I never in a million years thought I’d still be blogging fifteen years after I started this blog on a whim! Yet here I am, still plugging away. I thought “15” would be a good time to stop and take a look back, share the good and the bad, and especially, say “thank you” to everyone who has visited at one time or another, especially to my many long time blogging friends:-)
I’m breaking this post up into three sections:
1. Favorite book for each year of blogging. This was HARD. Picking one favorite book for the entire year is one of the toughest things I’ve done on this blog! For some reason, 2020 was the worst year. I had a top 5 like I do every year, but I loved all five books equally.
2. Things I don’t do on the blog anymore. It was surprisingly easy to come up with these, and I think it just shows how normal it is to change and grow your blog when things aren’t working.
3. Random observations about blogging. I don’t want this post to get overly long, so here’s a few things I’ve been thinking about!
Favorite book for each year of blogging:
(my reviews are linked below. You can see how my review style has changed over the years!)
2011
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
no likes:-(
2012
11/22/63 by Stephen King
(WTH I never reviewed this!)
2013
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
(LOL at this time I was giving out my coveted Crystal Chandelier Award of Awesome!)
2014
The Martian by Andy Weir
(I can’t believe I used to make 3D covers for all my reviews!)
2015
Afterparty by Daryl Gregory
(still working on my review format)
2016
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
(finally, I got the Ultimate Book Blogger plug in and my reviews have looked like this since!)
2017
Borne by Jeff Vandermeer
2018
We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
2019
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
2020
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
2021
Come With Me by Ronald Malfi
2022
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
2023
The September House by Carissa Orlando
2024
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
(sorry Barb!)
2025
My Ex, the Antichrist by Craig DiLouie
Let me know if we share any favorites!
Things I don’t do on the blog anymore:
Of course over the course of fifteen years, you’re going to change things up. Here are five things I don’t do anymore (and remember these are just things that don’t work for me, I am not criticizing bloggers who do them!)
1. Giveaways. I used to do a monthly giveaway I called my Book Review Giveaway, where the winner could pick any book I reviewed that month. That went on for a long time, and I finally stopped doing it because I realized a couple of things: it was getting too expensive, and it was attracting what I called “giveaway junkies,” people I didn’t know who came out of the woodwork every time I ran a giveaway. I really wanted to reward my followers, not random people who didn’t follow my blog. So I stopped.
2. Blog Tours. A lot of the types of posts I did in the early days were to attract more followers. I thought being on blog tours would be a sure fire way of getting more views. Well, that never really happened, lol, and it was a blog tour post that got me kicked off my free Word Press blog and forced me to switch to self hosted—which turned out to be a good thing! Blog tours are too structured, you have to promise to post on a certain date, and they take forever to put together.
3. Book Promos & Blitzes. Along the same lines as blog tours, these are copy and paste posts that don’t reflect the blogger’s thoughts or opinions, so it never made sense to me.
4. Author Interviews. Man, every time I agreed to do an author interview (and I’ve done a ton of them!), I stressed out big time. I was always worried that I would ask the wrong questions, or forget to ask an obvious or important question, or end up just looking dumb, lol. I finally realized something—I could just say “no” to interviews!
5. Read self published books. This is a touchy subject. I know lots of readers who love them. But I read mostly self published books for the first few years of my blog, and for the most part they were awful. It nearly made me stop blogging, so I simply stopped. It was about that time that I joined NetGalley and made my first traditional publisher contacts, and everything changed from there on. Edited to add: I DO read self published books by authors I’ve previously read, just FYI, especially authors who have traditionally published books under their belts. For example, Stephanie Burgis has a series she self publishes on the side, and I’ll be reading the fourth book in Constance Fay’s Uncharted Hearts series, which is going to be self published (the rest of the series was published by Tor Books, but they declined the fourth book).
Random observations about blogging:
1. My favorite thing about blogging over the years isn’t getting ARCs or growing my stats or followers—my favorite thing is when people leave comments! In real life I’m sort of a hermit and an introvert, but I love the blogging community, and I love the friends I’ve made over the years. I get so excited with every comment, and I try to leave as many comments as I can on other blogs too. Isn’t the reason we’re all doing this to talk about books? 😉 I’m not perfect at it. Sometimes I run out of time and can’t respond to comments, or I forget to visit someone whose blog I don’t normally follow but who left me a comment, but I try.
