I AM ONE!
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I began blogging at the beginning of July 2009 and I honestly can’t believe it’s been a year already. But what a year it’s been! I’ve interviewed some wonderful authors, met some awesome bloggers, in person as well as online, read and reviewed lots of amazing books – yep, I’ve had a ball!
I’ve really enjoyed interacting with all my readers on my blog and on twitter – I’ve loved all your comments and feedback immensely, I cannot get across how much it means to me that you take the time out of your busy day to visit my blog, thank you. To show my appreciation *the only way us bloggers know how* is by giving away lots of yummy books! So, make sure you read about the giveaways at the bottom of this post 
Because of Book Chick City, I’ve also attended a few great events, the two that come to mind are World Horror Con where I met James Herbert (!!!) and interviewed Kelley Armstrong (!!!). What an awesome day! The other is the Headline Party where I met some great bloggers (Jenny from Wondrous Reads, Dot from Dot Scribbles, Carla from The Crooked Shelf, Liz from My Favourite Books, to name a few) and the lovely publicists I deal with on a regular basis. It really was nice to put names to faces. I’ve also met a few authors along the way too and they’ve all been delightfully friendly. I’ve also been amazed at the generosity of the publishers and authors who’ve sent me books to review. Thank you.
So, because of all this awesomeness, I decided to write a post to record my first fabulous year…
July 2009:
- Launch of Book Chick City
- First author interview: Jane Davis
- First book received for review from publisher: Angels of Destruction by Keith Donohue (Jonathan Cape)
- First Book Signing: Conrad Williams (horror writer)
- First Blog Award given by Jessica @ A Book Lover’s Diary
- First reading challenge: 100+ hosted by J Kaye’s Book Blog.
- On launching my blog at Maw Books – my first guest post, and was I nervous!
August 2009:
- My first ‘Month in Review‘ post.
- BBAW Best New Blog nomination: I didn’t get shortlisted but I was amazed that after just two months of blogging I was actually nominated. A big highlight.
- Spotlight feature at Bookworming in the 21st Century
Sept 2009:
- Book Bloggers Appreciation Week (BBAW) – Read my end of BBAW post, I think it sums up the week perfectly.
- BBAW Interview Swap at Just Add Books
- 20 Questions over at Lost in Books
Oct 2009:
- Launch of new blog design for Book Chick City
- My first All Hallow’s Eve event. This was just so much fun and I was really pleased with how successful it was – It will be returning this year, hopefully bigger and better, so keep a look out for the announcement post!
- Talking reviews with Fiction Vixen
Nov 2009:
- Introduction of weekly meme On My Wishlist
- Introduction New Blogs on the Block, which is now hosted by Larissa’s Life.
- Book Chick City survey. Very interesting results, and although I haven’t implemented all suggestions I hope that I have incorporated the majority since the survey ran.
- General Post – Freeloaders? I don’t think so! – This was my very first post which reflected my feelings (other than book reviews) about different topics.
Dec 2009:
- Being voted 6th in Best Blogs 2009 hosted by Natalie from Mindful Musings
- My first Christmas Week event – this will be back!
- Hosting my own ‘Reading Challenges‘
- General Post – To eRead or not to eRead?
Jan 2010:
- Guest post over at Peace Love & Pat talking about Romance!
- General Post: Too Old for YA?
- General Post: Why Do Covers Matter?
Feb 2010:
- Launch of ‘Where Stories Are Made‘ feature – I love this feature! I really enjoy reading about authors and their daily lives and taking a sneak peek at the places they write. So far WSAM has been really popular and I hope it continues
- Hosted ‘Be My Valentine‘, a weekend event for the holiday of lurve
- General Post: YA Fiction: Category or Genre?
- General Post: ARC’s: Sooner or Later?
- Guest post talking about zombies at Headline Publishing blog
March 2010:
- Hosted ‘The Men of Urban Fantasy Week‘ highlighting male writers in a female dominated genre. I really enjoyed this week, it was a lot of fun and discovered many new authors.
- Attended my first publishing event at Headline HQ - was a lot of fun and I met some really wonderful people.
- Attended my very first con – World Horror Con. Such an awesome weekend. Interviewed Kelley Armstrong in person and then met James Herbert – BIG highlight
- General Post: Reviews: Long or Short?
