I’ve been part of the Bookstagram community for about 10 months now, and I’ve been loving every moment of it. Recently, I reached 1,000 followers on my Bookstagram account! And to celebrate that milestone, I want to share tips and helpful information for anybody looking to get started and become more engaged with the community. Today I’ll be discussing the basics, and what you need to know when starting a new account.

First things first – what is Bookstagram?

Bookstagram is a small Instagram community filled with readers, reviewers, publishers, authors, and bookish companies. On Bookstagram, users share bookish photos and discuss topics ranging anywhere from current reads to recommendations to bookish pet peeves. Users also share bookish content (or others) to their stories, and build small communities of people sharing their love of reading.

Should I make a Bookstagram?

If you’re thinking about making a Bookstagram, here’s some neat advantages of being a part of the community and reasons why you might want to join:

• You’ll be able to meet new people and discuss your love of books!
• You’ll get new recommendations (and so many that your TBR will be massive)
• You love the creative aspect of the platform
• You’re looking for a tight-knit community of book lovers
• You want to connect with readers, authors, publishers, and companies

Anything I should keep in mind?

What you do with your Bookstagram and how often you keep up with it is ultimately up to you. However, here are a couple things you should keep in mind with having an account:

• Creating and growing your account takes time. I learned something similar to this when starting my blog, but essentially, if growing your account is part of your goals, know that this is going to take time. I spend at least an hour a day on Instagram, and it often takes me a whole afternoon to take pictures. At the end of the day, you’re in control of how much time you want to spend on the platform (I just really like taking detailed pictures), but do know that it is a time investment if you’re looking to grow!
• Don’t join just for the possibility of free stuff. As your platform grows, you may have opportunities to receive ARCs and rep for companies, as well as other opportunities where you would be sent items. Using your platform to help uplift others is a wonderful thing! However, if your only goal is to get free stuff, your experience with Bookstagram is going to be completely different. Again, Bookstagram takes time, and reps, reviewers, and influencers put a lot of effort into the promotions they take on. I know that my hobby as a reader became a lot more serious when I started reviewing ARCs for my blog and Bookstagram, so it’s definitely something I personally have to balance. It’s also worth considering what your goals are and whether you want to take on these opportunities should they come to you, or if you want to keep your account more casual.

How do I get started?

The first step in the process is picking a name.

What you choose to name your Bookstagram is up to you, but it helps to give you a more bookish username. This helps other users identify what kind of feed you have before clicking on your username.

Additionally, if this is your first bookish account, you may want to secure your handle on other social media platforms. Maybe later you’ll want to join Twitter, start a blog, etc. – so lock those things down while you can.

Lastly, be sure to pick a name that’s easy for others to remember. A username with a long string of numbers at the end won’t be as easily memorable.

Also, be sure to write a good bio! If you’re also a blogger or Booktuber, definitely add that to your bio. You can also link to other bookish accounts that you have using sites like Linktree or Milkshake.  Since Instagram only lets you add one link to you bio, these sites will help you add all of your sites to your link. (I use this on Goodreads, too!) If you do have accounts elsewhere, definitely take advantage of this so that your users can find you on other platforms.

How should I take pictures?

Equipment
How you decide to take pictures is up to you! If you have a DSLR, feel free to use it; however, it’s not necessary. I personally use my phone as well as many others on the platform, and it works pretty well! It also makes it easy to edit everything in one place (if you choose to edit your photos).

Books and props
When it comes to books and props, you can use just about anything – take a look around your home and see what you can find! (Alternatively, you can keep your feed quite minimal.) Thrift stores, dollar stores and craft stores are also great places to pick up inexpensive props (hence my obsession with flowers). As for books, if you don’t have many (or any) to photograph, there are definitely ways to get around this! You can borrow books from the library, buy used to get a good deal, or superimpose pictures on your e-reader (or even another book).

Lighting
The most important aspect of taking pictures, hands down! Make sure you have a good (preferably natural) light source to take pictures with. Even if you’re going for a darker theme and plan to edit your pictures, having good lighting is the one thing that will improve your photo quality above anything else.

