10 Newbie Book Bloggers Spill It!
As part of my Building a Better Blog series and in correlation with yesterdays post, I conducted an interview with some new book bloggers. I think you’ll find their answers to be very enlightening. I know I did!
Date you started blogging: Blog was created back in April, but I didn’t actually start blogging until August 7th, 2011.
Blog Name: Justin’s Book Blog
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
I thought that Book Blogging was going to be something that would be fairly easy to do. I knew that I would enjoy it, but I didn’t imagine it would be as difficult as it actually is. You have to juggle to much, be consistent with posting and make sure to get your content out there for people to see. I was actually happy with the fact that it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, because it gives me a lot to work for and the fact that I enjoy doing it makes it very rewarding to see that people actually enjoy my content.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
The hardest thing for me would have to be having a good balance to my reviews. I have got a lot better at it recently, but I still sometimes have trouble adding a lot of depth to the review. I always do fine on length, it’s just when I try and add my own thoughts I sometimes find it difficult to sort out things that would be spoilers and then try and voice my views around those as to not spoil the book for anyone that reads the post.
What is the easiest?
I think the easiest part for me now is just being consistent. I think I got a pretty good pattern down, as far as getting reviews up and what weekly meme’s I like to do that makes for great content for my blog. I have been working on being a little quicker with reviews, but I am getting there. I think it’s great to see the changes in posting from when I started up until now.
What is your impression of the blogging community?
I love the book blogging community. I have made a few really great friends so far within the community and they have really helped me out a lot if I ever have questions or anything and I have just learned a lot from them by seeing how they do things, it’s great to see how supportive everyone is towards each other. I’m just really glad to be part of a community filled with such awesome people.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
I’d have to go back to my response to the first question on this one. I wish I would of known how much time and effort it takes to keep a active blog going, knowing that wouldn’t of stopped me from starting blogging because I love doing it either way, but it would have gave me a better idea as far as what to expect once I got everything going. But I enjoy blogging, and I plan to keep doing it for a long time.
Date you started blogging: June 2011
Blog Name: Books to the Sky
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
I’m not sure. Maybe I thought books would magically fall into my lap? Haha. No seriously, I guess I thought that talking to publishers would be easier, and it really isn’t.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
Making sure that my reviews are written decently and that I accurately portray my thoughts on the book I’m reviewing. Which basically means that I try not to sound dumb about a book, although I still overanalyze the reviews I write.
What is the easiest?
Reading the books, of course!
What is your impression of the blogging community? (Have any examples to further verify this.)
I’ve only really gotten to know a few book bloggers well. The community seems to be pretty accepting and I’d had no real problem establishing myself into the book blogging community.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
That books would not be dropping into my mailbox like magical fruit off a tree. It sounds dumb, but somehow the idea gets in your head that once you start blogging, people (publishers) just can’t wait to start mailing you books.
Date you started blogging: June 2011
Blog Name: Books: A true story
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
I thought that most book bloggers got free books from publishers to give away on their blog. I’m starting to realize that most books that are given away (not to mention shipping) are paid for by the blogger.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
Networking. I find it takes a lot of time to read and comment on other blogs. I wish I had more time to do it. I try to focus on writing my blog first and if I have time left to network with one or two blogs a week. Sometimes, networking can feel overwhelming to me.
What is the easiest?
Writing reviews! I feel like my blog is the perfect friend who is always interested in what I have to say about books.
What is your impression of the blogging community?
I have found the book blogging community to be very friendly and accepting. I thought bloggers would be more competitive and worried about numbers than they are. So far every comment on my blog has been polite, with some bloggers stopping by more than once to leave very thoughtful comments. I thought blogs with more followers wouldn’t bother talking to blogs that didn’t have very many, but this hasn’t been true. I’ve seen blogs with lots of followers commenting, tweeting about and supporting blogs that don’t have many followers yet.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
I wish I had known names of other book blogs so I could have thought of a more creative name for mine! I still like my blog name, but I’ve come across some very creative names that could have got me brainstorming for a better blog title.
Date you started blogging: I started blogging in June 2011.
