For the most part I very proudly proclaim myself to be a Book Nerd. I love books. I love to read them, think about them, talk about them, recommend them, and review them. There are many characters I care more about than people I’ve known In Real Life and I’m not even sorry about it. However, there are times when I talk to other book nerds that make me feel like I’m not quite up to snuff. I also feel a kinship with the book blogging community, but again, often feel like maybe I don’t quite get it as much as others. The following are some reasons why.
1. I do not like browsing through book stores.
I know this is supposed to be every book nerd’s happy place, but not for me. First off, I just generally hate shopping. Well, really, I just kind of hate leaving my house. I don’t like crowds and generally avoid them as much as possible. I also really hate spending money. But mostly, I always gravitate towards books I’ve already read or own. I don’t know why, but I just seek out the familiar and have no real intention of buying them. Since I hate spending money so much, the thought of just picking up an unread book seems very risky. I’ll browse the Nook store looking for good deals or my online library forever, but browsing through an actual book store is just so not my thing.
2. I don’t understand read-a-thons.
If it was for raising money for a good cause I would understand (and enjoy more than, say, a walk-a-thon), but is it just reading as many books as possible in a certain time frame? That’s basically my life anyways.
3. I don’t really advertise my blog.
I have a twitter that I post my reviews and various other things to, but that’s basically the extent of it. And to be perfectly honest I still don’t entirely understand Twitter. I also really hate when people I personally know read my blog. I try to keep it a secret, mostly. Conversely, I get really bummed out with my blog stats.
4. I can’t keep up a consistent posting schedule.
So many blogs post daily – sometime even multiple times a day. Meanwhile I’m over here scrambling to come up with every post (like this one, for example). I can’t tell you how many discussion posts I’ve drafted to have in the pipeline when I’m in need of a post, but they end up sounding like trash so I never post them and my blog goes days without posts if I’m not reviewing all the books I’m reading.
5. I’m pretty awful at commenting.
Most people consider me pretty quiet. I can go a long time without talking if I feel I have nothing of value to add to the conversation. That’s kind of how I feel when reading blog posts, too. I often don’t have anything insightful or interesting to say and most of my comments are things like “Great review!” or “I love this book”. And if I actually say those things, then I truly mean them, but sometimes I feel like I’m just sounding so generic so I don’t say anything at all.
Are you a Proud Book Nerd/Blogger? Do you ever feel you’re not quite as nerd-tastic as your peers?
Stephanie's Book Reviews 
We have 1,2,3 in common at least, you are not alone!
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who feels this way!
Hmm… I would consider myself a book nerd. I like to read anything.. and I mean anything at all, cause it’s a challenge 🙂 That of course comes with a risk of “Oh, man, this book is sh*te!” and I tend to see the horrible side of self-publishing.
I love bookshops and I love browsing Kobo store for hours on end…
What I don’t excel at is writing reviews. I don’t like reviews that just re-tell the story. I can read that myself from the actual book, and for that reason I write very personal emotion-based reviews but the downfall of those is- who gives a damn? 🙂
I’m with you on point 4. A schedule? *meh* 🙂
Are you able to DNF the sh*te books you read? I used to be horrible at doing that and had to finish everything I started, but I can sometimes let myself do it if I’m really not into it. I’m never happy with my reviews, either. I do like reading reviews that are more than just recap, too. My problem sometimes is that I want my reviews to appeal to people who haven’t read the book yet, as well as people who have and a lot of the time I feel like I give to much of my reaction and not enough of what the actual story is to appeal to potential readers of the book.
Re: reviews- I hear ya! Absolutely, I feel the same way. 🙂
As for DNF books… yes.. I used to make myself read everything, even if I didn’t like the book. It’s a bit like OCD or something 🙂 But then, couple of years ago I tried to read Nabokov’s Lolita and I just couldn’t! After that I realized, if I really don’t like the book, why waste my time? So, now I feel it’s totally legit for me to just stop reading even I feel it ain’t doing anything for me. life’s too short and there are books out there that are better… Sure, I do give the “bad” books a chance, I push myself to a certain limit but at some stage you just gotta face the facts! 🙂
I am so bad with having a consistent posting schedule. I’m pretty much really bad at things that have to do with blogging.Maybe because I’m still new to it. I’m bad at putting my blog out there. At first I didn’t understand readathons either. I felt like I was missing something.
Well I’m not exactly new to this anymore and I am still awful at scheduling posts haha. Hopefully you’ll get into it, though! I think it would make blogging easier.
