State of the Blog: Five Years Later

It's another year over so it's once again time to assess how the blog did throughout it. Another year of book blogs over and done with. And it now officially being five full years of doing this blog, there's definitely a lot to talk about this time around. Was this a good year? Do I feel accomplished? And how am I currently feeling about the blog's future? Let's not waste too much time and see how year five truly treated me. 

I'll start with the good this year. We made it to 500 blogs written. Taking away extra blogs like this one, and stuff like A Case of the Bumps, we've officially covered over 400 books in the span of five years. Which, yes, the lion's share is from R.L. Stine and Goosebumps, but for a number that big in a timeframe like that, it's an impressive accomplishment that I never expected to actually reach. Again, I thought I'd burn out of this blog a lot sooner than I did. I'm genuinely impressed with myself on that. Not only that but we've also reached at this point in time over 150,000 views. A noticeable jump from earlier in 2024 when we passed 100k. There's also the fact that my Case of the Bumps on Revenge R Us somehow went viral enough to pass 1000 views. Either I was on to something there and it resonated, or it just found its way online to enough people. Either way, views are views. 

I'll say there wasn't any one book series I put heavy focus on this year. Most of the main book series that I cover got about one or two blogs. That mainly coming from the lack of remaining content as we reach the end of some series being easy to access. We're reaching the point where a dice roll of a book being available at a thrift store might be my only option. Because I don't see it being ebay. Like, seriously. Go look up the Bone Chillers book Killer Clown of King's County and try not to be a little sickened by the price. Thankfully Openlibrary and Archive are still around and still offer a variety of stuff that will get me through the next couple years, but in terms of the stuff I've focused on, it's getting grim. Which is partly why I've brought back the Animorphs reviews. It took four years, but it's finally happening again. The main motivator being that 2026 will be the 30th anniversary of the series, and hopefully if my motivation remains as energetic as it currently is, I'll be able to run through the series throughout the next year to try to finish it up. The closure that myself, someone who read Animorphs into the 20s and then fell off, could use as a bucket list motivator. 

But I will say that I do feel this was my least energetic year. I got a good batch of stuff done, especially in 2024, but 2025 started slower than usual. I'll admit, a lot of that has been my own laziness, but a lot of it is that my motivation took a hit, especially after the results of the election. That wash of frustration that killed my motivation a lot. Add in my frustration over how some of the blogs, notably the Fear Street ones, continue to not get much views or attention. Especially the ones that I feel are my best ones when it comes to my analysis of the book's issues. Part of me gets it. Teen horror, for as fun as the books can be to cover, aren't the most interesting books for most people. They want the Goosebumps stuff. The wackier monster stories and more kid friendly fare. Which is fine, but I do feel like I get more fun out of talking about the teen horror stuff. And even with me starting to run out of Fear Street content, it's still something I want to continue talking about, albeit with other authors. Which means, yes, I'll eventually get back into Christopher Pike. I mean, I technically already started with my first blog for Spooksville. 

So year five wasn't honestly the most energetic year, but I think what lacks in quantity of blogs has made up for in quality. I think this was my best year for being more critical and analytical when it comes to talking about these books. About what works and especially about what doesn't. Call it osmosis from so much Stine stuff, but I think that seeing how he writes, and the tropes he sticks to, it's made me able to see issues with books far better than I did in, say, year one. And stopping myself from feeling like I have to pump a dozen books out a month helps with that as well. I hope that's a trait I improve upon in year six. So while I say this wasn't my most content-laden year, I will say that my content does feel improved, even with outside factors killing my motivation. And given what's unfortunately in store for us IRL, I don't think that will change any time soon, but I can at least keep doing what I'm doing for as long as can do it.

Status on other things I still want to do eventually. 

The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew: Not yet. I swear it's something I consider doing but always sort of push back at it. Maybe if there's interest from others in seeing me cover them, maybe.

Bailey School Kids: It took a bit, but I do intend to have a more regular schedule on these. Look for another one soon.

The Babysitters Club: So my BSC content took a nosedive last year, but I do intend to bring it back in the near future.

Sweet Valley: See, I still want to talk about these, but I do have my concerns. With how Fear Street usually manages here, would it be worth talking about them if my blog audience ends up avoiding them?

Wayside: Still being considered. 

Post-Animorphs Applegate (EverWorld/Remnants): Animorphs is back on track and I want to finish it up before 2027, so maybe not this year for any of the other post-Animorphs stuff, but you never know.

More adult works (King for example): I was going to cover Superstitious last year, Stine's first adult horror, and still intend to. When I inevitably finish it, consider it the tester to see if there is an interest.

Older works (The Oz or Tolkien books for example): I still want to come up with something a bit more fresh with this instead of just reviewing old books like Oz. I think I have an idea, and the book I want to use for the idea, but it'll be a bit. 

Books based on stuff like Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who: Might happen, might not. I do want to get more engaged with sci-fi and horror stuff, so maybe I finally open myself to these IPs. We'll see.

The books with the boy wizard: You know, at one point I was planning on something like an April Fools joke, but nah. Fuck that. All the damage she's done. Fuck her and anyone who stands with her.

I think year five wasn't my strongest year in terms of motivation, but coming out of it, I think I'm more optimistic that I can keep this blog going strong into the next year. We started 2025 super slow, but June has been an outlier, with multiple blogs and a near-weekly update ratio. I don't know how long until that peters out, but hopefully it means we end 2025 stronger than we started. And given that I do have a lot of fun ideas and blogs on the way, I think we can make it there. And I hope you'll stick around for it as well.