It’s the final day of Armchair BEA – my first year participating, and I’ve had so much fun doing this and learned so much! Thank you to everyone who has stopped by, commented, supported through Twitter, and contributed to an amazing week. It’s been so much fun meeting new people, rediscovering old relationships, and building bonds with other like-minded people.
The suggested post for today is “Ask the Experts,” and while I don’t consider myself to be an expert by any means, I do have a few tips I’ve put together throughout my few years of book blogging.
- Always be true to yourself. Don’t take pitches for books you won’t read, or know you won’t like. That isn’t fair to any party involved. That said, if you take a pitch, then be fair. If the book didn’t appeal to you from the outset, then don’t blast it in your review just because it wasn’t your thing.
- If you do take a pitch or review a book you had high hopes for, and you didn’t like it, then be fair and open-minded in your review. Why didn’t you like it? Be as detailed as possible, and if possible, try to find something you did like about it. Everyone involved will appreciate it.
- Be kind to your fellow book bloggers – whether someone reads one book a month or one book a day. This isn’t a race, or a competition. We all love books, love talking about books, and the result should be that we love talking about them together. In addition, spread the love – if you see a review of something you reviewed, comment on it, link back to it, direct traffic from your site to another’s. It’ll be appreciated and you’ll start to build connections faster then you thought was possible.
- Don’t stress out. If life starts to get all crazy and muddled and you can’t find time to read or blog, chill out. This isn’t your job – you can’t be “fired” from blogging. Put up a quick notice on the blog. Readers will care that you are swamped and updating them about it and will stick around.
- Do review books – don’t get caught up in the trap that is memes. If your blog is 90% memes and 10% substance then chances are you will frustrate people who are there because they want book recommendations, not comments on how pretty the cover is.
- Do comment on other blogs. If you feel overwhelmed by the number of blogs out there, weed down your reader to those you always stop on when you are scanning through, or clicking through with twitter links. Filter out the ones that don’t interest you as a general policy and give quality feedback on the blogs that do.
- Understand that there is a human being behind every blog – with thoughts, opinions, hopes, and dreams. Everyone has a different goal, no matter how similar they might seem, and it’s important to respect those.
- And most importantly – read! Set aside time to turn off the computer, stay away from social media, eliminate distractions and lose yourself in a good book that you pick up because you want to. Doing this will save you from burnout. I’ve gone entire weeks where I’ve read nothing but books I felt like reading and put the schedule aside for another week. It refreshed me and made my reviews all the stronger for it.
Thank you again for stopping by, and I hope to continue to see you after this week has come to an end. It’s been a pleasure meeting you!
While you are here, check out my giveaway!
Lydia, I think these are all great tips. I like the one about not letting your blog stress you out. That’s the one I occasionally struggle with.
Thanks! I learned that one the hard way =)
Yes yes yes! So many great tips.
Commenting and blog stress are two that I struggled with a lot when I started. I think things have seemingly gotten better for me though!
I had the same issues – but they do ease up and get easier… now if only I could conquer the dang captchas that are everywhere!
Thanks for being brave enough to comment about the memes. I enjoy participating in the occasional meme, but I agree – if your blog is 90% memes, I’m going to skim on by.
Good tip! Hope you had a great ArmchairBEA
Ooh thanks for all the tips! Blog stress definitely should be avoided – that’s why I like scheduling my posts in advance.
That’s a huge weight off my mind, when I schedule mine in advance as well. =) Thanks for stopping by!
Some great advice here – especially the parts about being fair and professional. I think it’s sometimes all to easy to accept books because you are flattered to be asked, which isn’t the best situation for the blogger or publisher.
I’m glad I found your blog this week
I’m glad you did too! So great to have you around this week (and I hope I’ll continue to see you here!) It’s incredibly flattering to be asked – when I first started I almost fell into that trap, accepting books I knew I’d never read just so I could get something “Free” in the mail.
Great tips! I need to remember to make time to read. Had a great run when my PC crashed, and actually finished four books in one week! That’s a lot of reading for me! And you’re right about the stress…all too easy to get caught up in the review game.
Isn’t it funny how that works? =) Thanks for stopping by Alexia!
awwww, the dreaded meme trap! Couldn’t agree with you more. While it is great for getting your blog out there when you are new, if you keep doing that you lose long time serious readers/subscribers that are the key to enriching the whole blogging experience. (IMHO)
haha meme trap! Great classification – and I agree, but I’ve found by finding just 1 or 2 you get noticed, start developing a fantastic base and can focus on posts of more substance. The one meme I participate in now I do for purely selfish reasons – because I like to wrap up what I’ve done the previous week and focus on what’s coming up next.
Yes, reading is a great tip! Sometimes I find myself wasting time online looking for ways to improve my blog when I could be reading a book that I’d eventually post a great review of. Books and reading are the life blood of your blog.
Exactly – I have to remind myself now and again that the internet is a terrible time hog and that I could be better using that time to get through all those fantastic books I’ve been wanting to read.
I like this post! The addition of pictures was great!!!
Thanks so much!
My favorite thing you said is to remember that there is a human being behind the blog. So many of us enjoy blogging for the anonymity, but that doesn’t mean we are disjointed from cruelty. Great reminder! Tattooed Books
Very cute pictures and good tips.
I agree that the most important thing is to read! I mean, lol, if I didn’t read I would have nothing to blog about, and sometimes for me the best way to reduce stress is disconnecting from the internet and social media and putting my nose into a book.
Exactly – and it’s amazing how easy it is to forget to do just that and to read. There are times I’m so intent on refreshing Twitter one more time, or getting one last game of Bejeweled in, or chatting on Facebook messenger that before i know it, all my reading time is gone.