There seems to be a lot of pressure in the book blogging world. A lot of people want to have a massive amount of traffic and followers to attract publishers, authors and online marketing firms. I am here to attest that you don't have to do that.
I have under 200 followers.
I have no clue how many visitors I have (I have tried to follow that but got confused about what each thing meant, so I stopped paying attention).
I still get ARCs, some as a surprise and some that I request. I have been asked to host giveaways and been offered books for giveaways. (And for the record, I will not require people to be a follower or to link things to enter my giveaways, it makes me feel uncomfortable. I also no longer enter giveaways where following is required, unless I already follow that blog).
The most important thing that I feel you can do as a blogger is to be comfortable with how you blog.
I write at least two reviews a week (normally on Mondays and I try and always go Tween Tuesdays), sometimes 3. My other posts are normally about something book related. Sometimes I do a Food For Fiction feature, or a quick poll on sometime related to reading and books. I only post during the weekdays and I always set my post to go around 7:30 am my time (mountain).
I finally found a format for my reviews that works for me and I always send links of my reviews to publishers. If I am requesting an ARC from a new publisher I always add a few links in from other books I have reviewed. And I never assume a publicist remembers me (I kind of always re-introduce myself unless we've been emailing a lot in a month).
I also have more books lined up than I could read in a year (ARCs, eGalleys, public library, my school library and personal library books) so I don't request many ARCs at all anymore.
I finally found my footing as a book blogger and I enjoy it immensely. I don't feel any pressure to be more than I am or to get more followers than I have.
And feeling this way is really freeing. It makes blogging fun and I can see myself doing it for a lot more years!
I hope you can find a way to feel this way someday too!
And you rock at it! I am mostly there. I still feel guilty if I don't make it to all my regular favorites several times a week. Commenting is so key to maintaining traffic. My blog goal is slightly different than yours, though. I love my blog, and I can't imagine not doing it anymore. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Shannon. I can't imagine either but I relax if I can't get it all done anymore. You ROCK!!
ReplyDeleteI love this post. It's like insta-calm :)
ReplyDeleteThis may seem like a silly question, but publishers want links to our reviews? I'm so shy and I always feel like I'd be bothering them. Do you just send an email saying "Here, I've reviewed one of your books"? (But, you know, better written than that :P )
I love your tips! It's so true that you have to be comfortable with what you blog. There is also a lot of pressure in the blogging world. Sometimes it's hard to not compare yourself to the "huge" bloggers. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteHere is my post about blogging!