Book Blogging Guide for Beginners: A-Z Made Easy (2022)

So, you are thinking of starting Book Blogging. Or you already started a book blog.

Or you have a book blog. In all of the cases, this guide on book blogging will help you. I am writing this, a complete guide on how to start a book blog.

Or from where to start for your successful book blogging. We will talk about the stuff like Bringing Traffic to your Book Blog.

Starting with why and how I started my book blog.

I love reading books. Talking about books is my favourite time-pass. I like to tell people what I like about the book and what I disliked. I know I am not alone.

There are many readers like me, and if you are here, reading this, you are certainly one of them.

I used to do book reviews on GoodReads, then I started my book blog.

Because as good as GoodReads is, there are so much I cannot do on GR. Like talking about the various elements of the books and writing, talking about the pattern of any particular writer. There was the time the GoodReads was the social sites for the readers, now, it is only a review site.

For the past two years, I am doing book blogging.

By the way, I made many mistakes. I learned many things. The mistakes that provide me with the knowledge, the knowledge that makes me useful for the people who want to know how to start book blogging. There are many steps, there are many questions and of course, there are many doubts.

When I started doing book blogging, I was confused, there were so many questions ringing in my mind.

Questions related to book blogging :

Like a beginner, I searched the Google to get the answer to my question. I joined the Facebook groups of bloggers and got a lot of significant information.

Aside from the Internet, I downloaded the book from Amazon and used many tricks from them.

I took some courses, related to SMO and SEO. Some tricks worked some do not.

What is the book Blogging?

Before starting a book blog, you must know what actually it is.

I know you know it is blogging about books, writing reviews and taking the author’s interviews, talking about literature and all. I knew this much when I started this blog.

But wait, there is more to it.

Most of the book blogger, let’s say 90% or maybe more, start book blogging with writing book reviews. This is an easy first step. You read books, you know writing review, and you start your book blog. But there will come the time that it will feel boring. It will be a pile of book reviews. There might be the Author Interviews sometimes.

Still, you cannot stand your blog solely on Book Reviews and Author Interviews.

What would you do then?

As I was saying, you can do more with book blogging. Book reviews are a part of a book blog, not book blogging itself.

Some topics you can write on in your book blog:

Here are 35+ Book Blog Post Ideas to make your Blogging Interesting

So now you can see a book blog is about books, but not about book reviews. You can do a lot of great stuff with your book blog. Only you are the limit. There are more to do on a book blog.

Now we talk about why you need a book blog?

Why should you start a book blog?

If you like reading books, and you like talking about books, you need a book blog. There are many reasons but here are some that might be enough to convince you to start book blogging.

Your content is yours

You use GoodReads or any other alternative site to review the books you read, or you like to discuss the book you read.

But my point is if you are creating content (yes!! Book review is your content), or I should say if you are writing something, why are you giving it away freely.

Okay, by starting a book blog, you may not be earning lots of money out of your writing about the books you read, but the content you have created will be purely yours.

I am not saying you should not use GoodReads, but you should store your reviews somewhere else too.

You can put that content elsewhere too, with the link to your blog. This way you will be the master of your content.

By having a book blog, you are making a brand for yourself in a field you feel most comfortable. It does not need to be a big brand or the master of the game, but still, it will be yours. Personal.

Freedom to do Anything

I do not know if you have read the guidelines of GoodReads, but I used GoodReads, and I know there are many people angry with them because they do not let people write what they want to write.

Read the Privacy Policy of GoodReads and do not forget to read the comments.

Read this Tumblr Blog too.

Same is with other sites, like Booklikes and Librarythingy, or Shelfari. They do not let you brash the book if you hate it. A personal book blog is a place you can play according to your rules. You will be the editor of your work. There is no guidelines or rules you have to follow..

All fangirling/fanboying(is it a word now) you want to do a book or character or series or writer.

Or do negative and bitchy reviews of the books you hate.

Your Book Blog is your Personal Thing

Aside from a playground for you, a book blog would be a personal thing to you. A home like space. You do all the thing for your book blog, like designing and decorating. Your Hogwarts to go back and a wardrobe to jump.

As a blogger has said, you raise a blog like a child.

You get the chance to see your book blog rising from nothing to something. And it will be you who will be responsible for that.

Getting Free Books

To be frank, I started book blogging because of this reason. I learned that if you have a book blog, chances of getting a review copy of the book increase a lot.

From the time I have started this blog, I get lots of book review request. Many of them are Advanced review Copies. That is the reason I have a book review guideline page on my blog.

And believe me, reading a book on request is not that attractive as I assumed, but we will talk about that later.

So, if you start a book blog, after some time, the author will start contacting you with the request for book reviews. There will not be big names in the starting; of course, I am talking about the debut authors.

Good Hobby

What will be the best hobby than book blogging?

You love to read; now you are going to talk about it on the internet from your house. Your book blog is like your house, which you decorate and make pretty for the visitors. From here you put your opinion, you let people tell their opinion in comments and convert your blog from house to your home.

It is a hobby, but with more fun. Only, if you take it as fun, btw.

Earn money

If you get popular, there is a very slight chance of book blogging, you can earn money too. There are many ways you can earn money from your book blog, but we will talk about this later.

But book bloggers never earn money. It is for fun though.

How to Earn Money through Book Blogging

Now you know that why starting a book blogging is fun and lovely.

Let’s talk about this guideline of starting a book blog.

Starting the Guideline to start a book blog

In the guideline, I will tell you the different aspects of book blogging in detail.

You just have to read, and you will learn. I will keep everything easy and straight.

Choosing the Platform

This is the first step towards book blogging.

