This post is going to be a part of my book blogging tips series of posts (even though it’s only the 2nd one it’s still a series!) and one in which I’ve been having a lot more experience with lately. While book blogging is a super fun and wonderful hobby to have it still has its downsides and those are what I’m going to be talking about in this post.
I’m not trying to scare anyone away from starting a book blog but I thought it’d be a good idea to get some of the cons to book blogging out there in the open since they are important too! So hopefully this will either help some of you know what you’re getting into or it will remind those of you who already blog of some of the things we go through.
Here’s a link to my other Book Blogging Tips post: How to Start a Book Blog!
The Pressure of Consistent Posting
This one is definitely one of the bigger pressures for me because sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day to get lots of posts done to schedule for later and then you may end up going a day or two without ANY posts getting posted! This can ultimately lead to feeling the pressure of trying to post consistently even if you get up a few posts every week you can feel that it “isn’t enough” when really YOU decide what’s enough and what’s not on your own blog.
Sometimes this can lead to a blogging slump (which I’ll discuss as well) and you won’t feel motivated to post at all let alone consistently.
This is why it’s important to take breaks when you need them and de-stress yourself!
The Pressure to be Unique
This is actually a little more minor than some of the other topics I picked but it is definitely still a pressure. With so many other book blogs, bloggers, and weekly bookish memes it sometimes can feel hard to be 100% unique with your own blog, posts, and ideas. It’s definitely easy to do weekly memes since those post ideas are already thought up for you and as I said it can feel harder to come up with your own ideas when you have such easy access to others.
I know such things, for me, can lead to feeling like your own ideas and blog “aren’t good enough” which definitely is NOT the case. If you can’t come up with post ideas it’s 100% fine to do memes, I love memes! It may also be a good idea to take a break and try brainstorming ideas and then come back to your blog too.
The Pressure of Blog Stats
I think this is definitely something we can ALL relate to, right? Watching our blog stats day in and day out and probably feeling at some point that they (once again) “aren’t good enough” or “why don’t I have lots of views/followers?”. The pressure to get “better” blog stats is immense when it comes to blogging, we all feel it!
It also gets worse when you’re on hiatus or in a slump because those stats will decrease even more, the key is to not get caught up in your stats because they really aren’t that important. Your stats don’t make your blog wonderful YOU do.
The Pressure of Gaining Followers
This one goes hand in hand with the stats thing I mentioned and once again I think this is something we can all relate to. It’s always nice to get followers it makes us feel good because someone cared enough to follow our blogs and read our posts! So of course it’s easy to get caught up in gaining more and more followers and wanting our blogs to be “big”. However, it’s important to remember followers are not everything and your blog is still amazing because of the work you put into it and not the number of followers you have!
The Pressure of ARCs (Advanced Review Copies)
ARCs are a really big thing in the world of book blogging and they can actually add a lot of pressure though. Such as trying to get your hands on them, over-requesting and getting approved for more than you can handle, and lastly trying to get them read before their publication dates! Of course ARCs are a wonderful privilege but they can get overwhelming sometimes.
The Pressure of Catching Up on Posts
The longer you’ve been blogging the more you’ll run into other wonderful book bloggers to chat with and follow! So of course all those bloggers add up quite a bit after a while and sometimes it’s hard to find the time to catch up on everyone’s posts which can ultimately, like with me, make you feel guilty for being behind on posts. I find it helps a lot to dedicate a certain amount of time just for browsing other posts that way you catch up without feeling too much pressure.
The Pressure of Commenting
This goes for commenting on other blogs as well as catching up on comments left on your own blog. As with catching up on posts it can be hard to find the time to give your comments the proper amount of thought and therefore it’s easy to put it off. The amount of comments and posts can get overwhelming sometimes so like I said earlier it’s a good idea to take separate time for JUST catching up with comments.
The Pressure of Reading/Blogging Slumps
Slumps come around when you burn yourself out on something from doing too much all at once. Reading and blogging slumps go hand in hand too, you either can’t read and don’t have enough material for posts or you can’t post and then you have nowhere to discuss the books you’ve been reading! Sometimes you just need a break and it’s 100% okay to take that break, come back when you want to everyone will still be here for you!
The Pressure of Blog/ARC Envy
You know that tiny little inkling of jealousy you may get when you see someone’s gorgeous blog design? Or someone whose blog has thousands of followers? Or a blogger who has that ARC of a book you’ve been really looking forward to? Yeah we all get a little blog/ARC envy every now and then and sometimes that will make you feel some pressure because you’re thinking your blog isn’t “good enough” for all of that.
The important thing is to remember to keep your blog fun and know that eventually you WILL get that many followers and you WILL get that ARC you’ve really wanted just keep working for it!
The Pressure of Review Requests
This isn’t as big of a pressure as these other points I’ve brought up but it does still show up every now and then for me. When you’ve been blogging for a bit you will be approached by self-published and Indie authors to review their books now this can go along with ARCs and the pressures that come with those or it can be a different kind of pressures, such as feeling guilty if you do not want to review the book. You are, however, never obligated to accept a review request if you don’t want to!
Sidenote: another thing that can get pretty annoying about review requests is if you state which kinds of books you read in your review policy and people STILL send you the requests. Or if you state you are NOT accepting review requests and STILL get them. I always feel you are 100% in your right to not only say no but also ignore requests from people who did not take the proper amount of time to properly read your review policy.
What do you think are some of pressures of book blogging?
Do you experience any of the ones I listed?
How do you deal with some of these pressures?
Let me know in the comments!
Basically we contact publishers and request them, pretty simple. Sometimes if you’ve worked with a publisher for long enough they’ll add you to a mailing list in which you’ll receive unsolicited ARCs (or ARCs you didn’t directly request). I personally don’t have a ton of experience with the mailing lists but it is something publishers will do!
While I can’t say “exactly” what certain publishers are looking for there are a couple of general things you should keep in mind before you go emailing a bunch of publishers with requests.
Publicity emails!
When you email a publisher with a request remember to of course be polite and professional, you are making a request of them after all, but also try and give them all the information they need in ONE email. Publishers are very busy people and you don’t want to waste anyone’s time by forgetting to include important information, such as your address.
The simple answer: you wait.
Hopefully some of you found this post helpful or useful in some way! I tried to include EVERYTHING I could think of that someone would need to know in order to request physical ARCs!
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