I read a really interesting article, the other day, about the debate over whether or not blogger-reviewers should be paid for the book reviews they provide. Apparently, there’s quite the divide on this topic!

As my blog is now my business as well, I obviously am primed to think about ways to make money doing what I do (that’s not my sole purpose, obviously, but it certainly accounts for part of things, nowadays). And of course, I have been an independent book reviewer since 2005, so the thought has crossed my mind, occasionally, over the years: “Wouldn’t it be great to be paid to do this?” Yes, I’m “paid” in free books, right now — and I’m certainly not complaining about that! I’ve loved it, as –without this opportunity– I wouldn’t have had access to near the same amount of books! Our family funds have never been more than “barely scraping by”, so the book budget has been next to non-existent.

However, I think there comes a point where it starts to weigh on you that you’re doing all of this “work” for free. Some of the points in the article and its comments were that, even though companies don’t think twice, in other industries, about paying the people they get to do their marketing and promotion for them, for some reason, in the book reviewing world, there’s this expectation that it should be done for free (and, if bloggers “dare” to charge for their services, publishers will just go elsewhere, and other bloggers will look down on you for “selling out”).

Mind you, all of that said, I’m not considering doing reviews for money. Not at the moment, anyway. I just wanted to bring this discussion to light, as it has brought me to a conclusion I think I’d already been working my way toward … giving up reviewing (at least for a while).

Since starting to work for myself three years ago, I’ve not had the same amount of time to read as I used to (back when I started reviewing, I was a stay-at-home-mom, with no job). Case in point, my total read in 2012 was 80 books … my total books read this year? Only 14. I know, right? 😦

More often than not, any more, I find myself either overwhelmed because I requested more books than I realistically had time to read, OR I just feel resentful of the review books I’ve asked for as they’re keeping me from reading my other (non-review) books, or library books that catch my attention.

Side note: This is why you saw a bunch of “spotlight” posts, the other day… I wanted to “clear my plate”, so-to-speak of all of the review books I’m behind on by –at the very least– spotlighting them, and giving you guys a heads-up about them. My hope is to start the new year fresh. And, like I said, I’m not sure I’m going to do any reviewing in 2016. If I do, it’ll be very, very sporadic … maybe 2-3 for the whole year (if I can discipline myself enough to not request any! LOL)

My true desire is to start reading from my own stash of books, and finally get around to some that I’ve purchased, recently, and not had time for. AND, in getting to those books, I would really like to do a new feature called “Read & Respond“, where I’ll talk about my thoughts on the books I’m currently reading, and look to start discussions about those topics. I’ve got some great books lined up, too! I can’t wait to share them!

<– {these are just a few … I’ve got another big pile waiting for me!}

I also need to do more writing on my blog in 2016. Thus far, it’s been mainly my memes. And while those are fun — and I know you guys love them (don’t worry — the majority are staying!)– I have other things I’d like to share with you here, as well… things like how-to’s on blogging and writing and small business, and –like I mentioned– I want to do a regular “read & respond” type of thing. Lots of plans in the works!

Speaking of plans and of writing, I also hope to have my email newsletter up in the new year! I know it’s been a long time in coming… I’m sorry. But I’m getting there, finally. My new mailing list is up (yay!), and the next step will be to get that newsletter out. Well, I’m hoping to get my branding stuff settled first, and then I’ll get the newsletter out … hence why it’s not starting right away. Once it does go out, though, you can expect a once-a-month letter from me (if you’re signed up for my list), and it will include exclusive content that you won’t find here on the blog, plus contests and other goodies. So, if you haven’t signed up for the list yet (you’ll have to sign up, again, as it won’t be coming through the plain WordPress follower feed), I encourage you to do so. Right now, what you’ll get when you sign up is just my feed of the posts I publish here. The bonus, though, is that you can choose what you see! 😉

So, that’s what’s going on ’round here, at this time… I know some of you have had some trouble with my new layout, and I do apologize… but I hope the screenshot I shared will clear things up. Personally, I’m liking the cleaner, more simplistic feel of this template than what came with the old one. So I hope you’ll bear with me through the changes.

Thanks so much for being loyal readers! I pray you’ll all have a safe & blessed Christmas season in the coming weeks.