Tag: book blog
My Anticipated Book Releases, March 2019.
Literary Discussion: #Bookstagram Tips
Bookstagram Tips
This is a popular request, that I’ve gotten so often, it would be a sin if I don’t deliver it! I’m no pro at #bookstagram, but I’ll gladly share with you these few tips ♥️
Camera
First thing first, the camera you’re using to take your pictures determines the quality of your images. That doesn’t mean you’ve to buy a standard camera to take pictures for the ‘gram (all I have ever used for bookstagram over the years are my phones) so just invest in a phone with a good camera because images should always be crisp and clear, instead of blurry and grainy.
Natural Light
The best kind of light to use when you’re taking pictures is sunlight, that’s not shrouded. With no reflection, open your curtains, windows and set up where the sunshine has settled brightly on to take your pictures.
Props
Don’t go out of your way to acquire props just for bookstagram. Yes, it’s nice to have all these items, but you can also make do with items in your household. If I want to be extra, I printout quotes and images, but I always make do with my art & craft tools, things I’ve gotten from book subscription boxes and decorations/items all over my home. For my theme, I simply use sheets nobody in my home wants anymore 😊
Arrangement
I get inspiration for my book shoots from every #bookstagrammer or from the journaling Instagrammers and lastly my head, I love simplicity, so I just tweak things around until it looks good to me and I snap away, but it doesn’t end there, I spend a minute fine-tuning the image I pick, and I don’t do anything fancy, all I use to take my pictures is the iOS camera app, and use “Portrait Mode” to take my pictures and also edit the pictures with the inbuilt editing tools that comes with the iOS photos app (p.s. it’s amazing).
It helps when there’s a clear theme to how you post your image, it helps with people knowing without checking your username that it’s your post, but it’s also not a must, you do you and what’s good for you.
Captioning
It’s awesome taking beautiful pictures but don’t let it end there, I hardly post on my feed all the time because when I post I want to be sharing something meaningful, like how I felt about a book etc. what books I’m reading or I’ve gotten recently even an update. So it’s more than just the picture, your caption should also be engaging and allows others to connect with you, your image and thoughts. Also if you use an image that isn’t yours please mention it and tag the owner always. That’s never up for debate.
Hashtags
Using hashtags allows your content to be seen, especially by your target audience, for example, #bookstagramnigeria allows me to see posts by fellow Nigerian Bookstagrammers, but never overdo it with the hashtags and always check that the hashtag you use isn’t banned, because it could cause problems for you. I love using hashtags because it allows me to find more likeminded people and helps with growth and being in a community of likeminded bookstagrammers. To make my post even tidier I post my group of hashtags as a separate comment.
Community
Don’t do bookstagram alone, communicate with others and interact with their posts. Talk to people, we bookish people always need someone to hear our thoughts and opinions about a book and it’s also refreshing connecting with people all over the world and discovering new books, authors and people you never expected yourself to connect with. As long as you’re not offending in any way and show love, you’ll never be alone on bookstagram.
Instagram Story
We can’t always post all the time, for example, I’m currently in a book slump, I’m not enjoying reading and can’t seem to finish a book, but that doesn’t mean I’m not active on the ‘gram, I’m always posting and staying in the loop via my Instagram Story, which creates room for more engagement with people in my bookstagram community. So when you’re not posting on your feed use your Story and interact with others.
If you have more tips! Please share them ♥️
Literary Blogging 101: The Literary Blogging Community
The moment I crossed the threshold and entered the literary online community, my mind was instantly blown away! I was a kid with a sugar addiction, unleashed in a new world with all my favourite and yet to be discovered favourite treats.
The online literary community is gigantic and one of the most fabulous thing about it, is we’re a community who take pride in helping one and another, yes there are always the bad eggs within every community, but there is always somebody out there who would gladly guide, help and uplift you and your blog, trust me.
The community is made up of various groups of people, yes it’s all segmented but we all need each other for our structure to work. Authors, publishers, readers, literary bloggers, blog tour hosts, bookstores employees, librarians, literary journalists, literary social sites, literary items creators etc. are just the kind of the people you’ll come across when you’re part of the online literary community as it is majorly made up of these groups of people and more I may have unknowingly left out.
