Blogger Recognition Award!

We have been nominated by Sushmita @ Fervently Curious and Erika @ Partners in Books! Thank you so much to you both, we really appreciate the thought!

---

Rules:

1. Select 15 other blogs to give the award to. You might have to do some searching, but you can find those blogs. You can’t nominate yourself or the person who nominated you.
2. Make a post to show off your award! Talk about how your blog got started and give some advice to the other bloggers out there. And share the fancy picture!
3. Comment on each blog to let the blogger know that you have nominated them.
4. Link to the original post at Edge of Night that way anyway can find the original guidelines and such.

---

How Our Blog Started & Some Advice

Sarah: So basically, I would like to start off by saying this blog wouldn’t be here without Faith. It would literally be one of those “yeah it would’ve been cool” and if we didn’t do it “I wish we did that when we were young” things.

Faith: Yeah, so true. (S: What happened to modesty Faith? lol) This blogging thing started with an idea like any other; it went like “I like books and you like books AND we’re friends, how about we make a book blog?” I definitely did not know that the world of blogging was this vast… we were pretty much heading in

to the unknown. We barely knew anything about blogs and people who blog about them as well as the whole community.

S: And that was how we got started. We spent a while on the design (this was our old look:)

A beta version I made to test out different themes

 and then we actually started writing. When we started writing, we also started following other blogs, to see what made them successful. And that’s my first piece of advice: STALK A BLOG until you think you know what you are doing.

F: Yeah… I didn’t really know what I was doing. Still don’t really to be honest. 😛 (That’s my life for ya!)

We started with our About Us page of course which helped us to figure out how our blog writing style would be from then on. I would suggest that you think about how you want to portray your own voice to others through blogging. I like staying true to my personality but if you would like to write in different styles, that would probably be pretty interesting too. Just try to find your own voice in writing!

S: Yup, the way you write will attract people and give your reviews the little bit of you they need to stand out. I probably should have said this at the beginning, but blogging is A LOT harder than it seems (not trying to scare anyone off, though). So if you are unsure about your dedication, do the same thing we did: find a buddy. It makes a sometimes lonely job a lot more fun and interesting (and our joint works together make me laugh so hard).

F: I feel like if I were to start a blog all by myself, I would start slacking off way more than with someone else because then you could both encourage each other! Also it’s a long journey so when you’re working together you get to discover things about blogging together as well!

Another piece of advice that I would have would be to write posts that are well written and true to yourself, or at least the best that you can, rather than many frequent low quality posts. Although frequent posts help get your work out there, if people think it’s not worth reading about, the post wouldn’t come to much. We just started book blogging a month and a half ago and we’re constantly working on improving our blog just like any other avid blogger would but I find that this is really important!

S: PREACH. And take pride in your work. (F: I should try doing that more because sometimes I finish a review and just go “This is bad. Like baaa-d.” It’s important to feel good about what you write since you’ll only improve if you work at it! Determination!) Tell your parents, friends, pets, stalkers; you are very likely going to find avid supporters.

F: I should mention though that we planned on not telling our friends about our book blog because we wanted genuine unbiased opinions about it.

S: And I know that there are so many blogs out there on how to start your own blog (as lame and uncool as they sound, they are lifesavers), the most important thing is to have fun. To actually enjoy whatever it is you are doing: it’s no fun for the reader if the writer isn’t into it.

F: Have fun and feel good about it. Feel good about yourself. Feel accomplished. If it ain’t good doesn’t mean it ain’t worth reading; it just means that you need a bit of improvement, perhaps some inspiration, and some ice cream. (All those i’s though. The eye rule: improvement, inspiration, ice cream. Preferably some cookie ice cream sandwiches. S: Yes. You can’t go wrong with ice cream. F: I mean, I scream AND you scream, right? S: And the reader screams because of all the bad puns?)

S: So now that I am all out of wisdom, I will refill my brain with ice cream. Or my stomach ~ anything goes. (F: POPCORNNNN… come to me: I dare you.)

---

Here are the bloggers we we would like to recognize as well! A lot of them are the blogs we observe on a regular basis (y’all are doing something right, so keep it up) ❤

Amy | Curiouser and Curiouser

Aentee | Read at Midnight

Cristina | My Tiny Obsessions

Aria | Aria Reads

Hajira | Another Ramble

Jeanette | Myriad Inklings

joysofabookworm | Joys of a Bookworm

Kyra and Nikki | Book Allure

Emma | Emma Loves Beautyx

Rosie | Reaffirming My Bookworm Status

Vaudriel | The Big Blabby Book Blog

BooksAnatomy | Book’s Anatomy

Parneet | The Enchanted Book

Yvo | It’s All About Books