Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.
September 16: Tips for Newbie Bloggers
(Aria at Book Nook Bits)
Prompts: What have you learned since you first started blogging? What advice would you give to new bloggers? What is your favourite thing about blogging? What is the hardest part of blogging for you? Is there anything you wish you’d done differently with your blog?
I’ve been blogging on and off for…a long time by now (I actually had a blog prior to this one), and though I feel like I’ve learned a lot, most of that learning has been over the last few years. One thing though is to not get too concerned with numbers or followers – for some people it’s incredibly important, but I think when you’re just starting out, it’s more important to find your own rhythm and pace with your blog, and see what works for you. The stats can come later.
Talking about rhythm – it took me a while to get to a point where I had a full schedule. And it seems to work! It’s better to have posts come out regularly, on the same day every week, rather than as and when. I’ve stuck to it for a while, and it helps keep my thoughts organised and means I’m not always scrambling for ideas.
To new bloggers: seek things out. Book Tags are your friends. Participate, in blog tours or in various lists and conversations. It took me so long to seek out things like Top Ten Tuesdays, Book Blogger Hop, and Let’s Talk Bookish, but I’m so glad I did. It took me a while to join sites like NetGalley, too, but I’m very glad I did. I would suggest, however, making sure you don’t over-request! Set yourself a certain amount of books to have ‘pending’, and don’t request any more unless one gets declined – I found out the hard way you get accepted for more than you realise!
My favourite thing is probably the aspect of community you can find through blogging. There are so many great blogs out there and I love being part of groups like The Write Reads. I also like it often, writing things for the blog really gives me a chance to think more deeply about some books that I otherwise would.
The hardest part is keeping up with content, though the sites I mentioned earlier do help, and so does having a regular schedule – reviews on Mondays, TTT on Tuesday, Wednesday is usually a Book Tag or something else, Friday is now Let’s Talk Bookish and Saturday is Book Blogger Hop. At some point I might try and fit in another review on Thursdays, but it depends.
Two things I would have done differently from the beginning are having a consistent schedule, and not requesting so many NetGalley books. But part of the joy of blogging is learning things, and there’s plenty of time to find out what works for you and what doesn’t. You can experiment, take part in things like Blogmas and Blogtober and just generally see what works for you.
So what would your top tips for newbie bloggers be?
Unwrapping Words 