- Interview at Temple Library Reviews
April 2010:
- Attended my second con of the year: Odyssey 2010 (eastercon)
- New team member announced: Laura joined BCC as a regular reviewer to help with my ever growing review pile.
- Hosted my ‘House of Night‘ Week – great fun reading the entire series by P. C. & Kristin Cast.
- General Post: Blog Promotion: Yay or Nay?
May 2010:
- New features launched: ‘Books We Love‘ and ‘The Blogger’s Bookshelf‘.
- General Post – Genre Misconceptions: Have you ever been wrong? - May saw me read a true romance novel, which, after 20-odd years of completely avoiding the genre, I absolutely loved it and have subsequently become a bit obsessed with the genre, especially Historical Romance. This post explores my reluctance and my journey.
June 2010:
- Hosted my first YA event: ‘10 Fun Days of Young Adult Fiction‘ – it was a lot of fun but by the end of what became 12 days I was ready to get back to my adult books
- UK vs US Cover Smackdown with Rebecca at the fab Dirty Sexy Books
- Interview at The Book on the Hill in Charlotte’s lovely feature Book Blogging Around the World.
GENERAL STATISTICS
Friends/Followers
- Twitter: 2256
- Goodreads: 1117
- Blog: 1027
- Facebook: 666
Technorati
When I joined Technorati I seemed to hang around the top 50 for a month or so, but since February of this year I’ve managed to stay, most of the time, in the top 10 – which I think is pretty cool But over the last couple of weeks I managed to climb higher than ever before and reached the top spot! Here are my stats:
But over the last couple of weeks I managed to climb higher than ever before and reached the top spot! Here are my stats:- Highest Ranking in Books: 1st (out of approx. 2000 blogs)
- Highest Ranking in Entertainment: 40th (out of approx. 6000 blogs)
- Highest Authority in Books: 963/1000
- Highest Authority in Entertainment: 709/1000
- Highest Authority Overall: 589/1000
Technorati Books
Technorati Entertainment
Yes, I know… I’m very sad for taking pics, but I was just so ticked pink I had to record it
General:
- I’ve written 601 posts.
- I’ve posted 89 reviews.
- I’ve held 45 giveaways (35 being international!).
Top three most popular giveaways:
- Complete set of House of Night series – 468 entries
- Copy of Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce – 425 entries.
- Signed copy of Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong – 394 entries
Most Popular Post: Genre Misconceptions: Have you ever been wrong?
Most Popular Challenge: Thriller & Suspense 2010
With 226 participants, the Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge is my most popular. Runner up is Typically British Reading Challenge with 119 participants.
Highest Ranking Referral Blog: Dirty Sexy Books – At the time of writing this post Rebecca’s blog Dirty Sexy Books is my highest referral blog – thanks Rebecca!
Visiting Countries: 126
Top 10
- USA
- UK
- Canada
- Australia
- Germany
- Spain
- Portugal
- Malaysia
- Finland
- Norway
Events Hosted by BCC:
- 10 Fun Days of Young Adult Fiction (June 2010)
- The Men of Urban Fantasy Week (March 2010)
- House of Night Week (April 2010)
- Be My Valentine (Feb 2010)
- Christmas Week (Dec 2009)
- All Hallow’s Eve (Oct 2009)
Highlights/Milestones in First Year:
- World Horror Con (2010) *meeting James Herbert – eeek!*
- BBAW 2009 and being nominated for Best New Blog *so chuffed and honoured*
- Headline Blogger Party (2010)
- Reaching 10,000 monthly visitors
- Reaching 2000 twitter followers
- Reaching 1000 blog followers
- Top Ten Best Blogs 2009 – Hosted by Mindful Musings (I came 6th)
- Meeting & Interviewing Kelley Armstrong at World Horror Con!
•••••••••••••••••••••••
MY ULTIMATE BLOGIVERSARY GIVEAWAY!!
Six Days of Prizes!
