You Won't Always Have Something Nice To Say About A Book
When I first opened my blog up for business I did what most people would probably do and reviewed my favourite books. When I started reviewing every book I read I found something unsettling, I don't always love the books I read! When you are reading and not reviewing you don't notice as much but when you review a hated book all those bad feelings towards it come bubbling to the surface and spill onto the screen in the form of a rant. My first one being of Phantom by L.J. Smith.
You Will Go From Obsessed To Infatuated - Yes There's A Difference
Two years ago I read quite a lot but not nearly as much as I do since I started this blog. I went from around 100 books in three years to 100 in one. Before I used to read books, now I devour them. You find when you read a lot you get faster at it, at most this year I've read three books in one day - this time last year that would be unimaginable.
You Will Suddenly Find Your Purse A Lot Emptier
Similar to the last point, when you start a book blog you will read a lot more - three times more in my case - and when you read more you buy more. Last year I didn't own a single book, my supply came from my library. But after a while I had read all the good books (it's a small library) so I had to look elsewhere. I borrowed them from my friend for a while since her supply seemed infinite but after a while I decided to get some of my own. Now it has got to the point that I can't leave Amazon without buying a book. I log on to buy an iPod charger, I come off with an iPod charger and five books on their way to me.
You Will Turn Into A Green-eyed Monster
You know how it is, you log onto blogger and a list of the blogs you follow come up and I can almost guarantee that one of the top posts will be someone's 'Stacking The Shelves' or something of the like. You will then become curious and click the link only to find that person has somehow got hold of every book you have ever wanted (or that's what your irrational jealous brain tells you). You then proceed to press back as quickly as possible or leave a comment that goes something like "Well Jell, ur sooo lucky!!!" (Okay maybe I'm currently watching The Only Way Is Essex - horrible show by the way) when you're really thinking Life is unfair, why does she/he get that? Am I that bad a person??? If you go through this then there's only one solution... when you get something awesome rub it in everyone's faces and start the cycle again.
You Will Have Reading Slumps
Ah, the dreaded slump. You have work slumps of course but who would expect you could not feel like doing something you ordinarily love? I didn't. But there are many ways to get out of a reading slump, some that worked for me are:
- Rereading a book you loved.
- Reading very short books - don't attempt 400+ pages.
- Take a couple of days off from reading then you'll be eager to get back to it.
Authors Are Your Friends... But You Can't Accept All Books
I've heard so many people say they started their blogs for the free books but believe it or not but I had no idea bloggers could get free books. So imagine my surprise when I was emailed by an author asking me to review my book. I jumped at the chance without even reading the blurb. Lucky for me I enjoyed it but now I'm more careful about the books that I accept because there's some unwritten rule about giving self-published books bad reviews and I don't want to be the one to break it.
You Will Be Proud Of Your First Reviews But You'll Hate Them In A Year
I loved my first reviews, I felt totally professional after writing it but reading back I actually cringe. I wrote barely anything, gave no book info and it just sounded so... unprofessional. I'm surprised authors wanted me to review their books looking at those reviews. I would delete them but then I'd have nothing to compare my latest too, in a year I may hate those too.
Progression Of My Reviews:
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| Don't ask about the gap, I'm ashamed enough about this review as it is |
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| This one wasn't all that long ago but it still wasn't perfect. |
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| This is my latest review and the one I like best but as I said before, we'll see in a year... |
We all claim to know that you have to advertise your blog before anyone finds it but how many of us sit there refreshing the page ten minutes after first posting expecting followers? I would say quite a lot. If you want followers you have to market your blog. I don't have all that many followers currently because I just don't have the time (or money) to advertise constantly but when I set my mind to getting a certain amount of followers I WILL get them. My most successful follower spree got me around 40 in one night just by following others blogs. It's that easy. Other ways to get followers are buying ads (expensive), hosting giveaways and just hassling people till they follow you - not that I endorse this one of course.
It Is A Lot Of Hard Work
Most people who start a book blog probably begin by thinking something along the lines of, how hard can it be? Avid readers probably think they can write a review no problem but they don't always realise just how much work a blog can be. Some thing book blogs can include doing are: advertising, formatting writing reviews, giving book information, sorting out giveaways, replying readers and making your blog the best it can be.
It Really Is Worth It
This point doesn't really fit the title since I'm sure most of you have been told it before but I had to put it out there. There is nothing I like more than people commenting and saying they like my post or authors saying they like my reviews so want their own reviewing. My favourites are when people say my review made them buy (or not buy) a book.
UPDATE:
It's been a while since I wrote this post now but everything I wrote still stands, I'm glad to say. My blog progression has been added to further though so I thought I'd update my most refined look yet:
Do you think my comments here are still relevant? Do you have more to add? Please let me know!
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