Blog Name: A Reader’s Pensieve
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
I guess before I started blogging, I assumed everyone did it because they loved to read and they wanted to share that love with other people. Now that I’ve been doing it for a while, I think some people see it as a chore, especially because they receive so many arcs. I also didn’t know publishers/authors would send bloggers free arcs; I thought people just reviewed books that they owned or got from the library. Silly me!
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
The hardest thing about blogging for me is trying not get discouraged because I post less than other bloggers. I’m a teacher, so I bring work home with me every night, and sometimes that interferes with reading and blogging. I see other bloggers post things every day, sometimes multiple times per day, and I sometimes feel like I need to work at that rate too. With my job though, I can’t, and I have to remind myself that blogging is not a job, it’s a hobby. Gotta do the job that pays the bills and save blogging for my free time…
What is the easiest?
The easiest thing about blogging for me is finding books to read and review. I read reviews of so many great books everyday and my TBR list just gets longer and longer. I know way more about books now than I ever have before and have so many great ones waiting to be read.
What is your impression of the blogging community?
There are tons of YA book bloggers out there that I don’t know about yet, but my impressions so far is that most of them know each other and seem to be friends in real life (although I could be very wrong). I also feel like most of them receive arcs from publishers/authors. I don’t mind that, but some people post reviews of books months before they come out, which I don’t understand. That seems a bit like bragging to me, so I am more likely to read a blog that posts reviews close to their pub date.
However…bloggers seem very supportive of each other and most are very nice (at least the ones I have interacted with). I really appreciate when a more popular blogger takes the time to look at my blog, like if I have left a comment on theirs, for example.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
Hmm…I wish I had known how much time reading and blogging can take (and in turn, how much other people blog). Since I’ve started the blog, I feel like I need to read way more than before, mostly because other bloggers post so much. I just keep reminding myself that my blog is primarily for me and not other people!
Date I started blogging: 19 August 2011
Blog Name: The YA Reader
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
The biggest thing that I believed to be true was that you had to be really techno savvy when it came to computers to build a blog. Before I started blogging I used visit everyone else’s book blogs and I would be amazed at how beautifully designed they were. I was always put off by the thought that this is something I really cannot do because I didn’t know the first thing about running a blog or webpage. But then my best friend started a book blog and I thought well if she can figure this thing out maybe I can too. And so I signed up with Blogger and I started my blog. It was tricky in the beginning but I slowly got the hang of it and now I’m really happy with how my blog turned out.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
The hardest thing about blogging for me is not knowing how to change some of the really technical things on the blog. I would love to add more to my blog in terms of design but the process is far too technical for me. It’s wanting to change something but not being able to that’s hardest for me.
What is the easiest?
The easiest thing about blogging is actually blogging! I find it so easy to just in front of my computer and come up with new posts and things to add to my blog. I find it really easy to just spend the whole day visiting other people’s blogs, leaving comments and getting ideas from other blogs. It’s hard to tear myself away from the computer.
What is your impression of the blogging community?
I find the blogging community, especially the book blogging community because that’s manly who I interact with, really welcoming and friendly. I find, with most blogs, if I leave a comment or I email someone with a request for help everyone is quick to respond and are willing to give advice to new bloggers, which is really great. An example I have is, a while back, when I had just started blogging, I wanted to add the buttons on the side with links to the Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads pages I have but I didn’t have the foggiest idea how to do it. So I emailed Christy at The Reader Bee, because I liked the way she had them on her blog. She emailed me back with a step by step explanation of what I should do. It took some trial and error and a couple of emails back and forth but she was so kind and helpful, and I really appreciated it.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
I wish I had known how easy places like Blogger make it for someone to have a blog. If I had known that running a webpage isn’t at all like the way we were taught in computer class at school, I would’ve started blogging a long time ago.
Date you started blogging: 17/08/2011
Blog Name: The Book sisterhood
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
I thought that blogging would be super easy when infact it takes up a lot of time. I balance going to college and studying with managing our blog so I am at a constant struggle with having time to read and upload book reviews. I also thought that being a book blogger would guarantee us free books to review straight away but in reality that is far from the truth. It takes a lot of time to get your name out there and become a successful blog so authors know about you and can request reviews.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
I find it hard to keep on top of scheduled book blog tours. I often forget we are scheduled for one but thankfully we are a team at The Book Sisterhood so if I forget my partner will remember or vice versa. Also I find it hard to constantly think of new ideas and have the time to work on these ideas and write a great article or review.
