Turning the Pages is ONE!

How is it possible that an entire year has gone by and I am still blogging about one of my favourite things, books?

When I started out on this blogging journey, I had no idea what would become of it. Starting Turning the Pages was a way of talking about books without seeing my audience (namely my husband) get glossy eyed. It wasn't about trying to get free books (although a nice perk) and it wasn't about getting book recommendations (again, awesome), it was simply about sharing my thoughts on a particular book, whether it be good or bad, with anyone who was interested.

The book blog world is so much bigger than I ever imagined and in my first year, I had over 20,000 visitors to Turning the Pages. Here are some more stats:

302 UNIQUE blog posts.

166 NEW blog followers.

726 Twitter followers and over 5,000 tweets.

64 NEW Facebook fans.

It goes without saying that this year (and these stats) were not generated without the help of some amazing people. While each and every person who has stopped by Turning the Pages deserves a GIANT hug, there are those of you who have given me advice, driven traffic my way and recommended avenues that I would never have otherwise known about.

First up is Anna Balasi of Little, Brown and Company. Anna commented on one of my posts about a book that I was looking forward to and offered to send me a copy for review. This opened my eyes in a number of ways. 1) Somebody other than myself (and my immediate family) actually saw my blog and 2) I was going to get a book... for FREE!! Thanks to Anna, I finally had the confidence to reach out to others and start networking my blog in the virtual 'book' world! She also intorduced me to Kaitlin, of Hachette Book Group Canada, and that has allowed to read so many wonderful books. THANK YOU!!

While we are on publishing companies, I cannot go without mentioning the amazing team at Random House Canada. Lindsey, Cass and crew have made me feel like I was one of the team on more occasions than I care to admit. It was Random House who made the luncheon with Ami McKay and Natalie McLean possible... a lunch, with authors - OMG! To top that, a personal invitation to the Blog Love Fest at Random House where I met with Ami McKay, Erin Morgenstern and Paula McLain... WOW! Each and every month, I am able to connect with the 'girls' and it has been such a blessing! THANK YOU, you have no idea how much you have meant to me!!

Next up is Samantha from CLP Blog Tours (Chick Lit Plus). Not only is Samantha an author and book reviewer, but she runs an amazing website (CLP Blog Tours) where she connects with authors looking to promote their upcoming novels. These authors provide readers with access to their books and Samantha provides links to each and every review on the tour. THANK YOU, your continued support and encouragement has been greatly appreciated.

Finally, THANK YOU! All of you. Every single person who reads this post needs to know that I owe you so much for without you, I would be a girl chatting about books to... myself, again!


So how do you say THANK YOU in a way that your viewers will appreciate? With a book giveaway, of course!



One of my favourite books of the first year was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and I happen to have an extra hardcopy in my library as I type.

The WINNER is Wendy McKay... Congratulations. An email has been sent!!

That's it!


Once again... THANK YOU from the bottom of my book loving heart!