Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Tips for newbie bloggers (4)

Posted by Anastasia on January 30, 2012 5 Responses »

Jan 302012

Previous tips:
Tip #1: Don’t try to do everything all at once.
Tip #2: Don’t be afraid to make friends.
Tip #3: Interact with other bloggers (outside of your blog).

Tip #4: Scheduling is your friend.

This doesn’t work for everyone, as some people prefer just writing posts the day they mean to post them, but if you can schedule in advance even one post a week it’ll be a big benefit to you and your blog. Scheduling, for those who don’t know, is when you write a post before the date you mean for it to go live. So, for instance, if I wanted to schedule this post in advance, I’d write in on Friday and set the post date for today, Monday. To set the date as something different from the day you’re writing it, check in the “publish” options on whatever blog platform you use. WordPress, for instance, has a thing that says “Publish immediately Edit”; if you click “edit” you can change that to any date you want! Yay!

So, why should you schedule posts? Sometimes writing a blog post a day, or even every few days, can get really tiring. It’s hard to keep up momentum over a long period of time, and eventually you’ll want to take a vacation from blogging. The easiest way to take that vacation without making your blog go silent for a week (or whenever) is to schedule posts!

For instance: In December I scheduled about two week’s worth of posts in advance. I did this because I knew I’d be tired from packing for my move– too tired to write a blog post every day like I usually do. So what I did instead was: I dedicated about two days a week to writing as many blog posts as I could! I wrote reviews, discussion posts, and prepped my meme posts so I could fill in the details later. Once I did that, I didn’t have to write anything for days at a time (except for filling in the memes). That meant I could then spend my time relaxing, talking on Twitter, and reading books.

Do you like scheduling posts in advance? Or do you prefer to write posts on the day they go live?

The Sunday Salon (Jan. 29): The “reviewing classics” edition January 29, 2012 The Sunday Salon (Jan. 29): The “reviewing classics” edition Posted by Anastasia on January 29, 2012 10 Responses Memes, The Sunday Salon I LOVE reading classic books, but I have the hardest time ever writing reviews for them. It’s like I get intimidated by all the thousands of people who’ve written about classics before me (and who’ve probably done a better job), and then everything I write comes out sounding stupid. You know? Full Story	Commonplace Post (19) January 28, 2012 Commonplace Post (19) Posted by Anastasia on January 28, 2012 4 Responses Link Posts, Misc Why Manga Publishing Is Dying (And How It Could Get Better): But the problem isn’t just about fickle Americans — the Japanese manga market is hurting too. Sales of manga magazines, the traditional delivery medium for manga in Japan, peaked in 1995, and have been falling ever since. Graphic novel sales remained steady longer, but [...] Full Story	REVIEW: The Giver by Lois Lowry January 27, 2012 REVIEW: The Giver by Lois Lowry Posted by Anastasia on January 27, 2012 7 Responses 3/5, Age Group, Classic Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction, MG, New (Birds), Note, Rating, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Speculative Fiction, YA 014. The Giver by Lois Lowry Publication: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 26, 1993), ebook, 210pp / ISBN 0440237688 Genre: YA Sci-fi/Dystopia Read: January 24, 2012 Source: Bought Summary from Amazon: Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a [...] Full Story
Thursday Tea (Jan. 26): Vesper January 26, 2012 Thursday Tea (Jan. 26): Vesper Posted by Anastasia on January 26, 2012 No Responses Memes, Thursday Tea The book: I’m about halfway through Vesper by Jeff Sampson, and I mostly like it. I’m not sure why, but I always seem to treat books starring women written by a male authors more harshly than I do books with male protagonists written by female authors. Maybe I’m more worried about the former screwing something [...] Full Story	REVIEW: Planet Janet by Dyan Sheldon January 25, 2012 REVIEW: Planet Janet by Dyan Sheldon Posted by Anastasia on January 25, 2012 2 Responses 3/5, Age Group, Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, New (Birds), Note, Rating, Reviews, Teen, YA 011. Planet Janet by Dyan Sheldon Publication: Candlewick (February 1, 2003), Hardcover, 240pp / ISBN 0763620483 Genre: YA Fiction Read: January 20-21, 2012 Source: Used Bookstore Review Diaries-as-books are some of my favorite things, and I especially like reading teenage diaries. Maybe because I find them so funny nowadays? Teenagers can be melodramatic and selfish [...] Full Story	MINI-REVIEWS: I Want it Now!, Ghost College, The Art of Money Getting January 24, 2012 MINI-REVIEWS: I Want it Now!, Ghost College, The Art of Money Getting Posted by Anastasia on January 24, 2012 2 Responses 2.5/5, 2/5, Beach Reads, Fantasy, Fiction, Memoir, New (Birds), Non-fiction, Paranormal, Rating, Reviews, Urban Fantasy 007. I Want it Now! A Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory by Julie Dawn Cole & Michael Esslinger Publication: BearManor Media / Ocean View Publishing (July 12, 2011), ebook, 252pp / ISBN 1593930747 Genre: Memoir Read: January 13-14, 2012 Source: Freebie Review Memoirs from celebrities are, I [...] Full Story