Scheduling Tweets

I’ve been blogging for almost three years now and I’ve only started scheduling tweets a few months ago. And I have to be honest with you guys, I don’t do it very often. I thought about writing this post for a while, to explain it to you guys.

I started out as a book blogger only and in our #bookbloggers community the matter never came up, I never heard anything about scheduling tweets and I don’t think my book blogging friends do it (sorry if you do it guys ;)). When I started to add lifestyle posts and also engaged into that community the topic came up. It seems to be very popular with beauty bloggers, fashion bloggers and lifestyle bloggers. Some of the schedule everything: Around four tweets on the blog post for the day, promotion for their Instagram, facebook or youtube and also just random tweets. For me this thought was never appealing. It’s additional work and preparing them for every single day just sounded like too much. If I’m at work, I just tweet whenever I can, I do one before the kids arrived, one around lunch and then two in the evening when I’m back home. Of course that doesn’t work everyday, sometimes I’m too busy at work, I also tend to forget to do it and when days are different than usual, things get messed up anyway. On weekends it’s similar. I schedule my blog posts to go up in the morning, but I only tweet around 11 am for the first time, after I get up. When I got away for a day I tend to schedule tweets about my blog post, if I have one. Then I only prepare them in the morning though and only if I have enough time. Especially when I got to Germany for the day, I can make sure my posts are still promoted. This is something I only started in the last few months though. I I really only do it, when I know I’m away for a whole day.

When I’m away for just a few days, I usually don’t have any blog posts scheduled, unless I’m still in Switzerland and then I just use my data. When I’m away for more than two weeks I didn’t schedule anything either, except for blog tours sometimes and cover reveals and I only promote them with the wifi I find, wherever I am.

I know, that schedule tweets is really good apparently to gain more followers for your blog and get people to read your posts, but for me it’s not worth it, if that makes sense. Of course I’d like to gain more followers and have a lot of people read my blog posts, but I feel scheduling is really an unnatural way to achieve that. I think it’s more important to stay true to yourself, tweet when you have time and be honest with your readers. Scheduling tweets and promoting constantly makes me feel that all people care about is gaining followers and if they are not really there and only promote all the time, it comes across as not authentic and it seems your only after one thing. I don’t want to offend people who schedule tweets all the time, but that is just the way I feel.

When I look at blogs, who are interesting, I look at the person, their personality and their topics. I feel that the true personality only comes across, when you genuinely tweet when you have time and not when you “have to”. It makes a person more real and that makes you relate to them. I also really appreciate when I can talk to bloggers on twitter, I love discussing things with my book blogging girlies and certain guys ;), it’s just so much fun and it doesn’t make you think about competition. Whereas the scheduling tweets is a way to get the attention and get more views than other bloggers. I’m not saying that’s the case for all the bloggers, who do it and most of them are also really active and talking to people, but that’s the way it comes across to me.

I tried scheduling Instagram promotions for a few days in a row and yes, I might have gained some followers, but it just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

For me blogging is also about staying true to yourself, being confident and and not changing who you are. That includes tweeting when I have time to tweet, so no scheduling. I want to show the real “ME” to me followers, so I tweet whenever I can and if I don’t have the time, I don’t have the time, that’s life!

You might ask, why I schedule my posts then?! Well, it’s simple: If I have a post planned for the day, I want it to go up in the morning, so readers, wherever in the world can read them. Scheduling a single post is also way easier and not as time consuming as scheduling tweets.

In the beginning I used to be obsessed with my following numbers, but know I’m just happy people read and enjoy my blog. The number doesn’t matter, that’s why there are also times, when I don’t blog , because I’m busy or on a holiday. Full time bloggers always say they work on a holiday. Well, you make it work, why not just enjoying the time and doing blog related things, while your back, you also deserve the time to relax and forget about daily life. 

Paperback vs Kindle

Welcome to my first bookish discussion post. I plan on posting them regularly, mostly bookish, but maybe also some other discussion topics. If you wanna see a special question discussed, let me know.

Paperback vs Kindle – This is probably one of the most discussed and always current topics in the book blogging community.

When I started book blogging I only read paperbacks, I didn’t have an amazon account and bought all my books in my local bookshop or I ordered them there. This has changed a lot in the two years I’ve been blogging.

Now, let me talk about paperbacks first. I love paperbacks and I have tons of them. Paperbacks just look amazing, the covers are stunning, sparkling and colourful. When they are next to each other in the bookshelf you get a great picture. Holding the actual book in your hand is a great feeling and don’t we just all love the small of them. Stroking the spine and always having the possibilities to go back to the book is wonderful. I bought all my favourite books in paperback, because I think it’s a great memory and I always want to see them and being able to reread them. I find that I reread books more, when they are in paperback. I still have all my Harry Potter paperback and like that the feeling of nostalgia comes cup. The good thing with paperbacks as well, is that you don’t have to worry about the battery, you can just read non-stop! What I realised during my holidays in Florida and also when it was really warm and sunny outside, it’s definitely easier to read a paperback because of the light. The reflection with an ereader/iPad is sometimes a bit annoying. And let’s be honest, don’t you just love to go into a library or a bookshop and see all these wonderful books?!

Here is what one of my fellow book bloggers had to say about paperbacks (@laaurenpiper):

On the kindle you have all the books in one place. That’s really convenient when traveling, you just download all the books you want and there you go. On top of that it’s much lighter to carry around, instead of tons of paperbacks. Kindle books are definitely cheaper and when it comes to blogging it’s great to have a kindle account. I request books on NetGalley and “puff” they are on my kindle. A lot of authors also prefer to just send you their books via email. At night you don’t have the problem of no light, just turn on the ereader and there you go.

Of course I also asked a fellow blogger to comment on kindles/ereaders (@BookaholicBabe):

For my it’s really a tie between paperbacks and kindle. I think sometimes I prefer one and then another day I prefer the other. I try to read 50-50 and it’s working out pretty well. Whenever I read a lot of kindle books in a row, I really wanna read a paperback, so I switch. I really love receiving book post, being a book blogger it gives me a great feeling and I just adore looking at my book collection in my room. I think I will never lose my love for paperback, even if it’s great to have a lot of books to choose from on my kindle.

What do you prefer? Do you like holding the actual book in you hands or do you prefer having the convenience of an ereader? Let me know what you think and leave a comment.