Happy 2016, lovely readers! It’s a new year! I hope you all survived the holidays with a minimum of stress and a maximum of peace and relaxation. We had a very quiet Christmas and New Year’s Eve but after the extended stress of finding a home in Seattle and then bringing that home into the 21st century, it was welcome. In the same spirit of remodeling and updating you may have noticed some changes here.
So, while you all were like this:
I was like this:
Yes, after three years I thought The Gilmore Guide was looking a bit frumpy and outdated so I’ve spent the last month making changes I hope will make the site feel a bit fresher (and who doesn’t want that?!). The work continues behind-the-scenes so there are links that may be broken for the next little while and items may shift around, but please be patient, I’m working on it. Aside from a whole new color scheme here is what I’ve done to make finding your next great book easier. And these changes have not been just to current or upcoming reviews—I went back and re-edited all 575 reviews on this site (why the hell did I read so much?!).
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Star ratings! Because sometimes you don’t have time to read an entire review or you’re at a store ready to buy a book and you simply want the basics.
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1=No
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2=All right
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3=Liked it
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4=Really liked
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5=Loved it
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I even have half stars (yippee!) because, well…you know, I may not be fully committed to another star up or down!
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I’ve added an item to the menu bar for Reviews. It’s a pull-down and you can search by either title or author.
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Rather than having just one review take up the front page I’ve gone to a new format with several items. This means if you’re stopping by you can quickly see multiple reading options.
Beyond that, I have updated my affiliation links in each review. These are the links where, if you choose, you can buy the book from the site I’m partnered with and I’ll get pennies on the purchase (this is not a get-rich-quick scheme, believe me). Currently, I feel it’s important to support independent booksellers so if you click on the book cover at the beginning of each review it will take you to Powell’s in Oregon. They have inventory and shipping rates very similar to Amazon but are locally owned and operated. If you click the book title link it leads you to IndieBound a site that will let you search for a bookstore in your area.
Loving the user-super-friendly updates!
Thank you! Just trying to keep up with these blogging whipper-snappers. 😉
Thank you for the star ratings! I like being able to see quickly what someone thinks of a book.
The site is looking great – really love the header!
I’m amazed that you were able to go back and fix everything so quickly! I’m still trying to fix things from my Blogger to WP switch over a year ago. Love how everything looks 🙂
Well, snark aside, you’re my role model. Your blog is always fresh and interesting!
Catherine,
Congrats on the refresh to your site – it’s a new look for a new year and that’s a wonderful thing. I asked for and received Marie Kondo’s The life-changing magic of tidying up. I haven’t started it yet and have already donated two carloads full to Goodwill. Now that’s a great feeling!! Hoping to be liberated from lots of stuff in the next weeks. Happy New Year!
I LOVE doing that, Jean! Now that the house is finished I spent part of the holidays unpacking kitchen boxes and clothes from UT (where it is so cold) and ended up donating a lot of sweaters and pots and pans. No more boxes and no more stuff we don’t use!
You fixed all your old reviews?!!! Holy mackerel!! I just reformatted the reviews/posts that still get pageviews…and some I link to a lot. A ton of my old reviews look horrible under my new theme!
I bow down!! And – I’ve told you this already, but I’m a huge fan of your new look!
Thank you! I use the indexing of those old reviews as my excuse for sitting in front of bad TV- I’m working, right?! I’m still not done- I’m up to spring of 2015. Oy.
Catherine, the update looks MAHHHVELOUS! I love it! I’m always scared to change too many things around for fear that I’ll screw it up so badly that I won’t be able to figure out how to fix it; thank God for Google! I received two coloring books (I feel so strange calling them “adult” coloring books, as if they have nudie pictures in them) and colored pencils for Christmas, but no reading books. This is probably because everyone already knows that I have more books than I need. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the holidays!
Oh goodness, Tara, that’s probably the next phase of coloring books!
Thankfully, I learned today’s designers know how to work with WP and blogger so well, that themes slide right into place with minimal changes. It’s actually fun! Not re-editing and indexing over 500 reviews, but seeing the changes go live.
This post cracked me up and that Lucy photo never gets old. After the holidays and the move I spent New Years on the sofa, feet up with a book. It was glorious! The new blog look is lovely and feel the itch now to do something but “Plain Jane” sets in and I walk away.
Good for you! Last year was a tough one for a lot of book bloggers- me included. I lost a lot of my energy and it only seemed to come back at the end of the year.
Bet it feels good to have all those updates done! I got a B&N gift card but didn’t get to spend it yet because my mother-in-law had misplaced it and then I had to go back to the real world of work. Lol, I’m saving it up for when I need a reward or pick-me-up.
I love the purchasing links you’ve included. Great idea! I love your new look, too! I admire those of you who update and change your blogs. I feel as if I’m just getting comfortable with mine! But I am also the type who rarely ever changes furniture arrangement, etc.! Once I’m happy with something I pretty much keep it that way. 🙂
I have been considering adding some sort of quick rating visual to reviews… You’ve got me thinking! 🙂