Ah, blogging fears, bookish fears, I assume we all have them? I mean, I do anyway. And a lot of people I talk to do. So if you don’t, you just leave all your secrets in the comment section, please and thank you. Over the years, I have realized that a lot of these aren’t really accurate, but sometimes it’s hard to tell the illogical part of your mind that, I suppose. And, if you want to think of it in a nice way, fears usually just mean you care about what you do, and that’s always a plus!

This one is kind of easy to get over… but it’s still always in the back of my head. When I first started blogging, for a solid 5 months or so, I didn’t have any visitors or comments. Don’t get me wrong, it was on me, because I was too scared to reach out. I guess I assumed people would have some kind of magical dreams about my blog and visit it? But once I started visiting other blogs, people came on over. Still, there’s that tiny voice that tells you that one day, you’ll fade into complete obscurity (and I mean, I probably will? Though I assume I will have some kind of moderately conscious effort to step away.)

Hopefully I never get this stabby with blogging?

Obviously we all have some unpopular opinions from time to time. Whether it be your thoughts on a book, or on a more serious topic, we’ve all been in the position of not agreeing with the community at large. But sometimes, you might want to speak about these things. And it’s scary! We’ve certainly all seen someone be absolutely skewered on social media for an unpopular opinion, and no one wants that fate. But I think that as long as your opinion doesn’t involve limiting others’ voices or being hateful to anyone/ any group, you should be able to say what you want to say. Hell, you can always say what you want to say, but ramifications are real.

Ah, this is similar to the last one. Because even when you find your people, it’s easy to worry that they’ll… go away? Just me? Anyway. It’s just like meeting people anywhere else- you’ll find people you love, people you definitely like, and people who you might secretly want to get eaten by mountain lions or something. In my experience in this community, the mountain lion victims are few and far between, thank goodness.

And sure, there will be people who come and go, people who you like but don’t necessarily have a deep meaningful relationship with, and that’s just fine! You’ll definitely find your people if you haven’t yet!

Ugh, the negative review is such a tricky beast, friends. I remember the first negative review I wrote. I felt so bad because what if the author read it, or the publisher, or the editor’s 3rd uncle? But here’s my thing: I think all authors know that someone won’t like their book. And as long as you’re respectful, it’s fine. Don’t be “that guy” who tags an author on Twitter or whatever, but if an author seeks out reviews and sees yours? You’re just writing a review. It’s part of the whole process.

Here’s the deal: You may not get Most Coveted ARC (seriously, I still don’t know how to do that), but I assure you that someone, somewhere wants you to read and review their book. I had been blogging about a month, and as I said earlier, had zero comments or views. I was contacted by an author who wanted me to read their book, even though I was new- turns out, so was she! Then there’s the Read Now books on Netgalley and Edelweiss, which you can read and review to show you’re reliable and such. It’ll all come in time. But sometimes I don’t even know how people get approved for stuff, and I am pretty sure that it’s often “I like that blogger’s Twitter picture” or something equally random. So don’t stress. I did, and well, why bother?

Um, this is the most real of the fears, because I had it tonight. I was typing this up, and needed one more pink text graphic, and couldn’t think of a damn thing to say. Except… this is a legit fear! It’s one I have all the time. Hell, if I hadn’t thought this idea up while trying to take a nap, you’d not be reading this because coming up with ideas is hard. I was kind of wondering if I could hire someone, someone who is super creative but maybe has no desire to write their own posts? And they could just come up with ideas for me and I could transform them into posts. It sounds like a win to me.

In seriousness, I have no idea how to combat this particular fear, unless your brain is naturally equipped to come up with awesome ideas all the time. I generally spend a few hours looking around my room, especially at shelves of books, hoping that something will pop into my head. This works approximately 10% of the time. Most ideas come when I am trying to sleep and cannot. So develop a pretty hefty case of insomnia, and you’re golden!

 

I worry about this all the time, and it’s probably ridiculous. I will read a review that someone has done, and think “oh no, I said similar things in mine!”. Well, no shit, Sherlock. We’re both writing reviews of the same book. Obviously my opinions will probably end up being similar to someone’s.  Of course, then I worry that someone else will have written a similar discussion post too, or whatever. The cycle never ends.

-Hopefully never me.

Sorry, this one is probably going to happen. Because you likely have all the books.

So, do you guys have (or ever had) these fears? Do you have other fears? Or are you a fearless wonder?

