These are my own personal pros and cons from my experience in book blogging. I threw myself straight into blogging – I didn’t do any research before I made the choice and the first few months were hard because I didn’t know anyone and there were a lot of things going on in the blogosphere which I didn’t understand. There were times where I was thinking about shutting my blog down because I didn’t know whether this was something I could keep up with and maintain. I’m so glad I didn’t give up that easily but I do wish that I had read more of these types of posts at the beginning – pros, cons, tips and general information about book blogging. Every book blogger will have a different experience but here are my pros and cons of book blogging.
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You will discover tons of new authors which you had never even heard of. Due to other book bloggers recommendations, I have been lucky enough to read some of the most amazing books which, if not for blogging, I probably would never have heard of! There’s only so many books they can stock in Waterstones and there’s a whole world of books out there waiting to be discovered!
- You will get the chance to talk to and make friends with authors. I completely admire authors as I’m sure most avid readers do and the thought of actually getting to speak actual words to one of these people was maddening to me! Thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter, I’ve made friends with some of the loveliest authors who I now speak to regularly.
- You will feel a sense of achievement. I mean, running a book blog isn’t easy but once you get going you will feel a huge sense of achievement because your own little space on the internet is something that you created and filled up with your own work.
- You will make loads of new friends! My absolute favourite thing about book blogging (or blogging in general) is all the amazing friends you’ll make along the way. You can feel a bit like the new kid in school at the beginning but everyone has been in that situation and you will make friends in no time.
- ARC’s. Call me shallow, but getting free books and review copies which aren’t even out yet is awesome!
- New opportunities. Book blogging can open up a whole world of opportunities in the form of free books, event invitations and work experience and you definitely get rewarded for all the work you put in to reading, reviewing and promoting a book. Aside from opportunities which are handed to you on a plate, it may make you more open to trying other things which could lead to fantastic opportunities. For me, this is a writing course for children’s books which I’m doing at the moment, freelancing which I probably wouldn’t have considered before and Neverland Blog Tours which would never have existed if it wasn’t for book blogging!
Cons
- You are subjected to plagiarism. Plagiarism is where someone copies your work and passes it off as their own. Plagiarists suck and unfortunately they are out there, lurking in the corners of the internet waiting to pounce. By owning a public blog, anyone can view it and potentially copy your work. Whilst 99% of people behave, there is the 1% which you have to look out for. If you ever do find that your work has been copied or stolen, there are things which you can. Amber from The Mile Long Bookshelf wrote a very informative post on this a while ago which you can find here if you want any more information.
- You probably will encounter people you don’t get along with. Although everyone considers book bloggers as a community – which it is – you won’t get along with everyone. It’s the same as school and the same as the working environment, you just won’t see eye to eye with some people and that’s fine. It’s not compulsory to speak to them.
- It’s demanding and takes up a lot of time. Of course everyone can decide how much time they want to put into their blogs but you might find that it’s taking up a lot more time than you thought. Like I said, book blogging isn’t easy and although you will feel proud of everything you achieve, you have to make sure you get a good balance between blogging, work/school and personal time.
- Jealousy and competition. It’s hard not to look at another book blog and be jealous of their cute layout or their brilliantly designed graphics (Graphics… The bane of my life) but that’s just the way our little human minds work I’m afraid. It’s natural to feel jealously in all walks of life but as long as you don’t negatively act on it in any way then it’s all gravy baby.