November marked the seven-year anniversary of Broke by Books, the book blog I started in November 2014. Born out of the depths of a bad bout with depression, I clung to the one thing I could control: my blog. Since then, I’ve created a hub for writers and readers alike. I’ve seen my blog turn a profit each month, which is how I determine my status as a pro book blogger. I’ve penned a spin-off book about book blogging with book blogging tips. And I’ve been able to reach people struggling with mental illness through the posts on my blog. All of that I’m proud of.
But behind that success—and all success—marks failure. I have made significant errors during the course of my seven years of book blogging, and today I’m going to be transparent about it. My hope is that others will learn from my mistakes as I have, too. These book blogging tips should help you avoid the blunders I’ve made on the way to a successful blog.
Mistake #1: Not hosting my own blog images
For most of my blogging career, I’ve uploaded and saved my own images, especially book covers.
But starting a few years ago, I started to rely on embedding affiliate links to Amazon, which offered a look-through feature so you could browse the book without leaving my site. The idea being that those interested in buying the book could see a quick preview and then jump on to Amazon if they were interested in buying the book or reading more.
When this feature eventually went kaput, I had scores of articles that had book covers wiped out because the Amazon preview tool was gone. This led to a scattershot panic when I tried to work through dozens of articles affected by the debacle. I scrambled to find, save, upload, and label all-new book cover images.
I definitely learned the lesson of hosting your own images. Now I’m not dependent on a second party for book covers. Going forward, I’ll effectively “own” the images, and nothing can prove to be an obstacle in formatting my blog posts. With this book blogging tip, I hope you realize the power of hosting images in your blog’s media library vs. relying on a third party to provide graphics.
Mistake #2: Waiting too long to hire a web developer when I needed backup tech help
I’m pretty tech savvy and pride myself on googling solutions to tech problems, but even I reached a point where I needed to consult with a contractor to work through some technical issues with my website. Hiring a tech support specialist through Upwork proved to be a cost-effective and time-saving decision. It’s pretty affordable to hire a contractor on Upwork, and you can select someone who has expertise in, say, WordPress or web hosting. Chances are you only need one problem solving query at a time and you won’t spend more than the price of two or three new books a month.
It’s worth investing in tech support, if you can afford it, and it counts as a business expense. To me, it was a worthy investment to hire someone to fix glitches or navigate a complex operation beyond my expertise. In just a few hours, my problem was solved with excellent and speedy service.
In retrospect, over the last seven years I could have benefitted to reach out for help and prevent major headaches or frustration.
Mistake #3: Spreading myself too thin with social media
Twitter! Instagram! Litsy! Facebook! Pinterest!
At one time or another over the last few years, I’ve tried to have fresh Broke by Books content on each of these social media platforms. But I soon got burned out trying to keep up with everything. It took even more time and energy to search and curate interesting and engaging stories and articles elsewhere. Social media can be your best friend, or it can be a total time suck. It can leave you with little stamina for creating your own content for your book blog.
I’ve learned my lesson the hard way, but I’ve come to find my sweet spot. For me, it’s best to run Facebook and Pinterest. Facebook operates instead of a newsletter (which I know I need to work on in the coming year). Facebook pages offer a great free way to track analytics and fine-tune my social media strategy. Plus, it’s super easy to throw together an ad, which I’ve done quite a few times if I want to highlight timely articles.
I’ve also invested more time in Pinterest because it reaps the benefits of driving traffic to my blog every day.
And, after taking the Create and Go course Pinterest Traffic Avalanche, I’ve seen my Pinterest traffic really tick up.
Since taking Pinterest Traffic Avalanche, I’ve definitely witnessed my Pinterest traffic substantially increase.
What I wish I had known earlier in my blogging career is it’s better to do one or two social media platforms well than do four poorly. And what works for me might not work for you. Maybe you’re a die-hard bookstagrammer and love Twitter. Or perhaps you love Litsy and Facebook. No matter what, you’ll find the best setup that allows you to reach readers without compromising your time for researching, crafting, and publishing great content, which is the foundation of any pro blog.
And if you’re looking for more book blogging tips regarding social media, be sure to check out my list of 400+ best bookish hashtags:
That list gives you all you need to connect with other readers on bookstagram and other bookish social media sites.
