Jo Linsdell

Showing posts with label Lainy. Show all posts

Today we're discussing ways to super charge your productivity as a book blogger. Us book bloggers can often feel overwhelmed by it all, so this post is to share some tips and tricks to help us along the way.

Here's a few things that work for me:

1) Have clear goals. Knowing the what, why, and how of the content you post makes a huge difference. You can then break it down into achievable and measurable tasks. Ticking things off a list is so satisfying, and can be a great motivator.

2) Do a brain dump. Getting everything out of your head and down on paper makes it easier to deal with, and allows you to become more focused on what needs doing. You might also discover some awesome ideas for new blog posts while you do it.

3) Routine is your friend. When you get in the habit of setting aside the same time each day to work on your projects it becomes much easier to stay on top of everything.

4) Keep an editorial calendar. This makes it much easier to keep track of what needs posting, and when. It also means you can clearly see which posts you've programmed, and which ones you need to work on. It saves loads of time searching for content, and makes it quick and easy to track the content you post on your site e.g. frequency, type of posts, etc...

5) Batching. Batching is a great way to get a lot of content completed at once, and follows on nicely from point number 4. When you know what blog posts you want to post over the next few weeks/month, find some time to sit down and write up the first drafts. Even just getting down the skeleton of the posts makes a huge difference. You can easily batch a whole month of content in one day. This is particularly useful if you have a holiday, or other busy period coming up.

6) Templates, templates, templates. Keep templates on file for regular posts. Not only does it make it much quicker and easier to write up the posts, it also helps create consistency on your site and therefore strengthens your brand. Create templates of branded graphics for your site too (I love Canva.com for doing this), as it will save you loads of time, and help give your blog a professional look.

Tips from book bloggers

I reached out via my social media channels to see the ways that other book bloggers super charge their productivity and this is what they have to say:

"Unless I am walking or in a social situation, I will read anywhere and everywhere. Even standing on the tube in a crowd full of people squished up against one another, I will have my book out reading, ignoring everyone. I also make sure that if I’m struggling to finish a book by my intended date, I will make either a partial review post or an unrelated post about publishing or whatnot so my readers stay engaged and I don’t lose followers."

Sophie Eminson from https://romanticsrebelsandreviews.wordpress.com

@polesofie

"I do two main things to make sure that I have material to post about and to keep my sanity. One, I set aside one hour every night to read, more on the weekends of course! Usually right before bed, because it relaxes me. But also because then I make sure that I get some reading in each day. Of course you could set a different amount of time, but I'm a fast reader so this allows me to finish at least one book a week. The second thing I do is never set a posting schedule. I know this seems weird, but it works for me. I find that I actually want to post more when I don't have a schedule, because then I feel no pressure."

Adrianna Schuh from www.fortheluvofbooks.com

@ForLoveandBooks

"I try to join in with tags or weekly blog posts, reading/reviewing new releases and taking part in blog tours help with my productivity."

Lainy from bookishbitsblogblog.wordpress.com

@BookishBitsBlog

"I stay productive because I have a love of to-do lists. I have post-it notes everywhere as well as a couple of notebooks and a planner. I keep a list of books requested to me as well as books I want to read and go through them in order. I try to read at least 50-100 pages a day (or for an hour) and that allows me to read at least one book a week if not two or three."

Rachel Poli from https://rachelpoli.com/

@RPoli3