As bloggers, we create content for our blog – book reviews, discussions, random fun things, etc. We’re generating content often. And we’re not the only ones out there churning amazing stuff out for the world to see.
So why do we do it?
Sometimes we reach a point in blogging where we’re so unmotivated, we wonder why we do it. And sometimes that helps get that motivation back (which is great!). And sometimes it doesn’t, which sucks horribly and we’re left feeling miserable. At least, I feel miserable when I’m unproductive and want to be productive. (I can’t help it if I’m not in the mood though.)
First, let’s get into the story of a little Sophia in February 2012. (Trust me, there’s a moral to this.)
When I first started blogging over six years ago (that’s… not how old this blog is. We don’t speak of my very old blogging days), and I got asked this question, I really didn’t have a good answer. I thought it was interesting and wanted to give game blogging a try?
That failed. Epically. After 5-7 months of blogging about games, I started Bookwyrming Thoughts, where I blogged about books.
I enjoyed blogging about books way more than gaming.
This is probably the biggest reason why I’m still blogging today – I’m talking about something I enjoy! I shove books at people! I gather them as part of my army and call them book dragons (or bookwyrms)!
Gaming eventually felt like a chore.
It was fun at first, talking about my journey in a game (it’s Wizard101, in case you’re wondering). I enjoyed writing and taking horrible screenshots and writing random little things about my wizardly life that people may or may not care about.
I took gaming and ripped it to shreds for myself.
But after about 3-4 months, it became boring. Gaming became boring. I felt repetitive. I wanted to stop and never come back. I even took a hiatus from the game and went full storm into book blogging. Eventually, I came back – book blogging gave me renewed energy and more ideas than in 2012.
As I grew older and got more blogging experience, I had a better answer to why I create content and blog.
I used to joke around and say that I got the chance to read books freely, but that is not the case. Of course, I always elaborated and said I was joking, but maybe people took me seriously? I was 15 okay? I regret a lot of things I did as a 15-year-old. At that age, I was, still am sometimes, immature and growing and learning. I still struggle speaking publicly, but when anyone asks this question I already know why.
Take a second and think about why you started.
Whatever platform it may be, we all have similar reasons why we create content on that platform.
If you’re a blogger, streamer, YouTuber, writer, artist, etc. reading this, take a moment. Think about why you started your website, your channel, your novel, your art, etc. If you’ve been around for awhile, why do you continue to create content for your platform?
It’s not about being popular.
What even is a celebrity/popular blogger? I asked this question two years ago, and I don’t think I’ve found a dictionary answer yet. Popularity comes over time and hard work, but it’s not the reason why we started on our platforms. It shouldn’t. (And if it is, that’s fine. You do you, but it’ll probably bite back later.)
It’s not about free items or profit.
I might be an Amazon and Book Depository Affiliate who gets a small commission when you use one of my links. Publishers and authors might give me advanced copies of their books to read and review honestly. Getting free books and making money is not my goal. I might have joked about it at 15, but that’s not the real reason.
Is it okay though? Is making a profit okay?
It is! It’s perfectly fine if you want to make money, but it should not be your main reason.
(And if you’re curious, all money earned from being an Amazon and Book Depository affiliate goes towards supporting the blog, including hosting and giveaways.)
But why do we create content?
Regardless of what platform we’re on, how long we’ve done it, how large our audience is, we all have reasons why we started and why we’ve continued. There might be some variation, but it all comes down to one reason:
We’re passionate about what we do.
The reason why I started blogging about Wizard101 was that I was passionate about the game at the time I started the blog. The reason why I started book blogging was that I was passionate about books. I want to shout about books, talk about books, scream about books, hoard all the books like a proper book dragon (especially my favorites).
I want to continue doing all of those things, and I don’t want to stop if I can.
But if you’re not passionate about what you do, it’ll show.
It might not show now, but it will eventually show. It might show earlier to your audience than it will show to you. It might not ever show – who knows?
Any and all support means so much.
I was told my senior year in high school by my family I shouldn’t go to graduation because it wasn’t worth it (most people graduate high school, big whoop, they said). My manager at work almost threw a fit (as professionally as fits can be for a manager) and wanted to buy my graduation gown for me despite the fact it was expensive.
I cried for ten minutes in public at work. (Still kindly declined it though, because she had other important things to pay as well.)
P.S. I did get to go. No family members went to see me faceplant as I walk across the stage though.
Sad story aside, every comment means the world. I suck at commenting back, but I try. I love interacting and talking about books with people and the Discord group created by Evelina from Avalinah’s Books. I’ve met some amazing people on there, and I’m so grateful they deal with my bookish squealing (especially Vee – she’s been dealing with me and The Heart Forger for like a week). Getting over 1000 views makes me so happy and grateful. Heck, even 100 views in a day.
We wouldn’t be here without YOU.
