Being a Book Blogger » Important Tips to Know Before Starting Out

      This post is going to those of you who don't have a book blog yet. And if you do have a book blog, keep reading because I feel this post might help out some of you guys. If you don't have a book blog yet, and are thinking of getting one, then congratulations. You've finally completed the first step, deciding what you want to do! The next step is whether or not you want to use blogger or Wordpress, or any other blogging platform, but that will be in another post.
      I'm gonna tell you right now, I haven't been blogging long with BlankSlaters Books, a little over a month. But something you probably don't know about me is over the summer of 2015 I had another blog. A crappy blog. Yes, before BlankSlaters Books ever existed, there was madfourbooks and GreenLeafBooks. Madfourbooks and Greenleafbooks were the same blog, but I changed the URL and it gave me tons of crap organizing links. ANYWAYS, going into this blogging thing I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't set up a separate blogging email, I posted almost everyday, but wrote the post DAY OF instead of before hand. It was ridiculous. I had been blogging for a month already and I had one follower and like 2 comments. It didn't really encourage me to continue on. Along with that, all I wrote were reviews, LONG reviews that made me sound like the most boring blogger ever. You may not feel I'm credible, a blogger that has been blogging for a month. . . but after my experiences with my last blog, I've avoided what I did before and now blogging is fun for me and I learned from my mistakes. Let's get to the actual tips now!

1. Write how you feel, express yourself and write a review based on what you thought. Don't write what other people expect! 

• When I started out, I wrote SIX PARAGRAPH long reviews that screamed boring. Make the review funny, it doesn't have to be perfect, this isn't English class. Use asterix' and describe what you're doing (EX: *fangirls*, *dies slowly*). Just write what you felt about the book, there is no right way to write a review, a review is perfect as long as it includes how you felt! 

2. TWITTER! TWITTER! TWITTER!

• If you don't have a Twitter, I suggest you get one when starting your blog. Twitter has a HUGE book community and there you can find some awesome friends. Bookish people are typically super friendly so don't be shy if you come across one fangirling (i.e ME), join in on the conversation. Along with that, getting followers on Twitter isn't too hard usually, if you share your blog post on Twitter, BAM 100+ people already see your latest blog post on their feed. 

3. Use Memes! (Top Ten Tuesday, Waiting on Wednesday) 

• Memes are fun, they are something besides book reviews. They are weekly usually, some aren't, but most are. They are fun for me and gives me a break off writing reviews, or if you don't like the idea of meme's, then write posts such as this one. 

4. Be Yourself

• I don't know about you, but for me, the person I am on Twitter and on this blog is different than the one at school, well except when I'm around my friends. Reading books makes me so happy, and having people commenting and following my blog about the books I'm reading makes me ecstatic. So an important tip is to be yourself and have fun, if no one sees your blog, don't worry, your blog is for you and you only. If you like it, that's all that matters, and even better if other people like it.

5. Design to your best ability! 

• Designing your blog is fun. It is not only just fun, but it's really important. Though design probably shouldn't take a major role in your blog's success, but it really does. Honestly, I say content over looks, but if your blog looks nice, people will peek around in it and drop a comment or follow. Some key things to make your blog look nice includes: 
• A Nice Blog Header 
• Social Media Buttons 
• Pictures (I don't think you can use Pinterest without permission! Though I'm not sure...)
• HTML Skills

HTML is a scary thing, but I learned how to use it. Which means you can too! Another post will be added later about this!

6. Get a Bloglovin' Account

• I had never heard of Bloglovin' when I started out, but Bloglovin' is basically a site that has TONS of blogs on it, blogs you can follow on and comment. It helps find other fellow book bloggers and it makes your blog easier to follow. A common tip is to comment on other blogs, typically this gives you some views. 

7. Post your reviews EVERYWHERE

• Posting your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, I suggest posting half of your review and then add the link to the rest of your review on your blog underneath. If people want to keep reading they will have to click that link!

8. Planning is Everything

• Okay I'll admit I don't plan my posts. I literally just do write them when I have the time. But I'm getting started with planning, I'm planning on starting very soon. Planning your posts is super important because having a blog that post everyday - yes I said EVERYDAY, looks really good. So planning out these posts that you intend to do is great. Along with that, make sure to write your posts beforehand, don't write them day of then there won't be anyone to see them first thing!

That's it for my tips! For all you new bloggers like me (haha I'm a new blogger giving advice to other new bloggers), then listen to these! I've done them all, except the planning part, and they seem to work really well. Hope these work for well you too!