Thank you so much to Fatima at NoteablePad for nominating me for this award! The book blogging community is honestly such a wonderful one, and Fatima truly runs an amazing blog and is amazing in general.
RULES:
- Write a post to show your award
- Give a brief story of how your blog started
- Give two advice to new bloggers
- Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog
- Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to
The story behind Fabled Haven
Fabled Haven was born in May of 2014! During that time of my life, I was recovering from my spinal fusion surgery (scoliosis), so I wasn’t very mobile. As a result, I did a lot of reading (more than usual), stumbled across BookTube, and then found the book blogging community. I first created Fabled Haven on Blogspot, since it’s where some of my favorite BookTubers at the time had their blogs set up (ABookUtopia and LittleBookOwl), but soon after moved my blog and two existing posts to WordPress.
All of my first reviews were extremely stiff and formal – I just didn’t know how to be conversational in my posts and when sharing my thoughts. There was also very little personality to my blog – I didn’t really let a lot of my character shine through my posts, if that makes any sense. I also didn’t interact with fellow book bloggers very much, which is really unfortunate, because this is such a wonderful community that I’ve fallen in love with.
Advice to new bloggers:
1. Interact with other bloggers!
This is easily one of the most important things you can do as a book blogger. Being able to establish relationships and friendships with other book bloggers is so amazing, and can generate a lot of discussion and recommendation! Some of my favorite bloggers to talk to are Lauren @ Wonderless Reviews and Liam @ Hey Ashers! – being able to talk to bloggers like these make book blogging such a wonderful experience, so I highly recommend being social in this community.
2. Keep your blog running and active.
I know that it can be really hard to maintain schedules and keep blogs active, but it’s really important to be posting regularly – I manage to do this by utilizing the ‘schedule my posts’ feature, especially for weeks where I know I’m going to be really busy.
Fabled Haven 
Thanks for nominating me, you beautiful human being.
😘
Thanks for the nomination! I agree with your tips for new bloggers. A lot of people don’t realize how important it is for them to be interacting with other bloggers. It serves as a marketing technique as well.
It really does! Interacting with other bloggers makes ALL the difference when it comes to blogging, honestly.
Totally agree, plus the reason most bloggers start blogs is to find people with similar interests and discuss. Not talking to others defeat that purpose. Unless that’s just my opinion.
No, I agree with you! Blogging is a community, and not interacting with others reallyyy makes one miss out.
Oh man, your surgery sounds awful. Was it successful? Hopefully you’re not living with any side effects.
I’m right there with you on the blogging history. If I could do it all over again, I’d have started following other book bloggers immediately; that first year and a half of blogging would’ve been so much more satisfying! Your advice is excellent, and I hope tons of new bloggers read it. 🙂
Thank you for the tag, and for making my day! You’re one of my favorite bloggers to chat with, too. *High fives.* 😀
The surgery was really successful! They weren’t able to fix my curve completely, but it significantly alleviated my pain – besides a lot of itchiness during the first year (nerve repair 😅), there haven’t been any side effects!
And honestly! I blogged for about a year and a half as well before really interacting with other bloggers – it’s made such a difference.
You’re welcome, Liam! Hahaha, I hope you enjoy this tag!
Hurray! It sounds like a horrible process, but worth it.
😀
Definitely, hahah!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Katherine 🙂 Just like you, I didn’t interact with fellow bloggers much, and I wish I started sooner. Since I started, I’ve been able to talk to wonderful people I wouldn’t have otherwise got to know. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t know many people who like reading as much as me, or read the same books I do. I don’t know why I didn’t think of blogging sooner!
Your advice to new bloggers is also so true! Blogging consistently is so important. I read an article once that explained that though many many many (I forgot the number) people start to blog, 90% of them stop after 3 months. The bloggers who continue posting are more likely to be successful at it.
That article definitely sounds accurate – I know a lot of people who have tried to start blogging but have stopped after even a month. It can be hard, though! You’re so welcome Fatima!
Aw, Katherine! You totally just made my week. I honestly can’t stop smiling. It’s been so great talking to you and following your blog! Honestly, starting my blog was one of the best things I did and I was so nervous to interact with everyone, but fortunately this community has been so wonderful and it’s really helped me feel less anxious about talking to people.
That surgery sounded painful! I hope everything went well recovery wise?
Also, fantastic advice (I really need to get better at using the scheduling feature, haha) and thank you so, s much for the nomination ♥
Congrats on your award! And thank you for nominating me, bless your beautiful blogger soul! ❤
I can’t wait to see your post! 💘
I’m so glad your surgery went well (from your response to Liam)! Haha, I also agree that Lauren and Liam are great people to talk to! I completely agree with your advice for new bloggers – interacting with other bloggers is crucial, especially when starting out, and consistency is also key.
Thank you so much for nominating me, Katherine! 🙂 ❤
Congrats! And thanks for tagging me. 😀