Top Ten Tuesday #6

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

This week's topic is Top Ten Tips For New (Book) Bloggers

My Top Ten Tips are:

1.

Review the books you want to review. Be they new or old, obscure or not.  Don't worry about trying to fit into a niche. You don't have to have a themed blog. Nothing against those who do but know that it's not a requirement. If you want a themed blog thats great, if you don't that's great too. Look at me, I review both non-fiction and fiction. Be yourself and read the books you want to and forget about trying to read and review ones that you may not like as much just to gain followers.

2.

Set up an e-mail address just for your blog and make sure you put it in your blog's contact info. I was using my personal e-mail account for a couple months before I created one specifically for my blog. It helps to keep your blog life separate from the rest of your life.

3.

GET A CALENDER or an agenda. Seriously. I just got one and believe me it's helped me so much already. As a blogger if you're not careful you can forget dates for blog tours, giveaway hops and review schedules. Trust me I have and now I'm rather behind in my reviews.

4.

Make sure you have a good support system of friends.

I have Mr. Turning The Pages, who was my only reader for quite sometime. Then I discovered a couple groups on Goodreads.com for bloggers and got to know a few other bloggers. We were especially supportive when our blogs were babies.

Support is key.

Mr. Turning The Pages listens to all my rants, reads all my posts, faithfully follows me on Twitter and Facebook and he funds a lot of the giveaways you see on my blog. He even puts up with me turning Big Red (my laptop) on to write a review even if it's on one of our stay home and watch movie nights.
He's also the one who talks me out of deleting the blog when I'm on the edge and overwhelmed by all my commitments to authors, tours, etc.
So I think Mr. Turning The Pages deserves a big round of applause for dealing with me at my crankiest and funding the giveaways:

Yep. That's my support system right there.

Sometimes he drives me crazy.

But he really keeps me sane!

5.

COMMENT! For the love of all things holy you have to comment on other blogs as well as respond to comments on your own. True keeping up with the comments can be hard especially as your blog grows and the list of blogs your following grows but it is key. Show your fellow bloggers some love and they'll show some to you.

6.

NETWORK!!

Join groups, websites, start a twitter account and a Facebook page for your blog. They are invaluable. Groups and websites for blogs, and book blogs are key. Seriously  the life of a blogger means you'll spend a lot of time pimping yourself out. Employ Networking and Commenting together and your blog will grow dramatically. Plus you find TONS of wicked blogs to follow. Also do memes I just started doing memes last month and I have found a TON of fantastic blogs to follow and I've of course found tons more books to add to my TBR list. It's a great way to connect with other bloggers and get to know them.

7.

Please don't get caught up in the number of followers you have. I know that kind of contradicts numbers 5 and 6 but you can do both and not go crazy watching your followers increase. Spread the word of your blog but if you don't get a bunch of followers right away that's okay. Relax. Breathe. If you write it they will come. Honestly they will. I promise.

8.

Connect with authors and publishers

Join blog tour hosting companies/websites. They're a great way to reach out to authors. Also feel free to contact authors. Many are really keen to have their blogs read and reviewed and they'll often send you complimentary copies in exchange for honest reviews. Join NetGalley. They're awesome at NetGalley. In exchange for posting your honest reviews you can request and read ARC copies of books.

9.

Don't get stressed.

Really.

Update your blog regularly but if you have stuff going on take care of life's problems first. Just let your followers know you may be posting less frequently . Trust me we're a supportive bunch we know what it's like to have our review frequency go down. Take your time. Your blog will still be there when you come back.

10.

Blog Designs are important. The great thing about them is that you can change them as often as you like. I think I've had about 5 designs on my blog since I started blogging on October 29th 2011. You don't have to stay with the same design. It's your blog. If you want to change it, go ahead. Find something you like and stick with it until you want something new. The thing to remember about getting your blog looking just right is to make it so the blog itself isn't lagging because of an over abundance of pictures on the side columns. Keep it neat and tidy and make sure you check to make sure everything is running smoothly.