Despite the fact the vast majority of book blogger audiences are in fact, made of book bloggers, occasionally there are quite a few readers. (And I mean only readers because book bloggers are in fact readers and if we weren’t blogging, we’d probably lurk more often than leaving comments.)
The book community is wide and vast – it’s easy to miss new bloggers who start a book blog. 😶
Are you new? Say hi! Even though it takes me a million years to reply but I’ll get there, I promise! I seriously need to do better, friends.
Maybe you’re a reader stumbling upon this post one day while taking a break from your day. You’ve been a part of the community already, but you want to build a nice home in your personal space on the webs. (I don’t know why I’m talking about homes when I can’t actually eat dim sum on the blog.)
And you don’t know if you should plop yourself down and make yourself comfortable get lost in a black hole with other book bloggers.
But you should. It doesn’t matter what platform you’re on, there are plenty of reasons why you should start a book blog, booktube or bookstagram.
Or a combination of the three if you’re feeling adventurous. I am not that adventurous of a soul and I probably need six more arms to actually operate properly.
Or maybe a few clones. We’ll go with that instead. I can barely operate a blog regularly and have an on-off relationship with Instagram. Talk about commitment issues.
But I’m here to reveal all those secrets, bookwyrms. The secrets that are safe to disclose, that is. I’m not that nice. And since I’m very much a book blogger at the core, I’ll talk more about blogging than bookstagram or booktube. (Is Book TikTok going to exist one day?)
You have an incurable addiction to books.
I don’t know why I need to put this because the vast majority of us who create content on a book blog or bookish space got one for our addiction to books. And it’s incurable – if there were a Bookaholics Anonymous group, we’d never get out. Ever. Floating endlessly in a black hole like Adulting, only we don’t want a refund.
You’d burst into flames if you don’t talk about it.
Or maybe a dragon threatened to snatch you up and take you to their cave for a good roast? Let’s not get too fired up here.
Either way, you have a need to talk about books somewhere. You don’t care if it begins with shouting into the void; letting your thoughts out feels great. It’s like a personal reading journal! Only there are eyes on it and it’s probably not a good time to talk about the time cooking Ramen Noodles went so very wrong.*
*This actually happened, and in my defense, I was 12 and wanted to read instead. Oops.
You want to own a space on the webs
I mean, how else do you start your plans for taking over the world leave behind your legacy? There needs to be a space for you to call home and absolutely, surely, yours.* A place where you can kick out all the characters people you never liked in the first place. Or a place where you can gather all your favorite villains so you can plot in the dark of night when everyone is sleeping. It’s always the quiet ones you have to watch out for.
*In case no one’s mentioned it, you don’t actually own the content despite being the one who creates it; the platform does and can take it down any time they choose unless you’re self-hosted. (Therefore, if you don’t want to lose your amazing content, you should 1000% back it up in multiple places.) But we like to think we own the content completely.
You want to collect a deadly amount of books…
I don’t mean getting the privilege to access books early (although that’s a bonus) because not all of us do, especially as international bloggers and readers.
But you do end up collecting books on your physical and electronic shelf. Boxes if you’re like me and don’t own a shelf.
And then there’s that infamous TBR pile that grows exponentially after you start. We’ll deny that exists, though, and slide another ten books right on top of what we already have. Plus if you collect a ginormous amount of books and you find you didn’t finish some of them, you should still continue collecting those DNFs. Who knows when you might need them?
Most importantly: you want to take over the world.
There’s no way I’m leaving this one out even if I’m going to deny it when anyone asks about it.
Okay, not something you want to reveal early on when you start a book blog or another platform; when you’re small and not as mighty, another army can take you down quickly. But if you do want to take over the world, what better way to build your own loyal army of minions of followers who would come at your beck and call be very much okay with you taking over the world?
Things You Can Offer When You Take Over the World:
- Access to all the books (because not all places have a library and that is honestly depressing)
- Bookshelves in every home
- Given monthly budget just to purchase books
Oh, and you can get vacation days to read because don’t we all want days off to catch up on reading? Or even better, being off because your favorite cinnamon roll died and you can’t with the world currently.