I have some fab prizes to be won, thanks to the generosity of the following publishers:
Headline
Penguin/Puffin
Simon & Schuster
Piatkus
Orbit/Atom
MIRA
Because my readers are from all over the world, the following giveaways will be International. I will be posting a giveaway everyday starting tomorrow to celebrate Book Chick City’s first year! Check out the goodies:
MONDAY
Headline Bundle
• Gaiman Goodie Bag: Stardust, American Gods & Stories: All New Tales
• Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard
• Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton
TUESDAY
Penguin/Puffin Bundle
• The Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda
The Midnight Charter by David Whitley
• The Children of the Lost by David Whitley
• TimeRiders 1 by Alex Scarrow
• TR: Day of the Predator by Alex Scarrow
WEDNESDAY
Atom/Orbit Bundle
• Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong
• The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Lui
• The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld
THURSDAY
Piatkus Bundle
• 10 copies of Water Bound by Christine Feehan
FRIDAY
MIRA Bundle
• The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
• Hannah’s List by Debbie Macomber
• Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs
• Divine by Choice by P.C. Cast
• The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter
SATURDAY
Simon & Schuster Bundle
• Two sets of The Spellman Files (first 3 books in series)
So make sure you come back tomorrow for the first giveaway!
74 Comments
Happy 1 year C! I can't believe you've only been at this a year!
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Happy Blogiversary! I'm with WLP in that it's hard to believe it's only been one year, as you and your blog totally rock! Congratulations!
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Congrats on your Blogiverary! Happy to count myself as a follower of your site! I know you must be super proud of all the accomplishments you've had thus far, but this is only that beginning. I hope when April 2011 rolls around for me, I'll be able to recount my first year half as fondly as you do yours!
Here's to the first of many more…
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Happy Blogiversary! Congrats on a terrific first year. =O)
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Happy Blogiversary! Congrats on a terrific first year. =O)
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Congrats on your blogoversary!!
Cheers!
~Yelania
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Happy b'day BCC! Hard to believe that you are only one!
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Congrats Carolyn!!! Happy 1 year!!
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Congratulations Carolyn!! Happy 1st Blogiversary!
I already told you this but when I found your blog in January/February I thought you were already a long standing blog your design/posts/visitor traffic all made me think that you have been doing this for way longer than you actually did!
So congrats again!! Love BCC! 
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Congrats! Wow, you've done so much within 1 year.
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Congrats on your first Year!!
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Oh my goodness – you've accomplished a lot. Makes me tired just thinking about it! LOL
Congratulations on a fine first year, and happy blog birthday!
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Happy blogaversary!!
From what I remember from the year is of course the Kelley Armstrong interview, and that genre (what was the title again, you discovering HR again
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Happy blogiversary! Here's to a wonder year that has passed and an even brighter one to come. Happy reading! ^_^
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Happy Blogiversary & congratulations! I can't believe that it's been only one year since you've started this blog! You're blog is one of my favorites
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Congratulations! I can't believe you've only been blogging for one year!
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Happy blogoversary, Carolyn! I thought you'd been blogging for much longer!
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Congrats!
Yay, Finland got its place on TOP 10, that's cool.
I am really looking for the giveaways.
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What a year! Congratulations! As a blogger who just started I can relate to all the hard work that we do
So happy for you 
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Wow!!! It's been a year already?!! Congratulations! Your stats are also very impressive! Keep up the awesome work
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Happy Blogversary! =D
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Happy Blogiversary, Carolyn! It's been a fab year, and here's to many many more!
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Happy blog birthday!
I can't believe you're here only a year, it feels so much longer.
I'm looking forward to the fabulous give-aways (hope I win one too).
Enjoy your blog birthday.
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Happy Anniversary!!! Wow…I thought your blog was a bit older than one with all you have accomplished….WTG!!! Looking forward to Year 2 !!
CMash Loves To Read
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Happy Blogoversary. Well done for such an amazing blog
Looking forward to the celebrations
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Happy Birthday. Have a piece of cake and enjoy. I love your blog. See you tomorrow. Cheers.
dorcontest at gmail dot com
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Congratulations on your 1 year Blogiversary! You've created a wonderful blog here
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Happy first blog birthday! Your blog rocks!
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Congrats on your 1st year blogoversary!!
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Congrats on your Blogiversary! It's hard to believe you've been around just one year! I'm glad you have been though because I just love your blog!
