Results Part Four & Wrap Up: Feel the Love

love

I was going to do this one exactly as I’d done the first the parts, but after looking at the results, I decided I didn’t need to. Why? Because you guys are wonderful, that’s why. When I set out to do this little experiment, I’d hoped to achieve two goals: To show that the book blogging community is chock full of amazing people, and to make everyone feel a little less alone in their thoughts, fears, and stresses. And somehow, thanks to all of you, I think that my assumptions were proven correct.

Part Four: The Bookish Community in General

What do you not like?

  • Drama. This was a biggie, weather it was some random Twitter thing you saw from a distance, or even something you maybe got involved in yourself, this was the biggest “complaint” about the community at large. It included many forms, such as blogger against blogger, author against blogger, blogger against author, and…. okay, those are the only combination of those things.
  • Piracy/Stealing Ideas. This one is easy guys, let’s just not do that. I mean, they kick you out of college for that sort of thing, right? It’s a no.
  • That one person still doesn’t like my GIFs. At all. PiFriendsGif

What do you love?

  • ALL THE THINGS. Seriously, the amount of love basically just spilled right over.
  • You love each other. I feel like a proud mama whose sibling children decided to be friends. This is perfect! You all love that you can share ideas, and fangirl, and rage, and basically talk all the books with each other. So do I!
  • Books. I know, this one was kind of obvious, but what can I say, you love ’em! Someone also said words. Which is good, because books without words would get pretty irritating.
  • ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of you said there is no better group around than book bloggers. Right, you are!

Anything else?

  • You want the application info for Bookish Fight Club, but sadly, I wasn’t invited. Sorry.
  • Some of you said sweet things that gave me the warm fuzzies. Thanks for that!
  • And a lot of you wanted desserts. Like, a disproportionate amount of you wanted dessert. Get thee a cookie!

Wrapping it Up!

First, I want to thank you for helping me with this little project. I have found out a lot of things about the community in general, and myself! I know that I am way too hard on myself, and that exactly none of you are holding me to some unattainable standard; it is my own doing. In fact, it is because of your kindness that I was able to be kind to myself last week and postpone this post! So when you are struggling, and thinking that you are doing something “wrong”, or not doing “enough”, take a look at these results, and remember that absolutely no one thinks you need to be super(wo)man. But also know, that there is someone out there who is also feeling the stress. You’re never alone, so share your troubles- you just may find someone else going through the exact same thing!

And finally, the most important takeaway (other than the bookish community- bloggers, authors, publishers, readers in general- is the best ever) is that if you do what makes you happy, and are true to yourself, your blog will be a fantastic success! Success isn’t measured in followers, or comments, or ARCs, or any of that. It’s measured in how happy you are with what you’ve put out there. If you’re happy, then you’ve done the best job ever!

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Posted March 19, 2015 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Discussion, Discussion Challenge / 18 Comments

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18 responses to “Results Part Four & Wrap Up: Feel the Love

  1. YAYAYAYYA I’M FEELING ALL THE LOVE. And you should give me a cookie Shannon hahah 🙂 But yeah, even though there’s a lot of drama, I feel like there’s more blogger love in the community than I thought there was. AND I THINK IT’S GOTTEN BETTER. Like all the Blogger Love posts, and the Love-a-thon, OH AND DON’T FORGET Holly and your project, well our project, because I’m sure Amber and I will butt in anyways. Stop keeping things to yourselves. I will find out.

    😀 😀 Glad to see the survey is over. Are you less stressed out now?

      • Holly, I think she means your project that you have already told her and Amber about, but we haven’t exactly gotten far (as in, a name for it)?

        Anyway, I agree with you, Val- things HAVE gotten a lot better! I mean, I think that there will always be SOME drama- that’s life- but the love is so much bigger than the drama! Which makes me VERY happy 🙂

  2. Yup, drama is just so unnecessary, I mean, if an author goes after a blogger because of a review or something, it’s not controllable and isn’t anyone’s fault but the author starting it. But, blogger against blogger? No.
    HOW CAN ANYONE NOT LIKE GIFS?
    I still want desserts, just saying. 😉
    You know, even though I’m not too bothered about the pressure of blogging, well, I mean, I’m not putting too much pressure on myself anymore, I had no idea what I was doing when I started, and sometimes I still feel that way the community and interaction is just so much fun and that’s the reason I’m still blogging.

    • Absolutely agree! And seriously, I want to know who the gif-hater is! Because this person REALLY HATES THEM. Not like, “oh, I have a mild dislike”. NO, full on hatred.

      I am really glad that the pressure doesn’t get to you! I think it probably is just a matter of personality, in the end. I mean I am high strung, and critical of myself, and a big ball of anxiety in general, so it makes sense that I would feel a ton of pressure. Because I always do hahah. But you are SO right- the interaction is 100% the BEST part!

  3. OMG THAT GIF IS EVERYTHING AND IS SO PERFECT I LOVE YOU FOR USING IT. And there’s not much to say except I love this post and you and your blog and everyone (well, almost) in this community. How the hell did I get through the first 19 years of my life without this?

  4. What a great post! I’m glad no one likes drama. I guess it just goes to show that we’re always hardest on ourselves. It’s also nice to know I’m not the only one craving a cookie. 😉

  5. Great last sentence, I totally agree! I still want comments and desserts and whatnot, but mainly I just want to be happy with my blog, and I am, so that’s that. Thanks for doing this, it was really fun to read all the answers!

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