At what platform you are going to make your book blog.

Under this topic, I will explain which platform is best for starting a book blog. We will learn about two major blog platforms, Blogspot and WordPress. We will compare their pros and cons. Then it will be easy for you to choose the platform to start your book blog.

Which Platform is best for starting a Book Blog?

Blogspot is a Google service, and WordPress is another private service. Both are free and both are premium. We will talk about each one in detail and find out which is best for a book blog.

How to Start A Book Blog Summary

How to STart A Book Blog Infographics

Domain Name and Hosting

This is a second step and an important one too. When I was making my blog, this step was the one where I stuck the longest. It is because at this level you have to spend money, and you have to be cautious because, in the Internet business, things are not as safe.

I managed to get a good deal on hosting and domain name.

For people who do not understand what I am talking about now, it is okay. In starting I was also unaware of this vocabulary, I mean hosting, domain names, Bandwidth and Data Storage, what all this means??  But I learned and so can you. It is not even that tough.

How to get the best deal on Domain Names and Hosting before starting a book blog?

We will also talk about how to decide the name of your blog and how to get hosting without spending big bucks.

The title of your book blog.

What should you call your book blog? How creative can you be in it?

How important to choose the right name for your book blog?

Let’s do the title talk for your book blog. And it is very important.

Decide Your Book Blog Name Smartly and Do Not regret it Later

Should your domain name and Blog Name be same?

WordPress Themes for your Book Blog

If you have decided to select WordPress as your book blog platform, then you will need this. To make my blog, I browsed through many themes, and here I am going to put that I think will be best for a book blog.

There are many themes in the market. Free and premium. But you have to choose on the basis of your calling and style. How you want to show yourself to your readers.

Your blog represents you. Everything about your book blog, from designing to content, tells people about you.

This is a little collection of some good WordPress theme for book bloggers. And also Plugins for WordPress a blogger should have.

All Best WordPress Plugins for Book Bloggers

BlogSpot Template for Your Personal Book Blog

If you are going to BlogSpot, then again you will need a template to make your book blog look attractive enough. I also have blogs on BlogSpot, and that’s why I have to surf through many Blogger templates. Here will be the collection of suitable book blogging templates.

Everything I said above is true for the difference is the platform.

Here is the collection of the template for your book blog.

Post Ideas/Important Pages for your book blog

Now you have set up your blog. Now you want to publish something. You want to write something. But except book reviews, nothing is coming to your mind.

Well, don’t panic. There are many things you can do with your book reviews. I have talked about it already a little bit, but in this post, I will give you many post ideas for your book blog.

Book Blog Posts Ideas for your new book blog.

There are also suggestions for how to make your about page, what to write. What pages are important.

SEO and SEO of book Blog

If you are new, this is a little bit tricky. When I was new, this thing has made me mad. SEO means Search Engine Optimization, it means to write your article, content or whatever you are writing in formats that make it easy for Google to categorize it.

SEO of Book Blogging

It is not necessary to follow it, but we will talk about it in the post.

We will cover the indexing and site-maps thing in this topic too.

Do SEO for your Book Blog Easily

Getting audience for your Book Blog

To earn from your personal book blog, you have to earn an audience first. After starting a book blog, and writing some articles on it, you start promoting your content.

You know the best and easiest method of promotion is Social Media. But that is only one method. There is a more creative method to do the blog promotion. See what works best for you.

What types of images, how and where, you should use them on your book blog.

How to make Infographics, or find the gif.

You may want to use these images in a way that they don’t reduce the page load speed. Too much to talk about images.

How Image makes book reviews more interesting.

Images are a big part of book blogging. It makes sense to do them right from the beginning.

Here we will talk about how to use images in the proper manner so they complement your book blog.

Earning Money from your book Blog

This will be the last thing on your mind if you are starting a book blog. You have to do it for fun, and once you will see that your blog is having an audience, and then you can use some advertisement.

There are many ways to earn money from your book blog. From beta reading to affiliate marketing to promoting books.

Under this topic, we will talk about earning money from your book blog.

End of Guideline to start a book blog

So, guys, this is the complete guideline you need to start a book blog. By following it, it will be an easy task for you to start your journey of book blogging and have fun around.  If you will do the work with your heart, and your personality is present on your book blog, then your blog will become popular too.

Most of all, it is worth to start a book blog despite all of the little efforts.

Finally, Some Important Book Blogging tips you should never forget.

  • Choose your book blog title wisely. You do not want to change once your reader accepts your book blog name. You can lose viewership.
  • Blogging platform, choose the one you are most suitable for. Don’t get motivated by someone else’s book blog. They have different knowledge and you have different.
  • Be Consistent. Try to write at least a post every week.
  • Social Media is important. Don’t underestimate the power of social media.
  • Be as creative as you want. No one is stopping you.
  • Lastly, be proud of your book blog. Don’t hesitate to tell anyone that you are a book blogger.

Thank You for reading this.

If you have any question, doubts, and problem regarding any point or topic, leave it in comments.

How to Start Book Blogging_ Pin

Faizan Fahim

Hello, welcome to this blog. Just writing reviews of the book I like. Also, favorite quotes, poetry, memes, sometimes other topics too, but always related to literature. So join me on Twitter to talk to me.

You may also like...

2 Responses

  1. Rupali says:

    Thanks for all suggestions.After reading your post felt like this is something i was searching for.Getting all information under one roof is such a nice feeling.Thanks for sharing 🙂

    • Faizan says:

      Thank You, Rupali,
      The post is still not complete, I am writing on the topics I mentioned in the post.
      You can follow or subscribe to the blog to get notified when a new post is published.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.