Happy Graduation To Us! Looking Back On The Book Bratz and Our Milestones

Amber and I recently graduated high school, which is something that we've been looking forward to for a super long time. 

To celebrate this major milestone in our lives, I decided to take a little bit of time to reflect on all of the amazing things that The Book Bratz has accomplished over our two (technically three) years of life, because today is all about looking back on our accomplishments and all of that.

For starters, I distinctly remember the day that Amber suggested starting the blog. It was May of our freshman year, because she sent me a private message on Goodreads (even though we saw each other in school every single day...). I told her as soon as my school dance competition ended I'd think about it, and think about it I did...that was over three years ago now! 

I also remember the first publishing company to send us an ARC to review -- it was ECW Press, and I'm pretty sure it was the Rule of Thirds. I remember being so excited to be holding a book that wasn't released yet - it was such a cool feeling! Even better? Seeing the finished work in Barnes and Noble a few months later and knowing that I got to see the book (and read it!) before it hit the shelves...that was such a cool feeling.

Hmm, what else do I remember? I distinctly remember when we hit 100 Twitter followers. And then 200. And then 500. And then 1,000. And then 2,000. And eventually, 2.8 thousand people were reading the dumb things we had to Tweet all day long. Knowing that that many people are so invested in what we have to say...let me just say, every time we hit a follower milestone on Twitter, I call Amber up on the phone and we both run around our respective houses in celebration. I know it isn't all about the followers -- not by a long shot. But it's super awesome to know that there are that many people invested in our reviews and giveaways and what we have to say.

We've met so many awesome blogger friends over the years -- far too many to tag and name them all, but just a few that have been with us since the beginning were Nori, Dana, Rachel, and Ri, and Drew! 

We started the Summer Blogger Promo Tour three years ago -- something we just wanted to do to help get the word out about a handful of new bloggers, but before we knew it, it grew and expanded into something that now over forty bloggers participate in each month.

We traveled to BookCon (and soon, next year, BEA) to meet tons of bloggers and authors and people who all share a mutual love for books. We even got recognized a few times, and seeing realization dawn on someone's face when they hear your blog's name never stops being an incredibly cool and awesome feeling. 

Here at The Book Bratz, I learned so many things. I learned how to connect with businesses, and with readers. I learned how to create content that people will be interested in. I learned how to host giveaways and form partnerships and promotions and a ton of other business-related things. Most importantly, I learned that this is something that I want to take on for the rest of my life. Starting The Book Bratz has shown me the behind-the-scenes aspects of the publishing industry, and it showed me that this is where I want my career to be. Before that, I knew I wanted to work with books, but I wasn't quite sure how. Now, I know that the publishing industry is perfect for me, and I couldn't be more excited about it. 

I have so much to be thankful for with The Book Bratz. I really do. I couldn't be happier to be working on this blog, and even though I'm moving onto the next stage of my life, I know that The Book Bratz is coming with me, and I'm so, so excited to see where it goes.

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to head out into the real world and do some adulting things. None of which I'm very excited about.