THE BIG THING!

I mentioned the other day that I was following up my review of the reviewers (genre review blogs) with another related project. I have finished the first part of that project and here it is:

I’ve created an OMPL (XML format) file of all of the English language review blogs and have made it available for download here. If you are sophisticated enough not to have to go to my webpage to download the file, you can do so by clicking here. But I’d obviously prefer that you go to it after visiting every other page on my site first…

WHAT is this, you ask?

Simple. If you have an RSS reader such as Google Reader, or RSS Bandit or one of many others, this file will allow you to add the feed to EVERY SINGLE ONE of the Genre Review Blogs in one go (with a couple of exceptions – see below).

YES! We’re talking about obtaining the goodness that is 151 blogs and websites covering everything from young adult paranormal romance to original science fiction songs, 151 feeds of ramblings, musings, pontifications, ruminations, speculations, observations and even some reviewifications! Talk about timesucks – this is the granddaddy of them all. Read what your friends and peers (and that snotty nosed kid down the street) have to say about your favorite genres. Feast your eyes on images of book covers, magazines, comics, films and television shows! Read the same story from multiple viewpoints! Laugh, cry or get ANGRY!

Most RSS reader programs allow you to place your different feeds into folders or tag them by category in some fashion or other. It is always easier to re-categorize or delete than it is to add, so I’ve gone to the trouble of making your job a snap.

All you have to do is download the file from the website, open up your RSS Reader, find your import/export option (usually under a tab or heading such as ’settings’ or ‘manage subscriptions’), import the file and then decide what you want to keep and what folder(s) you want to keep them in.

They are all currently contained within a single folder (which should import as well) named GENRE REVIEW BLOGS. You may want to just keep them there and move a few to ‘favorites’ or some such other folder, because here’s the beauty part:

If all 151+ of you add these subscriptions to your reader – everyone on the list will get an additional 150+ subscribers. I don’t know about you, but I sure as heck wouldn’t turn my nose up at another 150 subs.

This should have a positive effect on your overall traffic, your google page rank (if you pay attention to such) and just plain make you a better person all the way around.

The real beauty part to all of this is – you can add all the rest of us to your feed reader and then ignore us if we don’t interest you. Just stick us in a folder named ‘Ignore’ or ‘Stupid Review Blogs I’ll Never Read’ – we’ll never know the difference and teh intarwebs will still think we’re popular!

And who knows, one day yoiu might just decide to give them a read out of sheer boredom and find something interesting.

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I mentioned above that I’ve included all the blogs with a couple of exceptions. Unfortunately, there are still a few folks out there who have not, for one reason or another, added an RSS subscription capability to their offerings. Here is a list of those sites not included in the export file, as well as their current status. If you want to read these folks, you’ll have to link directly to them – at least for the time being:

Critical Mass: Don is willing to set one up – so long as there is no ‘downside’ and if someone with the proper skill set is willing to help. If you are such a person, please get in touch with me.

Greenman Review: My email inquiries regarding their status have so far gone unanswered.

MITSFS: Have also not answered yet.

SFReader: Will be adding a feed sometime in the future

SFRevu: Will not be adding an RSS feed

Silver Reviews: Will be adding a feed in the future

Specusphere: Will be adding a feed in the future

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Next on the to-do list is a subscription file for the foreign language blogs. I should have that done in a day or so.