Design credit: Sarah of Puss Reboots
Hello fellow Armchair BEA’ers! Today I will be discussing blogger development.
First I need to say that I’m not necessarily a “big” blogger … I don’t have a million followers. I don’t have book after book arriving in my mailbox (well, not review books anyway!). I don’t write posts that garner hundreds of comments.
But you know what, that’s all okay with me. I like how I have developed within the book blog world. I like the “spot” that I have carved out for myself.
When I started blogging in 2008 I had no idea where I really wanted to take things. But I saw how some of the “big” bloggers were doing things and I knew that I wanted to be just like them. Oh how my feelings have changed over the years as I have seen blogger after blogger burn out. Especially since I have been on the edge of burnout myself more than a time or two 🙂
For those of you who were blogging back in 2008, you may remember J.Kaye. Well she put out a note that she would pass along your info to her publisher contacts since she was stepping away from things. I took advantage of that, and she is how I got my foot in the door as far as cultivating relationships with publishers/publicists/authors.
So I guess you could really say that word of mouth is huge, huge, huge within our community. Without J.Kaye’s help it would have taken me a lot longer to really start getting on people’s radars.
Last year I took the plunge and bought my domain. Best. Decision. Ever. Seriously, if you have the funds I highly recommend doing this. I think all total it was like $32 (but that is a yearly fee). I took the easy route and stuck with wordpress.com, but I was able to become “talesofabookaddict.com” And I felt so much better, I felt like one of the “big” bloggers. Silly, I know. But I really enjoy it.
There are still a lot of things that I could be doing to develop myself more. I don’t have a blog Facebook page. I’m not as active as I should be … considering this is my first time participating in Armchair BEA, I’ve only done Bloggiesta once, I’ve never done the read-a-thon, oh and I definitely don’t comment nearly enough. I’m just now starting to come out of my shell more and converse with other bloggers on Twitter.
If you ever really want a good laugh at yourself, go back and look at a few of your first reviews and/or posts. I guarantee you will die of embarrassment. At least I do. Sometimes I really wish I could make some of the things I said go away (like the time I ripped an author for not liking his book … only to have him stop by and comment … oops!) You live and learn. You grow. You develop. It takes a lot of time to do so.
I always think of blogging as a side thing. There have been a lot of times when I have seriously considered hanging things up. Just giving it all up. Heck, no one in my real life other than my husband even knows that this blog even exists. It’s not something that I have ever shared with anyone else. But then I realize that I have some loyal readers that take the time out of their day to post a comment on my blog – something that makes all of the work, hassle, time and effort completely 100% worth it.
Sometimes I wish I had done things differently. Since you can’t undo the past, all you can do is continue developing. And that’s what I’m working on right now. My loyal followers know that this blog has become more than just a book blog. I occasionally write personal posts. I like to share recipes with my readers. My life consists of more than just books and I want this blog to reflect that … which I hope it does.
Tales of a Book Addict 
You sound like a pretty successful blogger to me. The one thing we all have to keep in mind is that it takes time and dedication to build a following that is loyal.
tanya
Great post and I DO remember J. Kaye as I was blogging then too. She sent me some contacts as well. You mentioned all the things you aren’t doing to develop your blogging but you also mentioned that you consider it a side thing. If blogging is just a hobby for you, than you don’t have to worry so much about every thing that is recommended. For those whoever whose blog is their business, then it’s much more important to balance all the different aspects. I got burned out recently and am still working on coming back into the book blogging community from my “break.” Many bloggers who burn out do not come back and that is said as some of them are really good.
Kathleen @ http://www.smsnonfictionbookreviews.com (I don’t think my wordpress.com account is linked to that blog)
Reading my first few reviews really makes me cringe! But I’m also proud at how I’ve developed my reviewing style. I agree with what you said at the end, the past is the past, so it’s best to just focus on the future and developing even more.
Hi! thanks for sharing your exp. it was very enlightening!
and I always wonder how domains and generating income or something whatever out of it works.I’d like to try that out some time though I usually find it hard to come up with a name haha!I also think blogging as a hobby coz of the usual human life daily activity so I tried my best to update whenever & finding time to do so yeah.Do whatever makes you happy and enjoy!