Advice from a Not-So-Seasoned Not-Quite-Professional
A long while ago, I wrote a discussion with my advice on ARC requests.
Surprisingly, to me at least, a lot of people liked it and found it useful. And I realized something, I feel like a floundering child when it comes to this blog, but with a year and 460-ish followers, I have a marginal about of experience and advice I can share with some form of authority.
So, since my best friend has finally caved to my wishes and is soon starting her own book blog (and yes, I will hype and promote the hell out of her, be prepared), I thought an advice post would be a good way to help her, and anyone else reading this blog who wants help starting a blog, or just to see my insights into blogging, to see a different point of view.
Practical Blogging Advice:
- Be realistic with yourself. Don’t say you can post 5 times a week if you do not realistically have that time. Start with one well written post a week. Its more important to be well written and consistent than to have a lot of posts.
- Follow and interact with other blogs. Be a part of the community.
- Followers do not happen overnight. Do it because you like it.
- DO NOT OVER REQUEST NETGALLEY ARCS IT WILL HAUNT YOU FOREVER.
Book Blogging Essentials:
- A separate email account you feel comfortable sharing.
- A blog directory
- A Netgalley account
- A Goodreads account
Memes, Features, and Common Types of Book Blog Posts:
- Top Ten Tuesday / Top Five Wednesday
- TBR (To Be Read)
- Book Hauls / Unhauls
- Book Reviews
- Book Adaptation Reviews
- Book Coming Out This Month/Year
- Favorites
- Week / Month in Review – Weekly/Monthly Reading or Blogging Wrap-ups
Connecting With Fellow Bloggers:
A big part of blogging is connecting with fellow book bloggers.
Comment on other people’s posts, and don’t be afraid to start a conversation. People will want to talk to you!
Social Media For Book Bloggers:
You can’t blog in a void.
Well, you can, but then, no one will read what you’re writing. If you want to make friends and gain readers you have to network.
Comment, like, and follow other blogs. Join twitter and follow bookish-peeps there. Get a Goodreads and join some blogger/reader groups.
Trust me, it works.
And this is coming from someone notoriously bad with both technology and people.
Other (more) helpful advice & tips:
How To Start A Book Blog By The Sassy Book Geek
Discussions by Sparkling Letters
Realities of Book Blogging by Ardent Attachments
Rave Worthy Blogging by Rant&Rave About Books
Blog Graphics Tutorial by Read At Midnight
Bloggers I Look Up To/To Follow
(Blog-speration)
This is of course, not a comprehensive list of all the bloggers I like/follow/love, its just a list for the newbies to get a feel of some amazing book blogs and shoutout some people I admire.
This is in no particular order.
So, what do you guys think?
Any bloggers you want to shoutout? Any advice you want to give to newbies or fellow book bloggers? Did you find anything I said helpful? Do you want me to do more of these types of discussions? Are their any topics in particular you want to see?
Let me me know down in the comments!
