Things That I’ve Learnt While Book Blogging|Tips & Screaming.

Welcome to 1300 words of wisdom — exactly. 

We all know that I’m great, it’s just fact. 

Recently, I was nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award, by Live Pulchritudinously (thankyouthankyouthankyou) which basically entails a story about your blog/how it all started, and then some advice FOR NEW BLOGGERS.

Now, because I’m #rebel, I won’t be doing that. I’ll be doing my own thing, because WHY NOT? And, because I’m such an awesome blogger, I’m totally qualified to do this. And since I’ve been blogging for 2 years now…? Why not???

I’ve actually done a post like this before, LAST YEAR, where I talk about my blogging mistakes, and which I do not recommend you read because that was hideous foetus Lu who posted that.

So let’s never mention that again…

have a balance.

Do not try and post every day.

That will just stress you out, A LOT. Nobody wants a stressed out blogger, a stressed out blogger is not necessary. R E L A X. Make sure that you do not focus 200% on blogging since as, Live Pulchritudinously said in her post, “blogging can wait, life can’t,” and I think that it’s really important to remember that. I think it’s too easy to get swept away with blogging and let moments in life pass you by.

Make sure that you take time for yourself and make sure that you rest and that you have breaks and do not overwork yourself because then you will just spiral spiral spiral and you’ll get dizzy, ok mate?

don’t feel that you need to read x amount of books to be a “proper book-blogger”. 

I did a discussion post about this, not too long ago, about the pressure of reading in the book-blogging community, and how there’s pressure to read more books and how that sometimes I don’t feel like a “proper“* book blogger since I don’t read every. damn. release. (impossible!!) and how silly it is that we put pressure on ourselves.

I think that it’s super important to remember when you first start book blogging that you will not be able to read all the books out there, no matter how much you want to.

I think that the main thing that I mean about this section is to set yourself realistic goals, that you can achieve, and then stay motivated after you achieve them. I think that it’s really easy to start setting goals that you may not be able to achieve straight away since you’re really enthusiastic, but just don’t get TOO CARRIED AWAY with goals (there’s nothing wrong with enthusiasm though!!)

*there is no such thing as a “proper book-blogger”

don’t focus on other bloggers.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not compare yourself to other bloggers!! I think that this is valid for no matter how long you’ve been blogging.BLOGS GROW AT DIFFERENT RATES. You may look at your posts and think “aggg these bloggers are way more popular then meeee” “aggggg these people get way more comments” and start to think that your blog isn’t as good, and then get discouraged, and stop blogging.

As I said, blogs grow at different rates. It’s important to remember why you love blogging, and NOT COMPARE YOURSELF. There’s honestly no point. If we all ran around comparing ourselves to each other, we’d all go mad.

When you start blogging, it’s important to be patient.arc envy.Don’t stress that other bloggers are being sent arcs. Honestly, at first, I was stressing about why my blog wasn’t “good enough” to attract attention from authors and get arcs.

BUT.

After a few months of just blogging for me, guess what? I received an offer for an arc. And then another one. And another. This isn’t me trying to show off, I’m not. But this is just another aspect of blogging that takes patience and hard work. And, tbh, I find that ARCs are actually quite a lot of stress?? Especially when you’re in a slump, or have lots of school work.

Where you can get arcs: 

• From the author (they ask you)
• From the publishing house (they ask you)
• You ask the publisher.
• You reach out to the author.
• You request on Netgallery.

(TBH I don’t know many for this since I’m pretty new to ARCs at not a blogging expert)

find a schedule that suits you.

I don’t mean that you have to have specific days where you post, maybe just set a weekly target? Such as posting twice in a week. You don’t need to be regimented and scheduled to the second. 

I think that it’s also important to note here that there’s no need to push yourself. Sure, aspire to do well, but there are other things that you may need to be focussing on.

That leads me to my next point:

sort your priorities. 

This one sounds really dumb, but trust me, you’ll thank me later. Guys this is almost embarrassing to admit, but I literally spent too much time blogging last year when I really should NOT have been. And it’s kind of embarrassing to say because it sounds a bit silly??? I love blogging, a lot, and I have to physically stop myself from blogging instead of doing school work, which is important!!

What I’m saying is,DO NOT FEEL BAD FOR NOT BLOGGING. It is OKAY!! There is no specific amount that you “need” to blog!! There is no EXPECTATION. There is no designated amount that you “need” to blog.BLOG FOR YOU, WHEN IT SUITS YOU.

don’t over-do the gifs(?)

My friend, I’ve been there!! And when I look back at those posts, WHICH I SO NOT RECOMMENd BTW, I want to cringe. I DO CRINGE.

Personally, I like having the graphics/images, but I think that it’s really easy to over-do it sometimes? Sometimes, my eyes can’t take all the gifs??? And sometimes, I mean no offence if you do this, I feel a little lazy when I use a lot of gifs?

I don’t know!! It’s difficult to explain!! DOES ANYONE GET WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT???? PLEASE SAY YOU DO. 

reviews/ content. 

I think that this is important to note because let’s face it, reviews don’t get many views and that’s sad, but it’s true!! If you’re blogging, and want to get views (but don’t blog just for views!!), don’t do just reviews. Make sure your content is varied, and keep it interesting*.

I actually love reading reviews, but I understand why people won’t read them as much as other posts, and why there may not be as much interaction on those posts. BUT!! So much effort goes into reviews, and if you like writing reviews, then keep on doing it!!

With reviews, I think that it’s also important to mix up your review style. And, I actually did a post on loads of different review methods, which you can see here.

While it’s important to mix up the posts you do, make sure that you blog for you!

*says the blogger who just rants all the time

just keep going.

no matter how discouraged you get, if your stats are going down a bit, don’t worry about them, just keep going.Maybe change things up, maybe take a step back, see how you can improve, reach out to new bloggers, interact a bit more. There are plenty of ways that you can try and boost traffic to your blog!! BUT, as much as it may hurt to not get much back from things that you’re putting loads of energy and time into, just keep going.

what advice do you have for new bloggers? What haven’t I mentioned here? Did you make any “mistakes” when starting to blog that made you learn/change something? What do you think is important to remember while starting to blog? Let me know!! Luuuuuuuu