You’re definitely not alone. I hate to shop, too. I have to be in the mood for it, and that’s rare. But, I do enjoy going to bookstores, just to be in the presence of books. I more enjoy used bookstores. But like you, I’m super cheap, and just about every time I visit a bookstore (a big chain one), I rarely walk out having purchased anything. Unless it’s a book on the discount shelf or something for my daughter. I can’t justify $16 or $18 for a book!! When I know I can get it for under $10 on my Kindle. I’m terrible about using the library. The pressure of finishing a book in a certain time frame and with my constant moodiness – the library doesn’t work for me either.
I enjoy readathons simply because it forces me to read more. I don’t get to read as much as I would like, and for whatever reason, joining a readathon gets my reading mojo flowing. Especially week-long ones. Anymore I can’t do the 24 hour ones, not with a 5 year old at home!
I don’t advertise much, either. Sometimes I post on Instagram about my blog, and I have a Facebook page, but it’s mostly just feeding my blog posts. I’m not doing this for money – it’s just for fun. I appreciate the followers I have and the numbers don’t bother me that much.
I try to comment as often as I can, but sometimes life gets too busy, so I try to ‘like’ posts so people know I’m reading them. I totally understand not knowing what to say all the time – I’m the same way! 🙂
I agree it’s hard to justify spending the money on a hardback when it is cheaper as an eBook. I usually can’t even let myself buy ebooks because $9.99 or so seems like such a mark up. I’m glad read-a-thons help you focus. I guess I just read pretty much all the time anyways that I’ve never really felt the need to join one. I’ve though about making a Facebook page, but I’m afraid my Facebook friends from my personal account will find out about it haha. I do love that WordPress has a “like” button. I wish all blogs would.
I love browsing the book store! But I’m like you, I hate spending money. I see people do massive book hauls and I just can’t imagine. I mean, one hardcover can be $20+. I don’t understand how people have posts scheduled months in advance. I’m lucky to even have one scheduled. Are we missing out on some secret, Stephanie lol? I’ve never participated in a read-a-thon. That feels like being forced to read and that does not appeal to me. I do love Twitter, though. I also make sure no one in my real life reads my blog. I keep it very hush hush. The only person who knows is my fiancé. I’d die of embarassment if someone I knew found it.
I don’t understand how people afford those massive book hauls, either. Maybe they find way better deals than I do? Only my family and one other person know about my blog and none of them read it, which is good, but I do regret telling them about it. I love your blog and you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about! But I definitely understand the feeling.
I’m usually okay about commenting (case in point :)), but I totally agree with you on #s 1-4
I definitely need to get better at commenting. I’m glad I’m not alone on the other ones, though!
You’re in good company! I hate leaving my house, so I rarely shop in bookstores anymore even though I enjoy browsing. And I will never be able to post on a schedule with a full-time job. I guess I can say I do plenty of social media marketing, given that I’m on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, and Goodreads (yes, it’s as exhausting as it sounds), but I still feel inadequate because I haven’t yet monetized my blog, so my following is still pretty small. Oh well! As long as we’re having fun blogging!
Wow you are definitely on top of the social media! That’s impressive. When I first started I really wanted to be able to make money out of it, but now I don’t think I’ll ever do it. I agree, it’s for fun!
I think it’s pretty obvious that your body has been taken over by some sort of alien…
Ha! No!!! I’m joking. I think lots of people can relate to this. As proved above, we all recognise something on your list. I think your honesty is refreshing- even blogging seems to have its own expectations and ideals nowadays..
Omg! Readathons. I’m a fast reader, and I’m a picky reader.. and I just don’t understand the appeal of a Readathon. It’s cool that so many people dig it.. but it’s just not for me.
Haha, well I do like some alien books and if Daemon Black wanted to take over my body…ok that sounded way creepier than I meant it…I guess readathons encourage people to get reading done so I’m always down with that. But reading is the majority of what I do anyways, so I don’t really think they’re for me.
I can relate to all of these, so you are by no means alone. I like going to the bookstore, but at the end of the day, I’m quite a frugal person so unless I’m going in with a 30% off coupon or something, I’m more likely to buy online. I’ve only done one read-a-thon, but did not like all the pressure and it’s kind of hard to read super fast if you have to pause and write a review. I like my own pace. I’ve been on Twitter for a few months now, but I don’t feel like I have a complete understanding of it. Also, people in real life vaguely know I have a blog, but I like to keep my blog a separate, sort of safe place for myself. When visiting other blogs, I sometimes think “Yes, this is a good post, I should make a comment.” Then I’ll think about it and come up with nothing. I want to be better at visiting more blogs and commenting. Maybe it will be one of my New Year’s resolutions. Love the post, Stephanie!
