i’ve only been blogging for a year, but it feels much longer than that. (i know, stereotypical and a bit sentimental but IT’S TRUE) SO, i’ve decided to take a look back at fetus xan and give some words of advice. maybe if i knew these things, i wouldn’t have started blogging in the first place… or i would’ve been more motivated than ever. i guess we’ll never know. but here are some things i’d like to share to my past self, and also the n00b bloggers out there who are thinking about joining the bandwagon.
blogging is extremely time-consuming
i started a blog because i thought it would be less time-consuming that youtube-ing, which i suppose is still true. BUT that doesn’t mean blogging isn’t time-consuming because it really really is. i feel like this is something everyone underestimates. the time i put into writing a single review + discussion post is probably 2+ hours. there’s the organizing-thoughts, the writing, the coding-into-wordpress, the graphic-making, the gif-searching, the book-photography, and more. there’s also the READING and note-taking part. i spent a lot of time thinking of, designing, and adjusting my blog theme, which isn’t even related to the actual content. THEN, there’s the blog promoting which is going through ALL your social media sites and sharing your posts and interacting with others, CONSTANTLY. and don’t even get me started on blog hopping/commenting. i could go on and on about that. (i actually did in THIS blog post) (see?! blog promoting – which includes linking to old posts – is time-consuming) the time and effort put in is probably equal to a full-time job.
commenting and interacting is a must
when i started blogging, i didn’t understand the concept of comments. sure you can comment on another person’s blog and someone can comment on mine… but WHATEVER. i was terrible at interacting in the community (what is twitter lol) and only promoted my blog through instagram, and that was only sorta promoting not really promoting. i don’t know how i got anywhere. when i actually started using my twitter, it was like
don’t go crazy with the arcs
when i first found the existence of ARCs (advanced readers copies), i was so excited and wanted, like, ten. i get to read this book before it’s released? and be with the cool kids “in the know” with the publisher? YES COUNT ME IN THIS IS GREAT. ARCs are not as shiny and precious as they seem. i made a netgalley account, read through books that looked “cool,” and clicked request request request. what i DIDN’T know is that you need to finish ALL those books you got accepted for – before their release date. if i don’t? you probably won’t be getting any more ARCs in the future. also, what happens if i didn’t like ANY of the books you requested for? awwwwkward. the publisher gave me all these books to review and i didn’t even like it; reading it felt like a chore. conclusion: don’t go requesting for every other ARC; only the ones you REALLY want to read. i know it’s really tempting to request, but DON’T DO IT.
the community is the best thing in the world
i’m still surprised by how wonderfully fantastic everyone in the community is. sure, there’s the occasional person who plagiarizes and does all the horrible things, but 98% of the time everyone is beautifully kind and perfect pretzels. *massive hug* i’ve been active online before blogging, but it was with my personal account, making online relationships with other ballet dancers. compared to the blogging community, it was so tense. i love the online ballet friends i’ve made, but it was hard to find people who weren’t shallow and obsessed with follower count, etc. :// however, the people who weren’t like that are spectacular. anyway, when everyone in the book community (like, EVERYONE) welcomed me with open arms… *breaks down sobbing* THANK YOU FOR BEING SO AWESOME.
you can do WHATEVER YOU WANT with your blog
this is the thing i really wish i knew. when i saw all these blogs posting only book-related things, i felt obligated to the same. i felt obligated to review every book i read. i felt obligated to schedule posts months beforehand, as they’d said they’re doing themselves. after a few months of feeling guilty every time i wrote up a post last minute, or something about my personal life, i gave up these stupid rules i put up on myself. if it’s something i want to write about and share, why should i stop myself? because there’ll be less comments and page views? is that REALLY why i’m blogging – for numbers? NO. blog about whatever you want; you’d be surprised by how many people are actually interested and care.
I totally empathize with the interacting thing! I’ve been blogging for almost two years now and at the beginning I was SO bad at interacting with anyone. Actually, I only feel like I’ve become any good at interacting with other book bloggers in like the last two or three months. It’s such a struggle.
