences: I never included any information about a book's author in my reviews, whereas now, I do. At most, I would sometimes include a photo of the author. Not only do I now include a photo, but a bio and online links, as well. Recently, I have begun to use a middle alignment for the author photo, bio, and links. Not that long ago, I was flushing everything left, except for the author links.
I also like to include the source of the book nowadays. If I'm reviewing for a blog tour, I will of course mention that I got the book from either the blog tour company, or the author. If I purchased the book for myself, I will then mention where I acquired it, whether online or at a physical bookstore.
Some time back, I used the now-defunct Picasa program to create little buttons that would serve as "dividers" between different sections of my posts, whether these were reviews or some other kind of post. I used my own blog header as background, and added headings. See the samples below:
Also some time ago, I began using a button for a Goodreads link to books. There are many such buttons on the blogosphere. Here's the one I currently use, in my review posts, and blog tour posts:
As for the writing style, it hasn't really changed that much, except that, since I didn't include a book synopsis in my early reviews, I had a tendency to rehash the plot. So that meant that I also tended to give too much away. I have since attempted to curb this nagging little problem. I want my reviews to be as spoiler-free as possible! So now I do include the synopsis, right under the book information.
Sometimes, when revisiting these earlier reviews, I have made some changes. These are more in keeping with my current reviewing format and style. But then I decided to stop doing this. After all, blogging is a process of growth. It's nice to see just how far one has come, I think. My earlier reviews show where I was at that point in my blogging. Much has changed since then, in a good way. Not that these older reviews are BAD, but they don't represent my current style. I'm glad I stopped "revising" them, though. I now enjoy seeing the contrast between where I was then, and where I am now.(Besides, it would be a VERY time-consuming task to go back and make changes to every single one of my early reviews!)
If you'd like to see some of these differences for yourself, here are links to one of my older reviews, and to one of my more recent ones.
Of course, my answers can NEVER be THIS short. I HAVE to go into details. This is just the way I am! Lol.
I definitely see some differences between my early reviews and my later ones. There are not only differences in format, but also in writing style, although the latter has not changed drastically.
I will first discuss the format changes. In my early reviews, I included smaller pictures of the book covers of the books I was reviewing. Also, I always placed my rating stars (which I got courtesy of the blog Parajunkee) at the top of the review, underneath all the book information. Nowadays, I use bigger cover pictures, and place my rating stars at the end of my reviews. I have also added the words "My Rating", underlined, and all in caps, to the left of the stars.
Another difference: back then, I did not use "Bold" on my text, nor did I change the color of the font to white before publishing the post, as I do now. In the post editor, the text appeared as black, but, when I published the post, it showed up as light gray. Somewhere along the line, I decided to change it to white, for easier reading. I also decided to use Verdana as the font for reviews, and Arial or Helvetica for the book information. I did experiment with Trebuchet, but didn't like it, so I abandoned it. The Blogger interface system doesn't provide much variety in fonts. I have also changed the font size. I tend to use a bigger size now. This is because I want to make my posts as easy to read as possible.
Speaking of font size, at some point, I began making the title of the book larger than the rest of the book information. This was a subtle change which I felt would make the title really stand out in the minds of my readers.
Another difference: in my early reviews, I never included a book synopsis, whereas now I do. Also, some time back, I began color-coding the synopsis to match the main color in the book cover. However, I've noticed that sometimes I don't do that, so I might be moving away from doing this.
Yet another difference: in my earlier reviews, I aligned the text to the left. One day, this began to bother me, for some reason. I then began using justified alignment. I think this change was due to aesthetic reasons; to me, the post looks much better with justified text.
More formatting differences: I never included any information about a book's author in my reviews, whereas now, I do. At most, I would sometimes include a photo of the author. Not only do I now include a photo, but a bio and online links, as well. Recently, I have begun to use a middle alignment for the author photo, bio, and links. Not that long ago, I was flushing everything left, except for the author links.
I also like to include the source of the book nowadays. If I'm reviewing for a blog tour, I will of course mention that I got the book from either the blog tour company, or the author. If I purchased the book for myself, I will then mention where I acquired it, whether online or at a physical bookstore.
Some time back, I used the now-defunct Picasa program to create little buttons that would serve as "dividers" between different sections of my posts, whether these were reviews or some other kind of post. I used my own blog header as background, and added headings. See the samples below:
Also some time ago, I began using a button for a Goodreads link to books. There are many such buttons on the blogosphere. Here's the one I currently use, in my review posts, and blog tour posts:
As for the writing style, it hasn't really changed that much, except that, since I didn't include a book synopsis in my early reviews, I had a tendency to rehash the plot. So that meant that I also tended to give too much away. I have since attempted to curb this nagging little problem. I want my reviews to be as spoiler-free as possible! So now I do include the synopsis, right under the book information.
Sometimes, when revisiting these earlier reviews, I have made some changes. These are more in keeping with my current reviewing format and style. But then I decided to stop doing this. After all, blogging is a process of growth. It's nice to see just how far one has come, I think. My earlier reviews show where I was at that point in my blogging. Much has changed since then, in a good way. Not that these older reviews are BAD, but they don't represent my current style. I'm glad I stopped "revising" them, though. I now enjoy seeing the contrast between where I was then, and where I am now.(Besides, it would be a VERY time-consuming task to go back and make changes to every single one of my early reviews!)
If you'd like to see some of these differences for yourself, here are links to one of my older reviews, and to one of my more recent ones.
Lauren Kate
October 16, 2010
Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp
July 30, 2017
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