About Hip Librarians Book Blog

This sounds like a fantastic idea (I have a purse full of napkins, too). I like to read reviews or at least opinions of books from people I know and trust. Cassie

As you may already be aware, your blog Hip Librarians has been included in the JacketFlap Children’s Publishing Blog Reader. Writers, illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, and publishers are now reading blogs on JacketFlap every day.

Similar in many ways to news aggregators like Bloglines or Live Journal's Friends, this Blog Reader lets readers view posts from many blogs on a single page, without having to visit all of the different blog sites individually to check for updates. We are actively "tagging" posts with keywords like "reviews" so readers can quickly find all posts on a certain topic. You and our other members can also tag posts using the tag links on our site. And, we have a search engine so readers can search within your blog or across all blogs. When readers of your blog click on a post’s title or the “Add / View Comments” links, they will be taken to your website.

We have just completed a new feature that will help increase your readership. With a single-click, readers on your website can automatically add your blog to their customized My JacketFlap page. You can visit the following URL to get the code to embed one of our “Add to My JacketFlap” buttons in your blog:

http://www.jacketflap.com/blogbuttons.asp

You will be able to see the number of times your blog has been viewed on JacketFlap, and you will be able to see the number of people that have added you to their My JacketFlap page. To see these statistics, first go to JacketFlap’s Blog Reader at http://www.jacketflap.com/megablog. Click on your blog’s name on the right side of the page. This will take you to a view of just your blog. Below your blog’s header, you will see a statistics area.

We are in the process of completing a private blog administrator page on JacketFlap that only you will be able to access that will contain additional information that only you can see. This will include additional statistics, such as the number of times people have clicked through from JacketFlap to your site. You will also be able to use this page to customize the way your blog looks on JacketFlap, such as changing your blog’s header graphic, description, author name, and your avatar that is displayed next to each post. If you haven’t already done so, please register for a free user account on JacketFlap at http://www.jacketflap.com/register.asp. After you have registered, please email tgrand@jacketflap.com with your JacketFlap user name and your blog name, so we can associate your account as the blog administrator.

Please email me with any questions, and let me know when the button is on your site so I can take a look. The Blog Reader is brand new, and we really need your feedback! Please tell us what you like, what you would change, and what you would suggest that we add. Our goal is to make this the easiest way to stay current on all of the great discussions about children's publishing happening in hundreds of blogs across the web.

Best regards, Tracy