AH. THE LAST ONE. YES YES YES. When I first started I felt so pressured to write content that I thought other people would want to read/what other people were posting themselves and then it started to drain me, I was so bored of posting the same stuff and in the end it felt like everything I was writing was the exact same so in the end (unfortunately this was only recently) I started saying no and writing things that I wanted to write and that I was happy to post.
Oh my god yes the last one! I was the exact same but now I just blog about whatever I want. Most of it is still related to books and writing, since those two things are just very important in my life, but if I want to blog about a tv show or anime or music or games or whatever, I just do it! Great post! 🙂 AND YES THE BOOK BLOGGING COMMUNITY IS THE BEST
Hey what’s your blog address? I’d really like to check it out! 🙂
PRAISE this post, honestly!! I’ve been blogging for more than 4 years now and I’m just now figuring out some of these things. I honestly do whatever the heck I want with my blog, whenever. FREEDOM FTW. And it’s so funny because I almost did 0 interaction with the community for the first year. Bad Jen.
Love this post though!
xoxo,
Jen
I love this post, Xan!
I also requested SO MANY arcs on Netgalley when I first started and I still have some I haven’t read. It’s awful, I know. I also wish I knew what exactly to do when I first started blogging. I literally had no idea the book blogging community existed, I didn’t know about arcs, I didn’t know what YA meant because I had mostly read middle-grade books until I started blogging, I LITERALLY KNEW NOTHING. One day I was just like “Let’s make a book blog! Even though I have no idea what to do!” SO YEP. Looking back at my first posts (the gaudy colour I used in my posts, the terrible writing, the layout, the posts themselves) is just…so embarrassing. I’m tempted to take them down but then I compare it to now and I’m like “YASS! IMPROVEMENT! MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!” And it makes me happy that my blog posts no longer resemble the hot mess they were haha!
Really important lessons if you ask me 🙂 Blogging definitely takes a lot of time, but it it so worth it! I still can’t believe all the friends I’ve made through my blog; they are the best! Commenting/interacting is so important for blogging and YES, it is YOUR blog, so do whatever you want with it.
I wish I knew these things when I started blogging – but I guess you become wiser with time! Great post Alexandra! http://www.gabriellaloves.com
YES TO ALL OF THESE. Blogging is such a commitment, but at the same time it is so rewarding too. It takes a long time to comment on other people’s posts, write reviews, and respond to comments, but the community is so loving that it’s totally worth it. And I agree – commenting and interacting with others is what makes the blogging experience so special. Thanks for sharing Alexandra and, as always, fabulous post! ♥
These are so accurate. Blogging really takes a lot of dedication and focus. I can see why it becomes sort of a chore for people because it takes effort. Everything you do with a blog is great though because it’s new sets of skills you’re putting to use.
I am still learning not to get too crazy with arcs. It can be super overwhelming. I need to repeat to myself that arcs aren’t everything, and that the book will be out soon. I already have a huge TBR pile, so I should focus on that? There’s so much awesomeness with arcs though.
Your last point is so important. You do you. You write whatever you want, design it however you want to. Don’t let people tell you what to do.
No one believes how much time book blogging takes! All of the reading, and the scheduling. Oh boy.
The book community is awesome and is the main reason I wanted to book blog besides wanting to read more.
Great post!
Commenting and interacting is SO SO important in blogging. It took me a month or two to figure it out, but I made many blogging friends through it 🙂 OMG the ARC thing is SO true. I still overload, and I don’t even request anymore xD Blogging is totally time-consuming, but it’s also a lot of fun too 🙂 The community totally is the best. They’re so wonderful and supportive!
Lovely post <3
This is so helpful–thank you! 🙂
I just started my blog and the thing that’s stressing me out the most is getting my blog out there. Trying to get people to notice and follow. I’m liking it so far, I mean I only jus started it and have 0 followers, but still, I like writing the posts!
Love these. I agree with all of them too. Especially the commenting one. I just recently started being more active on Twitter, recent as in like last month xD I didn’t realize how amazing it is!
Molly @ Molly’s Book Nook
That picture of Happy though 💙