Tags
connecting readers and writers, historical fiction, historical novel society, Historical Tapestry, Passages to the Past, reading the past, top book blogs
Always the analyst looking for an angle, I decided to examine the top blogs participants submitted in my recent survey. Of course, I first had to crawl through the recommendations again, create a spreadsheet and count them. My numbers might be off by one or two, however, the main players are clear.
The top two – Reading the Past and Passages to the Past – are neck and neck at 58 and 56 mentions. The next two – Historical Novel Society and Historical Tapestry – earned 30 and 24 respectively. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TOP FOUR !!
From there, the numbers drop to 12 or fewer mentions which I think is interesting in and of itself. And beyond that we have scads of small book review sites, some with a historical fiction orientation, some more eclectic, some focused on particular time periods, some concentrating of topics like historical naval fiction or historical romance.
Other than a focus on history, do the top four have attributes in common? I found points of overlap and points of differentiation.
- generally uncluttered look and feel
- current post is at the top, ready to read
- photos of book covers to catch the eye
- a phrase calling attention to purpose: “the home of historical fiction online” comes from HNS, “the place to be for everything historical fiction” is the byline for Passages to the Past, “news, views and reviews of historical fiction” is the focus of Reading the Past
- subscribe button readily visible
- regular book reviews
- guest posts and author interviews
- contests and giveaways
- some sort of index to past reviews
- links to historical fiction blogs and author blogs
- opportunity for reader comments, although HNS seems to be an exception
But, there are differences.
HNS – Historical Novel Society – stands out for its awards, conferences, magazines and membership concept. In addition to book reviews, HNS offers feature articles and an online membership directory. You can also subscribe to a daily newsletter that summarizes all sorts of news in the domain of historical fiction. Members have access to market news, information about publishers and agents, a critique service and other possibilities.
Historical Tapestry is written 
by several self-proclaimed historical fiction fans who have come together to review books. In addition to reviews, each year they focus on an author offering insights and opinions on that author’s body of work. This year Daphne du Maurier is being featured. The site also offers a reading challenge for reader participation.
Passages to the Past offers Live Chat Nights with authors and virtual books tours. On the right sidebar, the blog lists upcoming releases while on the left, the blogger shows the book she is currently reading. The blogger, Amy, offers a comprehensive look at Jean Plaidy novels and a complete list of the Morland series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.
Reading the Past seems to be the most straightforward of the sites which may be what attracts so many readers. Sarah Johnson offers an index to interviews as well as an index to books reviewed and her two historical fiction guides are displayed. It is interesting to note that Ms. Johnson writes every review herself in order to ensure consistency.
Interestingly, these sites were almost never mentioned by UK readers and unfortunately, I have insufficient UK replies to this particular question to say much about that country’s preferences.
Beyond these top four were many other blogs and one or two reader forums. By my count, 142 blogs were mentioned as favourites by only one person. That’s an incredible number of people blogging about books.
Thanks for this summary!
I’m pleased to see that Reading the Past ranked so highly. Since a link to the HF survey was posted there, however, perhaps that has to be taken into account!
I’m not surprised to see PTTP and HT up there, either, as I’m an avid reader of both. One of the pleasures of HF blogging is that all of us get to know each other.
I don’t think I’m unique in writing all the reviews on my site myself. That’s the case with most bloggers, isn’t it? I offer guest posts on occasion, but that’s somewhat different.
Nice to see the HNS was included so highly too. Curious to see that it was mentioned as a book blog because it isn’t meant to be one, not really, although it has an RSS feed for site updates. It’s more of an organization website, one with an online magazine. The site underwent a major transformation during the time the survey was in process (its “live” date was April 7th). Few reviews were online before, so it’d be interesting to see if its popularity would move up in the list if this question was ever revisited.
Very good point about HNS, Sarah. I think I recall that in the actual responses some folks referred to the Society and others to the magazine. Clearly HNS is a place to browse for reviews but it operates differently from blogs like yours, PTTP and HT.
You have become one of the blogs that I must check whenever you have a post. And I love your information on the numbers/statistics. This is an area that historical fiction writers need to know about. More Surveys!
Thanks for the support, Judith. Gotta say that I’m enjoying the process and learning so much about readers and writers of this category.
you have become a blog that I always read. Please keep up the posts on statistics/surveys. Great information!
