Why Bookstagram 101?
Seek and ye shall find
Over the past few months I noticed the increasing frequency of the search term bookstagram leading to my blog. In fact, my all-time second most visited blog post is Is Bookstagram Losing its Shine? — Overcoming Bookstagram Problems. Only my guide to managing TBR piles has had more hits, mostly because that post is almost a year older. Another post I wrote that ranks very high is Bookstagram Safety.
Google bookstagram and my blog shows up right on the first page. Do an image search and you might just land at Blogger’s Bookshelf where I shared a guest post on the rise and lure of bookstagram.
Building bridges
Putting things into perspective, my blog receives considerably low traffic. Yet when it comes to something as popular as bookstagram, I’ve got some of the top resources. That’s because there hardly are any resources outside of Instagram itself that are accessible to someone interested in joining the community.
This led me to think about bridging the gap. I want to help that person who searched for “how to join bookstagram” and the other who wondered, “how to pick a bookstagram name”. I also want to create a conversation to address other concerns like “how to make my bookstagram more interesting”.
To gauge the interest levels for this, I took to Twitter with a poll. With more than 90% positive responses (Abeer accidentally voted against, even though she’s for it), the results were practically unanimous. The interest is there and I hope that together we can build it up even more because bookstagram is a wonderful community to be a part of.
Judging from the searches that lead to my blog I should set up a Bookstagram 101 feature 😅 What do you think?
— Joséphine (@wordrevel) January 2, 2016
How will this work?
Weekly tutorials
During the next four months or so, I will be posting weekly topics pertaining to bookstagram. They’ll be in the form of tutorials where I’ll cover aspects that I feel are important. In the beginning, things will be very basic to help those who are new to it all. Nonetheless, those of you who are more seasoned bookstagrammers might still find a nugget of information here or there that is useful to you.
So far the tentative topics are:
- Choosing Equipment & Apps
- Creating & Posting Content
- Copyright Matters
- The Power of Hashtags
- Consistency is Key
- Theme & Style
- Real Time vs. Planned Content
- Interaction Makes a Difference
- Injecting Personality
- Discovering Other Bookstagrammers
- Pursuit of Originality
- Building a Genuine Follower Base
- Pitfalls to Avoid
- Help! Someone Stole My Photo
- Pros and Cons of Watermarks
Depending on how things go, I might switch up some of the topics or I may even think of additional ones. The goal is to help anyone who’s interested in joining the bookstagram community to do so. Diving in without knowing anything at all can be rather daunting, so I hope Bookstagram 101 will guide the process.
Submit your questions
To ensure that the tips and advice shared will be relevant, I’m open to questions. These will shape the direction of the tips I share. All you have to do is fill out this form. You may refer to the tentative topics to help you formulate your questions.
Share your expertise
Are you a bookstagrammer itching to share your tips as well? I’d love to hear from you too! Fill out my contact form, email me, tweet at me and let me know that you would like to have some input with your advice.
What is bookstagram?
For those of you who are unsure what bookstagram is, it is a portmanteau consisting of books and Instagram. It’s the bookish community on Instagram, much like booktube on YouTube and booklr on Tumblr. On Instagram we share anything book-related from our current reads to book hauls to bookish events. The focus is on sharing photos, though captions and comments propel the conversations forward.
How to join?
Get the App
Joining is simple. Download the Instagram app to your smartphone and sign up. You’ll need the app in order to post your photos. Logging in on the Instagram website is possible too but it only allows you to browse, like and comment.
Choosing a username
Recognition factor
If you already are on Twitter, have a blog or YouTube channel, you may want to streamline the names. This will make it a lot easier for others to find you. It also ups the recognition factor if someone stumbles upon your Instagram account and remembers you from your blog or booktube channel.
If you’re completely new to the online sphere, your only limit is the 30 characters. Many bookstagrammers include books, reads, biblio or other related terms to signify that they’re part of the community. You can do that too but you don’t have to. Your content will speak for you.
