Hello everyone! I thought I’d do a slightly more open discussion post today about a topic that I think about quite a lot! Are blogs still relevant? Simply, my answer is yes, they’re still relevant. However, the platform is a lot smaller than it used to be, and with visual mediums becoming more and more popular I can’t help but worry that blogs won’t be able to stand the test of time. I’d love to hear your opinions on this one, so don’t forget to comment down below! Is this something you’ve thought about much?
Why am I asking this question?
With the rise of more visual platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube it sometimes feels like book bloggers are being left behind. I post on Instagram quite regularly, and to be honest, a quick photo will get a lot more interaction than my blog posts (and take way less time). Obviously interaction isn’t anything, and you could make the argument that although there are less people in the book blogging community we tend to interact thoughtfully with each other’s posts. At the same time, it’s still noticeable how much smaller our community is. Sometimes it seems like unless you’re a very large blogger, or someone with a dedicated group of friends, it’s difficult to bring in more people. There’s content we make that’s more easily marketable to casual readers, such as recommendation posts, but growing a blog sometimes feel slow going. To a lot of people reading a book blog is just something they wouldn’t do.
Does it matter if our community is smaller?
One of the reasons I love book blogging is because it feels like such a tight knit community. Most of my closest bookish friends I made through book blogging and then we began to support each other on every platform. I don’t want this post to seem like I’m not appreciative of all the lovely book bloggers out there who read my posts and make amazing content themselves. Even though we’re small, we’re a mighty community of people who really love books. There are so many amazing books I picked up through reading other people’s reviews and recommendation posts. Perhaps the answer to my question is that blogging will always have a small, dedicated community, and that’s just as important.
Are book bloggers underappreciated?
I definitely think that book bloggers are underappreciated. Often people don’t seem to understand the amount of time and effort it takes to run a book blog. We’re constantly reading books, writing content, formatting our websites, formatting our posts, shouting about our content, reading each others content, responding to comments, and in some cases running other social media platforms on top of all of that. It might just be my experience, but I’ll often see bloggers shouting out their favourite non-blogger content creators, but I rarely see non-bloggers talk about blogs. Publishers are also starting to put less funding into advertising through blogs, focusing more on the larger platforms. I’m so thankful for things like blog tours, and I really hope they don’t become rarer in favour of things like Instagram tours. Book blogging might have more popular a few years ago, but we’re still the backbone of the bookish community.
So are book blogs becoming irrelevant?
I don’t think book blogs are becoming irrelevant, but our community is smaller, and more niche than it maybe used to be. Sometimes I worry that in a few years it’s continue to dwindle down, and people who prefer to write about books rather than make videos or photos will find themselves lacking in opportunities. I believe there will always be a strong book blogging community regardless of how large it is, and I hope we all continue to thrive together. In the end, if we keep supporting each other, we’ll never become irrelevant.
I’d love to hear your opinions on this discussion! Is this something you’ve thought about? Have you had similar experiences to me? Do you think blogging is becoming smaller? Do you worry about our platform being left behind?

This is so true!! I shout out to some of my favourite booktubers all the time, but I never really see them shouting out to bloggers. The book blogger community is pretty underappreciated and underrated. Like, some posts over here just blow my mind with their openness and depth!
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Me too! So many bloggers have such amazing interesting things to say and they’re so talented! Sometimes I read posts and I’m blown away with how amazingly they’re written
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Yes, exactly!
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I’m not super active on other bookish forms of social media (I’d make a bookstagram but I feel like there’s so much unnecessary drama…plus instagram sucks up most of my time anyway), but I do agree that the blogging community’s getting smaller. But I like that it’s a little smaller – it just feels more tight-knit and relatively low-drama. Great post!!
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I agree with you! There are some downsides to having a small community but we manage to dodge drama and we’re all supportive it’s honestly the nicest platform ever
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We’re definitely still strong even though we’re small! Another thing I always think about for book blogs is the life of a blog post is so much longer than a tiktok or Instagram post. Sure, more people will see it, but so much long lasting and quality content is still coming from blogs! Great discussion!
