Saturday, January 23, 2016

Blowing Our Own Horn


On a normal day we try to help you, our readers. Most days our post is a review (helping you decide if a particular book is for you). Sometimes we'll have a guest post from an author, a quick read to entertain or enlighten you while serving the dual purpose of a tryout, giving you a feel for the author's “voice” and other clues as to whether their books might be a good fit for your tastes.

Coming up in March we'll be conducting the 2016 Readers' Choice Awards, our fourth annual awards contest where we draw attention to the absolute best books we've reviewed in the prior year and ask you to weigh in with your pick for the best of the best. (You and other voters will also get entered in a raffle for some great prizes.)

Even “Ask the Pals,” our latest new feature that premiered earlier this week, while it might seem to be more about us, is actually so you can know us better than what you can glean reading between the lines of a review. We feel that this will make our reviews more valuable if you know the individual better as both a reader and a person.


However, today is an exception. It's not about you. It's all about us. Sorry. :)


Today marks our fifth birthday. We're excited that when school starts next fall we'll finally be out of preschool and get to attend the real school with the big blogs and blogesses.

In the beginning, it was just me. I kicked off with a review of the mystery thriller Brittle Shadows by Vicki Tyley followed by some commentary on the brand new (at the time) Kindle Singles program. It has been a constant learning experience from the beginning with one of my reviews going viral when the site was only a couple months old. I think my reviews have improved over time and the site definitely improved with the addition of the Pals. The three Pals with the longest tenure, ?wazithinkin', Pete Barber, and Keith Nixon, will each reach their four year anniversary as Pals in 2016. During the last five years we've reviewed more than 1,400 books. While that barely scratches the surface of all the indie books out there (it barely makes a dent in those we've been asked to review), we're still proud of what we've accomplished. But enough about us. Tomorrow, it's all about you again.

19 comments:

Les Edgerton said...

Happy birthday, guys! Thanks for all you've done for your fellow writers--we appreciate it! May you have many, many more!

Kris Bock said...

Congratulations, and thank you! Birthday cake and champagne in the virtual break room!

Susan Stuckey said...

If this posts twice .. sorry

Congrats and Happy Birthday!

KJDonovan said...

Happy birthday BigAl and your pals.
Fantastic service you offer. Please keep it going.

Vicki said...

Happy birthday, BigAl and Pals! It's hard to believe it's been five years. Keep blowing that horn...

DED said...

Keep up the good work!

Karen Wojcik Berner said...

Congratulations, Al and the Pals! Thanks for all of your hard work and keen insights. The indie world is a better place because of you. I raise a virtual glass of champagne to you -- cheers!

Maria said...

Some great reviews and a great blog, always! Happy Fifth and I hope there are many, many more!

Maria

Melinda said...

Happy birthday! I remember back when folks were hanging out at Al's place and begging you to become a reviewer. I hadn't realized it was that long ago, though!

Lynne Cantwell said...

Happy anniversary to all the Pals! You guys do good work. :)

K.S. Brooks said...

Happy Blogoversary! You guys do a great job. Thanks for doing what you do!

Candace Williams said...

Congratulations Big Al & Pals! What an accomplishment! Y'all do great work and I hope you realize just how much that means to all of us (a lot!) Much love to all and best wishes for the new year <3

Sandra Hutchison said...

Congratulations! Indie authors and readers are lucky to have all of you uncovering gems for us.

BooksAndPals said...

Thanks for all the Happy Birthdays. I'm glad there is still some cake and champagne for me. Cheers.

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday! And many more. Congratulations!

BooksAndPals said...

Thanks, Susan.

Armen said...

Congrats and keep up the good work.

BooksAndPals said...

Thanks, Armen.

Anonymous said...

My life was in boxes on your fifth birthday, and I have been tryin to catch up with e-things ever since I got reconnected properly to the intyweb about 10 days ago.

I hope that it is not too late to congratulate you on providing a service which I'm sure all indie writers aspire to (I know I do) and without which I wouldn't know where to start in my indie reading.

And many more!

Judi