Saturday, February 1, 2014

New Year, New Books: THANK YOU!


Well. New Year, New Books is officially over. (Okay, well not quite, since the Grand prize giveaway of 2 surprise 2014 ARCS+ signed swag is still going on... Plus a couple of other author ARC giveaways are still being outcasts and lingering around, just waiting for you to enter and win amazing book...

But anyways.

Guys. January was freaking incredible. This was my first time doing New Year, New Books and although there were some rocky times, I am so glad I didn't give up and I just let this crazy idea plant and grow in my head. But I did mess up sometimes, and here's a list of things where I went wrong: (The good part about making mistakes is learning from them.) *please note that this IS NOT a list of complaints. It is merely me admitting my weak points*


1) Didn't manage my time well. 
This, my friends, was my main problem. From scheduling posts to scheduling tweets, I fell behind a little and that led to an insane amount of stress.
2) Didn't promo well enough.
I might have JUST discovered HootSuite about 2 weeks into the actual event. *apologies go out to the authors who felt neglected!*
3) Didn't keep track of the authors. 
Major, major hugs go out to all these amazing authors who were willing to dedicate their time and books to New Year, New Books. In rounding up an amazing group of authors, I had so much amazingness that I had to feature two authors on one day!
4) I let the criticism get to me.
Drama. I hate it. One thing I've learned from New Year, New Books is to not let the criticism or lack of enthusiasm get to you. You can't please everyone, and you learn that petty people just are not worth it.
5) I didn't pick winners quick enough!
Eeeek I really do have to remember to pick winners quicker! It would have saved a lot of people time and energy if I had just picked the winners as soon as possible!

And the killer.
6) It got mixed in with school, work and life.
I love blogging. So much. And I loved New Year, New Books. But one thing I didn't love was the extreme stress that came along with midterms and the responsibility of priorities. Again, see number 1. Time management. Something I have to learn rather soon. ;)

AND NOW.... FOR THE "THANK YOUS!"
New Year, New Books couldn't have happened without some truly amazing people, authors, bloggers, and friends alike.




The following authors (in order of the post dates) put so much time and effort into their posts, and put up with my craziness, and gave away amazing prizes too. How much better can they get??

1) Courtney C. Stevens 
2) Sara Raasch
3) Natalie C. Parker
4) Megan Crewe
5) Tracy E. Banghart
6) Elsie Chapman
7) Crissa-Jean Chappell
8) Amalie Howard
9) Emery Lord
10) Philip Siegel
11) Brandy Colbert
12) Michelle Krys
13) Skylar Dorset
14) Jen McConnel
15) Liz Czukas
16) Kristin Rae
17) Bethany Neal 
18) Rebecca Serle
19) Dahlia Adler
20) Kate Ormand
21) Amy Zhang
22) Jennifer E. Smith
23) Heather Marie
24) Stacey Nash
25) Justina Ireland
26) Page Morgan
27) Alexandra Duncan
28) Laura Wettersten
29) Lindsay Cummings
30) Joy Hensley
31) S.M. Johnston
32) Kristine Asselin
33) Tiffany Schmidt
34) Elisa Ludwig
35) Natalie Whipple
36) Lori M. Lee
37) Claudia Gabel 
38) Cheryl Klam
39) Stephanie Diaz
40) Kristi Helvig
41) Clara Kensie
42) Annie Cosby
43) Amy Rolland
44) Kristen Simmons
45) Teri Brown
46) Emma Pass
47) Heather Demetrios
48) Bethany Crandell
49) Maria Andreu 
50) Anne Blankman


50 authors. All willing to be on my little blog. That thought in itself makes me so incredibly happy, but when you combine it with the fact that just getting to know these authors was fantastic, you have a teary Jayne.


And don't even get me started on my bloggy friends. They were so incredible, not just with spreading the word and practically stalking my blog, but also just being there to cheer me on and leave the most loveliest of comments. Y'all know who you are, and I cannot thank you enough for this. 

Now here's what I think will happen NEXT YEAR with New Year, New Books:


1) #NewYearNewBooks Twitter chat!
Twitter chats are hard to pull off, and props to those who can do it so successfully, but hey. It's just an idea I'm going to throw out there!
2) An even better grand prize.
This year, I was fortunate enough to be provided with 2 2014 ARCs and some signed swag of my own to give away! Next year, will it possibly be a box of arcs?.. Let's hope!
3) ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SEE HAPPEN.
Okay, well, not everything. But you get the point. I want to hear what you all thought about New Year, New Books! Feel free to leave comments, questions, ideas/suggestions for New Year, New Books 2015!

*Please refrain from leaving negative comments on this post. If you have anything you would like to say to me, please email me directly at fictionthenewreality@gmail.com. I had an "anonymous" user leave a nasty comment for me once, and personally, I think that's quite immature. So please. Let's end January on a positive note, huh?*


And, PLEASE! Feel free to come visit my blog any time you wish! I'll always be here with reviews, special features, and giveaways! ;)

8 comments:

  1. Woo!! This has been such a fun event, even if I keep getting behind on all the posts (grrrrr)! All these authors are fantastic. Some of them I already knew and adored but thanks to you I've met some new authors and seen new books that I want and adore! You may have had some problems but the fact you pulled all of this off is just beyond amazing! :)

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  2. Thank you for all the amazing giveaways and the energy you have spent to make this event work. I don`t follow a lot of book bloggers but I enjoyed your reviews so mush that I have added your blog to my "check frequently" list:-)

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  3. I'm quite impressed that you managed to get something so huge like this sorted and organized!

    Thank you and big kudos to you!!

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  4. This was such an ambitious and amazing event! You rock!! :-D

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  5. I thought you did an amazing job!! Having multiple giveaways, especially in such quick succession, must be so difficult. You've gotta be an extremely organized person which I really admire. It was really fun to read all the author interviews and find so many new books to add to my TBR list. congrats for pulling it off and getting through it! :)
    Dede

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  6. This event went so well! All the things you did--scheduling the posts, recruiting the authors, organizing the giveaways--was pretty amazing and you should definitely be proud of yourself because not everyone could've pulled this event off as well as you did. :) Great job, Jayne!

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  7. Thrilled to have been part of this fun event.
    And for the record, if you did everything "right" the first time, no one would like you.

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