Once again, I’m joining in again with Feature & Follow hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. Each week they post a prompt, which you respond to, and then spend some time visiting and following other blogs (the following is an important part). Feel free to join in – it’s fun and a great way to meet other bloggers.
This week, the prompt is…
What are some tips that help you with blogging?
I am a little like Alison in her post today on this one, sitting in the do as I say, not as I do, category because I know what would help make my blogging life easier but I often don’t do it. It isn’t a long list because I want blogging to be fun and not a chore and too many rules can make it just that. So maybe I’ll call them my “guidelines to better blogging”:
1. Keep a blogging schedule, with dates for all the books you need to review and when for. This wasn’t such a big deal for me when I only reviewed the occasional ARC but now I read more, I really need to keep on top of it.
2. Write posts in advance, schedule them in and keep a few in reserve for emergencies- those days when you have nothing to say. In theory, it should be easy to do this – I know in advance when books are released and most linky’s I take part in have a list of future topics – but it never seems to go to plan and I’m often writing on the fly and slightly panicky.
3. Write reviews as soon as you read the book. It makes life easier (see points 1. And 2.) and means the book is fresh in my mind and my review more honest and detailed. The only downside is sometimes, say when I’m doing a monthly update, I do wonder if I’ve rated correctly and – a couple of times – have gone back and moved a book up or down on my loved / loathed scale.
And that’s it for helping me with my blogging and I am rubbish at all of them. I keep telling myself to take a week or so off so that I can get sorted and then it would be a case of being ahead of the game and staying there but I fear if I did I would end up finding other things to do with my time, like read more books, and get nowhere. What about you – what are your top tips for an easier blogging life?
Emma
One Readers Thoughts 
Great tips!
Stormi
Friday Memes
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Thank you…now I need to follow them!
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Great post. Try really hard to get my reviews written straight away before starting the next book but it’s so difficult!
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Thank you. I am trying. If nothing else I am writing notes to help me write a full review when I am in front of my computer.
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I do admire bloggers who plan and schedule posts. My only planning is about the ARCs I’m reading; I keep a list in a notebook to the right of my desk….and mark them off when I’ve reviewed them. I try not to have too many at a time. Right now I have five NetGalley books to read and review, and four of them are due in March, and one in May. That was poor planning on my part, but they were all books I needed to have!
I also have a notebook of regular books I’m reading each week, and mark off when I’ve posted their reviews.
Pretty simple…but I’m sure I could be doing everything better! Thanks for sharing.
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Good tips. Scheduling really is a must.
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Thanks. I wish I scheduled more. I always feel in a rush.
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Great tips, Emma. And I, like you, am filled with admiration for those organised souls who have a schedule planned waaay ahead as to exactly what they will be blogging about. Obviously, I make a point of keeping my Netgalley arcs listed in date order – I use a Mircrosoft sticky on my desktop for that and I cross it off as I go. Everything else gets slotted in around those. But it HAS to be fun, or else what is the point?
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I am attempting bullet journaling to keep on top of things. It isn’t working. Next stop is a spreadsheet but that feels too work like.
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I use stickys on my desktop. It works pretty well for my blogging schedules, my Shoot for the Moon challenge and my daily and monthly action lists. I don’t know if that’s any help…
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I am happy to try anything to be honest. I think I have to be so organised at work everything else just feels like I should relax a little,
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There is that… I keep my NetGalley arcs organised because I like my feedback ratio to be reasonably high. But the rest of it – I have NO idea what I’m going to read until the moment I pick the book. This is my hobby, after all:).
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Me too…I am paranoid about dropping below 80%
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Oh, I know THAT feeling:).
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Great tips and each weekend I say I’m going to write all my outstanding reviews for scheduling and then don’t quite manage it but life was so much easier when I kept a strict read, review and schedule regime
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Thanks. I have lists of lists for how to get organised but life gets in the way, usually in a good way so I’m generally at peace with not getting organised enough.
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I’m okay at remembering when I need to read books and write reviews – I have publication dates and a little schedule in a Trello program. But I’m not good enough at writing the review ASAP. And I’m definitely not good at pre-writing reviews. I try not to read books too much in advance because if I don’t need to write the review for a while I’ll hold off and then I’ll forget the detail when the time comes!!!
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I just downloaded Trello so I will see how it goes. I used to hold off reading books now I read them straight away as even if they are written down I forget. I am trying to remind myself on my calendar o then post them.
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[…] For Helping Me Blog – https://onereadersthoughts.com/2017/01/27/ff-tips-for-helping-me-blog%ef%bb%bf/ Emma gives some useful tips in order to help keep our blogging schedules […]
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[…] Friday I took part in feature and follow and listed my tips for helping me blog – there aren’t many and I’m guilty of not following them nine times out of ten […]
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