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The Novel Hermit

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Armchair BEA | Day 2 – Blogger Development

May 29, 2013 Comments : 13

armchairbea21

Today’s topic is about blogger development. 

This is a fairly hard topic for me to speak about – in the sense that I’m quite unsure of what I should talk about in terms of my own blogger development. Despite blogging for over seven years (and book blogging for nearly six months), I’m still learning.

Here is a bullet point list of my own blogger development.

  • Blog layout + design 
    • I am guilty of judging blogs by its layout/design. Looking at other blogs and seeing their layout and design makes me feel envious. I don’t have the talent or the money to create a wonderful layout and graphics. I don’t know anything about graphic design or CSS code. However, despite these “disadvantages,” I used whatever is available to me. For instance, with layout, since my blog isn’t being hosted, I cannot create a layout of my own even if I wanted to. I chose this particular layout (you see right now) out of all the choices that WordPress supplies because I knew I wanted something extremely simple and something that wasn’t going to be an eyesore. And I knew I wanted space for my blog header. That is what this layout provided for me. Yes, it sucks I can’t change the actual coding, but I have to make due.
    • Graphic design-wise is a somewhat harder for me. I don’t have Photoshop or Illustrator, but there are similar (but free) programs that serve the same purpose. My header and all the text pictures I create in Inkscape (which is really awesome). Text pictures are the only thing I can do right now. Lol. I would love for a hermit to be in my header, but I know it doesn’t really change the content of my blog. I just want one. ;D
  • Social networking (Twitter + Facebook)
    • I’m rather horrible at maintaining my Twitter and Facebook account. I  admit it. I only tweet and post on Facebook when I have an update (but I don’t feel like those are reaching my audience). I want to interact with other bloggers, but I always feel a bit awkward of how I should approach them. I always feel like what I say won’t be worth a reply. I’m trying to be better at tweeting people. So please tweet me! I don’t bite! I want to be your friend too!
  • Content
    • I post whenever I feel like it. I usually pick a book for review when I know what I want to write in the said-review. I can’t write a review for a book that takes me forever to think of what to write. That’s why I never pick the next book I want to review. Sure, there are books I want to review, but I have to actually want to review it or I’ll end up disliking the whole review process and get stuck on my words. 
    • Some far, I post a few reviews and a lot of memes, which is so annoying to me. I get quite critical about the content I’m posting. It’s good I’m posting something, but it shouldn’t just be memes. I want to post a lot of book reviews, but it takes me a while to collect my thoughts, which discourages me. I have a lot to say, but I know I can’t post it all because it’ll basically be an essay about the book and nobody wants to read that! So a lot of time is spent to typing and deleting. I’m never satisfied! I still learning on what’s necessary in a review. I always find it a bit hard to continually churn out content. I can’t do that because I sometimes don’t feel like the content is representative of me. I want it to be true to my own thoughts. 
  • Followers 
    • I’m not as concern about gaining followers. I know I will gain more as I continue to blog and forge friendships. It just takes time. I’ve gain a bunch of followers from my birthday giveaway, but I don’t want people to follow me because they want to win a book. (Of course, it’s a start for people to gain interest in my blog.) At the end of the day, this blog is more for me to collect my thoughts about books (and also to share them with my friends). 
  • Online Personality
    • I am a bit shy, but I feel that I’ve become more comfortable in my own skin. I’ve found a bunch of communities online that share the same interest with me. I’m not as afraid of creating my own opinions nor am I afraid to “squeal” about books or actors because there are people who adore the same things as I do. I’m pretty open to every topic (more so about books, pop culture, tv shows/movies, actors/actresses – basically all forms of entertainment). 
  • Brief Goals
    • When I get used to realm of book blogging, I want to consistently post. At least 3+ times a week. The more reviews, the better.
    • Forge friendships with other bloggers. I want to one day be BFF with all of you so when we meet one day and go book hunting or whatever. That means I need to be better at social networking.
    • I want to own my blog address and be self-hosted.

I’m just taking it a day at a time. I hope every one of my followers continue to visit and converse with me! It doesn’t have to be about books! 

