Top Ten Tuesday: Ten things that make my blogging life easier

Being a blogger takes a lot more than just reading books. So here are some things that make it a lot easier:

1. Goodreads: This website changed my life. I love everything about it. I use it to track my readings and my mom’s. I would be lost without it. (Fun fact: I only found out about goodreads when a friend on my college newspaper’s staff sent out a blast email when he signed up and the site said he should invite people. I lost touch with the friend but kept the site. And now the friend is on twitter. Go figure!)
2. Pinterest: I’ve discovered I’m visual when it comes to books. I don’t always remember an exact title or author when I’m trying to recall a book but I will remember a cover. It’s hard to keep it up to date sometimes but I really am enjoying using my Pinterest account to tabulate all of the books that I review.
3. WordPress: I love my blogging platform! I also use their built-in reader which is great because I don’t need another account.
4. Amazon: Say what you will about Amazon but I get a lot of the books I review from their Vine program and I really enjoy obsessively watching my reviewer rank change week to week.
5. BooksFreeSwap: I obviously have a lot of books in my life. Too many really. So to try and stay in control of the book piles I periodically list books for swap on this site. It’s not the best user interface but I enjoy it as a way to pass books on to new readers (especially ARCs that are so much more complicated to donate/discard).
6. BookCrossing: I haven’t really tried this yet but I like the idea of releasing books into the wild and having the option to track them. We’ll see how it goes! (I think my username on here is miss_print Let’s be friends!)
7. Twitter: I LOVE Twitter. I’m not on facebook or Tumblr or Instagram because for me Twitter does all of that but better because it’s in one place. Plus, a lot of librarians and bloggers and booksellers feel the same way so I always have people on here to talk about books with.
8. BEA: This isn’t really a thing and I’m not sure it makes anything easier given the prep involved BUT I love Book Expo America and I love planning for it and going to it with Nicole and I love the chances it gives me to get books I wouldn’t otherwise acquire and catch up with blogger friends I wouldn’t see otherwise.
9. Libraries: How else am I supposed to get books I don’t already have on my shelves?
10. Readers: I say this a lot but it really wouldn’t be worthwhile to be a blogger if I didn’t have people reading this stuff or know that my reviews were helping connect at least one person with a good book.
11. Blogger Friends: I’m an idiot and didn’t think to add this sooner! Where would I be without my blogger friends like Nicole and Andi and Cecelia and Steph? It’s great to have readers, of course, but it’s also vital to have other bloggers around who understand why I do this and why I love it. Thanks guys!

While you’re here enter my blog birthday book giveaway!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

(Image made by me.)