2. I feel like the absolutely height of blogging might have been during COVID in 2020. My blog stats exploded during that time, because people were at home and had nothing else to do. I do miss those days sometimes! Everyone is so busy now, I know it’s hard to devote time to blog hopping and commenting.
3. My reading tastes have changed dramatically in fifteen years. When I started blogging, I was mostly reading literary fiction, can you believe it? I think my early review posts were probably all over the place, genre wise. My first published review was a book written by my good friend Brett Battles. (also you can see how different my review posts looked at that timel) I didn’t get any “likes” on that post and only one comment, lol. Gradually I started reading what other bloggers were reading, and when I made contact with publishers, I started reading what they were offering. It took me years to realize I wasn’t a fan of epic fantasy, even though it’s such a popular genre on blogging platforms. Now I don’t read it at all. In fact if a book has a sword on the cover, it’s almost always a “no” for me. I’ve always loved Stephen King, but I haven’t always read a lot of horror. It’s only in recent years I discovered how much I love it.
4. I miss so many bloggers who aren’t blogging anymore. This is a sad one. I understand, people move on, blogging takes up too much time, kids and spouses and travel and jobs become more important. Still, each time I notice a blogging friend leave the fold, it’s very disappointing. Sometimes I wonder if I’m still blogging because I just don’t have a life, lol.
5. Technology sucks. I know everyone has been in this boat before, but it always amazes me that we have made it to 2026 without completely figuring stuff out. Like when your blog is down and doesn’t work. Especially when you can’t get straight answers from tech support. I’ve been through a lot of technological mishaps, including having my blog taken down by WordPress because their policy says “no blog tours.” WHAT? Trying to move hosts because my blog wasn’t working right for months, only for the new host to have trouble connecting me with Jetpack, and then having to go back to the old host:-( Then there’s the recent influx of bots that ruin your stats, plugins that mess up your blog, and why the heck don’t I get notification emails from other bloggers when they have a new blog post?? And yet, here I am, lol.
6. Finally, let’s talk about the name of my blog. So when I started the blog, I didn’t think about the name, I didn’t consider what other bloggers were naming their blogs and decide to kind of go with the flow. I literally came up with “Books, Bones & Buffy” in a couple of seconds: at the time I was really into the TV shows Buffy and Bones, and of course I loved books, hence the name. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve wanted to change it! I mean, no publisher is going to quote one of my reviews for marketing purposes with that name, lol. In the end, I was afraid I’d lose followers over a big change like that, so here we are.
Congratulations, Tammy. Here’s to the next 15 years!
Thanks Paula, much appreciated:-)
Fifteen uears! Congratulations.
Thank you!
Congrats on your blogiversary! I’ve so enjoyed reading your posts for probably 10 of those years!
Thank you!
Congratulations on fifteen years of blogging, thats such an incredible achievement. And I love how you set this post out and the details you decided to share for it.
I’ll go and check out your review for Ready Player One now. I’ve only read The Heiress out of your favourites but I loved it, especially Ruby’s voice. The Only Good Indians I should be reading soon and I have a few of the others on my TBR to get to.
I didn’t realise you used to so monthly giveaways. I can definitely understand why you stopped though. Wait you can’t have blog tours??? I had no clue and I see so many people do them. I can see how interviews would be stressful and I get where you’re coming from with self published books. I want to support more indie authors but I also want to be selective in what I take on as one book I accepted via Goodreads in the past I couldn’t push myself to finish. I also find it awkward accepting books directly from authors too as it feels cruel if you then end up disliking the book.
You do an incredible job when it comes to commenting and blog hopping. I truly don’t know how you manage it all. I’m with you on missing people who have disappeared over the years too. So many simply vanish with no warning. Technological issues are stressful for sure. I don’t understand the email notifications thing either, some people I get them for and others I don’t. Its just bizarre. Very surprised to hear that you started out with literary fiction. And I like your blog name although I have to admit I’ve somehow never seen Bones.
