Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday (19)


As I re-enter the blogging world, this is a fantastic Top Ten Tuesday to do! I know that new bloggers are sometimes so unsure and they just want to please everyone (and get free books), so here are my top tips for them!



1.       Relax. Especially if you’re still a student, blogging isn’t the beginning and end of your world. Take the time to NOT be a blogger.

2.       Don’t apologize. So you just started blogging and posting a review every day until you suddenly miss a day or two. An explanation isn’t necessary and you don’t have to apologize to anyone for it. Sure, if you want to, go right ahead, but you don’t HAVE to.

3.       Find your rhythm. You may not want/be able to post something every day and you don’t have to. Set a schedule that has days where you don’t have to worry (if that’s what you want).

4.       Shake it up. Sometimes doing the same thing over and over again gets to be stale so don’t feel as though you NEED to stick to any schedule that you make. Swap colours or the day you post certain things. Try doing something different or start participating in memes.

5.       Remember that scheduled posts are your friends. If you can crank out a week or two worth of reviews and other blog posts, do it and just make it so that they are set to release when you want them to. Then you don’t have to worry for a while!

6.       Social media is also your friend. Start off slow or jump onto all of them at the same time. If you can use them to further expand our blog base – have at it. Just don’t be annoying with it and spam your links.

7.       Don’t worry about the numbers. And don’t compare yourself to established blogs. You will get followers in due time and if you’re only blogging for the numbers you need to rethink why you’re here.

8.       Don’t bitch about not receiving ARCs. It can take a long time to establish yourself in order to start receiving them. Instead, try places like NetGalley for digital ones, or you can try e-mailing pubs about specific ones. The worst you’ll get is an e-mail saying ‘no’.

9.       If you’re only doing this for the free stuff – stop. There should be a reason like wanting to share in your love of books for starting a blog. Yes, the free stuff is an amazing perk, but if you’re in this for the right reasons you’ll also make amazing friends.

10.   Have fun! Remember that this is something that you want to do. If you don’t want to do it anymore (or can’t – it happens) then you don’t have to. Do this for as long as it makes you happy!



Well, there it is – my top ten words of wisdom for new book bloggers! Happy reading everyone!

For more Top Ten fun, visit The Broke and the Bookish!

5 comments:

Patricia said...

Alas, I still have to work on (1). I think blogging is such a satisfactory hobby that it is hard not to pressure yourself into doing more and more, accepting review requests, blog-hop requests etc. Great list!

Patricia // My Post

Kimberly @ Midnight Book Girl said...

I wish that someone would have told me about scheduling posts. It took me 3 months to discover that you could do that (I was leaving everything as a draft and then I would have to go back and post, but I would forget, or I would accidentally post something early).

Great list, it's very helpful advice.

Angela said...

Fantastic tips! Thank you so much for posting them. As a new (less than a year) blogger, I've gotten sucked into being a slave to my stats. Thanks for the reminder that I need to let it go.
Angela @ AJ Arndt Books Blog

Mel@Thedailyprophecy said...

Scheduling, fantastic tip! I only found out a couple of weeks ago. I never thougt about it, but it saves so much time! :) And finding your own rythm is very important. There is not real rule about blogging, you have to find out yourself.

http://thedailyprophecy.blogspot.com/2012/04/top-10-tuesday-6.html

The Bookworm Hun said...

Number two and number seven are very important. It's all about being yourself, finding your own voice. :)