Whatever ups and downs happen, we don’t regret it (at least, hopefully not). Blogging, YouTubing, streaming, drawing – whatever we do on our platforms, we don’t regret what we do. And if we regret it, we try to learn from those mistakes. We’re passionate about our topic and our audience shares that excitement with us. We want to share that excitement! Every little bit of support counts – it means the world, and we wouldn’t be here without YOU.
Let’s Talk: Do you create content? Why do you do it? Why do you continue? (Do you regret your younger self sometimes?)
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!
This is a beautiful post Sophia! And so very true. I blog because I love doing it. Because I love sharing my passion for books with other likeminded souls in the world. (Though being famous for it would be fun too, just saying. I would love to make blogging my job.)
Thanks, Bee! ^_^ I’d love to make blogging my job, but I guess it already is in a way? It’s a voluntary job that I enjoy, so I have no complaints (my mom does, but she doesn’t understand o.o).
I’m just starting! I’ve been drawing my little bookwyrm for years & years and decided he was ready to met the world, because there are so many wonderful things to see do and everything is better with dragons! And books!
🙂
PS I started out with purple too! Purple goes nice with Bookwyrm green!
Aww, your dragon looks super cute, Lee! I love it. <3
Also welcome to the blogging world! I hope you enjoy blogging as much as the rest of the community does. 🙂
I actually created my blog because I needed an outlet for all my bookish thoughts – I was going a bit crazy not having anyone to really discuss my thoughts and opinions with. I’d tried blogging before but never stuck to it until now…creating content is fun but can at times be stressful. But that’s the price you pay for doing something creative, as you try and think of new posts or original series…
I continue doing it because firstly – I’ve met so many amazing people and I feel like I belong within this community. Secondly it keeps me occupied when I would otherwise be bored or procrastinating on doing something else (I’m massively unorganised but you wouldn’t believe that considering how organised I am with my blog xD) Thirdly I just love chatting into a void, if people read it great if they don’t that’s cool. I’ll keep writing and eventually someone will read the posts. For me it’s a way to empty my mind from having too much buzzing about xD
Loved the post – do you think I should read The Bone Witch at some point then? So I can then read the Heart Forger? ;p
Thats’s an awesome reason to keep blogging, and I’m so glad you are part of the blogging community because I got to meet you and you are such an awesome person to be friends with <3
AND YES READ THE BONE WITCH AND THEN READ THE HEART FORGER AND JOIN US IN OUR FANGIRLING!
Do I regret what my younger self did? Hell yeah! My younger self was so stupid hahaha! It took me a while to figure out what worked blogging-wise for me too. I was always a book blog but I tried out Blogger and Weebly, not being satisfied with either until I finally made it to WordPress where I finally felt content and happy. I started blogging in the first place to find like-minded people and share my opinions on books with others and WordPress was the only place where I felt like I was able to do that. Passion is also what keeps me going – I definitely wouldn’t have been able to blog as long as I have if I didn’t have passion for it.
This was such a heartfelt post, thank you for posting! And thanks for mentioning me, I was totally not expecting that!
I started book blogging because I missed reading when I got into university. I was super depressed because all I did every day was read textbooks and freak out about work and exams. I needed an outlet, and blogging about books encouraged me to read more. I never started this blog hoping people would follow me, I did it for me. When people started liking my posts and following me, it made me ridiculously happy and giddy because it was so unexpected that anyone would value what I have to say. In a family where my thoughts and opinions literally never matter, having strangers agree with me or like what I have to say meant so much!
I’ve made stupid mistakes, too. I didn’t know how to properly get a theme, how to create diverse avenues for discussion topics, and I never reached out to other bloggers in the community. All of these things are changes I’ve implemented literally since January (I’m very very late to the game) but I’m so glad I did. I’m so glad I met Avalinah and joined the Discord group and met you, because now I feel like I belong somewhere and I’m supported for something that I just love doing!
Sorry for the long comment, but I just love this post and wanted to share my feelings with you <3
AHHH I love this post so much, Sophia! Being an international blogger, it’s pretty much easier to say that I don’t get a lot of the perks that US bloggers do, but I still keep blogging because, well, I love it! I love sharing my thoughts about books, I love hearing what other people have to say, and I love helping people out, book-wise! <3
Thanks. I really loved this post as a new blogger myself … I can say why I love blogging though, because I’m a science blogger and I love to explain difficult and weird science concepts that people don’t “get”!
What a great post, so interesting to read the thoughts of fellow bloggers.
I’m an early days blogger, so still busy defining and re-defining why I do it and the aim of my blog. But I think my motivation is twofold. One side is loving to write and wanting to share my fabric art projects and techniques with other people so they can feel confident to try for themselves or are at least entertained and informed. The other reason is to get a bit of a following so I can sell/ market my stuff in the future.
I do believe that it is impossible to make it with only an egoistic aim of getting famous though. You get more out of sharing your passion when you give away some and support others in their undertakings so we can all grow.
