Note: I like to figure out what I think by writing about it. This is a little personal reflection I did to answer for myself why I keep this blog running even though it’s not popular and I’m not trying to make it popular. It has little to do with books or reviews and a lot more to do with me, the reviewer. If you’re just here for the book thoughts and not for personal reflections, feel free to skip this one – no hard feelings.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about why I write reviews. This blog is not very popular. It has a grand total of 78 followers and has received about 8,000 total views in the nearly 9 years I’ve been running it (and some of those are probably WordPress miscounting my visits as other people’s views). Very few people know who I am or care what I have to say about books, and that’s fine. I worked in digital marketing for nearly a decade – if I wanted this blog to be popular I could have put some effort into making it popular.
So if hardly anyone cares what I have to say and I’m not trying to get more people to care, why do I keep putting time and effort into writing all these reviews?
Habit
I started reviewing books in 2010 and I’ve been consistently reviewing (and posting on this blog) since 2012. That’s over eight years writing reviews. Eight years of just about anything will likely make it into a habit. At this point, it feels a little weird to finish a book, record that I read it, and not write a review.
Accomplishment
I am very driven by feelings of accomplishment. Checking things off a list? Love it. Empty email inbox? Perfection. That moment when you finish a project and can close the 15 browser tabs you had open for it? I’m swooning. Completing a book is a great feeling of accomplishment.
But if that’s the case … why write a review? I already track my reading in two places: An Evernote note listing the books I read each year, and The StoryGraph (a Goodreads alternative). When I finish the book, I can add it to my Evernote note and move it from “Currently Reading” to “Read” in The StoryGraph. Why do I need to write my thoughts and post them like the world cares?
Enjoyment
I think, deep down, this is a purely selfish blog. I write reviews because I like it. I like putting my thoughts about a book into words on a page, especially if it’s a book I have strong feelings about. I like being able to read my thoughts about books I’d completely forgotten about. I like doing the book round-ups to summarize my reading for the year. I like playing with the format and design of the blog itself. It’s just a lot of fun.
I think that’s a lot of the reason I don’t really care how many people read my reviews. I’m not doing it for the view counts or for readers who are expecting me to put out a review every Tuesday at 9am. I don’t get review copies anymore, so I’m not even doing it for authors or publishers who are expecting publicity. I’m doing it for me, because I enjoy writing reviews and posting reviews and looking through a blog that records my thoughts on the books I’ve read.
So whatever reason you’re here, if you’re one of my 78 followers or not, welcome! Look around, read some book thoughts, maybe find something you want to read (or find something you disagree with me about!). I appreciate that you’re here. But even if you leave this post and never come back, this blog will keep going just like it always has, because I just like writing reviews.
Bluejay Reads 