Have I Changed?
Happy Tuesday! Today, we are talking about change. The way my blogging or review style has changed over the years.
- I used to feature primarily young adult books, and now, I rarely read young adult books. I still will pick up a book should a favorite author have a new release, but I am not seeking out new young adult authors to read.
- I usually only post reviews for ARCs, but over the years, I started borrowing more books from my library, and now have more of a 50/50 split of ARCs and library books.
- I did weekly discussion posts, and it's a monthly post these days. I always found these post really hard to do. Let's face it, after almost a decade, I am struggling with topics. I am going for quality over quantity.
- I was more influenced by what other people were doing. I am not going to lie - I love blogging memes, but I felt like it was wrong to do them since there was so much negativity out there. I decided that this is a hobby, and I should do what makes me happy.
- I tried to feature a wider variety of books. I thought it was important to post about all sorts of books which had me reading books I really didn't enjoy. Again, this is my hobby, and I chose to read what makes me happy even if it's all in the same genre.
- I thought reviews had to have varied format. I killed myself trying to find interesting formats for my reviews, and I found my best reviews were the straight forward ones that flowed rather freely from me.
- I thought I had to self-host to be legit. Everyone started running to self-host their sites, so I did it too. It was not a positive experience for me. I am kind of sad that I lost quite a few posts, but I needed to preserve my sanity. NOTE: Many of those bloggers I followed who moved to self-hosted sites are gone which makes me sad.
- I posted less. You would think that as the years go on, I would post less, but I actually post every day now.... because I am doing the memes I enjoy.
- I was more social. I used to love sharing my reading status and posts on social media while interacting a bit. I found my mental health is better away from all that. It's not the people I interacted with, but there is so much noise out there. Even the small bit I do on Instagram sometimes gets me down.
- I blog hop less. This one is due to so many of the bloggers in my circle "retiring" or disappearing. I always say I want to find new blogs, but I have found this to be a challenge. That whole WordPress thing is still a thing, and I find a lot of bloggers don't even reply to your comments. There is no interaction. I miss the old days.
How has your blogging life changed?
Let us know in the comments!
Let us know in the comments!
I agree with a lot of these. I also don't really read or feature YA anymore. I do love that you don't always feature a wide variety of genres - you've found what you love and I can always count on romance recs from you!
ReplyDeleteIt's a hobby. Why force myself to read books that I am not really interested in, right? Glad you can find something worth reading in my review pile.
DeleteI think we all change the way we do things over the years.
ReplyDeleteTruth, Mary.
DeleteBefore I had a full-time job and a child, I posted a lot more. I was a lot more social too. Discussion posts are definitely a challenge. I've been doing this for 10+ years! I've talked about everything!
ReplyDeleteChoices must be made when you are being pulled in many directions. Not to fear though, all you posts are still delightful and insightful. I even love your thoughts you share on Sundays about the books you read.
DeleteI definitely feel you on missing all those "old" bloggers who have disappeared over the years. I'm glad new bloggers have kept the book blogosphere alive, but I do miss my old favorites.
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT!
I get excited when I see some activity on Goodreads from some of the oldies.
DeleteSame!
DeleteI feel so much of this! I know that because of life and lack of time, I post FAR less than I used to, which sucks. But here we are. I miss the "good old days" of tons of connection, too. Makes me sad- so few of my connections are still active. Please never leave me? (I am only kind of kidding!)
ReplyDeleteHA! I still like blogging and coming back to Blogger, it's pretty cheap. I will probably be around for a while.
DeleteYes, I've changed over the years, too. I used read a lot of YA, and now I rarely do either. We tried to go to WordPress and it was so overwhelming we ditched it. I don't post as much as I used to. It stressed me out to post so much so I'm happy with posting when I can. I don't do discussion posts because I don't have the brain space for it, lol! Was there drama over posting memes? I guess I missed that. As for Instagram, I stay out of any conflict and don't pay attention to much beyond my favorited accounts, a comment engagement group I joined and travel tips.
ReplyDeleteThere are always opinions, and there were bloggers poo-pooing people who did memes (and then they would do a list of 10 books that fit a topic which was a lot like hmmmm, Top Ten Tuesday).
DeleteLots of changes! Conversely, I haven't changed much in 13 years, blog-wise. I feature a lot more adult books and I review many more ARCs (I started off with bought books only), but that's it. I hear you about retired bloggers or bloggers who are far less active than they used to be. I always appreciate your discussion posts! It's amazing that you still find new topics for them. And it's even more amazing that you manage to post every day or so, especially with your commute and everything...
ReplyDeleteHey, if you find something that works for you, why change? You know the saying - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
DeleteI enjoyed reading your reflections, Sam. I didn't realize your daughter originally started the blog. When I first started blogging, my reviews were basically a retelling of the book. That has changed a lot. I do review almost every book I read on my blog, but my reviews are relatively short. I am a very sporadic poster. I think I post more now then when I started, but I have more time now. I just love to read and share books, so that is basically what I do. I do some memes, but again, am not regular with that either. As long as I enjoy doing this, I will keep at it.
ReplyDeleteSame. I like discussing books with my people.
DeleteI'm an old-timer in the book blog world and most of the people I used to read have quit, and for all practical purposes I have too. Back in the day we were readers who found community and shared our finds with each other. We got ARCs and that was fun. We did Salon Sunday, Mailbox Monday, Its Monday What Are You Reading, Top Ten Tuesday, and more. We had blogrolls on our sidebars and we visited and left comments. Now no on has blogrolls, and many of the weekly memes are gone, or are shadows of their old selves. Now we are supposed to be content creators, doing instagram, youtube and more.
ReplyDeleteSo much of my internet time used to be spent reading things normal people wrote--message boards, hobby blogs etc. Now everything is polished and professional but I think we've lost something too.
I feel this deeply. The expectation to grind on some social platform (or all of them) is ever present. Some of the bloggers I know have "made it" on IG or TikTok. They get all the books, but they don't post on their blogs and there isn't much engagement on their posts. It seems like they gave up a lot to get there, or maybe they like this way better? I know it's not for me, so I will continue to do it my way, with my small crowd.
DeleteSome of those on your list are exactly my changes. I now post less because there seems to be less memes and challenges that interest me. But also I, too learn, that I should blog to make myself happy rather than trying to snag readers. I think if you blog your way, readers will come, at least, I believe so. It's so hard to keep posting things to interest readers as everyone and everything is changeable.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
It is definitely a challenge to meeter everyone's interest. That's why I stopped trying to do that and just do things I enjoy.
DeleteI've just begun looking back at some of my earlier posts to see how/if my blogging has changed over time, so I'm interested in your discussion. You've made a lot of good points that I'll be thinking about as I continue the process. Thank you for this informative self-analysis.
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to look back and reflect. Glad you enjoyed the discussion.
DeleteI've definitely made that shift from doing what others were, or what I thought I should be doing, to just focusing on what I enjoy. I feel like it has helped me sustain the blog because like you mentioned, I'm having more fun with it.
ReplyDeleteExactly! It's took me a while, but I found what I wanted out of this.
Delete