So how do you come across these people? By exploring and interacting. Interaction is the most important thing about having a wonderful experience, everyone is shy, but if nobody makes a move, we’ll all be alone, so if you admire or like something, don’t be afraid to voice it out and let the person behind it know, I’ve noticed that literary people return the love they have been shown own by someone. I know I do it.
All the popular social media sites are filled with literary people, take Instagram for example, we’ve made our own little world and have a trademark name #Bookstagram, in today’s online world hashtags are very important because it allows you to find like-minded people and that’s how you start getting in deep with the community. Twitter also has its a bookish community, which is very informative and life-changing. Pinterest is also infested with contents and will allow you to find so many blogs and content your mind will explode, if you ever need inspiration, Pinterest is key, I’m so thankful for all the people, who take their time to put stuff on Pinterest, hence making the lives of many people like me easier.
I love WordPress Reader because it allows me to not only follow blogs but also hashtags, which allows me to encounter new people within the community and spread love all around, as it makes it so much easier to read posts other literary bloggers online. There are also free literary blogging courses, memes, tags and awards that bring people together, it’s also a great way to start off and make friends, especially as a new blogger. Just search for them and you’ll find them.
Note: Using Hashtags makes your post a lot more visible in a sea filled with billions of content.
The online literary community is very important, because being online and alone at that is boring, without having anyone to converse or see what you put out is very soul-crushing, but if you involve yourself within the community, interact with others and be a good upholding member, it won’t be so. And because the online community is so huge and diverse, there’s no way you won’t stumble on new knowledge, try out new books and things, meet and love people from different backgrounds than yours or even make friends with people in your very town, state or country and many other benefits, that only readers who have broken into the online space can enjoy (I mean there’s always one event, giveaway, price slashes, discounts, coupons or the other out for grabs).
What do you think about the online literary community? I’ve tried to think up a lot to type, but this is where my mind called it quits. I would love to converse with you about your own experience, don’t be a stranger!
Literary Discussion: Required Reading in Schools
The Bloggers in the Attic
The Bloggers in the Attic is a discussion train started by Camila @ The Reader in the Attic, it is a bi-monthly discussion chain featuring other bloggers, who come together to discuss a particular topic.
This is the first of many chain discussions we’ll be having hopefully! Below are participants of this discussion dates and the dates of when we are expected to have our discussion posts up, please if you have time, indulge yourself in reading the posts of the people who came before me.
February 2019: Required Reading in Schools
1st – Camilla @ The Reader in the Attic ➤ 4th – Kal @Reader Voracious ➤ 6th – Lara @ Naija Book Bae ➤ 8th – Isabelle @Bookwyrm Bites ➤ 10th – Sam @Fictionally Sam ➤ 12th – Dany @Dany’s Book Blog ➤ 14th – Ben @ Bibliophilic Reads ➤ 16th – Kerys @ The Everlasting Library ➤ 18th – Clo @Book Dragons ➤ 20th – Lauren @Northern Plunder ➤ 22nd – Nora @Papertea and Bookflower ➤ 24th – Lili @Lili Star Reads
I graduated from University in 2017, and even still the last time I really had to be worried about Required Reading in school was in late 2013 – early 2014. When I was preparing to write my A-Levels Literature exams. The only required reading I am doing now is for the books/manuscripts I have to read for work, no matter how tedious I find most of them.
But back when I was still in school and I had no choice but to read the required books, what did I think about all the books that were added to my school curriculum? I’ve always loved reading, so I was always curious about each book that was given to us to read either in English or Literature class. Thanks to this structure I’ve read a few classics I would never have picked up if it was left to me and enjoyed quite a few.
Yes, there were many books I hated and didn’t even stress myself reading, thank God for the option of selection. For example Ethan Frome, that book is the most depressing book I have ever attempted to read, then there’s Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie, I was so happy to read and devour the book. So it’s a win/lose situation really, but I loved it regardless because of my love for books.
The only aspect of required reading I didn’t like was the over analysing of the texts, and how my literature teachers were always marking me down, just because I chose to view and interpret the texts how I saw it. I don’t think they understood that no one reads the same the book the same way, because after writing my exams, I always scored A or B’s. take that teachers.
