Hello friends! This week's topic from Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer could not have come at a more appropriate time. For the past couple of months I've been slowly transitioning the blog into a set schedule. I've been doing this for mainly 2 reasons, one of which is the answer to this week's question from the Book Blogger Hop. It's about to get real up in here.
Do you overextend yourself with too many reviews because you can't pass up a book in hopes you will get them all done or do you carefully plan and be sure you can fulfill the deadlines for all the promised reviews?
I'm a little afraid to answer this... Yes, I tend to overextend myself by accepting too many books. When I first started my blog, I got overzealous on Netgalley. I accepted far too many books and didn't give myself plenty of time to review them. So instead of my percentage going up, it's been pretty stagnate. Overtime I've learned how to manage my time and to start accepting the books I know I will read, but I still know that my review rate will never be where it should.
This is why I decided to put Crystal Blogs Books on a set schedule, to limit the amount of arcs I request/download and make sure I am reading the ones I get before requesting more.
Introducing the new schedule...
You probably haven't noticed, but the new schedule finally rolled out at the beginning of April. It took awhile for the schedule to catch up since I usually start adding books a month or two in advance. So I really started the transition in February. Now that it's finally in affect, I'm enjoying the freedom it's given me. Before I used to review on the seat of my pants. I often didn't know what post I would have the following day until a night or two before. That added so much stress and I found myself getting burned out pretty quickly. I'm only two weeks into the new schedule and it's been smooth sailing since.
So, here's the schedule...
Monday - review
Tuesday - blog post
Wednesday - review
Thursday - blog post
Friday - review
Saturday/Sunday - no posts
Since I'm limiting myself to 3 reviews a week, I know that I can't schedule more than 3 arcs per week. No more overextending myself! Naturally, if I am ahead of schedule, I want to pick up an older arc so I can work on my Blogger Shame books.
Blog posts can be anything... Discussion posts, Crystal Memes, Currently Reading, tour spotlights, Pass the Popcorn, etc. It it anything that isn't a review. Plus I have so many ideas for other types of posts that I hope to incorporate soon, one of which is a music post.
I might come back in May and chat about how April went with the schedule. Fingers crossed it'll work and I'll be able to stick to it. We shall see!
Do you overextend yourself? Or are you a planner? Is your blog on a schedule? Comment below and let's chat!
You know my blog is on a schedule! LOL I only have reviews scheduled twice a week, a discussion post, a meme post. Basically, I only have up to 4 posts a week. If I won't be able to get a post scheduled in time, I don't stress out. It's actually pretty liberating and makes blogging even more fun!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your new schedule!