The Little Blogger, Big Ambitions Project

5 April, 2013 Giveaways 80 comments

LBBABeing a new blogger is hard.  Pubs rarely send out ARCs to a blog under six months, and building the audience required to get those ARCs is hard and expensive work.  Sometimes getting a hold of an ARC can help new bloggers get their foot in the door.  It can provide a giveaway to draw traffic to their blog and help widen their audience.  But not if they can’t get them.

On the flip side, there are bloggers like us who are sent several books a week.  We are grateful for each and every book sent to us, but we simply can’t read them all.  Especially the ones we don’t request.  The thing is, those books deserve to be read and reviewed as opposed to collecting dust on our shelves or being given away or swapped to someone who may not read them or even own a blog.

Thus an idea was born. The Little Blogger, Big Ambitions Project is our attempt to help new and small blogs get access to ARCs, and make sure the books that are sent to us at least get some publicity.  Bloggers can sign up on the form below, but there are requirements for a blog to enter.

The benefit of the LBBA Project is that, whilst you are still effectively entering a giveaway for the book, the pool of entrants is significantly smaller.  Only bloggers of a certain size demographic, who are already registered with us, can enter.  Also, each blogger gets one entry, with no additional points awarded for tweeting or promoting the giveaway.  So keep reading for more details of how you could be involved.

Only book blogs with the following stats or less can be a part of The Little Blogger, Big Ambitions Project:

-600 followers or less

-600 pageviews a day or less

-For now, only bloggers from US, Canada and Australia can enter.  If the project is successful then we can start to branch out to more countries.

-Some ARCs may be available internationally, if the donator is willing to ship it.

The system we are setting up is that a blogger who is a member of this program can request any ARC we mark as available, but this means we really hope that they read and review it out of fairness to other bloggers who missed out.

You can always view what ARCs are available by visiting the ARCs Available page or following us on Twitter or Facebook where updates will be provided.

However, if a publisher doesn’t want their ARCs included in The Little Bloggers, Big Ambitions Project then we will certainly respect those wishes and preclude those books from availability.

Other bloggers may donate ARCs that they aren’t able to read.

 

How you can be a part of the program

To receive ARCs

Fill out the form below with your most recent stats

Enter the Giveaway for whatever ARCs you want to read.

If you win, we will email you and let you know.

Reply with your address for us to ship your ARC out to you.

Read it, review it, give it away for some publicity or keep it for yourself.

Email us the link to your review when it goes live.  We would love to include quotes from your review in Buzz Worthy News to help promote your site, and your review.

Keep us updated if your stats change.  If you outgrow the LBBA Project then we’d appreciate the heads up so that we can make room for other, smaller bloggers.

To Donate ARCs

If you want to Donate ARCs to the program, we’re happy to accept them. Simply fill out the Donation form with the details for the book.

Donatable ARCs are preferably ones that you haven’t been able to review yourself due to time constraints.

Please let us know whether you would prefer to ship the ARC to us, or directly to the receiver.

 

[gravityform id=”3″ name=”Little Blogger, Big Ambitions Sign-up” ajax=”true”]

80 Responses to “The Little Blogger, Big Ambitions Project”

  1. whatdanielledidnext

    This is such an amazing idea! If it’s ever opened up to bloggers from Ireland I am THERE! Thanks for doing this, as a little newbie it’s always fab to see the more established bloggers reach out like this 🙂 x

    • Steph Sinclair

      whatdanielledidnext There are some bloggers who are willing to ship international. We’ll be putting those giveaways up tomorrow. So check back with us. 🙂

      • whatdanielledidnext

        @Steph Sinclair whatdanielledidnext aww great! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂

  2. tripsis

    Great idea! 🙂  It’s wonderful that you’re helping out the new bloggers!  I totally would have taken advantage of this opportunity if it was available when I qualified!

  4. Jessica R

    Wow, this is such a kind and thoughtful program. I read your blog all the time (I’m still a bit of a lurker) and to see you putting in the effort to help out newbie bloggers is amazing. As a newbie blogger myself, I want to thank you. It can definitely be hard to grab an audience and I totally appreciate when an established and well-loved blogger is willing to take a minute to help out. You guys rock 🙂

  5. Sandra

    I like this idea a lot, but what about blogs that are over a year old and still don’t have the pageviews and followers that would exclude them? (like me)
    And is this for paper copies only, or do the ARCs include electronic formats as well?

    • Steph Sinclair

      @Sandra We have thought about that and we hope to be able to extend it to more bloggers if the program takes off. This is only for print ARCs only. We can’t distribute eARCs.

    • Steph Sinclair

      @Sandra We have thought about that and we hope to be able to extend it to more bloggers if the program takes off. This is only for print ARCs only. We can’t distribute eARCs.