Check out Day 1 of Armchair BEA: Introductions | Classics

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Previous:
Armchair BEA | Day 1 – Classics
Next:
WAITING ON WEDNESDAY | The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

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Comments

  1. Tanya Patrice says

    May 29, 2013 at 6:05 am

    I love how you set goals for your blog. It can be a bit daunting, especially with blog design. I don’t have a particularly fancy design, but I try to use images in my post to catch the eye – to compensate for it. And I love your header :-)

    Reply
  2. lissthomas3152 says

    May 29, 2013 at 7:08 am

    You have excellent goals. Keep going!

    Reply
  3. a barmy bookworm says

    May 29, 2013 at 7:46 am

    Glad u don’t bite… When I finally persuade myself to launch into Twitter, I’ll look u up. And thanks for sharing! :0)

    Reply
  4. melissa @ 1lbr says

    May 29, 2013 at 8:58 am

    Taking things a day at a time is a great idea! And don’t get discouraged about your reviews – write as much or as little as you like. Definitely only write the ones you want to (oh, I’m so bad about that, I write one for pretty much everything). It sounds like you are working on the things you want to change, so just keep going!

    Reply
  5. Danielle says

    May 29, 2013 at 9:47 am

    You have an awesome attitude to blogging :) It’s refreshing to read

    Reply
  6. Liviania says

    May 29, 2013 at 9:49 am

    Your header is gorgeous!

    Reply
  7. Stormy says

    May 29, 2013 at 10:28 am

    I think your approach to your blog is great! I think I’m in a similar position with a lot of your points, especially design. I’m envious of bloggers who have custom design, but I take what I can get with WordPress and do as much with it as I can. One of my goals is to forge friendships with other bloggers too. I feel like I’m in the beginning stages of that(I talk to bloggers on twitter, comment often, etc), and have interaction, but I think consistency is important to make real relationships.

    Reply
  8. Candice @ The Grown-Up YA says

    May 29, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    Hey, I get how scary it is to start branching out! I used to get paranoid about tweeting bc I thought no one cared about what I had to say. But then I remember that I care about what others say so chances are there’s someone out there who cares about what I have to say! It sometimes takes a bit of courage, but I seriously encourage you to take advantage of Twitter. Tweet some of your favorite bloggers (looking at your blog roll several of those bloggers are SUPER nice!) and tell them “Hi!” (or whatever you want) We love new friends! :)

    Reply
  9. trishhannon111 says

    May 29, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    I like simplicity in blog designs when there is too much going on design wise I just find it distracting. Great goals, very similar to what I would say too. And I agree that writing reviews can be hard, they are not effortless for me either. But then when I get there I feel proud of myself and glad I struggled on.

    Reply
  10. Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know says

    May 29, 2013 at 3:08 pm

    It looks like you’ve got a good set of goals and ideas about your own blog development and ideas for those who are newer. Great tips and advice. I’m bad about not really doing much on Twitter myself. I usually post my reviews and that’s about it. I’m working up to it…slowing!

    Reply
  11. Rachel @ Unforgettable Books says

    May 29, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    Thanks for giving me the idea to use Inkscape for a header, I like the font of your blogging title! I’m not much on talking on twitter either, I never know really what to say, so I stick to Goodreads where I just comment on my friends reviews. I will keep trying with twitter!

    Reply
  12. Tanya @ Mom's Small Victories says

    May 29, 2013 at 5:55 pm

    I agree with you on blog design, I love trying out new layouts. I am on WP Self hosted but I installed the Suffusion theme and love it because it’s pretty easy to customize. But btw, I love your design, clean, simple and elegant. Hope you have a great ABEA Week! New follower here. Here’s my Blogger development and favorite books by genre post if you’d like to stop by.

    Reply
  13. Michelle @ In Libris Veritas says

    May 29, 2013 at 9:08 pm

    I haven’t heard of Inkscape before I’ll definitely have to check it out! I use picMonkey for most of my graphics and things right now, it’s free as well. I definitely think you have a well thought out approach to everything and I wish you the best of luck, it seems like you’re well on your way. :)

    Reply

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I’m Cee. Lover of books + comics. Bookseller. Former teen witch.

The Novel Hermit is written by a daydreamer who loves books and want to share her love with everybody. You will find YA, comics, reviews, discussions, book cover love, and lots of adoration for books. What more can you ask for?

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All of the books I review either have been purchased by me, borrowed from the library, and sent to me by the publisher (the latter of which I will note).

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