Suzanne
Chick with Books
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I loved this post! As a new book blogger, it was great to see how you built such an amazing site. Thanks for letting me be a fly on your wall for a little while.
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Congratz on become one Carolyn, you had an awesome year, may many more follow!
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Happy 1 year! I love reading the book reviews and your chats with authors. (The giveaways are fabulous too.) Keep up the good work.
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Congratulations on your first blogoversary!
Your blog is one of my favorite book blogs. Keep up the good work!
xx,
E.J.
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Congratulations!
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Congratulations!I thought it would be your 10th blogoversary! because i think your blog is very IN!
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Happy blogiversary!!
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Happy Blogoversary!!!
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One year; that's so awesome! I remember that yours was one of the first book blogs that I found as I entered the book blogging world last October.
You've had a fantastic year and I hope the next one is just as fun and wonderful for you!
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Yay! Happy 1 year of blogging. You have an amazing blog and I'm pleased to be a regular reader. You rock Carolyn! xoxo
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Congrats!!
Here's to many more wonderful years.
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Hi Carolyn – I am so impressed that your blog is beating out JacketCopy. That means that you have more juice than the L.A. Times when it comes to book followers! After only one year, I'm blown away.
I had no idea that DSB was number one with referrals. I'm not sure how I accomplished that, but I'll still take the credit. : )
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Happy Blogoversary
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Happy Blogoversary!
Happy Blogoversary!
Happy Blogoversary!
Ha-ppy Anniversary!
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Happy Blogiversary!!!
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THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR YOUR LOVELY COMMENTS AND BLOGIVERSARY WISHES!!!
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Happy Blogoversary, dear! I don't think I can ever be as dedicated as you! have a more wonderful year this year!
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YAY! HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY BCC!!
wow, i bow down to you after reading all your stats! you have a wonderful blog, and i love reading your posts. Have a great time! =)
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Wow happy blogiversary!
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What an accomplishment! Happy Blogiversary….Thank you for the books I have won, the reviews that helped me choose a book and the wonderful insight you provide I'm looking forward to another great year!
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Happy 1st Anniversary
xxx
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Congratulations
Would it be possible for you to write a post about how a new blogger can generate followers and readers, like how did you go about building up a followerbase when you were a new blogger. I think that sort of stuff always is interesting to read.
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Yay! cOngratz and Happy Bloggaversary, and may u have many more
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Congrats on reaching such a milestone!
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THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR KIND WORDS AND WISHES – I CAN'T BELIEVE A YEAR BLOGGING ALREADY, BUT IT'S BEEN FAB!
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Happy birthday darling
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Happy Anniversary!! What an awesome recount of your year!! You've done a fabulous job! Looking forward to more BCC!
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Congrats! You should be proud you have a great blog here, luv visiting
Paula
Tomes Devotee
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Happy blogiversary! It is so great to see how well your blog is doing and how much fun you are having.
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Happy Birthday! Yours was one of the first blogs I started following about a year ago actually. My birthday will be on Saturday. I hope to be around to follow you for many more years.
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THANKS GUYS, THAT'S SO NICE OF YOU – I'M SO PLEASED YOU LIKE MY BLOG, IT REALLY DOES MAKE IT MORE WORTH WHILE
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Happy blogiversary!
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Happy Blogiversary! Congrats on all your accomplishments. Wishing you many many more.
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Just wanted to say congrats on the blog.
Your blog has really grown in the last year. I really enjoy stopping by and look up to your blog to learn from. Thanks! And cheers to many more years to come. 
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Happy blogversary!
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Happy Blogiversary!!!
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Wow, I would have guessed that you've been around longer than just a year! Hope it's the first of many and congratulations
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Congrats on your 1 year blogiversary!!!
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Congrats on one year! You've had some great accomplishments in this year!
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Happy 1 year anniversary!!
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A belated and huge happy blogiversary! I hope you had a cake too?
I loved your blog even before I was lucky enough to be asked to join as a regular reviewer in April.
What a great achievement your site is.
L x x
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Happy Anniversary…….you're amazing.
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Who did your graphics for your blog and tags. They are amazing!
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Aw thanks Marilyn – you can find info on my graphic designer under the "About Me" page – Thanks for stopping by
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