I’m back to blogging! It’s been an eventful last sixteen months as I have had to decide which way to pivot after this blog, my beloved Broke by Books, has seen a catastrophic collapse in traffic after I, like many, many other, was a victim of Google’s so-called “Helpful Content Update,” or “HCU” for short.
Last January, I hit my peak traffic with 54,000 views. In contrast, last month I had 8,000 visitors. Put another way, in January 2023, pre-HCU, this blog was bringing in 1,740 views a day; now I’m averaging 261, my lowest since March 2020. It’s been a brutal, slow bleed over the last year and a half.
The tumble in traffic has led to the worst monthly passive income number for this blog since 2019. I’ve lost about $350-550 dollars a month in my average blogging income over the last year. For me, it’s been a huge loss of income. But, unlike other websites bigger than me who were hurt by HCU, at least my livelihood doesn’t depend on it, and I don’t have to figure out how to pay salaries out of the dwindling returns that happen when advertising revenue and affiliate marketing dry up.
As for me, I’ve tried to work on replacing the traffic I used to get through Google by focusing more time on Pinterest, and I’m happy to say that is slowly paying off! (Follow Broke by Books on Pinterest here!) This blog is 9 years old, and I have a long list of 150 articles to Pin again and again. (More broadly, I have 229 posts published here.) It’s already been encouraging to see some of my Pins for Broke by Books articles to really take off. I love graphic design, so I am really enjoying creating engaging Pins. I hope that playing the long game with attracting traffic from Pinterest will continue to be a successful alternate form of traffic.
Still, there’s never been a day since blogging began that people have wondered “Is blogging dead?” yet the question is more relevant than ever. Do I think “blogging is dead”? Yes, I do. At least, blogging whose main traffic strategy was implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is definitely dead. Now we need to find a new way forward, or else give up entirely.
Working my way through that list of 150 posts for Pinterest, I know I can’t abandon this blog entirely. I don’t want to give up on something I love—blogging—that I have spent thousands of hours of time on over the past almost 10 years. Creating and writing Broke by Books has truly been a labor of love, and it was so gratifying to see it grow. To date, almost 1,500,000 people have visited the blog since its first post on November 15, 2014.
Just as this blog has evolved over the last decade, so, too, have I. When I started this blog, it was for a class in young adult literature and services through my Master of Library and Information Science program at Clarion University. Then, I wanted to be a librarian. Now, I want to be a full-time romance author. My life, my health, and my ambitions have transformed in tandem with Broke by Books. It is as much a book blog as a personal journey about how I relate to books, from wanting to recommend them to wanting to write them.
But I do know I need to figure out what I want this blog to be now. In some ways, it’s freeing. With the old model thrown out, anything is possible.
That being said, I’m slowly easing back into blogging again with this post, the first in almost six months, the longest I’ve gone in between posting. Books still matter to me, even if I think the reading slump I’ve been on the last few months has contributed in part to my absence here on Broke by Books. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about book blogging when you’re not enthusiastic about reading. On the other hand, it’s also hard to be enthusiastic about reading when your book blog is going down in flames.
Given the optimism inherent in this post’s topic, “5 books I’m looking forward to reading this summer,” I’m choosing to keep pursuing my passions: to keep reading, keep writing, and keep blogging. I hope you’ll accept my explanation for my absence, and I hope this post, the first I will not be optimizing for SEO in more than six years, will spark a newfound energy for your reading and my own.
So now let’s get to it! Here are 5 books I’m looking forward to for summer 2024.
You Are Here by David Nicholls
If you’re clued into the romance world, you’ve likely crossed paths with David Nicholls, the author of the beloved novel One Day, which was made into a feature film and later a Netflix TV series adaptation. Now Nicholls is back with another romantic read, You Are Here. Both Michael and Marnie are still recovering from the disastrous ends to their respective marriages. When fate connects them on a ten-day hike, Michael and Marnie discover that they might have a second chance at love. I love this premise, as I love to take long walks, and I love second-chance romances! I can’t wait for my hold for this one to come in at the library, as I’m sure I’ll tear through it in a day! (May 28)
How to read it: Purchase You Are Here on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
I read and loved Paul Tremblay’s slow burn horror novel A Head Full of Ghosts a few years ago, so he’s been on my auto-buy list for a while now, and I’m so excited to read his latest, Horror Movie! This novel combines everything I love… psychological horror, film, creepy vibes. Let me tell you more about it. In Horror Movie, a crew of filmmakers made a movie called, what else, Horror Movie, in 1993. The film has since become a cult classic, even though only three scenes were released. Now Hollywood is demanding a reboot starring the only cast member still alive, leading to shocking events. If you love the “cursed film” subgenre of horror, this one is for you. (June 11)
How to read it: Purchase Horror Movie on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
I absolutely love Katherine Center’s romance novels. As a romance writer myself, I recognize just how skilled she is at crafting heroines you root for and heroes you swoon for. Her novels are packed with great writing, engaging stories, good conflict, and, of course, Happily Ever Afters. So I’m so excited for her newest book, The Rom-Commers! This novel stars Emma, an aspiring screenwriter with a romantic comedy obsession, who is tasked with rewriting a rom-com screenplay by her idol, Charlie Yates. Soon Emma and Charlie are dangerously close to living a real-life romance as amazing as the one they’re trying to write. But of course it isn’t that simple! This one promises to be another beach-y binge read that will put a smile on your face. You won’t want to miss it! (June 11)
How to read it: Purchase The Rom-Commers on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
The more I read and the older I get, the more I realize that mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels are my favorite genre of fiction. As a writer, I’m fascinated by the craft required to write structure a novel where you intentionally manipulate the reader to steer them through a propulsive plot, lead them down dead ends, introduce red herrings, and pivot with twists. All of this is to conceal a truth that will be revealed in a compelling and satisfying ending where, suddenly, “it all makes sense.” For that reason, I think the essential “beach read” is one that is entertaining and gripping. And that’s exactly what makes Riley Sager’s latest thriller, Middle of the Night, my go-to recommendation for an escapist summer read in 2024. The premise of this book hooked me: ten-year-old neighbors Ethan and Billy camped out in Ethan’s backyard. But when Ethan woke up, Billy was nowhere to be seen, his disappearance never fully explained. Fast forward thirty years, and Ethan has returned home, looking for answers to the mystery around Billy’s vanishing and his own lingering questions about what happened that night. Blending mystery, thrillers, and horror, Middle of the Night is the fast-paced novel you need to pack in your beach bag. (June 18)
How to read it: Purchase Middle of the Night on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum
Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic Emily Nussbaum, best known for her insightful television criticism at The New Yorker, here takes a deep dive into the world of reality TV. Nussbaum recently wrote a fascinating article that gives an inside look into the Netflix hit dating show Love Is Blind (a show I count as one of my own guilty pleasures), and in Cue the Sun! she widens the scope to trace the origins, emergence, boom times, and current complexity of the reality TV industry. In Cue the Sun!, Nussbaum takes a wide look at some of the biggest reality television hits, from Survivor to The Bachelor and The Apprentice, the show that catapulted Donald Trump into the national dialogue as only reality TV can. Nussbaum is not just a great journalist; she’s a great storyteller, which is how she pulls off this book that, while 450+ pages long, reads fast. Come for the inside details and stay for the analysis with Cue the Sun!. (June 25)
