Anything Goes Book Reviewers discussion

When you first decide to host a blog, you may be overwhelmed at first. While holding a blog has many benefits, sometimes how to start one are mind boggling. So here is a place for all blog holders to share their journey of diving into the world of blogging. How did you know you wanted to blog, where did you start, what did you do to begin, where do you host your blog, and what tips do you have for any member looking to host their own blog? Share away, and help another member join the blogging community today.

I'll start off with my own story. I don't know many blog hosting sites out there, but I use blogger. It is run by google and is amazingly simple to use.

I first realized that I wanted to host my own blog for reviewing when I realized how many opportunities are out there for bloggers to help authors. Goodreads is always good for finding authors looking for reviews, but there is so much more that an addicted reader can do to help the authors out there. You can host cover reveals, interviews, blog tours, book release dates, reviews, etc. When I realized that while my reviews were still a huge help but that there was so much more that I could do, I had to jump into the world of blogging.

I started by picking a blog name. While my blog name (The Schwartz Reviewz) is not all that fancy, I felt that it suited me well. Being an author wannabe, any name I make for myself as a blogger will also help in the future if I ever do publish my own book.

Then I dealt with formatting and layouts. Googles blogger makes all of this simple to do, with preset themes to choose from and easy controls to customize anything, this took no time at all. What makes it all the more easy is the fact that all of it is changeable at any time. If I ever want to revamp the blog (which I am currently working with a graphics friend to do a revamp already) I can do so easily and without hassle.

Next came the content. I posted a welcome post. Then I posted a review. After a few reviews, I reached the end of my request for review list. So, I played around with adding some pages. An interview page inviting authors to email about interviews. A policy page stating the books I prefer to read and the formats I enjoy and other information regarding what would be necessary for me to complete a review. A contact page makes it easy for the authors to contact me via email, facebook, or twitter. It also states how appreciative I would be for them to follow the blog and share with their fans.

I've been blogging for a few weeks now. I have several reviews, a cover reveal, and several interviews in the works. I have 20 followers but more each week. I am now receiving comments on my posts and am getting great feedback. Holding a blog is time consuming, I have deadlines that I provide a lot of authors that I would feel horrible about not making. I try and post a review every few days, but given my hectic life, sometimes that is not possible. So on days that I don't post reviews I have been toying with the idea of just introducing new books that are available today just to give my readers something.

Basically, it's a trial and error sort of thing. Just try it, if it works then stick to it. If it doesn't work, change it. :) Hope this helps, and best of luck to you all. :)

http://theschwartzreviews.blogspot.ca/

c/p my response from the Suggestions thread:

I personally think the very first step is coming up with a creative name for your blog, which may also end up as your URL. It helps if the name is something clever or has something to do with your content so people would know what to expect when they visit your blog.

Once you've done that (some people feel the hardest part is coming up with the name), now you choose from the many free blogging services out there. There's Blogger (owned by Google, I believe), WordPress, etc. I use Tumblr, since I've been using it for years (for my personal blog which I don't update as often anymore, and now my new book blog) and it's very easy.

Next you can worry about your design or just go right to the content and think of the design next, it's up to you! I think these blog services have themes you can use; I know I'm using a free theme on mine that I may eventually customize with CSS, though I know I will need outside help for that.

You can also introduce yourself in one of your posts or have an "About me" page (I have both), but don't feel as if you need to do that.

http://me-myshelf-and-i.tumblr.com

Kristine wrote: "I'll start off with my own story. I don't know many blog hosting sites out there, but I use blogger. It is run by google and is amazingly simple to use.

I first realized that I wanted to host my ..."

As a new(er) published author I want to THANK YOU. It's bloggers like you that help get the word out and it priceless.

Awe, thanks for the nice comment Tyler :)

I think the main thing is to spend a little time researching what blogging platform you want to use. I used blogger as I was already familiar with it and it is so easy to use, literally only 3 steps and your blog is up and running.

After that, there are so many features that you can add and it can seem intimidating but little by little you can try things out and see what works for you.

My biggest tip is try it out and see if you like it and just have some fun with it.

What an awesome thread! Thanks for the awesome tips. I feel like in the past week I've read more about blogs than books! o.O

I just started my blog this week, and I have to say that I'm dealing with a little remorse in terms of the name and the hosting site. I picked Playing Jokers because of the way that I read a large variety of genres and really didn't want to limit the blog to one particular kind. I wanted the name to different from other book blog names. Additionally, I would like to eventually have my rating system reflect the theme, under the idea that joker cards are also used as trump cards. All that said, I'm beginning to regret not having something more book blogging-centric with my name. :/

Also, I picked wordpress because I like the dashboard better than blogspot. However, it was only after I started it that I discovered its limitations with customizing. I might be playing around with blogger in the future to see if it would be beneficial to change.

I'll definitely be following your blogs once I'm at a better computer. :)