Happy Two Year Bookstaversary

As you can guess from the title, today marks TWO YEARS since I made my bookstagram account! I’m not really doing much to celebrate – I was tempted to splurge on a few new books but shipping to Australia sucks at the moment – so I thought it might be a nice time to reflect on my booksta experiences and highlights over the last couple of years.

Some of my favourite highlights include:

Making friends

I’ve made several amazing friends through bookstagram. In real life, I don’t know too many people who like to read so being able to discuss, rave, rant and recommend books with people I consider a friend has been beyond amazing. They’ve opened my eyes to new genres and ideas, and they’re some of the funniest people you could imagine so chatting with them always brightens my day.

Becoming more comfortable in my reading niche

I love romance novels. There, I said it. When I first started my bookstagram account, I included a range of genres that I liked but didn’t love like I do romance stories. This was because I was nervous at being thought of as only a romance reader and the usual negative responses associated with the genre. I’m saddened to have previously felt this way but the online bookish community (specifically, other romance readers) helped me feel more comfortable in my reading choices. I’ve discovered so many incredible romance-focused accounts that are all about spreading positivity and love for the books that leave you with hope, happiness and a happily ever after.

Getting back into my writing groove

With the craziness that is my everyday life, I don’t always have a lot of free time and the spare moments I do have are usually spent devouring books. While there is nothing wrong with that (in fact, I love it), it means my writing has taken a backseat. More often than not, I’m also exhausted and brain foggy so writing feels impossible. But over the past couple of years, I’ve started slowly reintroducing writing back into my life through mini reviews and eventually creating this blog where I make it a goal to post at least 2-3 times per week.

ARCs and Indie authors

Since becoming more focused on reviewing, I made the decision to join Netgalley last year and actively apply for ARC copies of books through PR companies. I have been incredibly fortunate in getting accepted for the majority of the books I request and it’s allowed me to not only discover amazing new-to-me authors but also new stories by my favourites! In one particular instance, I even had one of my all-time favourite authors (who alternates between being traditionally and independently published) slide into my DMs asking if I’d like to review her new book coming out. I said yes and then floated on cloud nine for the rest of the day afterwards!

Small business reppin’

There are so many incredible bookish small businesses out there run by readers like you and me. Getting the opportunity to support and promote these businesses is such a great part of bookstagram. There are companies for book boxes (with assorted goodies relating to a theme or new release), book sleeves, presets, candles & wax melts, bookmarks, art prints, pin hoops and flags, mugs and so much more. The possibilities and fandoms are endless. I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a rep for Oodelally Inspirations and love seeing the sheer creativity that other readers come up with when acting as a rep for small businesses. PS my friend Ang runs the Book Lover Boutique and their stuff is incredible!

Overall though, my entire experience on bookstagram has been fun! If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t still be posting two years later. My account is my own slice in the bookish community and I love posting about the books I’m reading or the ones on my TBR list.

Tell me something you love about the bookish community?