Actually, this is NOT a Book Blogger Hop!

This is the sort of question I’d like to see in the Book Bloggers Hop, but the ones scheduled seem a little repetitive around now.  Last year I saw someone talking about deleting old posts on their blog – something that hadn’t occurred to me.  At the moment, you can find everything I’ve ever written on here, right back to that first self-conscious one where I’d decided to try to get the books published, and read that having a dedicated author blog was the right thing to do.

I wonder, though.  Do my musings on the early stages of my writing career deserve a space cluttering up the ether?  More to the point, do they help or hinder anyone reading them, in terms of marketing my work?

Thinking about my posts, if I was pruning them, I would keep all the Book Reviews.  My review of A Christmas Carol is the single most accessed post on the blog, and gets three to six hits a day,all the year round.  I must read and review more classic books that appear on global reading lists 🙂  Other reviews pull in readers on an intermittent basis, which gives me a long tail of posts read by one visitor in a year.

I’d keep all the flash fiction, and probably the haikus, too.  Some writers blog about writing, I blog my writing.  I might withdraw some of my flash fiction if I put it into an anthology, but then again, if you want blog readers, I think it helps for them to see them on the blog.

I might leave most of the Monday news and discussion posts, as well.  I mean, if people want to get to know this author, these posts give an insight that may not come from the writings and reviews.  I’d also leave all my A to Z April Challenge posts.

The rest?  It could probably go.  It’s mainly book blasts and tours duplicated on dozens of other blogs.  If I haven’t put anything original into them, maybe they should be archived from public view.

What do you think?

Do you spring clean your blog?  What do you take out?

Do you delete old posts?
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16 thoughts on “Do you delete old posts?

  • 5 January, 2015 at 5:57 am
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    I leave everything, warts and all, but I’m a data collection complete-ist (aka, digital pack rat). I figure as long as disk space is cheap and plentiful, and that “Search” button will let folks find the gem they’re looking for in all of the slag, I might as well leave it up. Just my two cents.

    • 5 January, 2015 at 11:20 am
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      Oh good! That makes me feel lots better… there’s a name for it 😀

  • 5 January, 2015 at 10:25 am
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    I think I’d have a problem with spring cleaning since not only would I lose my work but also that of the people who commented and really that’s their voice.
    xxx Huge Hugs xxx

    • 5 January, 2015 at 11:23 am
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      Ah, well – I wouldn’t take out anything important, and certainly not if there were comments from my favourite people :hugs:

  • 5 January, 2015 at 10:52 am
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    I keep my old posts although when I find that I’m running out of space, I will probably delete old out of date book promos.
    I find it’s useful sometimes to reblog an old post, if it’s still relevant 😀

    • 5 January, 2015 at 11:29 am
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      I think we are of one mind here, Chris 🙂

  • 5 January, 2015 at 2:49 pm
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    I hadn’t thought about this either! I haven’t really done book blasts, so pretty much all my posts have me in them. But you do make me wonder if those early posts when I was feeling my way are a negative. Maybe not. People do like to see us human, right? They are at times less than professional, but…

    • 5 January, 2015 at 7:47 pm
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      It’s an interesting thought, really. But then, do people really go way back in someone’s blog? Unless it’s something specific?

  • 5 January, 2015 at 9:16 pm
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    I should clean up my blog – I have more than 100 posts now. But interesting that when I re-posted one blog as part of a blog hop, I got lots of views. A-Z could easily go!

    • 5 January, 2015 at 10:59 pm
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      Only 100? I think I’m around 700! Your A-Z of painters is to be treasured – don’t you dare get rid of it!

  • 8 January, 2015 at 12:14 am
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    I would never delete a word in a working blog.

    • 8 January, 2015 at 2:30 pm
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      Good!

  • 9 January, 2015 at 7:22 pm
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    I wouldn’t delete things unless you needed to for space/financially or something like that. You may end up with more maintenance than you think as sometimes others link to your blog posts and then they are going nowhere.
    Just my two cents.
    ~Cool Mom

    • 12 January, 2015 at 10:58 pm
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      Good point! 🙂

  • 12 January, 2015 at 11:11 am
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    I haven’t started a blog yet but this is an interesting point. I think having your entire blog (original content) searchable with tags is a good idea, even if your mind changes about something or other. It is an archive of how you’ve evolved as a writer and a person. Reblogging content from other blogs, like contests and promotions, could probably go, though.

    • 12 January, 2015 at 11:02 pm
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      Yes, I wondered about having old contests still here, but I do click the link to show the winners once the prizes have been fulfilled, and I hope that helps to make things transparent.
      Thanks, Susanne!

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