Bloggers Under Pressure: Tips on how to beat Blogger Burnout!

Are you a blogger under pressure?

Is your review pile stressing you out?

Has reading become a chore for you?

If you answered yes to any or all of the above you may be headed for blogger burnout, and it's time to take action!

I was inspired to write this post having recently noticed that a number of bloggers are currently stressed out, suffering from reading slumps, overwhelmed by review books and generally feeling the pressure of consistently updating and maintaining a blog.  First and foremost,  blogging is meant to be fun, for the love of reading and the love of books so if you feel like you're on a deadline or blogging is starting to seem too much like hard work, then it's time to take a deep breath, a step back and think back to why you originally started your blog and I'll bet it wasn't so that you could feel like you had a whole bunch of extra work to do. You started it because because you loved reading, loved books and wanted to share your thoughts with other like minded types, right?

Since I've been blogging I've seen a lot of blogs discontinued (sadly some of my favourites!) and the main reason seems to be that reading became a chore for these bloggers, which is a shame because a love of reading is what brought us all here.  Now, I am far  from being an expert on this and these are just my personal tips for avoiding blogger burnout. I'm not saying I'm immune to a bit of burnout myself and I've definitely experienced reading slumps, but one things for sure, I refuse to get stressed out over blogging, so here's my advice on how to avoid that.

If you have any tips on how to avoid blogger burnout let me know in comments.

If you have suffered from blogger burnout in the past or are currently stressing over your blog or going through a reading slump, then I hope this will help!


1. Take a break

It's OK to take a break from blogging!  Setting up and maintaining a blog is a lot of work - especially if you want your blog to be successful.  When I first started my blog I put a ton of work into it (design, social networking, writing reviews, establishing contacts etc.) I thought that once I put in the hours at the start, then my blog would run itself like a dream after the initial set up. It doesn't! I remember a conversation I had on twitter with Eleni from La Femme Readers where I remarked that starting up a blog was a lot of hard work. She replied that running a blog is a lot of hard work. Period. And she was right! There's always a lot to do...but you don't have to do it every day, and I've found that it's good to take a break. I've taken two week long breaks from blogging this year and I plan to take another one soon to prep for Halloween.  On those weeks I don't schedule posts, I don't read review books, I don't visit or comment on other blogs, and when I return I'm refreshed. It's good to take a holiday from your blog from time to time.

2. Put aside the review pile

Receiving review books is exciting - there's no denying it, but what about when you get a little carried away with saying yes to the review requests and suddenly the review pile is out of control? It can be overwhelming. Does it seem like every book you read is yet another review book? What about those books that you bought a while back - the books that you really want to read but haven't gotten around to any of them yet, because, well, September 29th was on the horizon and did you see the freaking amount of books being released on that day?! Yes, it's good to give timely reviews if you have accepted a book for review, but your review doesn't have to be bang on release date, and in my opinion, it's better if it's not - especially if it's a major release, because then everybody else will be reviewing it on that day too! I know that publishers like publication day buzz, and I definitely accommodate publishers requests whenever I can, but it's OK if you can't get to every review book on time. I try to mix it up as much as I can. I'll maybe read two review books, followed by one that I've bought, and then one from Netgalley. I'm also prone to pushing aside my review pile to read an entire series that I bought two years ago but haven't felt like picking up until now (when I have twenty books waiting for review!) If you find you are reading review copy after review copy then eventually you will probably fall into a slump. You need to mix it up!

3.Mix up your reading!
Along with alternating your review books with your personal copies, I find it's important to mix up your genres. If I read a bleak dystopian, I'll often follow it up with a fun contemp. You might not agree with me. If you have an absolute favourite genre, you might read only that, and that might work for you, but it never would for me.


4. You are not on a deadline!

Yes - publishers or authors will sometimes request a review on a certain date, but as a blogger you should have your own schedule. Blogging isn't paid employment where you have to meet deadlines and you shouldn't feel under pressure to do so. 

5. Limit your review acceptances

So we've already established that receiving books for review is exciting but you need to know when to say no. For example, in September I turned down almost every review request I received! (That's not to say I didn't receive review books from the mailing lists I'm already on, but turning down requests meant I could give these publishers priority instead of taking more books on). When I first started blogging I found it difficult to say no to review requests, but these days I know my limits. I know that if I want to read books from my personal collection then I can't accept every review request I receive. If you are accepting review requests directly from an author (something I rarely do), then you might feel a little more pressure to provide a review by a certain date.  How do I say no?  I limit my review acceptances to books that are on my wish list or if I get a request for a book that really appeals to me, then I'll accept it. If it's a book I only have a passing interest in and might read it at some point, I'm prepared to buy it myself and read it in my own time.

6. Have a schedule

I find that having a schedule really helps! In life, I am not a planner in life, but in blogging I sometimes am.  It's still in my nature to blog 'on the fly', but whenever I can I'll schedule posts in advance and it really helps to run things more smoothly. I usually try to schedule my blog posts at the weekend and then if I'm sent any news items/press releases during the week I'll type up a quick post and add them in. I don't always have a schedule and often end up writing reviews the night before I post them on the blog, but it all feels so much better if I have posts neatly planned out on my calendar. I reckon someone with really good time management skills could offer more advice on this than I can. I actually have really poor time management skills, so I could probably use a few tips on this point myself!

7. Quality not quantity

Blogging daily is hard work, although a little easier if you have a schedule, and if  you're feeling stressed out by blogging it's tempting to fill in the gaps with memes. Personally I'm not really interested in blogs that are meme heavy. Concentrate on providing quality posts for your readers - mix it up with a fun new feature if you're not in the mood to write reviews. I am far more interested in reading a blog that updates once a week  or even once a month with a quality review than I am in reading a blog that updates several times a week with meme after meme after meme. Some memes are good, for sure, but when every post is a meme, then I'm not sure if I'm dealing with a quality blog.  It also helps to have a bunch of reviews written in advance so that if you are feeling uninspired, you can use these as back up. Right now, I don't have any back up reviews. I ran out out those beauties so I need to write a bunch!

8.Change your reviewing style
As you can see I'm all about mixing it up when it comes to beating blogger burnout! If you are feeling uninspired and can't seem to sit down and write a review, then mix up your reviewing style. My reviews are usually pretty in-depth and I can spend quite a bit of time writing them, but it doesn't need to be that way. If you don't feel like writing an in-depth review, mix it up with mini reviews, reviews where you list what you liked or disliked about the book, or the 'show me five' review format which originally appeared on a blog called That's a Novel Idea and is a fun style to read (example: here). If your own reviewing style is not working out for you right now, try something new!

9. Guest reviewers

I have two guest reviewers - Jen and Liz - and where would a be without them? Probably lost amid a pile of review books!  You are not going to like every book you're sent  for review (I'm not huge on sci-fi, fantasy or zombie books and I'm tiring of dystopian fiction) so why not pass those books along to a guest reviewer?  If you're feeling the pressure it might even help to take on a co-blogger to help out with reviews. While I understand that guest reviewers might not appeal to every blogger my guest reviewers have worked out really well for me and it's always nice if I have nothing planned for the blog but I do have a great guest review in reserve. Phew!

10. Think about it
A blog is a hobby - something that you enjoy doing and take pleasure from. Relax. Don't get stressed. There are so many things in life to get all stressed out about, and blogging is not one of them!


Remember, blogging should equal fun, not stress, so if you're feeling like you're heading for a blogger burnout, I hope this post helped!

If you have any other tips on how to beat blogger burnout, I would love you to share them in comments!




Image source: We Heart It