What is the easiest?
The easiest thing about blogging is interacting with our readers and followers. I love reading comments on their opinions on articles and reviews we have posted.
What is your impression of the blogging community?
I think the blogging community is great! I love how so many blogs have started hosting weekly meme’s. It gives so many bloggers a chance to participate. I love the” In My Mailbox” feature by thestorysiren and the “Top 10 Tuesday” by Broke and the Bookish. When we were starting out a lot of book blogs helped us get our name out there and gather followers. They were tremendously helpful and nice!
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
I love blogging its something that i really enjoy but I wish I would have known how time consuming it could be.
Date you started blogging: October 8th, 2011
Blog Name: Juhina & Farah @ Maji Bookshelf
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
Well, my sister and I (we run the blog) always believed that the book bloggers are aspiring writers or people who work in that field, so we didn’t think that us, who are neither writers nor want to work in that field but are only book lovers, can start a book blog, and actually get followers and make friends from the book blogging community. So it was nice that we were welcomed as bloggers and we even made some great friends! It’s great to know that anyone can be a blogger if they have the dedication and love for it.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
The hardest thing for us is patience. We know we just started as bloggers but we are so eager to share our thoughts and opinions about books and want to discuss it with the blogging community that we get impatient sometimes! Sometimes posting reviews and not getting comments disappoints us a bit because the whole point of the blog is interaction with other book lovers. Now we know that takes time, so that’s why we agreed to pointedly ignore the numbers (no matter how much they’re trying to get our attention!) and just do what we love, which is reading and blogging combined.
What is the easiest?
Writing the reviews, we always thought that us, non-writers, can’t compare with aspiring writers in terms of captivating reviews and writing but then we thought, what the heck, the whole point of the blog is to write what we FEEL and experience in a book. It doesn’t matter how pretty or fancy our writing is, as long as we get the idea through our readers and HAVE FUN!
What is your impression of the blogging community?
The blogging community is exhilarating! It is very fast paced in our opinion. Books are released every day, new friends are made every day, contests, reviews to read and reviews to be written and most of all the love that the book bloggers have for each other. Sometimes we can’t keep up with the demand! 
We were also so impressed by the kindness and generosity of everyone! The Random Acts of Kindness, the giveaways, and the upcoming Bookworm Santa. We also didn’t think blogging would be this much fun! We love some of the memes, and we participat in many of them! We especially love Top Ten Tuesday, Recommend Fridays, and On My Wishlist. We love seeing what everyone is reading and their memes too and finding gemstones in some books we probably would never have read if not recommended by people.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
Personally our blog is fairly new and we’ve been checking other bloggers and following them for a while, but one thing we wished we started doing from the beginning is getting in contact with other bloggers through commenting on their reviews, seeing if we have any shared interests etc, because we believe expanding your blogger friends’ list makes book blogging that much more enjoyable!
Date you started blogging: 9/9/2011
Blog Name: JJ iReads
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
I always thought book bloggers had it easy and got free ARCs of everything and anything they wanted. Once I started book blogging I realized that it is not easy and a lot of hard work is put into it to earn those ARCs everyone gets jealous of.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
Finding the time between a full-time job, another 2 blogs I also run, two kids, and a husband.
What is the easiest?
Writing a review for a book I thoroughly enjoyed
What is your impression of the blogging community?
That it is a tight knit group. I see that, like in a any other community, there are cliques, but that everyone is willing to lend a hand if you ask nicely.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
The amount of dedication and hard work that it takes to run a decent book blog.
Date you started blogging: April 2011
Blog name: paper reader
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
Honestly? I had no idea there was this huge, lovely community out there. I fully anticipated opening up a forum for me to get my ideas out and not much else. I think the level of activity and daily commitment is something that I could have never anticipated. Part of it was having to put myself out there and just go for it, because no one else is going to do the legwork for you. If you asked me six months ago I would have been skeptical in writing the amount of reviews that I have, let alone answering this questionnaire! I’m so amazed.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
Making time! I’m a full-time student, work part-time and when I’m not reading heaps for homework I try and read both review books and for pleasure and… there’s just not enough hours in the day to get it all done! I never want to have to write smaller reviews due to time constraints, so sometimes I have a backlog of reviews that need to get done and I feel slightly pressured about that. I also feel badly about not being able to comment as much as I used to – it’s one of my favorite parts, the sharing of ideas, but the amount has been cut drastically.