Love your kind words at the end and I have to say that you’re honestly one of the most devoted bloggers I know. I truly dont know how you manage it.
Thank you Charlotte! I think the blog tour rule must have changed. It was such a weird thing to happen to me, and I haven’t heard of anyone else who went through that. I appreciate your kind words, and I’m glad we are blogging buddies:-)
It looks like I wasn’t the only one who went back and gave a like to your first review. You have 2 now ;D.
I agree on your stance about giveaways, book tours and the likes. I’ll die on the self-published books hill, though – I’m willing to read and feature them as long as they sound up my alley or I know the author. I agree with Charlotte above though – it does feel cruel if you then end up not liking the book you were given directly from the author…It happened to me in the past. No drama ensued, but it did feel awkward.
“Books, Bones & Buffy” is a fun alliteration, but I see your point LOL. One might argue that at least Buffy is a supernatural/horror show, which fits part of your brand, but Bones…not so much ;D (though the decomposed bodies and stuff they kept finding where VERY horrifying haha. And don’t let me start on Hodgins hosting fly eggs in his neck…)..
“Sometimes I wonder if I’m still blogging because I just don’t have a life, lol.”
I FEEL SEEN; OK? 😉 Though I’m sure you have much more of a life than I do.
Happy 15th blogoversary, and here’s to many more!
Aww thank you! My first review appreciates it:-) I’ve had some awkward moments in the past with authors who have sent me books, but I’ve also had awkward moments with publicists, so I guess it’s sort of the same thing. And OMG, thanks for bringing back the memories of my LEAST favorite episode of Bones, lol. Thank you Roberta!
HA! That storyline was awful LOL. And SO out there, even for Hodgins…
The show almost lost me because of that episode!
15 years, that is awesome! Congratulations!
Thanks Stormi!
Congrats on making it to 15 years! It’s crazy to think that I’ll be at 12 years next month. Time flies! I miss a lot of those that aren’t blogging anymore either.
Tine does fly, it’s crazy to think about sometimes. Thank you Lauren!
I enjoyed seeing how your review format has changed over the years. It’s a nice way of seeing how your blog developed and grew. And it’s interesting how your reading tastes have changed too, because I’m so used to your blog featuring many horror and thriller books.
I don’t do giveaways anymore either, but for me it was because it was so much easier to do via Book Depository, but now it’s not around anymore after Amazon ate it.
Oh man! I’d be stressed too doing author interviews.
Yea, the name change is pretty big, if you decide to do it. I did it once, but it was very early on. I think it resulted in a few broken links and such but otherwise went smoothly. But there’s so much to consider and worry about to do it.
Happy 15 years! And thanks for the great content over that time! 🙂
Thanks so much! Sometimes it’s embarrassing to go back and look at my old posts, but I guess you’re right, it does show change and growth. And yes! I always used Book Depository for my giveaways too, and that was another reason I stopped.
Congratulations on 15 years, Tammy! That’s a heck of a milestone. I’m glad you’re still here and blogging. I rely on your reviews a lot. I selfishly hope you continue to blog for a long time to come, and I hope it continues to be a good thing for you to do.
Thanks Marion! I appreciate your kind words, and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon:-)
Happy 15th Blogiversary! That is a long time to be so dedicated. Yours is one of my favorite stops and when I take my month/year long hiatus’s I’m always so happy to see you still posting so consistently. I did a few giveaways early on and all of the giveaway junkies flocked to my site never to be seen again. One winner even got upset at me because the package they received from the author arrived damaged when it was left out in the rain and they wanted another one. It was always disappointing and I’ve stopped them for that reason. Same with the blitzes and tours. They were so much work to format and very much not me. My blog name was created on a whim too. Over the years, I wish I had thought it out better – especially after the death of my dog who was once my avatar. I ended up sticking my cat there because seeing his picture always made me a little sad. PS I love your blog name!
