Here’s another addition of my new Discussion segment on the blog, thanks to Vivatramp for the 100 Book Blog Post Ideas! This time, I’m here to discuss my reading pressures as a book blogger.
Update (3/31/18): Sheila from She’s Going Book Crazy gave me a shoutout on her blog’s Thursday Blog Trot #6, which she talks about bloggers and creatives she feels need sharing. She specifically found this discussion post interesting, according to her.
Reading Pressures
Danielle over at PoetryBooksYA had an interesting, and personal discussion post about reading pressures as a book blogger. In My Reading Pressures as a Book Blogger, she discusses her perspectives on the reality of book blogging. It’s a lot of work, and quite literally could be a full-time job (at least for myself it could be!) Thanks, Danielle, for being honest and open with your perspective with this topic!
Thank you so much Sheila! It’s amazing to feel like there’s someone who both understands and relates to you and your work. I feel better now that even when my words reach just one person, it’s enough for me.
Original Post: (3/22/18)
The Pressure to Read “New, Best-Selling” Books – It’s not that I don’t have many new books, in fact, I don’t even buy books very often. I either order E-books from Overdrive, or borrow from my library. The book collection I do have, are of older books that are still beloved in general. Like Twilight, Harry Potter, Divergent, The Hunger Games, Anomaly by Tonya Kuper, fan favorites like that are proudly addressed on my small shelf. So this pressure to read all the new books to stay “relevant” in the community haunts me because I feel like I’m not interested in them. I am, I just don’t have the shelf-space to read, like and buy them for the aesthetics.
The Pressure to Read “New, Best-Selling” Books – It’s not that I don’t have many new books, in fact, I don’t even buy books very often. I either order E-books from Overdrive, or borrow from my library. The book collection I do have, are of older books that are still beloved in general. Like Twilight, Harry Potter, Divergent, The Hunger Games, Anomaly by Tonya Kuper, fan favorites like that are proudly addressed on my small shelf. So this pressure to read all the new books to stay “relevant” in the community haunts me because I feel like I’m not interested in them. I am, I just don’t have the shelf-space to read, like and buy them for the aesthetics.
The Pressure to Read Quickly – This kind of goes in line with my first reading pressure from before, but now I have an even bigger pressure to read as fast as I can. Which is hard to do when you work 5 times a week at a crazy-busy part-time job, there’s little time for me to really rush through a book. Also, when I get home, I sometimes don’t want to read; I want to sleep haha! And then, there are days where I have to get up early in the morning and work all over again, and then I feel even worse when I have a book I’ve been wanting to read for so long, but can’t take 10,20, 30 minutes to sit and read a chapter a day…So you can imagine this pressure is more of an insecurity, really, since I’m so jealous of some booktubers and bloggers who can read 3-4 books per week. Show me your magic!
The Pressure to Kmow Popular Books – I have a collection of fan favorites, but I don’t know every single popular book out there, like Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Adam Silvera. I know of them, based on the amount of praise they get, but I don’t know how good they really are. So when I get a comment like, “Did you read Six of Crows? It’s SOO GOOD!” I just smile and nod, because I feel like an airhead for not jumping on the bandwagon already. And I know you don’t have to, but there’s this unwritten rule that you do if you want to be known for something.
The Pressure to Read Audiobooks – I’ve never read an audiobook in my life, like ever. I’ve heard samples of them, based on curiosity, but I’ve never had the interest to go out and buy an audiobook. I know Audible is really popular, but isn’t the whole thing with that to buy one audiobook per session, like one book per month? [If I’m wrong, please correct me!!] But yeah, I’ve never had the pleasure to use audiobooks. Plus, I’ve heard they’re pretty expensive. I don’t know, maybe there’s a cheaper, less complicated way to how audiobooks work? How are they read, on your phone, laptop, IPad? Do you have to download software to read one book?
The Pressure to Have the Best, Most Aesthetic Instagram – This is more of another insecurity than a pressure, but I feel like if you don’t have the best IG with the most HD look, with the best lighting, props, photography, then you wont make it as a blogger. Which is stupid, because not everyone has an IG or even cares about it, but that’s what’s been on my mind for the past couple years. My IG is pretty basic to be honest haha! I try to at least filter my photos before publishing, but since I’m not a photographer, there’s always a weird, grainy dark feeling to all of my photos. I don’t want to come off like I’m trying too hard. But when you see your peers earn thousands upon thousands of Likes and comments about how amazing these photos are, you start to feel the pressure to find a Crash Course on epic photography.
What are some reading pressures you have? Leave comments below!
