Mark Blevis

Being married to me has meant that Andrea Ross’ status in the Podcasting community has been overshadowed by my own. That’s a huge loss for the community because Andrea has done amazing things that have either gone unnoticed, or have been attributed to me.

Prior to developing the concept for Just One More Book!! — a Podcast about the children’s books we love and why we love them, recorded in our favourite coffee shop — Andrea was not interested in being a Podcaster. She attended Podcasters Across Borders and was impressed by the passion that filled the room and the genuine sense of community that rang clear that weekend. Less than a month later she had a concept for Just One More Book. We launched a few days later.

What happened over the next short while was impressive. Andrea immersed herself in the show and the online “Kidlit” community. She figured out, on her own, how to use the tools of Web 2.0 to become part of the community, promoting Just One More Book and creating her own, engaged, community. She even began IM’ing.

By November 2006 Andrea had garnered up significant media attention in the show. That same month, the publishing community began to take notice. A major UK periodical for librarians ran a feature on Just One More Book that month. Two months later, Just One More Book was featured in a major North American periodical for librarians (a second mention in that magazine followed in the February issue). At the end of January, interest in the Podcast tripled — overnight.

On top of everything else, Andrea is responsible for making the interviews happen. She finds the guests, schedules them, researches their contribution to the children’s literature community and preps me for the interview.

Just One More Book is celebrating its 100th episode, today, seven months after its launch on July 15, 2006.