Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together
Happy Tuesday y’all! This week’s topic is “Ways in Which My Blogging/Review Style Has Changed Over Time.” I started blogging in 2014 with very little knowledge of what blogging was or how to do it. I’ve learned alot over the last 11 years, and some things have changed while others have stayed the same. I don’t think I’ll have ten for this list, we’ll see once I get to writing.
1. I no longer post every day or multiple times a day. When I first started out, I thought I needed to post every day of the week at least two to three times a day. I quickly burnt doing that. I was trying to have a review every day plus tour stops, interviews, and blog memes as well. It was just too much. Slowly I culled that down to my favorite memes, I stopped blog tours (with the exception of a few of my favorite authors/bloggers to work with), and I now only review 3-4 times a week. My posts are down to weekdays with Sunday Post. Much more doable, and I don’t get burnt out.
2. I’m picky about the books I accept for review. I used to accept everything that came into my inbox. This was bad. I wound up with a backlog of books and no desire to read them. Now, I only accept books on a case by case basis and request only books I’m highly anticipating.
3. I learned it was okay to DNF. This one goes hand in hand with the previous change. I used to believe that I had to read every book that came to by inbox, and I had to finish them. Not only those, but any book I started reading, I had to finish. It was like a compulsion for me. During the last couple of years, I’ve given myself permission to DNF books after a certain number of pages. If it doesn’t catch my attention, if it is poorly written, if it just isn’t for me as a reader, I DNF. And for those of you that struggle to do the same, remember not every book is for every reader, and that’s OK.
4. I only review books I’d buy for others. This also goes with the last two. If I read a book and I cannot rate it more than 3 stars, I don’t post a review to the blog. I might include it in a DNF round up and say why it didn’t work for me (which I also will post on Goodreads), but I don’t put the effort into posting and promoting it on my blog anymore. As a result, if you’ve been around a while, you’ll notice most of my reviews are positive.
5. My writing (and review) style has changed…A LOT. When I first started out, I liked the gif filled, fangirling, gushing reviews. My own reviews reflected that. Some of those first reviews are still popular based on the number of views they get, and I do occasionally still write them, but for the most part they are a little more professional now. They are also formatted: paragraph summarizing the book, 1-2 paragraphs about the main character(s), 1-2 paragraphs about plot/writing style/things I liked or didn’t like, and a summary of all the above.
I think that’s it….there’s probably more, but none I can remember off the top of my head.
Your Turn! How have your blogging habits changed over time? Share below
#4 is a good rule of thumb!
It took a lot of stress off me. I don’t like writing critical/negative reviews. I feel like not every book is for every person and just because I didn’t enjoy it doesn’t mean others won’t.
I don’t post negative reviews on my blog either. I want it to be a positive space, and I only want to talk about the books I like 🙂
Cindy’s Book Corner recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday-I want to read them all
I hate writing negative/critical reviews. I know they are helpful to some, but I feel like I’m being mean. Like you, I wanted a positive space to talk about books I enjoy 🙂
Oh my goodness, I’d forgotten how GIF heavy book blog posts used to be! How funny. It’s interesting how trends and styles change along the way.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
They are fun to go back and read, but sometimes they make me cringe.
All good points. I probably have the most trouble DNF ing because even a book not for me if well written is a learning experience and another perspective.
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Death on the Island by Eliza Reid #ElizaReid @PPPress
I think many of us fell into the rabbit hole of feeling the need to post daily and even multiple times a day. I never did that, because I sometimes get annoyed by seeing multiple posts by the same blog over and over. I sometimes post multiple times a day, but that’s only when Ineed to catch up or when it’s the end of the month. With my monthly wrap up and TBR for the following month.
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/05/17/top-ten-tuesday-ways-in-which-my-bloggin-reviewing-style-has-changed-over-time/
Laurie recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Ways In Which My Bloggin/Reviewing Style Has Changed Over Time