7.Jul.2009 at 7 | jspeyton
A New and Improved Blogging Soup, or Why I Blog
On rethinking the reasons why I blog and how to make a delicious soup (the blogging kind):
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about why I have a book blog. Is it for the ARCs, or is it to “meet” like-minded people who love reading as much as I do? Is it for the popularity and the high traffic of visitors who might comment on my posts? Or is it for the relationships I might develop with an author here or there along the way?
In the tail-end of 2006, BiblioAddict started the same way that I suspect most personal book blogs start. I wanted to create a space where I could freely talk about my favorite subject: books. I didn’t know there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of blogs already out there very similar to mine. I didn’t even expect to get any visitors. After all, how would anyone even know I was out there? I didn’t know any one else who blogged, and I certainly couldn’t rely on my friends or family to spread the word since most of them weren’t even interested in reading books, much less a blog about books.
My plan, such as it was, was to blow into the internet ether, post a few links about articles that interested me, write up a few comments on bookish news, and maybe here or there write up my thoughts on books I’ve read or was in the process of reading.
That was before I started visiting other (more successful) blogs and got ambitious. Some book blogs posted reviews every day, other blogs received 50+ comments on each post, while still others got free ARCs in the mail every other day. Some book bloggers organized fun and engaging activities which brought the book blogging community together in readathons and book carnivals and reading challenges. They gave away awesome prizes and had authors write guest posts on their blogs. Did I want any of that? Check yes and yes next to each and every box. Free ARCs? Yes. Hundreds of visitors every day? Yes. Author guest blogging? Why, yes, thank you.
So, for a while there I went for it. I went for the visitors and the challenges and the ARCs and the frequently posted reviews. But here’s something they don’t tell you when you sign up for all of that (it’s in the really fine print at the bottom of the contract): all of the above takes a lot of work. Like most things, the time and energy you put into the above is usually reflected in how popular your blog is. Blogging can be and is a full time job for a lot of people. It takes time and energy I just didn’t – don’t - have, but that didn’t stop me from trying. It also didn’t stop me from feeling bad when I inevitably failed.
That’s when blogging became more of a chore than an exciting hobby. There were always these things in the back of my mind that I was supposed to be doing or should be doing with my blog. I needed to post more often, I needed to write my reviews (and quickly!), I needed to read faster, I needed to sponsor giveaways and come up with fun challenges to make my mark on the book blogging world, and I needed to … Well, you get the point.
A funny thing happens when I begin to feel overwhelmed with chores I don’t really feel like doing in my heart of hearts anyway – I start considering washing my hands of the whole thing and moving on. Which I absolutely can not do because I love BiblioAddict. So I started thinking about why I got into this blogging business in the first place, because that’s the place to which I need to return. I was happy there. I had fun there. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge – I wouldn’t/couldn’t even begin to begrudge – those talented bloggers who keep all their blogging balls in the air without letting a single one bop them on the noggin. I am, it pains me to say, just not one of those people.
After I’ve posted the reviews which I’ve already written (thank goodness for that Bloggiesta!), I won’t write any more. I don’t find “reviewing” nearly as much fun as I do discussing and recording my personal thoughts on whatever I’ve read or happen to be reading at the time. This may very well turn out to be a matter or semantics. But, even if it doesn’t change the way that I write my book posts, I hope that it’ll at least change the way I approach them. I hope not to feel so pressured to write an amazing review that tackles every theme in the book and gives the reader an objective summation of the book’s quality or worth reading. All book reviews are subjective in the end, after all. I’m just trying to return to a time when I remembered that.
BiblioAddict has come a long way since 2006. In fact, I can barely believe I’ve been blogging this long. But, I was taking BiblioAddict in a direction that wasn’t making me happy. This blogging thing is supposed to fun, darn it! It’s supposed to be for me, darn it again! Maybe I won’t get as many readers as some of the other blogs do. Maybe I’ll even loose some of the few readers I do have. But, you know what? I’m okay with that. It’s either that or give up BiblioAddict altogether, which I am absolutely not prepared to do any time soon.
I can blog without a single visitor or comment. I can blog without ARCs and author guest bloggers. I can even blog without carnivals and challenges. What I can not blog without is fun. It’s a necessary ingredient to my book blogging soup. I’d forgotten to add it lately, and now that I have, I can already smell the new and improved stew and it smells delicious.
Popularity: 39% [?]
What a well written and well thought out post!
Blogging shouldn’t be a chore and as soon as it is then you should cut back. Blogging successfully is very hard work, and I think you’ll find that it is a full time job for those people who do it successfully.
I look forward to seeing the changes you make round here and wish you all the best for the future!
Great post! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with your blog down the road.
Sounds like a good plan! I think it’s really fun to write about books while I’m reading them, but I read too fast. :/ That’s why I keep a ‘currently reading’ sidebar that I update almost daily! (But with feed readers, I don’t think anyone reads it: it’s just for my satisfaction.)
Great post. I think each blog should reflect the personality and needs of the owner.
I really appreciate this post. My blog hasn’t been around for too long, but as I read many, many other book blogs, it’s hard to not get caught up in wanting the same kind of recognition for your own blog…from subscribers, publishers, authors, whatever. But that’s not for everybody, and I hope now that you’ve developed a good reader-base, you’ll find that they will stick with your blog, regardless of the giveaways or contests. After all, they started reading for YOUR writing in the first place, right?