Posted May 24, 2017 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Discussion, Discussion Challenge / 51 Comments

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51 responses to “Book Blogging Fears

  1. Oh yeah- all of these. 🙂 Especially running out of things to say. In fact it’s amazing to me that I HAVEN’T run out of things to say lol. How do I keep up coming up with crap, er, content to talk about? Thankfully there’s no shortage of books/ shows etc or I’d be in trouble. And I do have that problem with discussion posts, because for a while I had all these ideas and lately- haven’t written one in weeks.

    And I’ve pulled back a post or two because I was afraid it would antagonize people lol. Every once in a while I have one scheduled and I read it and I’m like- no. Maybe I’ll just rethink that. 🙂

    That first GIF, BTW- lmao!

    • Honestly, I feel like I say the same shit over and over? Just… in different ways ? The irony is, I am SO behind on reviews and such, so I SHOULD have stuff to say, but alas. I don’t care enough. I actually considered not posting a few things but then… eh. I mean, I even said once that if someone buys an old, popular ARC I don’t think it’s a big deal, and I somehow didn’t get totally skewered? I also just completely jinxed myself, and tomorrow I will be fodder for Twitter rage or something.

  2. I am a new book blogger and to get arc to review is not a problem at all. I only had my blog up for 2 weeks and bam, I had two request from authors to review their books 🙂 To have books to review will never be a problem cause I know I will recieve arc or of course I do buy my own books as well.

    But I know that I will hit days where I can’t found out what to write about, lack of post ideas. I have come up with one theme where I will post simsilar post once a month…about book covers. And I join Top 5 Wednesday that I found on Goodreads for booktubers and bloggers, so that one will I join when I can and the topics feel right for my blog 🙂

    • WOW that is kind of awesome! I am impressed! But it is true, there will always be new authors to need reviews, things like that. OOH book covers is a good idea! I always love a book cover post, I think most people do, so you can’t go wrong there 😀

  3. Sam

    Every one of those are so, so true! I worry about the books I choose to review. I don’t post reviews on the blog for every book I read (but I do on GoodReads). My brain says, post a review for that popular book, but my heart wants to post a review for that small, little known gem that I am not hearing much about. Unfortunately, those reviews get the lowest number of page views. I love visiting blogs to discover new books, so I will probably keep posting those “little books”, because, well, I’m a little blog. =)
    Sam @ WLABB

    • GAH so true! I don’t ever bother with hyped books (if I bought them myself, that is) because everyone and their mom will be posting reviews, no one gives a shit about mine 😉 Unless I had some VERY strong thoughts, I’ll just leave it to everyone else. And I feel you about the smaller books getting wayyy less views. But I would rather promote them, so screw views hahah (this is when my new “I do not care” comes in handy!)

  4. Ok so it’s been almost two years, and I still haven’t really found many “my people,” so that one is legit. Like, I do have a couple bloggers I click with and always visit and message or email sometimes, and I love ’em, but I feel like I still have yet to find anyone who actually has the same bookish taste as me 🙁 I get so excited every time one of my blogger friends reads one of the same books as me because it’s such a rare occasion!

    I also still hate writing negative reviews, but it’s not as nerve-wracking as it used to be. I feel bad, but it has to be done, and I know there are benefits to negative reviews, even if the authors might not see it that way. And ok, it may hurt an author’s feelings, but readers don’t deserve to waste their money on books that they won’t end up liking, especially if the book has gaping plot holes or makes no sense or is full of typos or something.

    I do worry that I’ll run out of things to say at some point! Like, so far I’ve not had that problem since I haven’t been blogging or writing discussions for that long, but what about a year from now? Two years?? Three years???

    • Awww! It will happen! Honestly, I think it was around 2 years when I found like, friends friends. It takes time. I would think I’d found them and then you know how it is- people stop blogging or whatever and it’s like “well shit, we weren’t as close as I thought”. It is definitely hard to navigate though, so I totally feel you ♥♥

      I agree about the negative reviews! I fully admit, they are fun as hell to write. Even though I also feel bad. It’s such an odd situation. Like, when I really HATE a book, I have so much fun with the review- mostly because I don’t want it to come off as an attack? So I make it more.. funny-mean than mean-mean? Still, I hope the author never finds them 😉

      I think some people seem to NEVER run out of stufff, so maybe you will be like that! Fingers crossed 😀 I think I started feeling the struggle… well, rather early. So maybe you have dodged it!

