Okay so this feature used to have a name but I am no longer liking the name. So this weekly thing will just be a typical discussion post with the title of the discussion being the title of the post. The day it will be posted will stay the same so no one has to feel confused.
I sometimes struggle with coming up with a discussion post. It's usually something that has been done to death or it's something stupid. Thank you to Jenni of Alluring Reads who helped me with this decision. Several days ago she posted about what she hated about blogging. I thought it was a great topic because so few people realize and admit that, yes, there is a dark side to book blogging.
Number one is the pressure. I never in a million years expected to feel any kind of pressure when I first started this thing four months ago. I was simply looking for something fun that would combine my love of reading with my love of writing.Plus having a few friends that were already into this,definitely helped.
As a newbie book blogger I was surprised when people casually mentioned the pressure they were under. It wasn't until I started to get emails from authors/publishers and discovered Netgalley. I swear Netgalley is the devil. I realized how pressure inducing it was. Several times I have had to put myself on a Netgalley ban and a ban on accepting emailed requests.I never in a million years expected to be receiving requests on a regular basis. I was under the impression that only semi-seasoned and seasoned book bloggers (those who have been doing it at least six months) would be getting these emails.
Before I knew it, I had 8 hard copy books and around 12 Kindle books. I have never felt that kind of pressure before. Thankfully, right about that time our internet went out for a week and I was able to finish 11 books. A month later things are building up again and I'm drowning in a sea of books. The pressure is rough but thankfully I have surrounded myself with people who get it. Other book bloggers who totally get what I am feeling.
Now that I am following so many blogs via multiple different ways, a new sort of pressure is rising. Comment, comment, comment. My brain screams that at very inopportune moments and I have to beg my brain to shut the hell up. People have told me that the only way I'll get more blog followers is to comment like crazy on other blogs. Then I just have to ignore them because just because I am not in school right now, doesn't mean I have all the time in the world to comment like a crazy lady.
Writing reviews, I don't think I am the only one who struggles the most with the books they loved. I literally spend 3-4 paragraphs gushing over a book if I loved it. If I didn't like it, I am able to be so much more critical and those are the reviews that can, on a good day reach 7 paragraphs. Yes lengthy but overall I do write fairly long reviews.
The hard part about writing negative reviews is letting the author or publisher know that you didn't enjoy the book and sending them a link to your review.If you're like me, you feel terrible about doing that even if you know that it's the right thing to do. Even if you make absolutely sure that you did not attack the author in any way,it's still hard to let the authors and publishers know that in your opinion, the book was not good.
So what things do you hate about book blogging? Let me know in the comments.
We share a lot of points in here. The pressure and expectations that come from blogging is definitely the hardest to conquer or ignore. In a way you want to do what's expected but on the other hand you have to make your blog your home and you have to be happy doing it. As soon as it turns into work it's not fun anymore and that's when people quit. My reviews for books I hated can go on forever too haha. It's just too much fun to complain!
ReplyDeleteExactly Giselle. I love blogging and if I ever felt like it was work, I'd take some time away from it (though I don't know if my mild OCD would let me)What's most important to me is having my blog sound and look like me. I want a personal friend to read this and say "Oh yeah that's totally Alexia" if they can't tell it's me,then there's something I need to change.
DeleteThere is some pressure (I need to write my own post about this) but all we can do is remember why we started blogging: our love of books, and try not to ever let the pressure outweigh the good. I closed down review requests last year and only take them now from authors I've worked with before. That? Was one of the hardest things but also one of the BEST things I've done. There are so many other bloggers who are able to review books quickly for authors that I figure their sweet requests are better handled by those who can.
ReplyDeleteNetGalley is so tempting; Edelweiss is worse. Oy. lol.
I'm still keeping up with my review books (for the most part) It's the Netgalley ones that really drive me crazy. For some reason I fall behind on those and not the hard copies. When I started this book blogging thing, I just wanted to talk about books with people who understood. Never in my wildest dreams, did I imagine this kind of craziness.
DeleteI'm working on reducing my stress load,as you know it is not good for my heart issues. I only requested one title from Netgalley this week and I'm going to ban myself from Netgalley for awhile.