Good for you! I’m hitting my one year mark here and am already over the ARCs and the traffic watch and all of that. I just want people who find what I write interesting to show up and the rest can find what they are looking for somewhere else. I was starting to feel stressed and overwhelmed and it’s just not worth it for something I do in my limited free time. I’m with you … I want to have fun!
It’s definitely about doing what makes YOU happy above all! The day blogging becomes a chore will be the day I quit. Actually, I was feeling burned out for a while there, so I was away for almost 3 weeks, and that did wonders when it came to reminding me of why I do this to begin with.
I think you’ll find that your readers are here because they like YOU, so even if the format of your posts changes, they’ll stick around.
Great post!
Your blog is YOUR space and you should absolutely feel free to change its form at will. It shouldn’t be a chore, ever. You should feel free to post once a week or twice a day, to write long reviews or just short opinions, to talk only about books or about every topic in your life!
I truly believe that all those who have come to know you and your blog won’t suddenly disappear; through comments, reviews and other posts, we come to *somewhat* know the blogger behind the screen, and I believe that’s what keeps us coming back.
I know I’ll be looking – feel free to feed my feed! (I know that last sentence sounds like a pronunciation exercise, but it isn’t, I swear!)
Excellent post, and I agree wholeheartedly that once blogging becomes a responsibility instead of a hobby, it becomes super-hard to sustain. I already have a full time job, you know? What I need is a hobby, so when I feel like sitting down and writing a post, I do, and when I don’t, I don’t, and hey, people still come visit me even though my posting is ridiculously sporadic. Though it’s hard to squelch that little voice telling me “you should write a post, you should write a post,” I know I’m better off blogging at my own speed instead of trying to attain blogging heights that are pretty much impossible for me with my life such as it is. Hope that your new (old?) way of blogging keeps it fresh and fun for you, and I’ll be looking forward to reading whatever you post whenever you feel like posting it!
I’m going to be around no matter what you do, just please don’t go away.
PS. the cooking nuns?
I agree with what everyone before me has said. Do what makes you happy and is the most fun and you’ll find that most of us will still be here to comment and cheer you along the way. And to bloggiesta.
I’m interested in the idea of not writing reviews, persay, and just writing thoughts on books as you go through them. That’s one of the ways I thought about my blog when I started, since it was trying to be a bit of a replacement for the English classes I was giving up. I never managed to do that exactly, in part because I don’t read a lot of newer books so it’s hard to find bloggers reading the same things I am. I’ll be interested to see how things on your blog chance when you go back to writing that way — I want to see if something like that works
Good for you!! I will read–happily–anything you choose to write.
Good for you! It is easy to get caught up in the blogging world and forget why you started…so congratulations on returning to your roots, so to speak.
I’m looking forward to continuing to read your blog however you present it! Ultimately it should be by you and for you – when things start to feel like a chore it becomes work not fun! Good Luck!
Book blogging is hard work! Not only do you have to write the posts, you have to think about design, links, stats etc.
I blog without any thought to popularity – a few of the reviews I think are my best are rarely visited. That doesn’t bother me – I am happy with them and that’s enough!
Carry on with the good work!
You are right, blogging should be fun and I applaud your decision to do as you like
I hope your decision makes your blogging easy and fun.
For some reason I quite enjoy writing reviews, except may be sometimes. The reason I started writing about books was that no one around me wanted to listen to me go on and on about a particular book.
I just get tired by linking to amazon and the author and all. May be I should stop doing that. Let’s see.
What good thoughts! Like the other commenters, I applaud your decision to take your blog in the direction you want to take it. I hope it’s fun!
Great post! You make a lot of excellent points, things that I’ve been thinking about as well in the two years since I started my bookblog and the four and a half years that I’ve been blogging. I may not get a ton of visitors, but I am happy with the ones I do get and with what I write. One of the reasons why I may not get huge amounts of visitors is because I don’t really read and write about the latest or the most popular books, but I don’t want to. I read what I want to read and when I want to read it. This is one reason why I gave up on reading challenges and why I don’t have any reading plans or goals. That doesn’t fit me and restrains me too much. But with what I have created, I feel like I have found my small corner and my own voice. There’s no way I’d give up blogging, I’d miss it too much! I only wish I had more time to read and write!
Stick to what fits your character, your life, your habits. Stay close to yourself and don’t let yourself be pressured into something you’re not. That’s important in real life, but also when it comes to your ‘online life’ and your blog.
And no, there’s no way I’m going to kick you out of my feedreader just because you happen to make a fresh start!
I’ll miss your reviews, but hope to hear some good news from you (rhyme so not intentional).
What a great post! I definitely agree. Blogging lately hasn’t been as fun as it was two years ago but I’ve been examining the way I blog and what I can get rid of.
As the book blogging community itself has increased in size, what’s regarded as a proper post seems to have become quite narrow. I miss the days when no one felt guilty for providing anything less than a full-fledged review instead of whatever bookish or otherwise interesting thought may have crossed one’s mind.
I’m very glad you’re going to continue blogging while ignoring all the conformist rules that have managed to suck a lot of the fun out of writing–and reading–posts.
Thank you for reminding me of why I started my blog in the first place. Recently I’ve been wondering if it’s even worth it for me to keep posting when I don’t know that anyone at all even reads what I write. But I started it for ME, not for them. So I will keep doing it for myself and maybe someone else will benefit along the way. If not, that’s okay, too.