I think, for me, the most important thing I've learnt is not to be too preoccupied with visitor and follower statistics.
When I began blogging it all seemed to be about statistics. Every form seemed to ask how many followers you had, every author wanted to know how many visitors would see their review. To get bigger, you were told, you had to make sure you posted at least once a day. It was important to join all the memes you could, check facebook every hour, and join in as many challenges as possible. In short, it was impossible to be a successful blogger and have any sort of 'real world' life. Or at least, that's how it appeared.
Now don't get me wrong, its good to make sure you have lots of contents on your blog. But its more important to interact properly with your followers and readers, and to get a good blogging-life-work balance. That means that stats can't be everything!
And they don't need to be either! I no longer put stats first, but I still get plenty of book review requests. The authors that ask me seem to be attracted by my style of review, the likelihood of getting a positive review, and (more often than not) simply getting their presence onto as many blogs as possible.
I also enjoy replying to my comments in a way that wasn't possible when I had loads of people simply posting links to their own blogs, It feels like my readers and much more engaged with what I am posting, and not just jumping through hoops to get their own blogs recognised.
In short, I'm enjoying blogging much more than I used to!
What would your top tip be for a new book blogger?
