Do You Celebrate Your Blogiversary?

by Donna Huber

Last Wednesday marked Girl Who Reads 9th anniversary. A few years, particularly in the beginning, I did giveaways or tried to post something special to mark the day. Alas, I usually forgot about it until the last minute so nothing really lavished has ever been planned. I don't see the lavish celebrations that mark a blogiversary as of late. At least not to the extent that I have seen in the past. Do you celebrate your blogiversary?

January 15, the date in 2011 that I published my first review on this site, always seems to sneak up on me. I know I started my blog in mid-January, but I'm never quite sure of the date until I look back at the review of Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian. I've always thought it was because my birthday is 3 days later and I just can't keep the date in my head but I don't think that is the only reason.

In 2010, I was working for a small press startup doing their marketing. It was unlikely that we would garner any big press with our mostly first-time authors, so I was looking for other ways to spread the word and that is how I was first introduced to the book blogging community.

I had toyed with the idea of starting a blog for some time. I wasn't sure if I really had the time, but I also needed to learn more about what book blogging was all about so I could advise the authors I was working with how to best work with bloggers. I learn best by doing.

Then I read Skeletons at the Feast while on my trip to eastern Europe. I originally thought I would trade it during the trip with either another hostel traveler or perhaps at a bookshop that had English books. I found no such opportunity and I'm not sure I could have parted with it should I have. Even after returning to the U.S. I couldn't stop thinking about the book and told everyone they should read it. Then I ran out of people to tell about it, and none of my friends seemed to want to read it. So I took to the interwebs.

I had used the name Girl Who Reads as my screen name on a fanfiction site because all I did was read, as opposed to most who also wrote fanfiction. I liked the name and thought it fitting for a book blog.

As I saw this mostly as an experiment, plus I had started a couple of blogs before that I only kept up for a few months, I didn't want to invest too much in it. I was familiar with Blogger so I quickly chose a template (the one with the bookcase look) and wrote my first review.

A lot has changed in the 9 years since I started Girl Who Reads. I have seen many bloggers take a hiatus and never come back or take their blogs in a different direction. Others I think I have just lost touch with as there aren't as many opportunities to touchbase. One of my favorite blogging events was ArmchairBEA. I always saw old faces, particularly at the Twitter parties. There seem to be fewer Twitter parties and chats these days. I also don't participate in as many memes as I did in the beginning.

In the early days of my blogging, the blogiversary was a big deal to many. There would be elaborate celebrations with games and prizes, special content, and sometimes special guests. Some bloggers would have a month-long celebration. As my blogiversary comes just weeks after the Christmas holidays, it was always difficult to find the time to plan anything other than a simple giveaway. And giveaways don't seem to draw the crowds that they once did, at least not without a tremendous amount of work. So this year, I thought would let the day pass quietly. I did mean to mention it on social media but that slipped my mind as well.

But next year will be my 10th anniversary and I feel that I should plan something to mark the occasion. I'm not sure how many people keep a book blog going for 10 years. It seems like an accomplishment to me.

But what should I do to mark the occasion? Is celebrating a blogiversary even still a thing? Do you celebrate your blogging anniversary? If so, what do you do to mark the occasion?

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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