  5. Oh, I totally get the first two! I always get worried that I’ll be at a sweet spot with my blog and my stats, and then it all just disappears or I do something wrong or no one’s interested in my content. I mean, it’s ridiculous, but it’s always seemed like in real life when something good is happening, SOMETHING inevitably goes wrong. So I guess I assume it’ll happen with my blog??? I don’t know.

    Haha, is it bad that I keep my REALLY unpopular opinions to myself? I just have friends who share the same opinion to vent to when I need to. ?

    And, yep, I totally worry that I’ll run out of ideas! It’s ridiculous, since I’m literally covered far into next year, BUT STILL. What if???

    • Oh my goodness, YES. I feel you so much on the something inevitably going wrong bit. WHY does this happen? We deserve nice things! And nope, not bad at all to keep them to yourself! My thing is- you should really only share whatever matches your comfort level, you know? But I realized that the only reason I wasn’t sharing was because I didn’t want someone else to get mad, so that seemed like a bad reason not to for me, personally. But I don’t ever blame others, because damn, people can be vicious!

      WAIT. You have ideas until NEXT YEAR? I don’t know what I’ll be posting next WEEK! ??

  6. Yes to all of these! I’ve had/have all of these fears (and then some). I actually started blogging with my people, but that was many years ago and they have since stopped blogging and we don’t talk as much. :'( So, there’s a new fear for you. Sorry! But I think I’ve found new Bookstagram people so that’s nice. I had my first ever true of posting a not completely positive review this year too. Great post, Shannon! I hope you never run out of things to say. 🙂

  7. Great post, you’ve pretty much summed up all the fears I’ve had over the years too. I’ve been blogging for six years and I still have feelings like these. I’d love to be 100% confident about my blog but I guess I never will:-)

  8. Oh gosh, yes! I still have a fear that people won’t read or like my blog. I mean, I’m happy kind of doing my own thing and not always posting about books, but at the same time, I want people to comment and generally like talking to me! I’m also one of those people who are still looking for their people. I had some but they don’t blog anymore, and that’s been years now, so while I have bloggers that I really love, I don’t know how many I’m super close to you know?

    -Lauren

    • I am the same way! I love getting comments, but I am not “close” to anyone. I follow a lot of blogs and it’s hard to keep track of them sometimes. It may come with time if I get myself out there more.

  9. I have a lot of these fears. I worry about running out of ideas. I worry that I’m accidentally plagiarizing a review that I read months ago. I worry that I’m pissing people off. I even had a dream once where my blog somehow published all my scheduled posts before they were ready. In my dream, I completely freaked out, even though it probably wouldn’t be that big of a deal in real life.

  10. Great post! I have a lot of these fears while blogging to. I am on the same page with the plagiarizing a review I try really hard to not read any reviews about the book I am reading or reviewing for a few weeks before I write it so I make it my own, but then I read others and I agree I wrote the same ideas.

  11. I have all of this fears, well maybe not the one about being crushed by my TBR since I own mostly e-books so, I’m safe there I guess. But regarding all the others, It’s hard to put yourself out there and we all have certain expectations when we start blogging, we want to reach people and that is not an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of work and patience, that’s what I tell myself at least, I try to go with the flow regarding how many people visit and comment on my blog and not stress myself too much about. I´m happy with the comments and visits i get so far, I´ve only been doing this a month after all but I can´t help but think what if, what if this is it, what if it doesn’t grow more, what if I don’t reach anyone else.. I guess it all comes with the territory and we have to learn to deal with these insecurities in our own way. Great post by the way it really got me thinking..

  12. I do feel all of these, especially the negative reviews and plagiarism one. I mean it’s true that we will have similar discussions and opinions about books and issue, but still. As for negative reviews, I just feel bad… I mean I never tagged the author or used bad words but it’s still feel unpleasant to criticize someone’s work!

  13. I’m awaiting the day that I just stop thinking of discussion topics. Like it’s been 8 years I’ve got to be nearing the end right?! Haha.