Mistake #4: Trying to read more instead of read better
It seems obvious… to be a great book blogger, you need to read as much as possible…right? If you read as many books as you can, it naturally follows that you’re better positioned to be a successful book blogger.
For most of the last few years since I started blogging, I’ve struggled to find the right balance between reading new books and crafting new bookish content. I’ve mused about this on the blog before, trying to figure out “How many books should you read during a year?” in a post from a few years ago. But, yeah, I’ve generally operated under the belief that reading as many books as I can will make me the best book blogger I can possibly be.
And so, over time, I’ve set my Goodreads reading challenge (when I’m not advocating you ditch it) high and met my targets for 80, even 90 books in a year.
And then this year hit.
As of this post in mid-December, I’ve only read 25 books this year and probably won’t reach my revised target of 30 books, which I downgraded from 52 when I realized with a jolt that it wouldn’t happen. I haven’t read this few books since 2013.
What happened?
Well, I’ll save this for more explanation in a future post, but the long and short of it is I fell out of love with reading. While my hobby for film has continued to soar, my passion for reading has decreased in a see-saw phenomenon. There are many reasons that have contributed to what feels like this epic failure of a reading year…and I really feel like this is beyond your common book slump and more a broader pattern. For example, this year my reading was affected by numerous factors..my father dying in February, my struggle to pay attention to reading, the ominous threat of COVID, and, perhaps most of all, getting burned out by having books be my job—literally. If you’re wondering why there are fewer new articles on this blog during the year, know that it was in part caused by the end of my love affair with books.
I wish over the years I had tried to read books that appealed to me rather than ones that I thought might fit a quota for new releases. I would have taken the time to leisurely reread some personal favorites. And I would soak up the magic and wonder of reading a great book, no matter when it was published or who wrote it.
I’ve written on here before about “How to Create a Reading Pivot and Break through Your Reading Slump,” so I have no doubt I’ll pull out of this funk. That’s one of the reasons I love the end of the year and launch into a new one in January. I’m so ready to put 2021 to bed and start fresh with my blogging and reading goals for 2022.
There’s a difference between reading books and the wider relationship you have to reading, which is what I call a “reading practice.” For me, I unfortunately prioritized upping my reading stats instead of focusing on the actual experience of reading.
So, yes, if I had to do it over again, I would have tried reading better—slowing down, concentrating on following my interests rather than trying to read as many new releases as possible, and savoring the awe-inspiring miracle that is reading—instead of reading as many books as possible.
Mistake #5: Misunderstanding how to maximize affiliate partnerships
Since the earliest days of this blog, I’ve been a member of Amazon’s Associates affiliate network. I have linked to books and other products on Amazon for years. But it wasn’t until the last few years that I learned the secret of how to really get in the mindset of converting an affiliate click into a purchase.
Curious? I’ve discussed this in my blog post on “How to Monetize a Book Blog: Pillar 1 – Professionalize,” which is packed with book blogging tips.
Essentially, to maximize your earnings through affiliate partnerships, you need to get in the mindset of monetization. Think about this: to earn money through affiliate links, you need to think about one very important question:
“Will this content help a consumer make a purchasing choice?”
There’s a difference between writing an article with a book review and one that lists books that people might actually want to buy. If you’re writing the right kind of content, a reader comes to your blog ready to make a purchasing choice: is it worth it to buy this book? It’s your job as a book blogger to convert that interest into a click that leads to a purchase. To maximize your affiliate income, write articles that help people make a purchasing decision. Simple enough, right?
Then I invested in an affiliate marketing course and reaped the rewards of following the instructions in the class. Yep, I saw my affiliate income triple in one year after taking the course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, which I’ve endorsed in a review here on the blog.
I wish I had learned more about affiliate marketing in my earlier years as a blogger. I’ve left money on the table by not understanding what really needs to happen in order to convert a click on an affiliate link into a purchase.
Final thoughts…
I’ve learned a lot about book blogging over the last seven years. It’s my hope that book bloggers who read this post will learn from my blunders. I’m looking forward to the turn over into the new year, so I can reset my reading practice and blog more frequently.
