Ads: Beta Testing (part 2)

Well, I mentioned that this was a work in progress, and so it is. . .

I wish I could have spent more time tinkering with it, but work, life, and preparations for my month-long trip made it all but impossible to devote more time to this endeavor. We seem to have reached a happy medium with the way things are now.

Though I can't do nothing for those Firefox users who go for such a high resolution, I did what I could to make things easier for those with smaller computer screens. So the 468 x 60 banners on top appear to be of an appropriate size, though the 728 x 90 leaderboards looked much better on my 17-inch laptop screen. In addition, moving the sidebar ads down a bit helped clear up some room, which hopefully makes reading the new posts easier without the distraction.

No, I didn't go commercial. I had been thinking of posting ads for many months now, but the powers that be decreed that I couldn't do it without becoming part of a network. I'm not happy about the whole deal, but those are the rules. Hopefully publishers will post ads that reflect what I wanted to post myself. We'll have to wait and see. . .

The truth is that running the Hotlist is now taking too much of my time. Understandably, I could never envision that the blog would one day reach this many people all over the damned globe. Since last fall, I now devote between 10 to 15 hours a week to this little corner of the World Wide Web, and that doesn't include the time I spend reading. Which means that running this blog now gets in the way of many other things in my life. Which is why, in the end, I needed to find a way to monetize the site. It was either that, or reduce the time I spend trying to make this the best blog of its kind.

To those who can't stand the ads and are considering stopping hanging around, I hate to see you go. But a drop in quality and content would hurt the Hotlist a lot more than four ads will, I'm sure. This has basically become a part-time job for me. I love it, make no mistake, but I just need to get a little something in return.

I can't/won't ask people to buy more stuff through my Amazon links. I know that everyone works hard to earn their money, and it's not my place to ask you to throw it my way. Feel free to do so, as every penny goes back into books to read and review. No, I wanted publishers to help monetize the Hotlist, not its readers. I have just reached a one-year agreement with a publisher, so that's wonderful. Hopefully I can convince enough publicity people and authors to post ads here, ads for books/series I enjoy and want to share with the rest of the online community. The giveaways were meant for that very purpose, but a banner on top of the homepage for a number of days will give novels way more exposure.

As always, I welcome your feedback. This is and will remain a work in progress, though no change will likely see the light while I'm traipsing around Europe. If it all goes according to plan, publishers will jump on the opportunity to promote titles I want to give exposure to, and I won't have to rely on the online ad network. That would give me the control to decide exactly which ads will be posted on the Hotlist.

So here's to hoping that the next few weeks will see ads for Erikson's Toll the Hounds, Edelman's MultiReal, Esslemont's Return of the Crimson Guard, Sedia's The Alchemy of Stone, Morgan's The Steel Remains, and many more!

From your numerous emails, it's evident that many of you are shocked by how little such ads can generate in terms of revenues. When I tell you that I'm in no danger of quitting my day job, now you'll believe me!:p If I wanted to make money, I would have gone into porn. I elected to create this SFF book reviewing gig, and I have no regrets. It's been a great ride, one that will hopefully continue for a long, long time.

Thanks for your patience and suggestions. Having an audience is what makes it as fun as it is! As always, I'll try to keep up the good work.:-)