    My biggest “fear” is not finding my people as well, especially with how often people kind of leave the book blogging community. I don’t want to be shouting into a void ):

  14. I fear hurting someone with my negative reviews too! It’s why I try my best to be as objective as possible. Though I’m not sure I succeed 100% of the time. Running out of topics for weekly posts is also up there in my irrational fears. I can agree with you on how hard it is to come up with a topic :/

  15. Most of your fears mirror my fears. I have learned over the years to let them go but when I don’t have time to reach out I can tell by my blog stats. It does tend to hurt but I can only blame myself!

    My biggest problem is trying to write like someone else. Comparing is the evil that kills good writing!

    Love this! So glad that book bloggers all have the basic same fears. We just all need to stick together and support each other! <3

  16. I’m still stuck on #1 😀 Like, I don’t want to be the person who just visits other people’s blogs when I’ve posted something, but at the same time how the hell else is anyone going to find my blog? Also, a lot of the time when I do post something I start to comment on posts just because it happens to be a time when I actually have time to blog (ergo the new post). But yeah, I feel you on all the other points as well! I used to worry about plagiarising quite a bit, because THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING NO ONE HASN’T DONE BEFORE and the internet can be vicious man. Also, I could give you some of my post ideas since I never actually get around to posting anything haha. I’m sure they would be in great hands with you. Then again, a lot of them are weird or problematic (like my review of the bible for April Fool’s my Christian friends told me would be too insensitive) so maybe you’re better up coming up with your own 😀

  17. *raises hand* YES TO ALL OF THESE. I also have no idea how to get the most coveted ARCs…I mean sometimes I do get lucky!! (I got Lord of Shadows this year afjkdslfda?) But mostly I end up with piles of books no one has ever heard of and my blog stats glare at me.? BUT ANYWAY. Books are better than no books. <3 And ohhh running out of things to say? THE FEAR IS REAL. I'm literally about to turn 6 years of blogging and half the time I go to write a post and realise I'm plagiarising…myself.?

    And also really true about the ramifications of what you say! Like we all go "BE FREE, SAY WHAT YOU WANT" but honestly sometimes it's not even worth it because people can be super scary. These days I think 53 times before I say anything slightly controversial. Anxiety is real folks. *SHRIEKS*

    But I guess the good part is we all suffer with these?!? So at least we can take comfort in knowing we're all strange avocados who are just doing our best. :')

  18. What a great post. You really made me reflect on my fears. The biggest fear I have is that no one reads my blog. I need to get past it, my blog is my space to be a booknerd! In this day and age, I feel like people get caught up in likes and followers and comments, and I am just as guilty. Recognizing fears is the first step!? Thank you for the great post and happy reading and blogging!

  19. Love this!! The blogger/reader fears are legit. I have a lot of popular opinions, but I keep them to myself because 2017 is some sort of alternate dimension where people can’t have differing opinions without dissolving into name calling. At least that’s what it feel like right now. And NOT just in the book world. And I also have major anxiety about my TBR and dying in a book hoarder avalanche.

  20. Kel

    I definitely feel the “run out of things to say” fear, especially during the semester when I’m reading less for fun and I’m like, “my life is totally boring and I have nothing to say.” XD And there are days it feels like no one knows your blog exists, but eh. It happens. 🙂 It’s also a little hard finding “my” people, but I enjoy it whenever I do click with people, even if it’s one little isolated thing. Small wins! Great thoughts, Shannon!

  21. I totally relate to this post. We are little bundles of nerves and fear on the internet, aren’t we? I mean, we are putting ourselves and our thoughts out there and it’s a legit fear of people not accepting us. Or is that just me? I totally worried I would languish in obscurity in the blogosphere and that no one would like me. It was like the first day of school and I felt certain I should be passed that… but I’m not. And I still worry people won’t like what I have to say. I mean, I fear it on my blog but also when I go off and comment on other people’s blogs. I worry that people will not like me. And I worry that I;m unoriginal and have no unique thoughts and that I just repeat what everyone else has to say. And I worry that one day I’ll get bored of blogging and I wonder where I will find the sense of community and the frinedhsips I’ve found when blogging.

    Basically, I have a lot of worries and it sucks but most of the time I can forget about it but they sneak up every so often if I let myself think too long. I figure it’s part of being human. If you have no worries you are either very zen and accepting of yourself or you’re a robot. I lean more towards it being the second.

  22. Grace Osas @ Somewhat Reserved

    The first three ones and the not getting arcs one is a legit ‘fear’ of mine. Though I don’t worry about arcs too much because I really want to finish the books I borrowed from the library and the ones I currently own first ^^

  23. I definitely relate! I get a little nervous about no one reading what I write. It’s scary putting so much effort into something that might never even be seen!