Consider taking your photos in batches
When it comes to taking pictures, I like to take pictures in batches as opposed to taking them one at a time (although after taking batch photos, I’ll sometimes take new ones as I go). Here’s why:

1. You’re in control of the lighting. When I take my pictures at the same time on one day, the lighting will be consistent throughout because I use natural lighting. If there’s several days of cloudy weather, my pictures won’t have the same quality.
2. You can be prepared in advance to post. If you have a busy day (or days) ahead, you can always fall back on a picture (or pictures) you’ve prepared in advance.
3. Cleanup is easier. If your feed consists of lots of props, books, and essentially rearranging your house to take pictures, the picture-taking process takes time to set up, execute, and put away! So doing this all at once consolidates the effort required to set up and take down your scenes.

At the end of the day, whether you decide to batch photos or take them as you go is up to you – there are definitely benefits to both, especially if you want to post updates about your current reads. But batch photographs is something to consider if you don’t think you’ll have time to create content every time you post. It’s always good to have a few backup pictures if you want to post but don’t have the time to take a picture!

Speaking of feeds…should I have a theme?

Again, this is definitely up to you! I like to have a theme to match my blog. I’ve also changed my theme several times to experiment and find what I like. If you want a theme, go for it! You don’t need one to have a Bookstagram, but some people do like following users who do implement some sort of theme.

What makes a theme?
Your theme can be a combination of many things. It can be colors, using the same props, the way you edit pictures, and so on. For me, it’s using the same set of 5-6 backgrounds, using my set of fake flowers, blankets, and other props, and adding the same filter to my pictures to display more gray tones.

If you do decide to go for a theme and tend to get bored with things easily like I do, try to make sure you have flexibility with your theme. I used to only have two backdrops and do exclusively flatlays. Then I recently changed my theme to include a variety of backgrounds and suddenly I’m having way more fun taking pictures again.

What should my posting schedule look like?

Again, up to you – but the key here is consistency. Some say the more you post, the better – but if posting daily doesn’t work for you, it’s better to post every other day than have an inconsistent posting schedule. Some people post 2-3 times a day, others post 2-3 times a week. Definitely experiment with what works best for your schedule and follow it. I personally like to post daily, but when I have a busy week, I post every other day for that week.

It can be really easy to burn out if you feel like you’re constantly posting photos. I’ve personally taken a couple of hiatuses because it can get overwhelming to be so active! But once I figured out a posting schedule that worked for me, the platform became a lot more fun and easier to maintain.

When should I post?
The best way to tell is to convert your Instagram to a business account – that way, you can see when your followers are most active on the app. It’s best to post around that window, but not at the same exact time (the algorithm doesn’t like this – it might be because it looks bot-like!). Sometimes I like to experiment and see what happens if I post outside of that window too.

Who should I follow?

Bookstagram is pretty niche as it is, but whether you’re looking for accounts that post a variety of genres to those that focus on one or two, definitely start with searching hashtags! You can find your first accounts this way and build on that. 

Once you’re following a few people, check their stories as well! A lot of my friends and followers share posts and feeds of others that they love, and that’s how I personally discover new accounts most of the time now.

How do I make friends and grow my following?

The biggest thing that you can do when growing on Bookstagram and making friends is engaging with others! Comment on posts regularly, participate in tags on posts and stories, and ask questions in your own captions to get discussions going. Before you know it, you’ll be making lots of friends! I spend at least an hour a day liking, commenting, and engaging with posts and stories.

Also, be sure to use hashtags on your own post! Using a mix of bigger and smaller hashtags will help more people find you. If you only use bigger hashtags, you might get lost in the void. I personally like to use different hashtags each time I post as well. The algorithm might penalize you if you keep using the same ones, and using different hashtags will help your post get visibility to different audiences.

If I’m photographing a particular book or series, there are usually also hashtags for that series as well. This is another great way to find people who share your love for a book or series!

Finally, when writing captions, make sure you’re writing about things that other users can easily comment on! Many users like to write Questions of the Day and include them towards the top of their posts. Others like to play games with their followers, such as finishing the sentence with predictive text. Either way, having captions like these are a great way to have fun with and get to know people. And if you’re stuck for ideas, here’s a post I wrote that will give you some ideas for captions.

And that’s it!

That’s everything on my introductory tips to Bookstagram. If you’re on the fence about joining, I hope this gave you some insights on what it’s like! Bookstagram is a wonderful community and I’m so happy to be a part of it. 

In the future, I plan on writing even more posts about Bookstagram, so I hope you’ll stay tuned.

Let me know if you have a Bookstagram account as well. I’d love to check it out and say hello from there!

-Julie Anna

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