Book Blog Expo Day 4: Blogging Advice
It's the last day of Book Blog Expo, hosted by Donna at Girl Who Reads!
Day 4 - June 2 - Blogging Advice. Do you have tips to share or need help with some aspect of your blogging? Today is the day to give and ask! This is a time for the blogging community to shine by helping one another out.
Well, I have very little advice to give. The way I do blogging is not really designed to bring in the numbers! I figure, if I start thinking of it as a job -- thinking in terms of audience and what my focus ought to be -- it won't be fun any more and I won't want to do it. So I just do what I like.
What I would like help with is the design. I like my fairly minimalist setup, but I would love to have a custom image/template like a lot of people do, and the person that was recommended to me seems to have stopped doing it, to my great sadness. So if you have any recommendations for a not-too-expensive designer, let me know!
I'd also like to know the secret behind never hitting a blogging slump and always finding time to blog in no matter how off-the-rails life gets, but I suspect that those are Mysteries of the Universe that will never be solved.
Day 4 - June 2 - Blogging Advice. Do you have tips to share or need help with some aspect of your blogging? Today is the day to give and ask! This is a time for the blogging community to shine by helping one another out.
Well, I have very little advice to give. The way I do blogging is not really designed to bring in the numbers! I figure, if I start thinking of it as a job -- thinking in terms of audience and what my focus ought to be -- it won't be fun any more and I won't want to do it. So I just do what I like.
What I would like help with is the design. I like my fairly minimalist setup, but I would love to have a custom image/template like a lot of people do, and the person that was recommended to me seems to have stopped doing it, to my great sadness. So if you have any recommendations for a not-too-expensive designer, let me know!
I'd also like to know the secret behind never hitting a blogging slump and always finding time to blog in no matter how off-the-rails life gets, but I suspect that those are Mysteries of the Universe that will never be solved.
I don't have any recommendations for designers. I have a free template.
ReplyDeleteAs far as blogging when super busy, I find scheduling posts in advance really helps. Sundays are usually my down day so I spend it scheduling as many posts as possible - usually the full week. If I find other time during the week, and I know I'm going to be too busy to blog, then I will set up posts then. The best I've done is 3 weeks worth of posts.
Avoiding a slump is recognizing it is coming and taking measures to avoid it. If it is because I can't find a good book to really get into, I might do recommendation lists (top audiobooks for road trips) where I can repurpose old content. If I just can't think of a topic, then I will check out the memes. Sometimes it is the interaction of visiting and commenting that I need to get out a slump. I have a team of bloggers so if I don't feel like blogging I can rely on their content. However, before I had a team and I didn't feel like blogging sometimes I would take a few days off or seek out some author friends to see if they wanted to do a guest post or feature an excerpt.
Thanks, Donna!
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ReplyDeleteNo advice on a designer. The ones I work with here in the Bay Area are very expensive.
ReplyDeleteA few blog slump-busting ideas:
* Review books you read a long time ago
* Author interviews
* Schedule a consistent time to blog. Set your alarm 30 minutes early, if you're a morning person, or make it your before-bedtime ritual
* Post current trends for genres you're interested in, even if they aren't books you're going to review. That may spark feedback from those who have and get community interest, giving you a wider net and more material
I'm sure I'll think of more later. =]
-Ryan