You can rename later
Should a username be your stumbling block, join your favourite words together, use your nickname or something that describes you. That will at least get you going. You can always change your username when you think of something snazzier. The beauty of Instagram is that even if you change your username, your followers aren’t going anywhere. Rebranding isn’t as huge a deal on Instagram as changing the URL of a blog, where a blogger might lose followers who don’t bookmark the new Internet address.
Length is a matter of preference
The length of your username doesn’t limit anyone’s words on Instagram. It’s not like Twitter where tweeting at someone with a crazy long username means we have less characters to work with. Twitter is part of the reason I came up with @wordrevel. Since it’s short, those who tweet at me have a few more precious characters to use for something other than my username. On Instagram, the only reason you might want to choose something shorter is so that it’s easier to remember.
My challenge to you
Stop hesitating. If you’ve been watching from afar but haven’t joined, do it! You don’t need a fancy camera to take good photos. Besides, few bookstagrammers started out with stellar photos. It takes practice and that can only come from taking and sharing photos. Believe me, it opens up another world to fellow book lovers.
What do you think makes bookstagram so great? Comment with your top reasons and you might just persuade someone new to join in the fun!
Psst. Have you visited me on Instagram yet? Follow @wordrevel to see how I approach bookstagram.
Undeniably imagine that which you said. Your favourite reason seemed to be at the net the easiest factor to remember
of. I say to you, I definitely get irked at
the same time as people think about worries that they just
do not recognise about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as
well as defined out the whole thing with no need side effect , folks could take a signal.
Will probably be again to get more. Thank you
Rachel recently posted Rachel
I do believe all the ideas you’ve introduced on your post.
They’re really convincing and can certainly work. Still, the posts are very
brief for starters. Could you please prolong them a bit from next time?
Thanks for the post.
make mony recently posted make mony
You said it right! I visit your blog fairly often and I always feel smarter afterwards.
I shared this post on Facebook and my friends thought it was great too.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate what you’re doing
here. Sincerely, Your #1 fan! lol :)
Matt recently posted Matt
This is a great idea. It wasn’t too long ago that I was searching out said subject material and I was lit=mited to what I was finding. I look forward to seeing more.
SDCB Steph recently posted The Fugitives by Christopher Sorrentino
I’m glad to find another supporter of this idea in you :)
Okay I accept your assistance in bookstagramming with my non-existent account but I still hate you for hogging [word]nospace[name]dotcom. Loatherevel.
Joey @ Thoughts and Afterthoughts recently posted [Think Aloud] – #26 – Why Are Heroes & Villains Never Stuck in Traffic?
I’ll gladly run that non-existent account. Just hand over the non-existent password and we’re all set! ;) Admit it, you’re in love with my blog name :P You seem to have a thing for coining every possible word that relates to me with “revel”! Hahaha.
I enjoy seeing beautiful photos of books (and discovering new titles to get excited about)! That’s definitely a big reason that I enjoy bookstagram. While I’m not quite as consistent or active as most bookstagrammers, I do enjoy sharing bookish photos on Instagram as well. I’m constantly inspired by the accounts I do follow to continue improving and sharing though!
Alexa S. recently posted The Picky Pledge 2016
Well, your slant’s been more to share about your life, which makes you very relatable and that’s a wonderful thing too! <3
Thanks so much for this post! I’ve been really curious about Bookstagram forever and I’m so thrilled you have laid out all the details in one spot! :D I want to increase my Instagram involvement for my blog and Bookstagram is an excellent way to start! Thanks again! :D
Maggie recently posted Win A $10 Amazon Gift Card!
I’m so happy to hear that this is motivating you get more involved on Instagram!
i am so excited for this josephine! i voted on your poll because you are literally photography queen and you know, only learn from the best, right? :) i’ve started using instagram more seriously recently now that i have a phone with a good camera and want to learn how to take better pictures. i feel like i know what looks good but am totally clueless as to how to actually take good pictures and then editing is just like pick and point and if it doesn’t make the picture drastically worse, then it’s fine. so i’m really looking forward to learning more with this series!
