This is going to be a very poopy recap because a) I didn’t take a whole lot of notes, b) my memory’s not the best, c) I didn’t have enough caffeine, d) I was tired, and e) I was tired.
The Morning
I woke up super early (probably the earliest I’ve been up since starting college) to catch a train to get to the city before 9:40am. So of course, I needed not one, but two cups of coffee in order to function like a somewhat normal human and not a zombie. At the train station, I met up with Kathleen and got on a train. We might have picked the wrong one – we spent about 40 minutes of the train ride standing… not exactly how I hoped to start off the day. To be fair, we did arrive in NYC on time so…
Touring Bloomsbury
I was offered a chance to tour the offices of Bloomsbury from Blogbound so once we got off at Penn Station, we headed to there. Once we got there, we met up with two friends we made last year, Lexie and Danielle. We also got to make some new friends, Tegan and Tiff. We got a little tour and then hung out in one of the conference rooms. There, I enjoyed another very needed cup of coffee and some food while some members of their PR and marketing team introduced some of their favorite upcoming titles and recommended some blacklisted ones, as well. Some of the titles they hyped up included The Possible by Tara Altebrando, What Goes Up by Katie Kennedy, The Whisper in the Stone by Kamilla Benko, and Reign the Earth by A.C. Gaughen. We ended our lovely tour with some awesome goodie bags.
Killing Time
Since our tour of Bloomsbury ended at around 11 and Blogbound doesn’t start until 5:30ish, we had plenty of time to kill. We mostly just wandered around the city. I won’t bore you with the details, but we visited the Javits Center, ate at Gotham Market, shopped at Midtown Comics, sat at Madison Square Park (which may have involved a game of not-so-musical musical chairs, Snapchat games, and dogs who pooped when I wanted to take photos of them), walked to Jefferson Market Library, ate at Lenwich, and finally made our way into the library for Blogbound.
Blogbound
#QuietYA: Finding and Promoting Underrated Books + Recommendations
I don’t remember as much from this panel as I should. In a moment of weakness, suffering from a caffeine crash and food coma, I decided not to take notes. That was a very bad idea since now I’m writing this going “ummmm….????”.
From what I remember:
- DJ wants to see more mermaid books… and witches too, but mostly mermaids
- Anything you do helps, whether it’s sharing on social media or reviewing on your blog, etc.
- Reviews are coveted and crossposting them on retail sites is very helpful
- Goodreads lists are helpful to find underrated books.
That pretty much sums up all I remember?. Just don’t forget, mermaids are very underrepresented.
Social Media and Shopping: Monetizing and Promoting Your Blog
I learned from my mistakes and actually took some notes during this panel. Though I didn’t do that great of a job – I kept getting distracted; I was only sitting a few feet away from some of my favorite bloggers! (Seriously, I sat so close that I had a trouble fitting them all in the frame of my camera).
Some fast facts:
- To get more comments…
- Ask a question to start a conversation
- Use commenting platforms that are easier for users to access (less time and hassle to sign in, etc.)
- Putting your face in your profile picture makes you seem more human and therefore more approachable
- Age is both a blessing and a curse: teens are treated like adults, but people fail to recognize that we are still children when we make mistakes
- Consitency is key!
- So is clarity; knowing what you want from your blog and what it stands for
- Mission and vision statements can help create a clearer image to help people what to expect when they visit your blog and why they should
- Be different and unique!
- You can do twists on what’s popular
- Your passion shows – don’t blog about things you don’t care about; readers can tell
- When promoting blog post use social media by cross-posting links on different sites, especially Twitter
- Visuals are important too – makes posts look better to readers
- Don’t be afraid to ask followers for input and to help with improvement
- Making money…
- Affliate links are helpful (especially Book Depositary) as they are a form of passive income. But they can be tedious and you’ll only earn a small amount if you’re a smaller blogger.
- When working with brands, keep balance in mind – don’t overwhelm your readers with a bunch of sponsored posts since that’ll make them more likely to stop following you
- Smaller businesses are easier to promote and more willing to work with smaller bloggers and bookstagrammers. They’re more approachable and then you won’t be promoting a product everyone else is already promoting.
- Always proofread posts for typos and grammar mistakes
The End
Like last year, Blogbound had some ARCs up for grabs. I was also supposed to participate in TriviaYA but I had to leave early to catch a train ride home ? (not that I would be much help to anyone – I’m terrible with YA trivia ?). All in all, I had a lot of fun and look forward to doing it all again next year!
Is there anything you want to see on this blog?
Sounds like a fun event, and I’m lusting over your goodie bag. Thanks for your notes on social media, it’s always helpful to hear tips.
It was a fun event! And it was free, which made it even better. I’m happy to help with my notes, though I must say, the panelists are the helpful ones. 🙂