Bookstagramming 101: How to reach your first 100

We all know how exciting is to open a new bookstagram, but afterwards what? It feels discouraging to realize how hard it’s to get people to follow you. It is not simple I tell you. It takes time and effort, but if you are consistent I can assure you things will go smoothly fine. With Mali ( eatthebooks ) we’ve created a bunch of tips that helped us past the 100 followers.

First and foremost: HOW TO TAKE PRETTY PICTURES

☼ LIGHTNING: Natural light it’s your best friend when it comes to take pictures. I can assure you that regardless of which device you are using to take the picture, it will improve it over 100% times. Try to do the «photoshoots» before the sun goes down. I understand this is pretty difficult in certain countries, even more when it’s bloody Winter but use every opportunity you have.

☼THEME: we know that some themes tend to be repetitive and that sucks, but it helps you when you lack of ideas. And this certainly helps you to be consistent. People don’t like accounts with pictures of a book in a white fluffy sheets and then another of a book in the night with a bunch of lights.
Stick with a consistent edit/filter/colors in your pictures. If you look  at big accounts you will notice they have a theme, be it white sheets, nature, desks, woods, etc. Choose one that fits you perfectly.

☼IMPROVEMENT: improve your pictures, people will hardly want to follow you back if you have grainy blurry pictures. I know that not everyone owns a fancy camera. None of us ( Mali and I ) have one, but we do our best to add as much quality as we can. And no one is a professional photographer, but with a little bit of effort and lots of time and love you can create beautiful things.
Dedicate a little bit of your time to them. It’s not quite pleasing to see someone who just threw a book and a bunch of items and tah-dah. Try to add props ( a few objects that match the book, being related to it, or having the same color ) the most common but effective props are a cup of your beverage ( be it tea or coffee ) or a pair of glasses, a pretty aesthetically cacti, you name it. // this in case you decide to have an indoors theme // Just try to make the pictures look slightly pleasing to the eye. It do wonders.

☼INTERACT: this is provably one of the most important tips we can give to you. We all start shy. It feels like standing in front of the whole class trying to introduce yourself. But I can assure you people is too nice. No one is going to kick you in the butt.
Follow people, lots of people, 100+ is good. But always interact with them. Comment on their pictures, answer their questions, like the photos,  comment on their stories. Just don’t be an inactive follower. Try to send nice things such as «i really like this picture of yours, I think (insert opinion)» or «I’ve read that book! I thought it was (insert opinion)»

☼on that note: DO NOT SPAM: it is nice to receive the notification that someone liked and commented your pictures. Though it feels terrible odd when all of a sudden you see someone liked over 20 pictures all at once. Sometimes it can get you blocked. As long as you like at least up to 5 pictures you are oky doky. Genuinely like and comment them. The more you interact, the more people will notice you, the more you’ll get follow backs.

note: please don’t ask for follow back. It is rude. Even more if you drop in the comments «f4f». No no no and no.

☼HASHTAGS: hashtag every single picture, aim to hit the limit of 30 hashtags. Try to use not just the popular like #bookstagram or #bibliophile or #bookworm, but create a balance between popular hashtags and not so much, such as #vscobooks. Your picture can be buried between the sea of pictures in #bookstagram within seconds, but can remain in the #vscobooks after hours.

and last but certainly not least a few DO and DON’Ts

☼do not follow just to unfollow later. Do I need to remind you this is highly rude? Bookstagrammers are people. And it hurts to see someone, anyone doing this.
☼ do not ask for shout outs unless someone is hosting a shout out session.
☼as previously said, do not ask for a follow back.
☼ avoid spamming: about anything. Don’t post too many giveaway pictures. Don’t spam with likes. Don’t s/o or participate in S/O sessions all at once. It annoys your followers
☼post regularly or at least twice a week, otherwise people will think you are inactive and unfollow. If you are too busy to post, make your followers know you will be on hiatus till further notice.
☼try to talk a little bit about your books in your pictures. I don’t say no one is interested in your personal life, but if you post way too much about anything that’s not related to bookstagram. Personally, I created a personal account separately 🙂

And that’s pretty much all. I know this sounds like an impossible thing to do, and it may discourage you at some point. But it’s been written only to help you create a marvelous bookstagram and be noticed. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to hit any of us: Mali ( eatthebooks ), me Nico ( symphonyofsoldier )
You provably came from there, but we have a feature account ( featuremybooks ) that helps people under the 1k get noticed, so follow us and hashtag your pictures as #featuremybooks to be featured!! ( if you are above the 1k you can still be featured, of course )

BEST OF LUCK AND MUCH LOVE

-Nico && Mali