#BookBlogWriMo | Advice for Newbie Bloggers

Here goes day 12 of the #BookBlogWriMo 2014 Challenge hosted by Book Bumblings! Go back to my introduction post in order to get more information about this challenge! It's not too late to join in and participate. :]

As some of you may have realized, I did not complete yesterday's post (day 11). I sat down to do it, but could not figure out how to look at the number of views per post on Google Analytics, so I eventually just gave up and decided I was just going to skip one day. No big deal, right?

Today's topic is:

Advice for Newbie Bloggers

I have only been blogging for a little over nine months now, so I might still count as a bit of a newbie myself. I count myself as one, at least. Still, I suppose I have some advice based on my own experience as a recent newbie blogger. I am not sure how helpful it will be, but I will give it a go!

1. Just do it (yup, like Nike tells you to). If you are THINKING about creating a book blog, stop thinking about it and just do it. You are not going to regret it. I wasted several months wondering if I should go through with it, and those are months that I could have spent building my blog and writing posts. Sure, it might be a challenge at first, but it will get easier.

2. Don't sign up for EVERYTHING just so that you have things to post everyday. When I first started, I signed up for way too many blog tours so that I would have something to post about every day. That also meant I had a crazy amount of books I had to read in a fairly short amount of time. While I enjoyed almost all of the books, it was not worth the stress. Be picky about what blog tours you do; make sure that you are actually interested in the book, it will make it much easier to read the book in the time frame and write a review.

3. Be careful with Netgalley. Seriously, Netgalley is the best thing every, but it's also very jealous. I'm still trying to catch up on my books from when I decided to go a bit crazy and request too many things. Only request what you will actually be able to read so your rating is good when it comes time to request that book you REALLY, really want to read.

4. Talk to people. The only way to grow your blog is to talk to other people. Comment on blog posts, but make those comments meaningful. Don't just say that you're a new follower in hopes that they will follow you back. 

5. Get on social media. I know, I know, some people just really don't like social media. I was incredibly hesitant of Twitter, but it has become a wonderful way to talk to other bloggers and connect with authors. I do believe that it has helped grow my blog as well. If anything, it can be pretty fun.