Judith
Awesome! I am honoured to be on a list that includes those blogs (as one of the people behind Historical Tapestry)!
Thanks for your comment, Marg. I’d enjoy a chance to “interview” you folks at some point. I’ll also have to check out your personal blog, anyone with a name like that must have some fun pieces to read
Thanks for your work in compiling the survey – I can say I enjoy reading the reviews on all these blogs – Marg’s Adventures of an Intrepid Reader is also pretty special
The lack of info on UK bloggers is interesting because there is such a huge HF market there.
I don’t know how to get at the UK blogs since my survey numbers for them are not statistically significant. Lots of UK blogs mentioned, but no one that stands out. And in the overall survey, US respondents dominate in a big way which was natural given how I started with my contacts, with Sarah Johnson’s blog and with a few HF interest groups on Facebook, Goodreads and LinkedIn. Might have to do another survey!! But at the moment, I really want to get back to my writing. Many thanks for your interest.
What great info you compile for us, Mary! I’m a fan of all the Top 4 HF sites, and of yours, too
Thanks, Barbara. I’m so pleased to be able to offer the information. Gotta get back to writing soon!
Yes, do get back to your writing. We writers have to fiercely protect our work time! My advice: let incoming phone calls go to voicemail and politely decline invitations to lunch.
Excellent advice. Maybe tomorrow?
Thanks so much for this survey summary. It is so awesome that we were (HT) in the top 4 mentioned. All 4 are great and I am an avid reader of PTTP and RTP.
Hi Teddy – I’ve checked out your blog and like the tone and information. A great balance. As I mentioned to Marg, I would like to “interview” you folks one of these days. Hope you are willing.
We note with slight dismay as we glance over the historical novels discussed in these highly-rated blogs they that are almost exclusively confined to Western history (Sarah Johnson reviewed The Jewess of Kaifeng in 2006, which appears to be a rare exception). If this focus reflects the interest of readers of the genre, there would seem to be little to no interest in historicals set in the Far East, at least not since Shogun. So we continue to search for blogs that entertain a wider scope, expecting they will appeal to a narrower audience.
Many thanks for your interest and comment. You may have noticed that many of my posts in the last few months relate to a survey I conducted of historical fiction readers. 805 people participated, the bulk of them from US, Canada and UK which may account for the interests expressed in periods such as Tudor England, medieval times and so on. Do you have a theory about readers’ and bloggers preference for western history? If you would like to contact me separately, we could discuss some of the other blogs and authors that participants mentioned.
Yes, we would like very much to discuss all this with you. How should we contact you separately (our email is on our Gravatar; could not locate a separate contact for you).
Actually, I am not sure that I agree with that assertion completely. At Historical Tapestry we try to highlight when we read something that is not set in the UK which is where a lot of popular HF is set. The last Chinese set book I read and reviewed at HT was earlier this year and my next historical fiction read is set in Iran. As a reader I am always on the lookout for really well written books that are about fascinating characters and times but it isn’t always easy to find those kind of books.
Glad to hear that – whaich was the book set in China that yoiu reviewed?
Hello Marg,
“Glad to hear that – which was the book set in China that you reviewed?” [Without the typos.]
Thank you muchly for your separate email invitation to guest post at HT. As we have not received your response to our followup, we thought we’d drop you a note here just in case you’d missed us. We’d be very happy to oblige with guest posts. This would be our first “guesting,” so to speak, so be sure we manage to stay between
lines.
“A diverse range of places and times [readers] can explore in relation to China” is
a topic that Old China Books is well prepared for, as you might hope.
What would be the best approach for you? How about a brief survey, followed by more detailed comment on individual selections, perhaps those in which readers express interest?
A survey might cover (1) more recent novels related to China; (2) older novels about
China; and (3) novels reflecting Chinese-American experience. I could prepare a
thumbnail description of each book in the survey, which could touch on both
English-language originals, and translations from the Chinese.
Thanks again for this opportunity. But please let us know if you have reconsidered your offer.
Best regards,
James Lande
Old China Books
blog.oldchinabooks.com
Reading the Past is also a site that writers like.
That says a lot.
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Ah so many of my favourite blogs that I visit made it on this list. Thanks for doing all this work!
It has been my pleasure Mirella. Such an interesting process along with people that I’ve met and interviewed. Great fun.
thanks for the recommendations! ‘ll stop by there!