Instagram Almost Killed My Love for Reading

I was a budding book blogger.

I was writing book reviews and occasional posts about my favorite authors and characters on the WordPress blog. I was receiving free books to read and review in exchange for publicity. It seemed like everything was going well.

However, the reality was entirely different.

How it started

I began my journey with the wonderful world of bookstagram in 2017.

Bookstagram is an amalgamation of book photography and Instagram. You decorate your books with everything under the sun and post the photo on Instagram with a thoughtful caption about the book.

The purpose is to help you share your love for books with your fellow readers and connect with like-minded people.

During my almost a year on bookstagram, I loved connecting with people. I posted every day without any break. My evenings were spent spreading my white sheet on the floor, strategically placing my books on the floor, along with colorful flowers and candles. I remember going out shopping with my mother to a flea market to get the goodies.

I felt happy.

I was getting dozens of likes and comments. My popularity was increasing. Some authors even start approaching me to promote their books on my page, in return for a free paperback. I opened my WordPress blog to go with the Instagram account.

However, I began to get dissatisfied. My fellow bookstagrammers were growing at a much greater rate than I was. My likes remained constant, despite my added efforts to take the perfect picture. I was spending too long and the outcome wasn't great.

Then, my online friend told me the secret.

She confined to me that from the moment she has started posting pictures of the popular books, her followers have grown exponentially. The combination of young adult fantasy and romance was a hit amongst the masses and getting her followers and likes in thousands.

I was skeptical. I didn't enjoy romance. Rather, it is my least favorite genre after horror. But the desire to grow my page made me go to Amazon and purchase one.

The moment I received the mail, I decked it up with some candles and fairy lights to set the mood. My post went live at the usual time.

My friend turned out to be correct.

People loved my post. I started receiving DMs from my followers gushing over the book and the swoon-worthy romance. I remember going on with the flow and claiming that the love interest was so dreamy. My likes increased at a great speed.

It felt satisfying. However, it was short-lived.

To cash into success, I bought more books in the same genre. Soon, I started reading the same books to write reviews on my WordPress. I didn't enjoy the books. While everything was great, the cheesy, unreal romance wasn't my cup of tea. I had to force myself to finish the books.

Soon, the fatigue started settling in.

I was no longer reading the books I genuinely enjoyed. The little, precious time I was getting to read was going in the books I didn't enjoy to the fullest. The books I actually liked to read were accumulating dust in the corner.

Even arranging books and posting photos turned into a chore. I dreaded going on the bookstagram page and being bombarded with the fake self I had created. I hated it.

Coming back to my senses

The realization didn't come immediately.

It took me months to detect that I was unhappy. I wasn't reading as much as I wanted to. Whatever reading I would do, wasn't making me content. The sight of my bookshelf wasn't leading to the excitement.

Finally, after dragging the page for a long time, I stopped posting photos on my page completely. I told myself that I was taking a short break which turned out to be an end to the page. After all, I had no motivation to actually go and post.

It turned out to be a great decision. This gave me free time to read whatever I wanted. I started with a re-reading session of my all-time favorite trilogy, The Lord of the Rings.

Once I was back on the track, I dived right into my new book mail, which only included books I knew would interest me.

Reading became fun, again.

Conclusion

Bookstagram was not an entirely negative space for me. Rather, it helped me tremendously to grow as a person. I even considered it to be the best decision of my life.

However, I allowed my greed to take reins.

The desire to get followers and likes made me become a hungry vulture. Instead of using my fellow bloggers as an inspiration, I turn them into a source of comparison that led to dissatisfaction.

Rather than using the comparison positively and constructively, I allowed it to turn into a toxic space for myself and my page.

While I am glad that I tried my luck with Bookstagram, the end of that was actually a relief.

Takeaway

Book blogging is an extremely fun thing to do. However, it has the potential to turn disastrously so stay wise.

Self-reflect using journals and diaries. This will help you know what and why you are feeling the way you are.

Comparison can be both positive and negative. Using it to motivate yourself is healthy. However, using it to fuel your envy leads to nothing.

“Comparison with myself brings improvement, comparison with others brings discontent.” - Betty Jamie Chung