This article first appeared in Buzzwords Magazine in 2007. As promised below, I’m reposting it here for your reading pleasure. Enjoy.
Have you ever had a hobby, or even a passing interest, which has turned into a passion which seemingly knows no bounds? I have. It’s my website, Aussiereviews.
Back in 2001, when I was discovering the wonders of web surfing, I came across lots of book review websites. I thought this was a pretty good way of getting the word out about the many wonderful books published each year. However, I also quickly noticed that there were very few Australian books being reviewed on these websites.
So, I had the idea of setting up a site which only reviewed Australian books. I figured it would be a good thing to do and I thought it might also help to build a few writing credits at a time when my publication successes were slow. I didn’t foresee just how big the site would become.
At the time I knew very little about website design or html. I still don’t know a lot, though I know enough to get by. I also didn’t have much cash to spare for domain names, web hosting and so on. I found a wonderful way to get the site up and running without any outline or special html skills. A company called Webseed was offering free websites. They would register the domain name and provide a template. Their system allowed website managers to upload new content without needing html. It also indexed and cross referenced quite easily. I applied for a site, suggested the name Aussiereviews and was accepted.
So, I had the website. Next I needed some content. I knew a little about reviewing books from my studies at university, my time in the classroom and from having read many reviews. I also spent time reading articles about reviewing. I also felt qualified to offer an opinion, again from my university qualifications (I have a BA in English, and a Graduate Diploma in Education), my experience as an English teacher, my writing skills and so on.
Next, I needed some books to review. The first reviews I posted were of books from my own bookshelf. Then, I approached Australian publishers via email, offering to review their new releases. I sent them the link to my site so they could see what I was already doing, and within a few weeks I had books turning up in my mail, ready to review.
Six years later, Aussiereviews has over 1300 reviews. Most are of children’s books though I also review adult fiction and non-fiction, educational books and I have also reviewed music and DVD titles. I do most of the reviewing myself, though I accept reviews submitted by other people. I don’t actively seek outside reviews or reviewers because Aussiereviews is a non-profit enterprise and, as such, I can’t pay people for their reviews.
Aussiereviews has outlasted Webseed, the company which gave me my start. When they closed their doors I had the opportunity to buy the domain name, which I did, and of course since then have had to also pay for my own hosting and have had to learn more html. I also have an ongoing need to redesign the site to make it more user friendly which I keep putting in the too hard basket.
I receive over 300 hits a day (at present the average is over 400, but this tends to go up and down). It seems most of my visitors come via search engines – people actively seeking information on specific books or searching for a particular type of book. At the moment the most popular search phrases which bring people to my site include ‘Don’t Call Me Ishmael’, ‘Being Bindy’ and ‘Wombat Stew’. Most of my visitors come from
From personal feedback, it seems many of my visitors are either parents, looking for good books for children, teacher s and librarians seeking information about books they’ve already heard of, and adult readers looking for books or reviews of books they’ve heard mention of. Most hits to the site are to pages reviewing children’s books, from picture books to young adult, and the majority of my reviews are of children’s books, because this is where my passion really lies.
So, if I’d known six years ago just how big Aussiereviews would become, would I have started it? Sometimes it feels like I’ve created a monster. I have an unending stream of books arriving in my mailbox, and often up to 100 books waiting for my attention.
I look back at how naive I was when I started the site. I felt qualified because of my education and work experience. I had no idea just how qualified some book reviewers are. Although I was serious writer, I didn’t really know a lot about the publishing industry, and I didn’t know that many people believe authors should not also be reviewers. I didn’t know who would read my reviews or why. I didn’t have any sort of plan – just to start a site, write some reviews and see what happened.
I also didn’t know that there were different kinds of reviews. I write short reviews – just a couple of hundred words, usually, which give a teaser about the plot, sum up what’s good and/or not so good about it and give the publication details. For picture books I also comment briefly on the illustration style. Other publications will devote a whole page or more to the review of one book, giving a detailed analysis of the plot, writing style, illustration techniques and more. Since starting Aussiereviews I’ve actually written reviews like that for other publications, but I choose to stick with shorter for Aussiereviews because I believe that’s what my readership wants. I believe there is demand for reviews of differing length and focus from different publications.
But what I also didn’t realise back then was just how much reward I would get from the site. I love that I get to read the latest releases from most Australian publishers. I love that I get to give my opinion on these books and to spread the word about some truly wonderful books which don’t always get the attention they deserve. I love that I do have a much better understanding of the publishing industry, and an awareness of who publishes what kinds of books.
Most of all, I love the feedback I get from people who use my site. I love that the reading public, teachers, parents, authors and publishers see benefit in what I do. These are the things can keep me doing it and the very things that tell me that if I had known back then how big Aussiereviews would become, I would still have started the site.
Aussiereviews is no longer a hobby or passing interest. Aussiereviews is a huge part of who I am.
Sally Murphy is the owner of Aussiereviews.com, and also the published author of 24 children’s and educational books. You can visit her at Aussiereviews or at her author site, www.sallymurphy.net.