What is the easiest?
Finally sitting down to write a review and being able to get all of my thoughts out about a book. Being able to talk and smile and laugh about them. I’ve always loved books, but never had much of a place to discuss them, and so sort of emptying my head of all of the fluff that builds up when I read is priceless. Also, now I almost have a justification for my book purchases! (I have problems saying no to a 20% B&N coupon!)
What is your impression of the blogging community?
I’m humbled. I think on a daily basis that I’m so, so grateful to be able to share such amazing things with such amazing people. I remember during the first few weeks of blogging I kept on checking my e-mail, hoping for a comment – anything – and was sad to see that there weren’t any. I was determined however, and kept at it until one day I realised that I had somehow checked the option that didn’t allow comments! Once I fixed that they started coming in, and people were mentioning that they were happy that they could finally leave their thoughts with me. Just that little beginning meant so much and I knew that it would be a great trip from then on out. Just recently I was at Teen Author Reading Night and was sitting next to some fabulous bloggers who were nodding along with me and laughing and it was so much fun. A small, paper object can do so much. (So if you ever see me at a signing or reading, don’t be shy! I love meeting new people.)
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
I think I’d wish that I knew how amazing the entire thing is, because I would have started much earlier. I don’t think there are any necessarily negative aspects that I’ve encountered so far, though. However, I’m glad that I started before I began school so that I could get an idea of how much work has to go into everything; if I had started it this fall I would have crumbled due to everything else. So maybe a good tip is to try and eke things out when you have more time to test the waters. 
Date you started blogging: May 2011
Blog Name: From A to Z
What is something you believed to be true about book blogging, but once you started realized that it wasn’t?
I used to think that book blogging was a fairly solitary activity and that posts consisted mainly of book reviews (clearly I hadn’t read many book blogs!). I definitely didn’t realize how much other stuff is involved – author guest posts and interviews, blog tours, weekly memes… and while of course I love the review aspect, those additional posts have become what make it extra fun for me. Participating in memes and reading the responses from other bloggers is something I look forward to every week.
What is the hardest thing about blogging for you?
Time management! Between creating things for my own blog and visiting others, I could spend hours and hours a day on blog activities if I let myself. Or sometimes I can get distracted with other things going on in my life and end up neglecting the blogosphere for a few days. It’s really hard for me to find a balance between my blog life and my real life, and it’s something I’m continually working on.
What is the easiest?
The easiest thing about blogging for me is maintaining my enjoyment and enthusiasm for it. Blogging is no fun if you don’t really love it and enjoy what you do, and I have absolutely no problem gushing over books with my fellow bloggers. 
What is your impression of the blogging community?
The book blogging community is AMAZING. I’ve been really surprised by how friendly and welcoming everyone is. Blogging is an area where there could easily be a lot of competition – who has the most followers, who has the best ARCs, etc. – but instead it’s this wonderful and supportive community and I’ve become really good friends with a few bloggers in particular. Just the other day I was talking to Sarah from The Book Life (http://sarahliveslovesreads.blogspot.com/) on Twitter and happened to mention that I was really looking forward to reading a certain book when it comes out in February, and she was just like, “Oh, I’d be happy to send you my ARC!” and a few days later I got it in the mail. Little things like this blow my mind and make me so grateful to be part of such an awesome group of people.
What is one thing you wish you would have known about blogging before you started?
I wish I would have known what a commitment it is, both in terms of time and energy. Although of course blogging is whatever you want it to be, and it is definitely possible to be a more casual blogger, somehow I’ve become incredibly invested in it. When I first started I was thinking it would just be a fun hobby to have a blog where I posted reviews, since I read so many books anyway, but it’s become more like a part-time job. Which is totally fine, I love it! It just would have been nice to fully realize what I was getting myself into.
) 
) 
) 
) 
)
) 
) 
)
) 
) 
Book Reviews
Giveaways
Interviews
In My Mailbox
Guest Blogs
Books to Pine For
Tips + Tricks
Cover Reveals
Real Teen
Dare You To
Level 2