I think I’m still trying to define myself as well, and of course, that changes over time with more reasons or less reasons, but the core reason is still there. I completely agree with the impossibility of being famous without passion involved – I wouldn’t be able to have a conversation with fellow book nerds if I didn’t like books.
Honestly, there are some things about my younger self that I love. She didn’t care about what anyone else thought about her and, sometimes, I think I care too much.
I write because I enjoy it. I draw because I enjoy it. I blog because I enjoy it. That’s all there is to it. 🙂
Now that you mention it, I sometimes miss my younger self as well. There are less people judging me for being who I am, or they just laugh it off and think I’ll eventually grow out later in life – all of which I didn’t care about until I got a little older.
Great post! I love blogging, and yeah, I get money here and there, but that’s the reason I blog. If it was, I think I’d still get really sick of doing it. Blogging can be really tough, but it’s still worth it for me because I’m talking about things that I love and I get to connect with people with similar interests!
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Same! I’m just now going into Amazon Affiliation and Book Depository affiliation, but at the end, I still enjoy blogging. It’s definitely a lot of hard work – the pressures of creating posts and being different, etc. etc. – but like you said, it’s well worth it in the end! 🙂
I’d started blogging almost 4 years ago with the indication that I would be talking about poetry and books. I was even under a different name: Poems and Book Reviews from a Young Artist. But that’s kind of a really long name lol. So I shortened it to Poetrybooksya and ditched the poetry idea and just stuck to books and lifestyle. I had the same format I did back then and it took this year for me to finally change my template and add more discussions to my work. I don’t write for profit (unless unsuccessful AdSense money counts!) though I wish I did. It would make my life a little happier knowing that I’m doing what I LOVEEE for both fun and profit.
I absolutely love love LOVE this post <3 all of this,
Oh god Sophia, I’m so sorry to hear about your graduation. Your family should never have downplayed the importance of graduating from high school, considering that many don’t complete their schooling or don’t have access to a basic education. I started blogging because I initially wanted a little place just to talk about books and make it look pretty. When I first begun I didn’t know about review copies or the book community. I was on Goodreads but didn’t have any friends on there, look at what I was missing out on though. Blogging is such a wonderfully creative outlet and I’m thankful I found it as an outlet as well <3
This is a sweet yet deep post! I create content, I started blogging because I was tired of keeping quiet about the books I loved and having nobody to talk about them to. I hated having nobody to hear me out about what I loved. And I was terrified of blogging, still am. And I thought of giving up multiple times when I started, but ever since I’ve been connecting with bloggers, especially through the new bloggers and international bloggers group it feels like my voice matters and I’ve finally found a haven
Than you for the post, and and thank you for your interactions in the group!
Great post Sophia. I began when my children left the nest. I loved talking about books, learning new skills and interacting. I am very much a homebody and get stressed when out and about, so the blogging world is where I socially engage.
Great post, Sophia!
You made me a little nervous when you wrote about how the lack-of-passion for blogging may show to others before it does to yourself. However, it’s probably true. I’d love to spend all of my time blogging. Heck, blogging could literally take the place of my full-time job EASILY. Sadly, I just can’t commit as much time to it as I want. I’m hoping that will change in the future when I have a little more free time.
But in the meantime, we must do what we can! Just because we can’t necessarily spend all of our time blogging, doesn’t mean we can’t work to improve the areas that we are able to cover. For now, I’m working on honing my skills with executing book reviews to the best of my ability. Sure, it may take me a lot more time to write just one when I would have pumped out two or even three, but the quality is a must over quantity.
Your post really made me reflect and also set goals for myself in the future. Thank you! And, keep it up 😉
Aww thanks, Sheila! Hopefully, you’ll get more time to blog in the future! I would love to blog often, but I suppose work is a good break from blogging since it can be tiring sometimes even if I love what I do. Quality definitely over quantity! It took me awhile to learn that, but I’m glad I know it now, haha. (Better now than never!)
Okay, let me just start with how weird it is what your family said about your graduation o.o in my country, it’s like one of the most important events. Like, next to your wedding. It’s 12 years, after all! (We actually stay in the same school with the same people for the entire 12 years, too.)
Aw, thank you for mentioning my group!!
And TBH, I don’t know why I create content 😀 it’s… I think it’s made up of THE WHOLE mixture. The people, the community, the free books, the popularity – everything. And of course, the reading 😀 owning your own space online. All of it! It just gives me something to come back to.
However, since I’m international, I have not earned a cent from my blog yet 😀 it’s much harder to monetize. Amazon won’t even have me. Only Americans. Bah! Well, screw them 😀
Anyway, I’m so glad you’re enjoying the group – I come very rarely, but I am so happy to always see you, because you’re one of the newer members and you hang out a lot 🙂 I should come to the group more often, it’s a great place to be.
<3
<3
Right, exactly! 🙂
Thanks, Marie! I’m glad your happy and with us despite the struggles of being an international blogger. 🙂