Thank you to everyone who filled out our survey.
Sixty readers responded. That number represents a small portion of AAR’s audience, but the feedback was thoughtful, detailed, and deeply engaged. Some, I will, say, seemed a skosh mean spirited which is disheartening. But almost all reflected real investment in the site, in the genre, and in how we talk about both.
What will it mean for AAR? Well….
Many of you said you miss the Previews. Those monthly roundups gave shape to the publishing calendar and offered a sense of shared anticipation. We miss them too. They took time—more than we currently have—but the desire for that kind of engagement came through clearly. It’s tough. I can’t stress enough that we are volunteers. Every scrap of content you see her, someone, for free, made it. Several years ago, Amazon took away the ability to download linked book covers and so now, every book cover has to be downloaded, then the link has to be added, then the linked cover has to be added into a blog, etc…. Frankly, we just don’t have the time. We understand you’d like this but, right now, our resources are too limited.
Several readers said they would like to see more commentary. You asked for columns, opinion pieces, essays that move beyond individual reviews and toward a broader conversation about the genre. That feedback is deeply appreciated. The challenge is time and staffing. Most of the people who write for AAR do so between other responsibilities. Still, your comments serve as a reminder that voice and analysis are part of what have always made this site worth reading. And I am working on pulling up old content that relevant so that we can talk about even more stuff!
You also said you would like to see more variety in what we review. Historical romance and romantic suspense came up most often. Some readers said they felt contemporary romance was overrepresented, and that many of the books we covered leaned heavily on trauma, therapy, and emotional processing. Many feel as if we review too many queer romances. Others felt the opposite. I have to say, I do not have an easy fix for this. We do not assign books to reviewers. They choose what they want to read. It’s my belief that if I started assigning books, we’d get fewer reviews and fewer DIKs. People love what they love. The result is a picture of what our team has picked up, not a curated cross-section of the market. If you want to shift that picture, one option is to join us. We welcome new reviewers.
Several readers raised concerns about tone and accuracy. Some reviews felt overly sharp. Others seemed too gentle. A few contained errors. We take that seriously. Our goal is to publish reviews that are clean, informed, and grounded in the text. If you notice something that falls short of that, let us know.
Several of you complained about the ads. I hear you AND ads are necessary for us to stay on line. We make very little money from Amazon and the donations the site receives, while lovely, aren’t enough at this point for us to rely only on them. Until I figure out a way to connect our numbers–daily in the thousands–with our revenue–daily in the tens–the ads are a godsend for us.
We also heard what you value.
You said AAR helps you find authors you would not otherwise have discovered. You said the reviews help you avoid books that are unlikely to work for you. You said the site treats the genre with seriousness and care.
You like that our reviewers write with voice and authority. You like that we cover older titles. You like that we are not driven by hype. You trust us to tell the truth as we see it.
AAR continues to be run by people who read. We are not an engine for promotion. We are not trying to go viral. We are not afraid to say that something does not work. That may not suit everyone.
We cannot promise more than we can deliver. The site runs on limited time and limited hands. But we are here. We are listening. And we are grateful. And I will keep trying to both make AAR better and pursue ways to keep us online.
Thank you for all your insights.
The post the ask@AAR: Wanna know what I think? appeared first on All About Romance.
