How I Reduced Stress As A Book Blogger


I started reviewing way, way back in 2012 (I think). I was immediately plunged into a whole new world of book bloggers, book blogs, review copies and marketing yourself. I freaking love attention so I set about trying to get as much attention to my blog as possible, obsessing over every single detail until I burnt myself out and stopped reading for a few years.

On top of that, I also tried to maintain a bookstagram, having the extra stress of photographing books to my already teaming work pile of stuff I needed to do for my blog.

I tried again last year and fell into the same trap, trying to keep up with review copies and my blog and quickly ended up dropping off, again. I've just started reading again in October 2019 and this time I actually sat down and thought about what worked for me - and what didn't.

Blog Aesthetics
Do you know what I really don't care about these days? An aesthetically pleasing blog with 6000 pieces of information on the sidebar, widgets, links and all that other bullshit. So this is what you get. I went to the effort of finding a nice picture and making sure the colours matched at least.

Blog Updates
Weirdly the one thing that doesn't work for me is constantly updating this blog. I need it because Goodreads eats my reviews, so I'll stop by when I'm not busy, add a bunch of reviews all at once and drop off again. I'm mostly able to do this because:

Blog Marketing
To get review copies, you need followers, active engagement, comments. I used to do all the different blog hops, Stacking The Shelves, Waiting On Wednesday. I don't bother any more. I don't even expect people to see this post. I feel free quite frankly.

Review Copies
Who needs them? I know they can feel like a carrot at the end of a very long stick when you see bloggers with thousands of followers posting them, but honestly I can wait a couple of months. Review copies are also hard as fuck to shift because you can't sell them. Quitting NetGalley and no longer accepting requests from Independent authors is a huge sigh of relief, I have no commitments and I can read whatever I want.

Bookstagram
Aha, this is the one where all my effort goes now and I love it. I refuse to spend ages messing about with props, instead I just photograph my book where I am, or I'll take a few books out on a field trip for nice photos. I'm having a ton of fun with it and I really enjoy growing a following. It's completely mine, with my own ideas and I'm not trying to copy anyone else. I love posting the books I'm reading on it and talking with other readers. I'm @vee_bookish on there!

Latest Releases
This one is a new one for me! I started trying to keep up with pre-orders when I got back into books and late November I caught myself stressing about keeping up, so I've quit that. Checking yourself is something I really struggle with, so although it's a small, silly thing, I'm proud of myself for realising. I do love new releases, so when I have money I look on this Goodreads page of the latest popular releases and choose from there now.


My advice to other readers that may be struggling with this is to actually sit down and work out what is and isn't working for you. Maybe write it down and colour everything that causes high stress in red and work out how to reduce that stress, if you need to quit that or do something different. Also contact me any time on Instagram, @vee_bookish !

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