They were just trying their best.
Take a Fun Quiz! What kind of Blogger would you be? (This is geared toward those already blogging, but just imagine you’re a blogger.)
Let’s talk bookwyrms: What inspired you to start a book blog? What would you offer when you take over the world?
Sophia started blogging in February 2012 for the hell of it and is surprisingly still around. She has a GIF for nearly everything, probably listens to too much K-Pop and is generally in an existential crisis of sorts (she's trying her best). More of her bookish reviews and K-Pop Roundups can be found at The Arts STL.
If you enjoy her posts or found them helpful, consider tipping on KoFi!
Pretty much all the reasons you listed above! I love the bookish community, and I am absolutely addicted to books and I need somewhere to rant/rave/share my desire to own every book in existence.
Ooh monthly budget for bookworms should TOTALLY be a thing, and/or mandatory reading hours/days. That would be lovely. I love blogging though! It’s a great way to share thoughts, get ideas, meet new people, etc. I recommend.
-Lauren
This was such a fun post! I’m still fairly new to blogging (I’m in my eighth month) and I’ve enjoyed having a corner of the internet that is all mine to gush about all my favorite books! It was such a great decision to start a blog!
Welcome to book blogging, Mari! I’m glad to have you with us to gush about books. 🙂
I was inspired by other blogs! I was reading a few book blogs and though, hey, I want to do that, too! Now I like having my own little space. My blog will never be big, but it’s all mine!
As long as you enjoy it, that’s all that matters! 🙂 I was also inspired by a few book blogs to start my own after blogging about games (and not enjoying it).
I was asked to join WLABB by my daughter, when she and her friends became too busy with college. I appreciate it being a place for me to interact with other hard-core readers and I love fangirling over books with other readers.
That’s super cool your daughter asked you to join WLABB!
As soon as you mentioned needing to talk about books or you’d burst into flames, I felt extremely called out. LOL. That was exactly the reason why I joined the blogging community, I wanted to find more people to just talk about books with all day. This was an incredibly fun post to read but also really relatable.
LOL sorry about the calling out. (You’ll have company, though!)
ah this was so fun to read, it kinda filled me with a new desire to blog. i think ive been missing that lately cause ive just been tired instead. great post
Aww Lauren. *hugs you* You take all the time you need to take care of yourself; blogging takes a lot of time and energy and you are doing great. <3
This is such a fun post, Soph! I created my blog because I wanted to have my own corner of the internet to scream about books on. I was honestly looking for a creative outlet and a way for me to talk to people about books as most of my irl friends don’t read.
Same with not having many people offline to scream about books. I’m happy you enjoyed the blogging community, Kal (because then we wouldn’t have crossed paths)! Being your friend is a blessing and seeing pictures of your cat in Discord makes my day better. Also your guides are amazing and you are doing great. <3
I started my blog to keep a track of all the new books I was reading (because, free books from BookBub blew up my TBR pile) so I could easily find that book I loved and really want to read again. O and to remember what I’ve read!
That’s definitely a good reason to start a book blog! With the amount of books that we read, it’s easy to lose track of them.
Aaaah I adore this post Soph, I started a blog because I had this fire burning in me to talk about books and various topics hehe. I also wanted to make friends who shared a love of reading. Hmmm taking over the world is way too much effort like you gotta maintain that position so I’ll just be your loyal minion instead and help you run the world? *looks hopeful*
You’re already my minion, LOL. Don’t I have your soul thanks to Discord? And apparently I’m the third mysterious organizer of Bookend Events occasionally, so you and Sam are my minions.
I can say that this is 500% accurate, and how I came to be here with you all lol
We wouldn’t have it any other way! I’m glad to have you as a blogging friend.
Allll of this! Definite, definite addiction to books 😁😁 I’ve gotten a couple of books since I’ve been in Australia and I have to choose between finding some way to take them home or just leave them by my aunt and uncle for when I come back (my uncle said I could 😂). Oh, yeah, and let’s not even talk about the electronical tbr lol.
Take them home slowly! Or you could let them sit and pile up… 🤔