Bookstagram Reflection #1

Hi everyone! I recently started a bookstagram which you should definitely follow (shameless advertising but this is my blog so :P). It's been a few months so far, so I thought I'd reflect on what I learned and some of the stuff I want to implement. So here's 5 things I learned since September about bookstagram.

1. The more hashtags the better (until a certain point, ofc).

For one of my posts, I wasn't following/being followed by 8 of the people that reacted to it because I used the hashtag #bookstagram and #bookreview. In addition to using many tags, try to use generic ones to get people's attentions.

2. Choose popular books, and feature as many books as you can per post.

For the aforementioned post, I used Caraval, which is pretty well-known (in fact, the third book in the series is a winner in the best YA fantasy category in the Goodreads Choice Awards!). I also put 10 pretty well-known books in the background of that photo, and I think that helped.

3. Use props.

I use candleholders, baked goods, ceramic pots I make, faux flowers, pumpkins, etc. etc. These are really essential to add aesthetic appeal to your photo.

4. Lighting + Color is everything.

If you don't have natural light when taking your photo, apply one of Instagram's darker filters so the lighting looks intentional. For the Caraval photo, the colors of all the books were different and the picture didn't look good, but when I made everything black and white, the photo turned out quite nicely!

5. Sometimes angles, photos, and props just don't work out.

I've had to scrap some photos because they just didn't look good no matter how much I edited them. But that's okay; bookstagram is a learning process!

Baking, setting the stage, and photos I didn't really like and didn't post.

Setting up for a photoshoot.

Before the magic of editing!

Yum (except not really)!

This one looked okay, but I wasn't completely happy with the colors so I decided not to post it.

Overall, these past few months have been fun, and I've enjoyed using bookstagram! I'll be doing a few posts reflecting on my experiences from time to time. Until then, what do you think of bookstagram? Do you have any suggestions/tips/tricks for me? Let me know below! And please make sure to follow me @not_a_prima_donna_girl :).

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