BBAW: Blogging A-Go-Go

Clearly I know a ridiculous amount about blogging, being that I’ve been doing this for two years, but I don’t yet know all there is to know about blogging.

Today’s Book Blogger Appreciation Week Prompt:

The world of blogging is continually changing. Share 3 things you are essential tried and true practices for every blogger and 1-3 new trends or tools you’ve adapted recently or would like to in the future.

I’m not exactly sure that there are 3 hard and fast practices that will work for every blogger, but I can tell you what works for me.

1. U Can’t Touch This

I get a lot of compliments because I’m real, have no filter, and don’t sugar coat. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to start swearing like a sailor, if you aren’t a curser, don’t start, because that wouldn’t be real to you. However, don’t ever be fake with reviews. Don’t create fake personas to antagonize the community. Just be yourself and people will like you. And if some don’t like you, forget them, they are irrelevant and it’s not like you will ever meet them or they affect your day to day life.

2. I’m Coming Out, I Want The World To Know

Social media is totally your friend. However no one is going to follow you if all you tweet are links to your blog, goodreads ratings, and contests. Be awesome. Let your personality sparkle. Tweet pics of your delicious food. Make conversation about publishing trends you pick up on or the book you are currently reading. Jump in on other conversations. Chances are, if we talk on twitter and you sparkle with personality, I will totally drop by your blog because I see you as a person and not a shill.

3. Everybody Have Fun Tonight

Kids, blogging is awesome and all, but I find that having a life outside of my book blog keeps me sane and not hating everyone ever. So, don’t stress so hard about blogging and don’t feel bad when you turn down some bookish thing for family time or friend time. Make time for mimosas. Trust me, the best times I had, even at bookish events like BEA, were times that I did not have a book in my hand.

One new practice:

1. Video Killed The Radio Star:

So, I joined this group of bloggers to start a collaboration blogging channel on youtube and I love it. So my practice is keeping it fresh and trying new things like vlogging. Obviously you shouldn’t vlog if you are boring and speak like a robot, and by robot, I don’t mean autotuned like T-Pain, but like, monotone. I just find people like my videos except the haterz and in that case, lol, I don’t care.

So dudes and dudettes, what are your practices for being a steaming pile of awesome?

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April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.
About April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Comments

  1. Funny you mentioned Vlogs. That’s one thing I don’t intend to do, like, ever. LOL

  2. I love that your blogging tip was to not blog but live in the real world. How true is that?! Not only is it fun and what normal folks do all the time, but where else would we get new fodder for things to blog about? After all, you need to interject that personality amongst the reviews.

  3. Love your post!
    I think you have to be true to yourself. I think that we are people who read a lot, and that kind of gives you a bulls**t detector when it comes to the written word. We kind of can tell when someone is faking it. So it’s important to do your own thing, and have fun! No one pays us to do this, so we must enjoy it.

    I want to check out your vlog channel, it sounds fun.

  4. loving the stress free blogging idea, if it’s not fun, why do it.

  5. this is so true and I do love you cause you are real.

  6. I absolutely love your advice!! You’re definitely always consistently the same you online, it’s great! Also yummmm mimosas.

  7. i want to start autotuning my vlogs.

    also, that troll idea is still on the table. just so you know.

  8. You’ve got some great points here. And I agree wholeheartedly that you want to be true to yourself and be authentic to your readers — whenever, and wherever. I make it a point to not blur lines between IRL me and online me, even though I know it’s incredibly easy to separate my two lives.

    I think the practice that’s kept me up with this little blogging gig thus far relates to your #3. Sure, there are days when I don’t feel like blogging, because I’m busy with work or personal stuff. I think this is a universal thing so it frustrates me when people stress out about this. I just want to flail my arms around and say WE UNDERSTAND. YOU DON’T NEED TO BLOG EVERY DAY. CHILL. OUT.

    I also refuse to blog half-way. There are some posts where I’ve stopped writing mid-post because I didn’t like where it was going. I don’t want that to come across in my (very little) writing, because if I can detect it in other people’s posts, I’m sure others can in mine. I’d much prefer someone to not write for an entire week than write an entire week full of stuff they only did half-way. That seems like a giant waste of time.