Thanks! I might join you in your resolution to visit and comment more on other blogs. I definitely need to do more of it!
Such a fantastic post, Stephanie! I couldn’t help but laugh and nod endlessly, I have often wondered about those read-a-thons too! I don’t like browsing through bookstores either – except the children’s and middle-grade section, but that’s only because I have four little ones and their interests intrigue me 🙂
Thank you! So many people love those read-a-thons, but I don’t think they’re for me.
Points 2,4 and 5 are so me and 2 I’m still struggling with. I avoid looking at my stats because that’s just depressing and I’m still trying to figure out a schedule because I tend to just post when I feel like it. Have started scheduling some posts instead of posting them all at once.
I’m glad to hear other people think these things too. I sometimes schedule posts like one day ahead. Or if they are arc reviews I’ll keep them until close to the release date. But everything else I just post right away. Hopefully we’ll both get better at it.
Gotta say I’m not as much of a book nerd as I want to be! I don’t have enough time to read as much as I want to, or enough money to buy al the books that I want to. Even thought, like you, I’m not a fan of being in the outside world, I do love libraries. Free books and generally not many people. 🙂
I don’t really post about books, but my blog is a bit of a mess. But I feel like it is what it is. I post when I’ve got something t post, and if not, I figure the best thing to do is stay quiet. And commenting is hard sometimes. I often feel like I haven’t got anything interesting to say, but sometimes I just say what’s in my head anyway and hope for the best. I’m trying to be more out of my shell.
And yeah, I don’t get read-a-thons either. Just don’t understand them.
To conclude, I like your blog. And your honesty. 🙂
Thank you! I love free books, but I prefer my online library to going out to the real one. I also have a thing about how germy library books could be. I’m trying to do better at comments. I always appreciate when someone comments on mine, so it would make sense others would appreciate it, even if I’m not very eloquent about it.
Have to say that whenever I go to a bookstore, I spend my time writing down titles to check out of the library later!! 😀
Haha that’s a good idea!
I am with you on most things! Lately life has been very hard in terms of finding time to post so yeah. Though I love browsing in bookstores. Or libraries. Love them.
I’m glad I’m not the only one on a lot of these!
If I blogged, 3 and 4 would be hard for me. I feel the same way about commenting. I always read your posts and the funny fridays always make me laugh but I hardly comment. I don’t feel like I have much to contribute other than great review or funny post.
I do like browsing the bargain section of bookstores or my library store. I never shop in the full price section. I can’t justify those prices when I can go to the library and get it for free.
I like read a thons but only if they are long. The very short ones confuse me. I already read daily so it isn’t a goal for me to read that day. I usually only do 1 a year and it is 15 days. It is satisfying to set and complete a goal plus I try to pick shorter books so I can complete more. This year I read/listened to 10. I was really happy! My tbr list is out of control.
I have started dnf’ing more books. It used to be soooo hard for me to do it. I actually went back and finished some that I quit and was sorry I bothered. I trust my judgement now. I try to read atleast halfway before giving up.
I’m glad to hear someone feels the same way I do about commenting. Most times I just can’t think of anything to say! I agree that shopping full price books is hard to justify. I always feel like a chump, when I know there is a cheaper – or free – option out there. Good job on learning to DNF books! It too me so long to do this, too. I still often put books back on my TBR list instead of forgetting it all together, but I have learned that to just stop if I’m not enjoying it.
I guess I should specify full price for hardback books. Some are almost $30! I will pay full price for paperbacks I want to own. Don’t feel like a chump! If you can do it and want to, go for it.
Oh yes $30 for a book just seems way too much – especially when you can usually buy the e-book for under $10. Still, most times I feel that is even too much for an e-book. I usually wait for the library to have it haha
I have NO regular posting schedule, and I’m okay with that. I love blogging, but it’s not my life. People who post every day, or even worse, several times a day. give me cause to shake my head. I don’t understand how they can read that many books AND find the time to review them, and find the time to visit every one else’s blogs.
I wish I had something original to say when I read other blogs, but often I don’t so I just like. Liking means I’ve read and enjoyed the post.
Yes, I LOVE the Like button. I would be way more of a blog hermit if there wasn’t one.
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