  6. Giselleco

    What a fab idea, ladies! I definitely have some I can donate I’m going to go through my overfilled bookshelf and fill out the form! 🙂 The last ARC I got I didn’t want I just shot a tweet asking who wasted it lol (it was an unsolicited one, and a sequel O_O)

  8. KathStrossner

    Great idea!
    So bad this is only for US, Canada and Australia 🙁
    Best wishes for this project 😉

  9. KathStrossner

    Great idea!
    So bad this is only for US, Canada and Australia 🙁
    Best wishes for this project 😉

  11. InkyReads

    I absolutely love this plan! Haha. I’m almost at two years, but I totally remember back in the day when I was trying to build up. This is a fabulous plan! I love seeing things like this there the blogging community reaches out to help other bloggers. It’s so great! Keep it up! 
    <333 Inky

  14. Fly to the Sky

    Wow, This is seriously AMAZING!! I just started my blog and have been struggling to get page views!! Awesome idea!! =D

  15. stinalindenblatt

    I’m not a book blogger, but I think this a great idea. It’s the perfect way to help new blogs.

  16. Nikki

    As a fairly newer book blogger, I can’t tell you how appreciated this is. This just enforces my belief that the bookish community is full of the most amazing people EVER, so much more! I think it’s great how you not only provide opportunities for us newbies, but you allow more established bloggers the chance to give back as well! If there was a book blog congeniality award, you gals would totally win it!
    THANK YOU!

  18. Ransom_Reads

    This is a fantastic idea! I hope it works well (mainly because I signed up, but also because it’s an idea that should be successful.)

  19. MaijaSteinbrika

    This is a fantastic idea, Kat! Hopefully it will become bigger with time 😉
    Unfortunately I’m not able to participate, but good luck to the other small bloggers who are. This idea will probably grow and someday the small bloggers will become the ones who donate, too

    • Steph Sinclair

      MaijaSteinbrika There are some bloggers who are willing to ship international. They’ll go up tomorrow so, you can register and enter! 🙂

      • MaijaSteinbrika

        @Steph Sinclair Yay! Thank you, Steph!
        I’ll come and check it out sometime this weekend, when the Buzz News posts come out 🙂 ( the form doesn’t include INT, yet)

    • Steph Sinclair

      MaijaSteinbrika There are some bloggers who are willing to ship international. They’ll go up tomorrow so, you can register and enter! 🙂

  20. RadiantShadowss

    This is such a fantastic idea! 
    Bah! I’ve written/erased/written/erased so many things because I’m just TOO EXCITED! This is just too good – you Cuddlebuggs are TOO DAMN AWESOME!

  21. Nara

    Hi! Question: I have a blog that I co-author with someone. Do we sign up separately or together?

    • Steph Sinclair

      @Nara If you are in different countries, you can both enter. If you are in the same country, please enter together as one. Thanks for asking!

      • Nara

        Steph Sinclair So does that mean that in the actual giveaway itself, only one of us enters, sort of thing?

      • Nara

        Steph Sinclair So just for clarification, does that mean that we enter together in the actual giveaway itself? (We are both from Australia)

        • Steph Sinclair

          @Nara Since you are both in AUS, you get one entry for your blog. Meaning: Only one of you should enter each giveaway. If you register, you can put both of your names on it.

  22. Lexxie

    WOW, this is a really awesome idea! And I signed up – even if I’m in Europe, because you never know, right?

  23. LeliaTaylor

    This is a great idea! I think I might have some to donate and will look through my stacks this weekend. Are you interested in any that are not Young Adult, such as mysteries?

  24. LeliaTaylor

    This is a great idea! I think I might have some to donate and will look through my stacks this weekend. Are you interested in any that are not Young Adult, such as mysteries?

  25. hikarinotenshi93

    Sounds like a great program! I was wondering though, what do you recommend for keeping track of blog stats? I know my GFC count and Google+ followers, but that’s about it :p

  26. gypsyreviews

    This is a fantastic project and it is so wonderful of you two to initiate it. I’m not sure if there are bloggers who might be willing to ship where I live but I signed up just in case 🙂 I really appreciate what you’re doing for all those smaller blogs! Seriously, Cuddlebuggery deserves a medal for this *excited*

  33. Fly to the Sky

    Okay, so I accidently entered one that wasn’t for my region. Is there any way to get it out of the drawing??? I’m super sorty. My moude slipped last second and me being a complete idiot didn’t even realize!!!

  34. Annie J

    That is such an amazingly good idea!  I love the spirit of community in it, wanting to help smaller blogs and books visibility at the same time.  totally awesome!! 🙂

  36. jazchau

    Woah this is such a cool idea! You guys are really considerate 🙂

  37. CherieReads

    I have waaaay less than 600 followers and pageviews per day but I have more than 600 FB followers.  Do Facebook and Twitter stats count or can I still sign up because my actual blog follower stats are lower?  Thanks!

    • Steph Sinclair

      CherieReads Still sign up. Social media followers don’t always transfer over as dedicated blog followers and LBBA is designed to be flexible. 🙂