Thanks Laurie! I appreciate the kind words. I always look forward to your reviews because they are so honest and casual. And thank you for loving my blog name! I really like yours too, especially since it references your dog:-)
Happy 15th blogiversary! It’s funny to see that we’ve gone through a lot of the same changes — I wonder how old my blog is exactly…? But yeah, also stopped doing interviews and blog tours (though had no idea WordPress doesn’t allow blog tours!), it was just never actually worth it and I don’t think it served most authors well either!
Thank you! When I got kicked off my blog, they said I violated one of their rules, and it had to do with posting “copy and paste” content that wasn’t original. They mentioned blog tours in the rule. I was shocked. Do you know how many bloggers participate in blog tours? Maybe those rules have changed, it was ridiculous.
Congrats on the 15 years. I’m almost as long but on 3 different blogs. I haven’t read enough of your favorite books of each year.
Thanks Anne!
Congrats on 15 YEARS!!! That’s so wild! I’m so glad to have been around for half of them, and more so to get to know you for the lovely person you are. There are so many of your points I resonate with, but none more than the blog name. I constantly find my stupid and want to change it but I can’t come up with anything better that isn’t taken lol. Personally, I like your name better than mine so;)
Thanks Will! A least your blog name makes sense (reading is a refuge from life, right?). Mine makes no sense, lol.
You’ve listed things you’re a fan of that start with ‘B’. Simple, lol
LOL so true!
Congratulations on 15 years. I have read many a book due to you recommending them. Look forward to many more.
Thank you! I really appreciate that, Tammy:-)
Happy Blogoversary! Congratulations on making it 15 years, it’s an impressive accomplishment!
Our evolution is pretty similar, and I have some regrets about my blog name too-it’s the comma mainly.
Cheers to many more!
Thanks Shelleyrae!
Happy blogversary! 15 years is amazing 🙂 I like the idea of listing a fav book per year.
I can relate to the things you don’t do anymore because same. Especially the blitzes and tours, you wind up doing free work for those book tour companies and don’t really get visitors or subscribers from it.
Now I know now what your blog name means 🙂 I miss bloggers that left too, the book blogging community is so fun. I always enjoy visiting your blog!
Thank you! I’m glad we connected:-)
I’ve been looking forward to this post and seeing your chosen books. We have a lot in common.
I was thinking I might post something similar and try to choose my favourite books too.
It is a bit sad to think of some of the blogs that I’ve loved over the years that have now disappeared.
Lynn 😀
I’d love to see your list, Lynn!
This is fantastic, Tammy! I wish I’d discovered your blog sooner but I’m happy I eventually did. It’s fun seeing the different views, both yours and commenters, on various books, as well as learning about books I’d been completely unfamiliar with. And of course I love the periodic photos of Badger and by Moses, that’s a nice bit spice to the bookish dish. It’s very interesting reading about the changes you’ve made and things you’ve noticed over the years. 15 years really is a long time. And I’m pleased to see I’ve actually read some of your favorite books from each year, though there are still a number of them I’ve yet to try. Thank you for continuing to continue on, and I look forward to wherever you take this blog (or it takes you) in the future! 🙂
Thank you for such kind words, Todd! I’m glad we’ve become blogging buddies:-)
Happy blogiversary! I miss some of the friends I made in my early days of blogging, too. But in the years since, I’ve met new friends (like you!) so that makes up for it.
I also know what you mean about self-published books. That’s part of why I decided that judging the self-published SF competition was a one-and-done for me. I’ve found some great self-pubbed books, but they were rare gems for sure.
You do have to look hard for the good ones:-)
Happy Blogiversary!!!
Thank you!
Happy blogiversary, Tammy! Here’s to many more years of blogging! 😀
Thank you Lashaan:-)
Wow, 15 years is a heck of an accomplishment! And I honestly agree SO MUCH with every last thing you said. My tastes have certainly changed over the years, I started out almost exclusively as YA, and now it’s probably my least read. And the tech stuff, my goodness! My kids are always like “you know how to do THAT?!” when they see me doing some tech-y stuff and I laugh because… yeah, apparently I do My whole blog has changed so much though- like you, I used to do all the tours and interviews (and YES the same anxiety!) and giveaways and now I just do it mostly because I enjoy the friends like you I’ve met along the way. Legit I think I can list all the people who still blog on my fingers and toes, but I still do it because I want to keep that connection! So I hope you stick around, too, we can be bloggers forever!
