Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza: Choose Your Book!!

4176075327 b710931ef5 m Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza: Choose Your Book!!
cc Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza: Choose Your Book!! photo credit: kevin dooley

Those of you who have read Book Club Classics for the past few years may remember that I tend to post a holiday giveaway extravaganza every December as a big THANK YOU to all of you who read my reviews.  This year, I am approaching the giveaway a bit differently…  First, instead of me choosing the giveaway books, YOU get to choose whatever books you want…  because I’m giving away a $25.00 gift card from Amazon!

Here’s the catch…  I need a new look for my website and would LOVE my readers’ feedback on which new theme to choose.  Those of you who have completed the survey regarding how to improve my website (link for this survey on the right hand side of the front page) have mentioned that a less cluttered presentation might be nice.  So, new year = new look!  Plus, now that I have moved to the mountains and have a satellite internet connection, I better understand how frustrating a slow-loading, heavy look is.  So, I searched around a bit and found a lighter look that should be quick to load as well as present information in a “cleaner” manner.

Here’s how the giveaway will work…  On December 19th I will re-post the list of the best books I read this past year.  I will also introduce a new look that day — if you want to be in the running for the free gift card, simply leave a comment sharing your impressions of the new look.  Then, a few days later, I will introduce another new look — and you are welcome to leave a comment again and increase your chances for winning the prize.  I will keep each new look for at least a few days — and have at least 5 looks to present.  Then, during the last week of December, I will post a survey so that everyone can vote for their favorite look.

A big thank you in advance for helping me choose a new look!

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17 Responses to Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza: Choose Your Book!!

  1. Marilyn says:

    While the ‘look’ is clean, clear and colorful (how’s that for alliteration?) I prefer something book related.
    So many links to things I want to read!!! Neat.

  2. Kristen says:

    Thank you, Marilyn!! I wonder if I could change the header image…? If so, that might be fun — I could have a series of book-related images (or pictures of my pups :) and rotate them…

    You’re in the running for the gift card — thank you so much!

  3. Elaine J says:

    I appreciate whatever is simple to load because I, too, live in the mountains with satellite-only access to the Internet! (THEY don’t know how we suffer with complicated websites, do they?!) But this is almost too “clean”– it’s too generic. Needs a book or two.

  4. Kristen says:

    Good point, Elaine! “Too clean” becomes sterile… Thank you from another mountain dweller :)

  5. Carol Wong says:

    I think it looks refreshing and simple.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

  6. techeditor says:

    Your Web site and each page load quickly. That’s important, so you don’t want your theme any heavier. But today’s theme is unrelated to what this site is about.

  7. Marlene says:

    I love the bright colors, but agree with everyone that a book theme is what we’re all about, right? Look forward to the other “looks”

  8. Ginny says:

    My first impression was, “This doesn’t look like a book-related web page.” It’s pretty but too generic for its subject matter. I know you have other looks and I’m sure there will be a winner amongst them.

  9. Carol M says:

    There are lots of blogs with book themes. I love this one! It’s refreshing and different.

  10. Margie says:

    I like it! The feel is very straight-forward and organized. But you might want to have your links available here (Facebook, google, etc)

  11. Phyllis Copt says:

    I must agree with those who say this is too sterile. When I opened this page, I thought I had mistakenly been rerouted to a science page. Not that there’s anything wrong with science, but I do miss the look of/the feel of books. I am one who still reads “real” books. No kindle here. I do appreciate the simpler load. I am on a satellite connection in a rural river valley, and I often get put in a penalty box if I use too band width. No kidding. I love the links, too. I don’t if I can get back to check your other looks, but good luck, and I’ll be curious to see the new look. I,too, am confident that you will not disappoint us. Thanks for your work!

  12. Laurie Smith says:

    I like the green compared to the theme you had before. The header at the top is clear with all the fun sorts of links. This theme would work best if you were showcasing a list of books related to nature or the environment. If you are looking for a permanent theme, I’d go with something more related to books.

  13. Kristen says:

    Thank you! Thank you! I really appreciate everyone’s feedback… I have four more options to reveal — I am taking many notes and considering everyone’s comments…

  14. Linda says:

    This header is beautiful and it loads quickly, but I’d like it to have some “bookish” quality to it so that your page is readily known to be a book blog. I also prefer the white background for the text, much better contrast to read than the woodtone look that took forever to load on a very fast T1 line!

  15. Heather Hartsel says:

    I think it should have pictures of books, and I also think it still looks too cluttered. One idea is to keep the most important links at the top above the picture such as themes, buy guides, and best books, while moving some of the other lesser used links to the bottom of the page in a “site map”. This would be similar to shopping websites like Target that try to “steer” people towards certain links.

  16. Kristen says:

    Thank you, Linda and Heather! Good advice… I should streamline the top links and start looking for book -related images…

    I really appreciate the feedback!

  17. Lynne B says:

    I agree with many of the other comments that the clean and simple look is fantastic but if you could find a more book related theme it would seem like the very best look possible!

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