Looking Back and Moving Forward
It’s the start of a brand new reading year for everyone visiting All About Romance – and the official first year of the “new” AAR.
After more than a decade online, Blythe Barnhill, Rachel Potter, Lynn Spencer, and I officially took over as the new publishers of All About Romance in November. Since that time, we’ve made some changes to site features, published more new reviews (for the first time in several months, AAR published 50 reviews in December), and added the News and Commentary Blog that you’re reading right now.
The first returns are in and we couldn’t be happier.
December was AAR’s best month of 2008, with nearly 1.3 million page views, 258,000 visits, 74,000 unique visits, and 4 million overall hits. And, while we love those numbers, it’s important to note that they don’t tell the whole story since AAR’s popular message boards and the AAR After Hours blog are housed on different servers. We’re working right now on pulling together message board numbers, but we can tell you that the latter is currently receiving an average of 70,000 visits per month. As for the new blog, in just one month online we’ve had nearly 32,000 hits.
And, since running a site as big as AAR isn’t inexpensive, we’re also happy to say that advertising is booming. (A note to anyone interested in advertising at the site: Rates will be increasing soon to more accurately reflect traffic, so if you’re considering booking, now is the time.)
There’s something else we’re very happy about: AAR’s message boards are once again hopping. We love reading your posts and thank each and every one of you who participate in the discussion. (And, if you’re reading and not posting, can we encourage you to give it a try? AAR message board regulars love it when new voices join in.)
So, what can you expect from us in 2009? More new features and more of what you’ve already told us you enjoy – including more podcasts. We’ll also be responding to the feedback we received in our recent poll, so stay tuned.
But next week we’re returning to a popular site tradition when the Annual Reader Poll launches on January 12th. The dedicated team comprised of LinnieGayl, LeeB, and CindyS streamlined the poll a bit this year and we’re hoping for a record response. Start thinking now about your favorites – and your wallbangers – and check back next Monday to let us know what you loved (and what you didn’t) about your 2008 reading year.
Thanks to everyone on AAR’s staff for working so hard and so creatively. All of us here want to thank everyone who visits and helps make our site vibrant. We love being a part of the online romance community and plan to be here for years to come.
Here’s to a great 2009!
-Sandy AAR
Hello Love your blog a lot! I My dad told me about your website. Cool!
Appreciate the info guys, thanks
I also love AAR. Recently, I have been drawn to the AAR After Hours because I love to see what others are reading and the sidebar allows me to click on the books and get a quick summary. Although I enjoy romances, I must confess that many – especially the wallpaper versions- leave me cold, so, as a voracious reader, I am always on the lookout for interesting stuff – especially murder mysteries and historicals.
That being said, AAR introduced me to Eva Ibbotson, Carla Kelly, Mary Balogh and a host of other first rate and wonderful authors that I would not have enjoyed if it hadn’t been for this site.
What I miss most is the immediacy of the old style discussion boards, however, I can live with what we now have.
Hoping that this year continues to see AAR grow and evolve.
Best of luck Ladies in 2009.
I just want to say that I have checked out many other romance reviews websites and this is the one I keep coming back to again and again. I want to thank everybody who works so hard to make this website so enjoyable.
Being a relative newbie to AAR, I’m still learning all the different places there are to post: blogs, forums, message boards, listservs, websites, etc. 2009 is my year to figure it all out :) Thanks for giving me a fun playground to run around.
As a long time reader of AAR, I just want to say how much I appreciate all
the staff and their committment to this site. Typically, all my new authors, and new books that I read come from this site. I have found that the reviews are insightful, and descriptive enough to allow me to judge if I want to read the book or not. I also am impressed with the courtesy of the posters and the respect that is given to other people’s viewpoint.
I also hope that the many lurkers here, will come on in and post. As Tee says the threads that contain opposite viewpoints are interesting. As a more traditional reader, I found that just by reading these posts a new appreciation of our romance authors’ talents, and some encouragement to venure outside my box.
Thanks again to everyone for this great site.
Oops, when I named the people who operate the site, I mentioned instead the AAR Annual Reading Poll team, which does a fantastic job too. So along with Sandy, thank you also to Blythe Barnhill, Rachel Potter and Lynn Spencer.
Since I have enjoyed this site almost from the first day I discovered it online so many years ago, I am really happy to hear that it’s still going strong. I too noticed the increased activity and those certainly are signs of a healthy site. The threads are diverse, which makes for some interesting thoughts while reading them.
It’s good to encourage everyone to pitch in with their opinions; because, if you pay attention, the threads that contain opposite viewpoints are really the most interesting. It’s good to say “”I agree”” when you really do, but the fun begins when you can pulled out of your comfort zone and think in a different direction. Maybe you’ll change your mind and maybe you won’t, but the challenge is there just the same.
Good luck in 2009 to Sandy, LinnieGayl, LeeB and CindyS and everyone else who contributes behind the scenes. And a special hello to Laurie, who had the idea of a site such as this from the very beginning and who put it out in cyberspace. I still have yet to find a romance book site out there that equals it. There are some that are done well, but really don’t quite match up to this one.