P.S.- very bummed about Uncharted Hearts! Why do the publishers keep doing us dirty like that!? They act like Netflix over here canceling our shows before they can be resolved
Yes me too!! I understand it’s a money thing, but just let her finish the dang series! I’m reading Havoc right now, by the way, and it’s just as much fun as the other books.
Me to Shannon! I’m glad there are some of us who have been around forever. I always stalk your blog for new posts, and I always will!
Love this for you! I’ve been around for quite a while myself and have seen the many changes that have come to book blogging. I remember when blog tours were huge. I feel like I was doing so much of those and it became kind of hard to keep up. I’m so glad you’ve found so much joy in the community. I think it’s one that has really stood the test of time, even with social media dominating the blogging community more and more. I’m really glad to have found your blog and I always look forward to your posts.
I remember there was competition to be on certain blog tours, and being excited when I was chosen, lol. Thanks Alicia!
Huge congratulations, Tammy:). I know when I had to take a break when I was ill with Long Covid – I was really pleased to see your blog was still around once I resumed! And yes – we’ve all had to make changes – I even got a book from you once:)). But, like you, I’m really disappointed that the support and technology around blogging hasn’t become easier – we’ve just had to ride with the changes and cope as best we can! Here’s to the next 15 years:)).
Thanks Sarah!
Congrats on hitting 15 years!
Thanks Bree!
Wow! 15 years is awesome. Congrats. And I loved your list of favorite reads…though how you narrowed it down to just one book for each year amazes me. I don’t think I could do that. ;D Here’s to many more years of blogging. I’m a fan of your blog and love reading your posts.
I always have a top 5 every year, so I just had to pick one of those 5. It was hard but not impossible!
Well first happy blogoversary Tammy! Second I agree with all the things you are not doing anymore (I don’t either) and I would add that I don’t post every day anymore either! And yes the comments are what makes it worth it!
Thanks Sophie! I don’t post every day, but some weeks I do post every day of the week. I need to stop that, it’s too much work!
Congrats! Your blog is one of the first I remember stumbling on and I am so glad you are still around. You know, I never made the Bones connection. I got the Buffy part but always thought Bones was a reference to your love of horror. How daft can I be? I love my blog name and would never change it but doubt people realize I do NOT live on a farm and it is actually inspired by Hershel’s Farm on The Walking Dead.
I’ve read quite a few of your favorite books, including the Stephen King one. I enjoyed that one so much – much better than The Stand.
Thanks Barb! Actually thinking “Bones” has to do with horror isn’t wrong at all. I doubt most people got the Bones reference, although I did explain it in the beginning, I think.
Congratulations! 15 years is great! Here’s to next 15!
Thank you! Not sure about another 15, lol, but I’ll blog until it feels right to stop, I guess:-)
Congrats on 15 years! So awesome! I don’t know if I could go back and pick a favorite book from each year I’ve been blogging, that seems like such a hard task! I might try it for my blogoversary this year, we shall see. I can’t believe WordPress says no blog tours? What? lol. I’m glad for all the fellow bloggers who comment and who I keep up with every week as well. Like you I am quite introverted and so this is my “extrovert” avenue.
Thanks Lisa! WordPress must have changed their rules because I see blog tours all the time.
Congratulations on 15 years! Although I haven’t been keeping track of my blog birthdays, I imagine mine is probably close with yours since I remember starting before my oldest daughter was born, and she’s 14.5 now. You were one of the first blogs I followed then. It’s hard to believe it’s been that many years!
Thank you! Time goes so fast – TOO fast.
Congrats Tammy for your great blogiversary! I forgot I was just slightly older than you
Sorry the email notification was buried under a few hundreds emails waiting…
I’m so so happy you persevered, and keep offering us fabulous reviews.
Great job at pcking one book per year, that’s really hard.
Neat idea of topics after that.
And to many more!
Happy blogging anniversary!