World of Blogging - Interview with Steph Warren
Steph Warren and I met way back in 2021 when we began publishing each other's articles and featuring each other's work. I published an article of hers in September. Later in Feb. '23 we had featured an author interview with her. Today she drops in to share a vast amount of valuable information for anyone looking to start a blog, manage their existing blog or find great resources to help them along the way.
Steph has run the Bookshine & Readbows blog since 2017.
"It was an author and friend who recommended I give blogging a go," she explains. "Since then I have published many reviews; made more author, blogger and reader friends; and built up a small (but passionate) array of paid editing services".
Her blog clearly shows that she is interested in many book genres, however when she heads out to buy a book for her personal use she leans towards books that are stuffed with comedic fantasy. She especially likes delving into urban fantasy or mystery series.
Find Steph online via: https://linktr.ee/bookshineblog or drop by her blog at: https://bookshineandreadbows.
Q: When did you get the idea to launch your own blog?
All the credit to that has to go to JJ Barnes, of Siren Stories and The Table Read magazine. We met through a mums' group when I was pregnant with Minishine and recognised each other's love for stories. When I posted in a panic on the group about my chronic health issues putting my career in accountancy at risk, she immediately suggested I should start a book review blog and freelance editing business, as it would give me the opportunity to be creative and the freedom to work around my health restrictions doing something I truly loved. Then she helped set up all of the branding, the blog website and some linked social media accounts so that I had no excuse not to start using them! That was in 2017 and I am so grateful to her because I have never looked back.
Q: Why does this blog matter to you?
With no job and unable to be an active parent to my children or do much around the house, I could still feel that I was contributing something, being productive, being creative, and that felt very important to me. It still is! I can't always manage my self-set targets, but they give me something to keep aiming towards when I might otherwise have been adrift in my barely functioning body.
Q: It sounds like you worked a difficult time into an opportunity that led to positive, proactive energy. Very cool - - I'm curious about your thoughts on branding. What kind of theme or imagery do you use on your media?
A: I like wordplay, books are my favourite things, and I love the optimistic cheerfulness of rainbows, so when I was trying to think of a unique blog name 'Bookshine and Readbows' just sprang into my mind fully formed! My friend, JJ Barnes, found the logo image for me and I love it - it captures how I think of myself and my love of reading, and just gives me a happy glow when I see it. And later, when my blog began generating some freelance editing and proofreading work, the name fit perfectly with my ethos of what a good editor does... helps to make books shine!
Q: How do you manage content?
A: I mainly stick to book reviews, which I write myself. If I don't have the capacity to read and review a book, I sometimes offer to put together a quick promotional post instead and I have a Q&A format which I can send out as an option in those situations too. I do occasionally accept guest posts - I've hosted three from yourself! - but always with the proviso that they must be related to books, reading, writing, authors or stories.
I often get requests to share other content, like promotions or guest posts related to pet products, jewellery and so on, but if there isn't a book theme then it doesn't get on the blog. I have a one-track mind and that track is lined with bookshelves!
Q: How much time do you dedicate to your blog?
A: This is a tricky one. In terms of actual physical time, not a lot. Each book takes me approximately 3 hours to read (usually not all in one go, although there are some...!) and I jot down my notes straight after while its fresh in my mind. Then writing a review only takes me about 20-30 minutes from my notes, as I use WordPress templates to simplify the set-up and formatting aspects. So that doesn't feel like a lot of time, on paper! However, I am frequently only awake for a limited number of hours per day, and my first priority is my family in that time, so I would say that my blog takes up approximately 50% of my waking hours - which is a lot, and I should probably apologize to my children!
Q: What do you do to promote your blog?
A: Not enough! Having read your guest posts about networking and search engine optimization, I know I should be doing more. When I have more time and energy available to devote to it, I definitely will. But for now, I keep it pretty simple. I post my reviews to my main blog site and have them set up to link to my FaceBook page, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads automatically.
I then manually copy the link to Bluesky and Twitter/X, Goodreads, Amazon (UK) and NetGalley (if applicable). I am a member of a few book blogger groups on FaceBook and a few of the members kindly repost my posts on a regular basis, giving them a bit more reach. I also try to participate in Blog Tours when I can, which help to spread the book-love a little bit further. At the moment, I rely mainly on this widespread approach plus general word-of-mouth. For a part-time, one-man-band - I think I do okay!
Q: Honestly, Steph, I was super happy to see all the ways that you go about promoting your blog. I was not familiar with Bluesky, or NetGalley and so I went ahead and joined :) Thank you for sharing those great resources! ...Is it possible to also ask you to you share some information about blogs that you look up to?
A: There are so many! ...I already mentioned JJ Barnes, who got me started and runs so many projects across all kinds of media, while also juggling parenting small children. There are bloggers like Julie at A Little Book Problem and Yvonne at Me and My Books, who not only blog prolifically themselves but always take the time to repost and share the posts of others as widely as possible, helping smaller bloggers to reach their bigger audiences.
Then there are the blog tour organizers like Anne Cater (Random Things Book Tours), Rachel Gilbey (Rachel's Random Resources), Zoé O'Farrell (Zooloo's Book Tours), Kelly Lacey (Love Books Tours) and Wendy and Gina (Partners in Crime Tours) to name just a few!
Most of these started off as book bloggers themselves and expanded into offering blog tours so that they could make a living out of their love of books, while supporting authors in their marketing endeavours. They know the pressures bloggers and authors face and work tirelessly to provide a great experience all round. I have had so much support from these tour organizers, even with questions or issues completely unrelated to their tours and cannot sing their praises enough for the work they do.
I would start listing authors too - I've met so many amazing ones through my blog - but this answer would be way too long. Just know that even with daily personal contact with authors, I still revere them like the Story-Gods they are!
Q: You are certainly a wealth of knowledge and it says a lot when we see you sharing about so many other bloggers like that. I know I and my readers will certainly check them out. Actually, some I am aware of already, but a few are new and so I"m excited to visit their blog. -- What encouraging advice or problem solving advice could you offer to people looking to host their own blog?
If you are keen to spread the word further, then reach out to other bloggers in your field and collaborate/network - most will be happy to share posts or swap guest posts, or support in any other way they can.
Have fun! If you're not enjoying blogging then it will show in your posts. It shouldn't be a chore that you dread doing. If it starts to feel that way then take a break. Read something just for fun. (Or do some other activity that isn't reading, I guess, if that's your thing!) If you love your blog, then others will surely love it too.
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Thank you Steph for sharing great resources and helping to create a fantastic interview !
ReplyDeleteThank you! This was a really fun interview to participate in, and I have shared it across my own social media accounts.
ReplyDelete