Many moons ago, I wrote a post about my blogging schedule. At that point, I had just started up the blog and had maybe a little too much time on my hands. I was incredibly specific about when I posted certain things and making sure I had 15 book reviews up per month. This was in addition to participating in 4 memes per week and posting 2 “random” things (like recommendation lists or discussions). I’d also post sign-ups for readathons and both mid-month AND end-of-month wrap-ups. You can do the math: that means that most days of the month had 2 posts. I even said, “I really try not to bombard people with any more than 2 posts per day!” SO EXCESSIVE. I mean, I’m glad I dove into this hobby headfirst… but good lord, woman.
I can’t lie though, I definitely blog a bit too much still. I love signing up for readathons, participating in tags, and writing so many posts that I’m scheduled out until next year. (Slight exaggeration, but not that much. I’m insane.) I LOVE making lists and TBRs even if I know I’m never going to follow them. I love making graphics and messing around with layouts for my posts. I CAN’T STOP.
I’ve changed my organization methods SO many times and I feel like I’m finally getting used to my latest plan. Today I’ll share my new blog schedule and talk about how I organize and plan… everything.
Do you have a planned schedule for your blog, or do you wing it? Are you someone who writes the review and then immediately posts it because you’re desperate to post something right then? Or, are you like me, where you have all of your blog posts (especially reviews) scheduled out far in advance? I don’t think either way is better or worse than the other, but I do know what works best for me. I HAVE to have things planned and scheduled. I don’t have time to blog at home; I do a lot during my off-time at work and I really like to have it all done early enough so I don’t have to worry about it. I have a ~method~ that allows me to write my reviews within 24 hours of finishing the book and schedule posts very far in advance, without worrying about release dates or leaving gaps.
But then… I talked about how I planned on cutting back on book review posts in 2016. This is partially because I planned to read less in 2016 in general, but also because I was sick of writing the same posts every week. Don’t get me wrong, I am still definitely HERE for writing reviews. I like writing them and talking books with everyone! But, I just wanted to prioritize things a little better.
My blogging calendar was:
I would average 3 book review posts per week. It just didn’t leave me a lot of room in my calendar and I don’t like posting 7 days per week. I usually stick to 5 or maybe 6 as needed. I just like to have a day or two off from it, even when they’re scheduled ahead of time.
A while back, I was scheduling reviews MONTHS ahead of time. It proved annoying when I would reference a book in a post and not be able to link to my review for it yet. It just became kind of frustrating and I started to wish I didn’t have to schedule as far in advance.
August 2015 Blog Calendar:
Look how many posts and readathons I had! It’s kind of insane. I feel like an asshole for complaining about having too many posts when some people struggle to make time for a couple a week, but this is something I knew I needed to relax on. There are two readathons in this one month alone, as well as posts on the weekends from wrapping up other month-long challenges! CHILLLLL.
Calming my Calendar Down
Since then, I’ve adjusted my schedule a lot. It’s freeing! I would jam-pack multiple topics or wrap-ups into one post because I didn’t have room on my schedule to split things off. My monthly wrap-up posts are INSANE because I cover everything I did as well as everything I plan to do in the following month. Now that I’ve fixed my calendar and combine review posts, I have more room to spread in OTHER kinds of posts that are more fun to write.
For example, the first month of the new year obviously involves different challenge sign-ups and wrap-up posts. I did a lot of combining for those. The Contemporary Romance challenge has a monthly topic prompt to participate in, which is really fun! It’s almost like Top Ten Tuesday, except once a month and only for challenge participants. My first one ended up in my January Bookmark Lit Bulletin because I just didn’t have room for another post in my schedule.
March 2016 Blog Calendar:
It’s so pretty and open. The beginning of the month is scheduled out right now, but you can see it opens up more towards the end. Some of the posts I’m planning for aren’t even completed yet, so they might not go up. I have a more relaxed attitude towards posting and I’m free to split out posts as much as I want. I don’t have to combine multiple topics into one post because I don’t have room on my calendar. I also don’t have to stress about posting on the weekends and “annoying” people for posting too much. (Does this happen? Do you think some people post too much?)