  24. Great post! I totally have fears all the time, mostly about people reading my blog (this is on me though as I haven’t really commented for months or done a Sunday Post), wondering if my content is too boring. But then hey to me it is also a kind of online record of what I’ve been reading so it’s a nice record for me.

  25. Yes! This is me. All of the above. All of the time. And my biggest fear is also my biggest hope – that someone will read my post and comment! I don’t know what I’m doing, I can’t write, everyone is going to judge me…. its a wonder I actually publish any posts! Brilliant topic.

  26. Um…I think still think that nobody reads my blog…except for my cousin who commented on my post where I talked about that. haha. I’m so afraid of authors reading my negative reviews! I do not tag them, but sometimes they seem to find me on twitter and like my post where I linked out my review, and I’m like “oh no, don’t read that!” I do try when I don’t like a book to explain why it doesn’t work for me, and I try to explain why someone else might like it better. Writers can be sensitive to things too, so I try to be as diplomatic as possible. This is a great post!

  27. I feel some of these fears. Yes, I’m afraid that people who have the same interest will quit blogging and I’m gonna be the only one. I know it’s ridiculous but that’s true. I started blogging because I have no one to talk to about the books I’m reading. None of my family and friends love reading especially novels. So yeah I was lonely. This blogging community is my new home to meet people who love what I love.

    The second fear is that my reviews will hurt the authors. I’m a very honest person. Sometimes too much. When I don’t like the books it’s hard for me to just say “unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped” I think that I have to state “the whys” and sometimes they can come off a bit too harsh for the authors. I’m trying to soften the words while still being honest though it’s hard, to be honest.

    Awesome post!! Love this. ???❤️

  28. Another fear of mine is I would get burned out with all the pressure of blogging and ended up quitting it for good. That’s why I always keep it fun and never push myself to read more books when I know I only manage to read two a week.

  29. YES TO ALL OF THE ABOVE. I can so relate to all of these fears, except maybe the ARC one cause I don’t actually request a lot of ARC since I usually have plenty of books that need reading on my shelf as it is. I think the things that always gets to me is when I compare myself to other blogs and it makes me feel inadequate, meaning I start to doubt myself and my writing and all that jazz. It’s frustrating but I try to ignore that nagging voice that tells me I’m doing it “wrong” cause there’s no right or wrong way to blog at the end. I also feel like I’m too nice sometimes in my review but at the end of the day I only read an average of 20-30 books a year and most of them are of ones I know I’m likely to enjoy. Thank you for writing this post. <3

  30. I did have those fears in the beginning, but not so much anymore. I do worry about the plagiarism or claims of that, though. It’s like it’s scary to come up with something that I feel is new, just because I might not have been the first ever person to think of it anyway… I try not to make that stop me, though. Because even if the theme of my discussion post is the same, it won’t be the same post, right?
    Great post! <3

  31. I know this shouldn’t be a fear because if it happens, it just means your time has come. But I keep fearing that I will stop enjoying blogging, or I’ll grow to hate it and then all my effort for the past years will be wasted and what will I do with my life? Which is totally ridiculous because if I am enjoying it this much time it isn’t wasted, and life goes on and all that, but I’m so scared of that. I’m also scared of my house going on fire and burning all my books. Um… I dunno why 😛

  32. All of this.

    Especially the running out of things to say part. Because if I do run out of things to say, there is no way that I’ll be able to continue blogging 😛

  33. My goodness, every single one of these is me right now. Every. single. one.

    I just recently started my book review blog and I’m trying so hard, but I feel like I have NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING. Your link up is the first I’ve found and I’m going to go through everyone who is on the list and check out their blogs. And hopefully people will start reading and caring about mine!

    I love this post, though, because it makes me feel not quite so alone in my current freak outs!

  34. Running out of thing to read…definitely. However, that has not happened yet and I’m consciously trying to reduce the books I own because…space.

    My biggest fear is doing something weird on social media…like tagging the wrong person.

  35. Amanda E Moore

    “But I think that as long as your opinion doesn’t involve limiting others’ voices or being hateful to anyone/ any group, you should be able to say what you want to say. Hell, you can always say what you want to say, but ramifications are real.”

    Unless they show pollical right leaning vies then their a fascist white supremacist.

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