20th
Oct
Oct
I have
been a book blogger for three and a half years now. And I definitely learned a
lot during these last view years about blogging and the book blogging world.
There have been moments where I didn’t want to do anything else than blogging.
There have been moments where I’ve wished I could just take a break. But above
all I’ve been loving every step I made as a blogger. There have been great experiences,
and terrible experiences. I tried new things and succeeded but also failed miserable. But most
importantly I love blogging even more today than I did the day I started. And
today I’d like to share five things I’ve learned as a blogger.
been a book blogger for three and a half years now. And I definitely learned a
lot during these last view years about blogging and the book blogging world.
There have been moments where I didn’t want to do anything else than blogging.
There have been moments where I’ve wished I could just take a break. But above
all I’ve been loving every step I made as a blogger. There have been great experiences,
and terrible experiences. I tried new things and succeeded but also failed miserable. But most
importantly I love blogging even more today than I did the day I started. And
today I’d like to share five things I’ve learned as a blogger.
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As a book blogger you definitely need to be able to plan. Especially if you have a full time job next to your book blogger life. Off course there are some book bloggers that don’t plan at all, but I found that being good in planning made my book blogging life a lot easier. I have this planner where I write everything in down. (Yes I still write things down, because that works the best for me.) I plan my posts at least a week ahead so I know what I have to do. I try to also prepare the posts, and this keeps going better and better, but even having posts only written down in my planner helps me to juggle my busy life. I even plan days where I don’t do anything else then writing posts.
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You can’t accept every review request! This is something I learned the hard way. When I just started this blog I was overwhelmed with all the review requests I received. I was just in awe. Authors wanted me to read their book? Wow! I loved it. And I accepted every single request. Even if there where books I didn’t really think I would love. In the beginning this worked for me. But soon I had so many books to read, that I found myself getting stressed because I wasn’t able to read everything, next to working fulltime. And I didn’t enjoy the actual reading anymore. Thankfully, I was able to stop myself before I really lost the joy of reading. Now I read every review request, but try to honestly accept which books interest me. And when I am too busy to even read those, I decline with a kind email thanking them for thinking of me.
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Being honest in you reviews isn’t always easy, and sometimes it even gives you some very unkind responses but to me it is crucial. When you are asked to review a book, it is your responsibility as a book blogger, and reader to be honest. What did you really think about the book? What did you like? What did you dislike? Honesty is was the author asked when you got the review request. But this doesn’t mean you have to be rude about it. I can honestly say I’m never unkind or rude in my reviews. Even when I really didn’t like a book, I try to write my reviews in a way that doesn’t ‘hurt’. Because let’s face it, authors put their heart and souls into their writing and I wouldn’t be able to even write one chapter.
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The book blogging community is a nice, kind and loveable community. Not only our love of books is what binds us, but also our ability to keep talking about great characters, beautiful book covers and amazing authors is what I think that makes the book blogger community amazing. I’ve come into contact with so many great authors and book lovers that I can’t imagine my life without them.
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You don’t have to post every day! When I started blogging, and even until early this year, I thought I needed to post something on my blog every day to keep people interested. I would wake up early to make a lot of posts, I signed up as a tour host for several bloggers and I would try to think desperately for new post ideas. Don’t do that! You’ll only stress yourself out. If you have enough posts for every day, great. But if you don’t? That’s great too! Blogging should be fun and stressing yourself out isn’t helpful at all. Now I post four, five and sometimes only three times a week. And I still get visitors!
Remember..
Blogging should be fun and you need to find out what works for you to make this
a great experience.
Blogging should be fun and you need to find out what works for you to make this
a great experience.
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Maureen is a mom, wife, nurse, and Ravenclaw living in the Netherlands. She spends her days juggling mom-life, reading, blogging, planning date nights with her husband and working as a nurse. Maureen also is a big Anglophile, loves cooking, Gilmore Girls, Bridgerton and Harry Potter.. Always! Facebook | Instagram
Great post, Maureen!
I stopped taking review request at the very beginning of my blogging for the reasons you mentioned. Some books just weren't for me, and it felt like work to read and review them, to be honest and still nice about it.
Now, I have a few authors I still review for, because I loved those first books they sent my way, but it's manageable, not stressful.
I haven't been able to plan ahead much lately, I've been so busy with work. I have a ton of books I've read but not reviewed. Hopefully, I'll get to them soon.
Have a fantastic Friday!
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
Thanks Lexxie. Planning ahead can definitely be challenging. I try to do it, but it doesn't work all the time.
I totally understand what you're saying about review requests. I don't accept a lot of review request at the moment.. but I do at times. But hen only the books that really interest me.
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow, awesome post. I agree with you 100%. Yes, blogging should be fun and I'm gonna keep it that way. Thanks for sharing this beautiful yet so useful post, Maureen. LOVED it. ❤️😁👍🏻
Thanks Geybie. It was fun to share this post! 😉
Great advice for new bloggers! I agree-this community is wonderful and so supportive!
Thanks Samantha. Book Bloggers are the best. 😉
Great words of wisdom! I completely agree. I found that blogging was a lot less stressful when I started planning posts ahead. And it's definitely important to be honest in reviews even though it's not always fun or easy when you have to say negative things. But the book community is a wonderful place that makes it all worth it!
Thanks Kristen. I suppose we all have to find out these little things for ourselves as bloggers. And I loved writing this post. Maybe I was able to help some beginning bloggers. 😉
The book community is definitely the best! I feel super lucky to be a part of it. 😉
Thanks for stopping by!