I’ve talked about how I plan blog posts and reading, during the Love-A-Thon’s Mix-and-Match Challenge. It gives a broad overview of the paper (planners, notebooks) and digital (spreadsheets and calendars) I use for my blog and reading tracking/planning. I have lots of things in lots of places, but I love it. I use those tools for planning ahead.
As far as tracking goals, I always reference my 2016 Resolutions post (linked earlier). I also have some specific challenge-related goals for this year that I reference too. I just like to make sure I’m remembering the goals I set and reminding myself to pay attention to them. My book spreadsheet allows for tracking books for challenges and other statistics, so that helps too!
Because of my more relaxed schedule – that really happened because I started combining reviews into “mini review” posts more often – I have room for different posts I’ve been hoping to work on.
More post ideas I have room for:
- Discussion posts
- Contemporary Romance Challenge monthly topic
- More recaps/wrap-ups (including Reading Recaps)
- Fun features (Cover Colors, Currently, Five on Friday, etc.)
- TBR planning
- Library book checkouts
- Upcoming releases I’m excited for
- Book tags
- Blogger collaborations
- Personal posts
- Media/TV/other non-book posts
- Recommendation lists
YES. Back in the day, when I first starting blogging and for a while thereafter, I would write a post and then… post it. I didn’t even DO scheduling for a WHILE. Then once I starting having a sort of schedule for my blog, I ended up scheduling things, or if I worked ahead of time, I needed to schedule instead of just post. I actually try very hard NOT to have two posts go up on the same day because let’s be honest… Personally, I can barely read one post a day. (Okay, I read very few posts a day. It’s hard to find the time!)
I also used to do EVERY Top Ten Tuesday, even if I didn’t like the topic, or force things into my schedule just to do them. I’ve also cut back on a LOT of things like challenges and read alongs. They’re truly lovely and I wish I could do them but I end up committing and then stressing out!! I do plan ahead a LOT and schedule posts, reviews, and try to come up with ideas for new things, but since I have the time (at least right now), that’s not stressful. My schedule is also totally flexible aside from posting Book and a Bev on Thursdays and TTT on Tuesdays. I don’t really plan when I post anything else except for how it fits into my schedule and I try not to post 4 reviews in a row or something.
I think it just takes experience, getting the hang of how you feel your schedule should go, and making adjustments! Lord knows I’ve changed things around an insane amount of times. We all know I’m an over-achiever and I tend to go overboard with my blog and events because I love it!! But I have also calmed down in a lot of ways so that I’m not stressing myself out or over-committing. I want to be able to post quality posts and read without the feeling like I’m falling behind.
Great post, Laur!
YES! I would always stress myself out with challenges and things – every once in a while I enjoy them (mostly just Bout of Books). I love my newly freed up schedule with just a few things each month. I’m totally an overachiever when it comes to that stuff too ahha I want everything to be perfectly planned and organized but it’s just not worth the extra stress.
Thanks for sharing my post <33
I pretty much wing it. I post anywhere from 1-5 times a week. I have Saturday’s post written, but I’m not finished with tomorrow’s. I have next Thursday’s partially written. I have a backlog of reviews I want to write when I have time/feel like it. Some of them I won’t ever write.
I would like to be scheduled further out, but every time I get a little ahead, I get lazy and don’t work on the blog. I don’t have time at work for it so I do it all at home and sometimes other things are more interesting than blogging.
Haha I know what you mean! I had sooo many reviews scheduled out for a while so I started combining review posts into one, and then I ended up with nothing scheduled! haha.
Fun post! I don’t ever get annoyed by people who post “too much”, but I don’t know of any bloggers that post more than once per day. I enjoy having something to read from my favorite bloggers every day. I also post 7 days a week. I have a very loose schedule by week now that I’m doing Top Ten Tuesday and Kid Konnection (Saturdays). I do usually plan out the full month, but I only write about a week ahead (if that). Sometimes I’m scrambling to get a post out the night before or the morning of, but usually that’s reviews if I get behind on my reading.
