Yesterday I had a little fun with sarcasm as I went over 20 tips on book blogging. All in good fun right? We’ve all done the stuff on this list a few times. But, I would be remiss in not including an actual tip guide in contrast to the fun. Things that will actually help you master your book blogging hobby/career. These are things that have worked for me and other book bloggers that I’ve talked to. Take them in stride, not every bit works for everyone. But they are a good road map to mastering this adventure called book blogging.
Become the Jedi Master of Book Blogging.
Or at least one of the Sheep Masters…
- Keep yourself informed. Stay on top of trends, see what people are doing in your community and make those things work for you. You can’t always be the one with the ideas or the one to START everything. Join up in great events and keep yourself community focused.
- Keep Organized. Your email is both your friend and your enemy. Along with your contacts. Make them work for you, not against you. You have to keep your email clean and tight and under control, if not it will overwhelm you. I’ve been there on many occasions. Look for alternatives for people contacting you, like online forms and Google Docs.
- Keep track of your review titles. Use a spreadsheet or Goodreads.com or whatever works best for you. Monitor release dates, keep track of contact information. To be a better more reliable reviewer/blogger you need to be on track with when your reviews should go live.
- Know the rules. Everyone steps in a faux pas every now and again and gets away with it because of ignorance, but not all mistakes are forgivable in the blogging world, especially if you don’t have an established name. Make sure you know the rules before you jump head first into an endeavor, or write a blog post that is outside of your expertise. Know the rules about image usage, content sharing, meme / feature participation before you do something. It can be as simple as reading through a guideline post or FAQ section.
- Don’t be a Blaaaager. You don’t have to do something because you saw 10 other book bloggers doing just that. Try something new. Try something different. Stay away from the tired old trends. It is okay to try something new that you saw on another blog, but it’s not really a good idea to try something that you saw on fifty different blogs.
- Interact. Get on social media. All social media. Google+, Facebook, Twitter and all the book community social media sites that are popping up. Just so you can grab those die-hards that hang out in one. A lot of social media accounts are hard to manage, but integrate them. Facebook can post to twitter and vice versa. Make a list of “to-do” when you post a blog post and just go through that list each time. Once you get used to doing it a certain way, it will get easier. Make sure to reply to comments, mentions, posts etc. You want to show that you are aware that readers are visiting you.
- Know your readers. Figure out who is reading your blog and what they want. This is the KEY. Know what they respond to best and how to deliver it. Then morph your style to fit their appetite. Still be you, but be you with your readers in mind.
- Don’t forget to proof. Proofread your work. We can’t be perfect, but we can strive for as little errors as possible. You might not be a great writer, but you can at least form coherent sentences and spell-check. It makes a difference in how people perceive you.
- Ask Questions / Google is Your Friend. If you don’t know how to do something, Google it. If you can’t figure out the tutorials, or think you are going in the wrong direction, find someone that has done the thing you are striving for – and ask. It doesn’t hurt to try and you might make a friend along the way. If someone is hoarding information or doesn’t want to tell you how to do something, who needs ’em! I’m sure they had help along the way too.
- Write Anything. It doesn’t have to be a review. It doesn’t have to be a literary essay. Just write. Share an experience or a funny story. Rant. Give it a catchy headline. If your readers do not like it, they will let you know by not visiting it or commenting. Don’t do it again. But, they might…
- Let your personality show. Don’t be shy. Take pictures of yourself. Share personal stories. Go to live events, signings, conferences. Show your face. Vlog. We want to see the personality behind the blog. Be yourself, there is only one you and you might be surprised at the reaction you get.
Hello, I just wanted to take a minute to tell you that I’m immensely grateful for the many, many Book Blogging tips & advice that you throw our way. 🙂
I perk right up when I see your BB #101 heading on a post! I’m working up the intestinal fortitude to start my own blog; I’m still in the research stage of this endeavor, so needless to say your pearls of wisdom, tips, & advice are invaluable to me!
You’re one smart cookie with a style all your own ~ so keep doing that ‘thang’ you do!
These are really useful tips Rachel! Thanks for sharing these, and I am going to keep these in mind. 🙂
Ella @ The Filipina Booknote
These are really helpful! Thank you for taking the time to write and share these!
Thanks for taking the time to comment Meredith.
OMG I will NEVER be a blogging master. I’m too shy. I don’t think I’d ever feel comfortable being uber social online. And except for asking you about fonts I don’t think I’ve EVER asked anyone for help. (See sentence 2.) So yeah as much as I bash it, I suppose Google IS my friend. 95 % of what I’ve learned is from searching Google, watching videos, reading through tech forums.
I am totally disorganized, my email scares the bleep out of me and I am too scattered to keep a spreadsheet for review dates. The only ways I keep track are by listing upcoming tours in my sidebar to remind me when they are due and listing all book releases in Google Calendars for my weekly BW: RTW posts. Aside from that it’s total chaos. Can bloggers get assistants?
The only point I debate is #7 being “key.” I think first and foremost you have to blog for yourself and hopefully the readers that are interested in what you have to say will read what you’re writing. If you try and aim your posts at your audience, you might find that you aren’t a happy blogger OR your audience will change and then you’d have to revamp. You can’t always please everyone and trying to do that can make you a bit nuts.
And I LOVE your sheep. And yes I use the term sheeple ALL the time! OMG I baaaa all the time when I see one person do something outrageous and then all the sheeple follow along.
I love the word sheeple and I love baaing at people. Especially when they are members of my family. That is the best. They get really pissed at me. And Rach, I put “Still be you, but be you with your readers in mind.” And that is for stuff like – I think Sarah from Smart Bitches said her readers get pissed if she reviews a book that they can’t buy, so an ARC – so she makes sure that she schedules her reviews for release date. I make sure I have a good bit of YA content since have a lot of YA lover readers. Which isn’t hard for me….things like that. 😛
LOL my family thinks I’m nuts.
And I dunno, that I’d imagine would still create a problem. So she posts reviews closer to release date but then other readers wish they’d know about them sooner, etc. I tried pleasing readers who emailed me saying my site was tough to load, my sidebar was too crowded, but after awhile I just got so unhappy, because no one was happy.
But the main thing, for me at least, is that I’d get so paranoid about what I wrote if I thought of who might be reading it. I try to write my posts as if I’m the only reader, that way a) I don’t get nervous about everyone judging them b) I don’t get upset if NO ONE is reading them and c) As I know they all suck, I won’t get stressed if someone says they do. :F
Love this!!! You’re awesome as always! 🙂
Thanks Mindy!!! XOXO
Great tips! Especially to be you and let your personality shine. That is so important!
Thanks chick! It is important. Funny thing, I’m finally just letting it go through really. I’ve always tried to be funny, but just recently I’m not holding back lol
Thanks Rachel! I am working on a lot of this. Takes time and A LOT of patience, but I think it is worth it. All excellent points and very true!
It is really hard but I hope it is worth it. My current focus is organization. I might have a surprise for 2015 – can you believe it, I’m already working on 2015. *sigh*
What are these rules & faux pas that you speak of?
LOL – do I have to name all of them? Don’t copy, don’t review books 5 months in advance, don’t beg others for ARCs, don’t sell ARCs – there is a LONG list…we like rules. Us bloggers.
Haha. Yes, you must name them all! Future post? It’s a shame that common sense is so rare.
Great post and very helpful! I loved yesterday’s funny post, but this one is a good one for a beginning blogger like myself. Thanks for the good advice!
Hee hee thanks. And you are welcome. Thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.
Love this article! Thank you!
You are welcome. Thank you for commenting.