Annie recently posted Revelling in Being Busy
You’re too sweet, Annie! <3 I was actually surprised by the overwhelming response and affirmation. Usually only about 20 people or so care to answer my polls. Lol. I do plan to cover some photo editing the bookstargram series but for more dedicated photo taking and editing tips, you might wanna check out my photography feature ;)
I’m really looking forward to this discussion series! Especially Theme & Style, Building a Genuine Follower Base, and Interaction Makes a Difference. I just checked out your posts on lighting and they are really helpful. Thank you so much for the tips! For a newbie like me, and even experienced bookstagrammers, I’m sure these posts will help a whole lot of us.
Thank you for pointing out the topics that particularly interest you! Gives me a better idea of what to especially focus on :) And I’m glad you found the posts on lighting helpful!
This is great!! So excited for this series! I love bookstagram!
~Sara
Thanks for your enthusiasm, Sara! :D
Josephine! (It almost feels as though I’m talking to myself when I say your – OUR – name, hehe!) This is an INCREDIBLE thing that you’re doing! I think lots of people need more resources for bookstagram. It’s a community that’s really starting to rise, I feel, in the book community, and things like new book blogs and such tend to turn to Instagram pretty quickly. From there, these people will be searching their favourite book blogs for info about bookstagram.
I also had in my mind the notion to start talking more about bookstagram, however I am very much still in the learning stages myself. I can’t wait to see more of this! 🙂
Josephine recently posted 2015 Releases I Didn’t Get To in 2015 // Top Ten Tuesday
Hi to you too, Josephine! :D I totally get that! I used to be on the same student council committee with another Josephine and it was really fun but confusing. Lol.
And thank you for your support! <3 I'm so glad to see just how many people are interested in learning more and how some feel inspired to give bookstagram another go because of my posts. The bookstagram community definitely has been on a constant rise over the past 2–3 years and is starting to gain attention from more mainstream IG users, which is great because books! xD
You know what, I actually searched bookstagram the other day and saw your blog, but there were hardly any other resources available. I’m looking forward to this series!
Jeann @ Happy Indulgence recently posted Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell Review: Where Neverland is NOT the place you want to be
You’re right! There’s a sprinkle of one-off posts, which is why I wanted to do something more comprehensive and potentially more interactive too :)
This is such a good idea, and it’s definitely something I would have found useful before I ventured into Bookstagram, and I’m sure you’ll be able to give me loads of tips to continue improving.
It’s wonderful to hear that you expect this series to be useful, even though you’ve already been on bookstagram for a while!
Hey gorgeous, Tamsien from @babblingbooks here. This is a wonderful idea (I’ve been toying with doing something similar for a while actually), it’s great to know there will be a resource I can point people to when they ask questions. I’d love to guest post on one of those topics, or something else, if you’re interested in having me. I’m particularly interested in building an engaged follower base, or anything to do with consistency, or personality.
Let me know what you think and good luck with the series!
Tamsien
Hey Tamsien! Thank you :) I do hope to integrate tips from fellow bookstagrammers in upcoming posts, so I’ve noted down your interest to contribute!
This is such an awesome idea! I’ve been on bookstagram since March, so I know what I’m doing, but some of these categories sound like they would really benefit me – especially the use of hashtags. I look forward to learning about them, because I’m pretty bad at the moment!
It’s always amazing to find new accounts to follow, so hopefully some new accounts will be created through this feature. It’s such an amazing idea, because the prospect of Instagram can be daunting to some people. I look forward to seeing more of the posts in this series – thank-you for hosting it! :)
Denise | The Bibliolater
Denise recently posted My 2016 Bookish Resolutions
Ah yes, hashtags can be a little tricky to figure out. But once you get the hang of them, you hardly have to think about that step of adding them.
I already know of some who intend to give IG a second chance because of this series, so I’m definitely excited about that. And yeah, who knows? Maybe a few more will dare to join after reading these posts, if they’ve been hesitating before. It gave me a fair bit of joy when someone tweeted that they hadn’t know the bookstagram community existed until they saw an RT of my post. Cool stuff! :D