Thank you! Glad to hear it. I love being able to read as much as possible. I like having a looser schedule too – just frees everything up!
This article is great, thanks for sharing your organization! I’m actually a newbie, because I’m switching to book blogging (from a random lifestyle theme) and I’m trying to build a plan for my blog. 🙂
Thank you! So glad to hear 🙂
We schedule ahead, usually about a month. I don’t like the stress of waiting till the last minute to write a blog post – I usually have end up with a ton of typos when I do that.
I know what you mean – it’s so nice to have everything scheduled out 🙂
I used to schedule everything down the the dot. Now I wing it because my life is more complicated. But I like what you’ve done with your scheduling and wish I could get back to blogging more often. I’m going to take a page from you and maybe start scheduling a few posts here and there to get back into the swing on things. I have a baby due in June, so not sure how much I’ll accomplish, but perhaps it will be the boost I need to get started while I’m on maternity leave. 🙂
Good luck with the changes and I’ll be popping around to check out your posts! 🙂
I know what you mean. Life can get in the way sometime! It’s fun to schedule ahead when possible so you feel good about having things done ASAP.
Congrats on your little one!
Omg I am really jealous. I have a really hard time coming up with things to write about if they are not reviews, which is why I just mainly stick to reviews. And it is SO HARD for me to schedule posts unless it’s the day before!
I tried to write all my posts on Saturday or Sunday, but that failed as well. Bleh. I think if I put my mind to it, I could schedule in advance. But my problem stems from the fact that I don’t have time to think of new creative blog ideas. And when I do, I FORGET IT. So I really have to work on remembering said ideas, and writing them down somewhere.
Awesome post Lauren! I wish I was like you and had all my stuff organized!
I think because I’ve only been blogging since late 2014, I still have lots of discussion-y ideas left! I haven’t covered every aspect of reading and blogging yet 😉
I definitely need to write my ideas down more often too! Sometimes just keeping a note in my phone’s Notepad app is helpful.
Thank you! <3
You are one organized blogger!!! I give you mad props! I’ve been blogging for 4 years and literally write every post the night before they post. Hahahaha. I used to want to get ahead SO badly, but I finally realized this just works for me. What you read on my blog is what was in my head no more than 24 hour before you see it 🙂 I have zero schedule (although I try to do Top Ten Tuesdays on Tuesdays- obv). I don’t care what days things go up. I don’t even really care about release dates (although I try not to post reviews too far in advance… but I also rarely ever get around to reading things way in advance, so that’s not really an issue). I think I’m WAY in the minority though… most people who blog tend to be type A people as far as I’ve seen. I love your organization though… you rock!!
Hahaha thank you! Hey, if it works for you – it works!! It’s fun to write something and post it ASAP because it’s all still in your head when replying to comments too haha.
I like keeping a blog schedule, because being organized really comes naturally to me – and is the best frame of mind for me to approach my blog with! I actually have slowed down a bit on posts lately, just because I felt like it, and it’s been quite nice. I’m constantly tweaking my schedule, but I think my current one is working well and will stay in use for a good long while. I was so fascinated to see your process though, so thanks for sharing that!
Yes, definitely! Organization really helps. Slowing down feels good too!
I have a schedule for everything EXCEPT reviews. I read a book, write the review, then post it on Wednesday, Friday OR Saturday. I’m a mood reader, so it’s impossible for me to schedule what I’m going to read ahead of time. Other than that, everything else is scheduled. Usually only about a month in advanced, because sometimes I change my mind on what I want to talk about if inspiration strikes lol
I definitely would not be able to NOT have a schedule. I’d go crazy!
That’s a good idea! I’m totally a mood reader too, that’s why TBR planning is near impossible for me.
[…] Lauren at Bookmark Lit shares how she organizes her blog posts. […]
I’m a new book blogger and this post has shown me that it takes effort, commitment and discipline to make a blog work. I, for this reason, have created a slightly strict schedule that will help me focus and stop slacking with my posts. And, if I stick to it, I’ll be able to post at least four posts a week, two of them book reviews, the others about writing topics. Thanks so much for sharing your plans and thoughts, I appreciate it.