Friday, June 12, 2015

Small Blog Happiness

Recently I broke down (finally) and bought myself a kindle. It was on sale and I've been wanting one for awhile, so I thought 'why not'. Then, I think it was the day I got it, I signed up for NetGalley. I love the idea of getting ARC's - and eARC's seem to be a slightly more available version. However, when I was looking at all the requirements to actually get a ARC from NetGalley, I was starting to wonder - why should I bother?

I've been blogging for over a year and I have yet to receive an ARC. I've never even requested one. I've requested a few books from Goodreads First Reads program, and never won any of them. That's okay. I don't enter unless I really want the book anyway and I'll probably buy it eventually.

Let's be honest, I'm a small fish in a huge pond.

I kind of like it that way. My blog's small, but I know the people that comment. 'Oh, yeah, this person is actually the reason I read this book' 'I remember you, you liked this series' 'Oh, lookit, we've read the same book'. So, I'm not going to stress out about it. I'll never compete with some of those huge book blogs and, honestly, I don't think I'll ever want to. I don't like those big blogs, they seem so impersonal. And besides which, the moment I'd try to compete with them is the moment that my blog is no longer a hobby.

And for me, that's the best thing about my blog. I don't have obligations to anyone but myself. Sure, I felt a little bad last year when I went on an extended hiatus - but that was bad for myself because I wasn't even reading other blogs during that time and I discovered I really missed the community. I have a few readers (those that stop by and comment often) and I'll admit, little makes me happier than seeing comments on my blog - but I think that the best thing for me to do to get more is to be more active on others blogs and Twitter (I'm trying) as opposed to trying to make my blog more…well, more.

So, I like my small blog. How about you? Do you have a small blog and love it? Or do you have a huge blog and think it's the best thing ever? Or maybe you're somewhere in between? I guess what I'm really asking is, are you happy with your blog right now?