Thank you, JenChaos Reviews so much for nominating me for the
Blogger Recognition award.
What a lovely and unexpected surprise.
- Thank the person who nominated you and include their link
- Give a brief explanation of how your blog began.
- Give some advice to new bloggers.
- Name ten nominees and include their links.
- Tag your nominees on twitter to let them know.
My Blog’s Backstory
I got really into web design back in high school. Mind you it was dial-up back then so it had it’s challenges. I didn’t have any fancy software to generate code for me so I learned HTML and CSS through books and designed my sites on notepad 😬. After high school I got a bachelors of art degree where I took all sorts of art and programming classes. The busier life got the less interested I was in coding and became more interested in blogging. With blogging I could still make sites but with a lot less work. I’ve always been a huge reader, since I was a wee lass. And I was always really good about putting reviews on Amazon but I wanted to share them on a blog as well. The blog started off mainly just to post reviews and lots of them. My mom who also loves to read agreed to help write reviews. My name being O and hers being D I thought up OD Book Reviews as a dual-meaning for both our names and the goal of over dosing on books.
As soon as I started posting reviews I felt the pressure to write reviews that would actually HELP people decide if they want to read the book or not. I find I don’t read as much as I used to, and I take a lot longer to write reviews. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. The blog has been incredibly rewarding. Whether people read my posts or not it feels good to create them. It also opened me up to the world of indie books, where I’ve gotten to meet and work with so many amazing authors of fantastic books that are often hidden gems. Shouting about great books I’ve read and even getting to help authors is so satisfying.
Advice to New or Aspiring Book Bloggers
$$$
Don’t do it for money. It wont pay the bills. Book bloggers generally do it for the love of books and don’t charge for reviews. If you do want to blog for profit, be prepared to spend a LOT of time researching how to do that successfully and don’t expect it to happen on it’s own or over night. I don’t do it to get rich, I do have a few revenue generating sources on my site (like ads and Amazon links) but it still cost me more to run the site than I earn. If you do want to make money from this I would suggest being a “lifestyle blogger” and doing a lot of sponsored posts. I think you’ll have a greater variety of sponsor opportunities with that theme than you would as a “book blogger.”
Make Friends
Network with other bloggers and authors. They’ll be a great resource and good company! Don’t expect others to help you if you don’t support them as well, and be sure to follow back people with similar interest (ie other book bloggers). I’m pretty shy and I struggle with making friends but you just gotta put yourself out there, network, and find the time for social media (when you can!)
Stats
Don’t obsess about your stats or let them determine your perception of the quality of your blog. Just do you and the numbers will go up with time. If you are concerned about low stats try to find out where the problem is. For example with WordPress I now have TERRIBLE SEO. On my old Blogger blog I still get over 100 views a day, without posting on it, purely because it pops up on google. So again you’ll have to do your research when choosing where and how to blog and how to maximize your SEO, and make your blog visible to the world.
I nominate the following amazing blogs (sorry if you’ve gotten this before):
Nice post! Well done. Remember the good old days of dial-up, LOL.
My mom sure LOVED me tying up the land-line LOL
Thank you so much for the nomination! I’m truly honored. 🙂 I also enjoy your advice to other bloggers. I think it’s wonderful that you and your mom write book reviews together. Reading is one of the things my mother and I share as well. Have a happy holiday season!
Sorry you were already nominated or that I didn’t nominate you sooner! I had checked your site before the 7th but then I took so long to post this… haha. I enjoyed your post and thank you so much for sharing my Snobbity Snowman review, that book was so cute!
Not a problem! Thank you so much for the nomination. I really do appreciate it!
Thank you so much for tagging!!!
No problem, you have an awesome blog!
What an interesting backstory of your blog. My backstory is on PWR, my blog after each post. I hope you will read it.
I have read it before, but I’ll give it another read now! I love the origin and idea behind Powerful Women Readers. I’m so glad you’ve turned it into a blog!
Very good backstory. Thank you for sharing the advice for new bloggers.
Great advice for the new bloggers. Thank you for posting it!