Hello my bookish people!
Today I’m here with @bellerosereads who was kind enough to write a guest post for you all! She is also fairly new to the book community and she is ready to share with you all her journey as a new book blogger! So, I will turn it over to her and wish you all a happy reading!
First of all, thank you so much Giuls for giving me the opportunity to write this post for your blog, this is my first guest post ever, so i’m really excited!
In this post I will tell you everything about being a new book blogger: what made me join the community, how I do to get organized for blogging, what I like (and dislike) about book blogging and more! Let’s get started, shall we?
Why did I join the community? And why YOU should!
As I often say, I wanted a place that was my own to talk about the books that I’ve read and/or want to read, but also about the reader’s life in general, and just about anything that could be related to the book life.
I think book blogging is a great choice if you want to control one-hundred percent how people see your content, and it also gives you so many options! You can do reviews, participate on blog tours, do all the book recommendations and bookish lists you’d like, and just add your personal twist and even add original sections that can only be found on your blog. This is such a big wide world where everything is possible if you know how to make it work.
My concerns as a book blogger newbie
As I mentioned before, since the book blogging world is so big and full of possibilites, it is totally normal to be overwhelmed by everything. How do I get someone to actually read my content? Should I follow a schedule, and what the best one would be? What is Netgalley and how does that even work?
That was what was going through my mind just a few months ago, so I’ll try to answer the ones I’ve already figured out for those who are currently trying to start.
First I’d like to clarify that just because you have many questions about how everything works, it doesn’t mean you should give up. Write down all the doubts you have and then take your time to inform yourself, one question at the time. Having all that floating around your head is not going to take you anywhere, it’ll only stress you out and make you lose time.
- How many time should I spend working on my blog before launching it?
As much as you need. I started working on bellerosereads on early February, and I took my sweet time making it a space I’d like to see for a long time. What you can do to not take forever designing your blog (and your first posts), once again is writing down everything you think you need to do before launching.
- Do I need to be present on other social media?
Actually yes. What you don’t need is to be on every social media. I have my blog, my Twitter account and my Pinterest, and that’s about everything. No bookstagram, as I’m not able to at the time. But you need at least one social media account to promote what you post and join the book community, which takes me to point three…
- How do I get people to read my content?
This one worried me the most. I had barely zero followers, I did not know how to make someone read my content without popping up in people’s profiles, which you should NEVER do. Later I find out Twitter has a very welcoming and kind book blogger community. For people to read your content, you need to read people’s contents as well. Engage with those blogs you love and comment on them regularly, interact through other social medias and follow other book bloggers. That’s the best way to actually do it.
- Do I need a schedule for posting?
This, only you can answer. You’re the only one who knows if sticking to a posting schedule is what makes you the happiest or if you prefer to post whenever you’d like instead. Personally, having a schedule helps me to avoid stress and burnout.
Stay organized while book blogging
I think that when you start, it is really important to find an organizing system so you don’t find yourself stressed out by the many things you need to do to keep your blog active. I’ll share you what I do to stay organized since I started blogging on March:
- Have an editorial calendar. Mine is in an Excel document and it includes: when will I write the post, when will I make the images for the post and when will I actually post it. Each of these under a different color.
- Post on the same days each week. I post on Wednesdays and Sundays, and have other days to edit my images and do other things.
- Set daily, weekly and monthly goals. So you know what you’re working towards. Do you want 100 followers by the end of the month? Writing this down will encourage you to ask yourself what you need to do in order to accomplish the goal.
- Don’t procrastinate, but know your limits. It’s important you give priority to your mental health. If you don’t want to do something because it makes you anxious or stressed just thinking about it, then don’t. Focus on the things that make you happy and remember that what’s really important is that you find joy in what you do.
What I like (and dislike) from book blogging
I’ve loved…
- The book blogger community. It’s full of very kind and warm people that have made me feel so welcomed. It encourages me to keep being here everyday.
- The motivational environment. Since I’ve started, I have been thinking on new ways to improve my content and bring new things, and it makes me so motivated! I has helped me dealing with some things on my personal life and just being happier in general.
- Discovering new books. Just when I thought I didn’t have more ways to discover new books, book blogging proved me wrong! I’ve discovered some fantastic reads that have gone straight to my TBR list.
- Improving my english. Before starting my blog I didn’t have the opportunity to write in English as much, and now I find myself improving my English as time passes and I write more content!
I haven’t loved…
- My Netgalley / Edelweiss experience. It kind of puts me down everytime I get denied a request on these sites, but I understand why I don’t get approved as much and i’m currently working on improving my feedback ratio and supporting read now books.
- When life happens. You wouldn’t know this but I have some obstacles that many of those that are reading this right now don’t have, starting with the internet. No, I don’t have WiFi service right now, so you can’t imagine how harder it is for me to stay active. I have to edit and publish my posts on my phone because that’s the only way I can right now, and it’s very frustrating.
That’s all for this post! Thank you once again to Giuls for giving me the opportunity to do this for her blog. If you want to see more content made by me, you can find me in my blog, bellerosereads!
Giuls again here! Thanks again to bellerosereads for writing this amazing guest post, make sure you follow her blog and check out her wonderful content!
Bookish hugs,
Giuls