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Thank you! I totally agree, blogging is a platform where we can really go into depth in our posts, we might reach a smaller number of people initially but we leave longer lasting impressions and we’re consistently growing! I still get traffic on my very first blog post, there’s no way that would happen over on Instagram
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So true! There’s just some sort of legitimacy when there’s more depth and care put into a website. I trust it more than someone who got a free book and took a pretty picture! Though both forms of advertising are important for marketing, I think it would be hard to completely do away with the relevancy of blogs. š
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This is actually a question I had to ask myself back in May when I started my blog, because did I really want to dedicate my time and energy to something that was becoming less relevant? I’m glad I took the decision to try, because although the community might be small, it’s still very lively. I personally love blogging because thanks to the long post format I find it more satisfying to engage with other book lovers here (which is not to say I don’t like other platforms). However, I sadly agree with you that book bloggers are underappreciated.
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That’s exactly why I started blogging too, I really enjoy the longer format and getting to deeply engage with something! I find that there’s so much support in the blogging community because being small we’re also quite tight-knit
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Exactly, it’s very rewarding to get to have these discussions and form bonds over literature!
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Ah my feelings exactly! And for some reason I find this community to be very comfortable. More so than insta or other social media platforms.
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I feel like because we have a longer format we can discuss things with more nuance, which makes us a community less prone to drama and misunderstandings, I’ve never had a bad interaction while blogging
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I donāt think book blogs will ever be irrelevant. There will always be people who prefer text to visuals, such as myself. Plus, I like smaller communities because there tends to be less competition and more support. BookTube and Bookstagram might be more popular and potentially lucrative, but they donāt seem to have that same sense of community. Theyāre usually all about building a brand rather than genuine connections.
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I completely agree with you, I love that we’re a small but tight knit community
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this is smt that worried me a fair bit since I only picked up blogging relatively recently, but I figure that since I’m the sort of person that prefers text over visuals (and the mostly slower/more manageable rate that content is put out at) then there must be loads of folk who feel the same way, and I’m rly glad this chill, friendly space exists and that others feel the same way š
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i complete agree with that, it feels almost weird that in a community about books i get worried people won’t want to read posts š im really glad for how chill and community orientated book blogging is
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yeah, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense š and same!
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I was just writing about this a couple months ago! Iām honestly overwhelmed by more visual mediums to invest my energy creating content in those places. Iām a writer through and through. I agree the book vlogging community is much more niche so I started mine blog with the sole purpose of fun, not sponsor ships. That being said, I wish bloggers were paid or compensated better. I donāt mind this part of the internet being more right knit because thereās waaaaay less drama, thank goodness. Great post!
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Thank you! I completely agree I didn’t start a blog to get compensation, everytime I get an arc is so exciting! Still it is a bit of a downer occasionally to see even the largest of bloggers be unable to get compensated, when other platforms it’s easier to. I love our community, it feels so tight knit, I wonder if because we’re constantly reading and engaging with each other in a longer format? I’m absolutely crap at doing aesthetic visual things so I’m so glad we have blogging lmao!
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I definitely agree with this! I may get more interaction and likes on Instagram but I actually prefer my blog more. It’s easier to share my full review and see other reviews. Blogging is more personal and I love seeing all the reviews where Instagram is very short and to the point or filled with influencing. You know what i mean? lol
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Yeah I completely get you! Blogging is a lot more personal and in-depth, it feels like we’re interacting more genuinely sometimes because we actually have the space to! Plus the blogging community hardly ever has drama because it’s a little less fast paced and a little more nuanced, that’s what I find anyway
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The drama part is a good point! There is much on Instagram and even Twitter. I just donāt have time for it all, haha.
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I’ve had this thought for a while now, but even more now thinking about instagram and tiktok this past year. While it feels like blogging doesn’t get the same recognition or appreciation, I still find value in blogging so much. The short life-span of posts on other platforms, in my opinion, show why blogging is still very valuable. While bloggers don’t get nearly the same support either, I think what’s most important is that we continue to boost each other up by reading and commenting on each other’s content, plus interacting more. Thanks for delving into this discussion Bertie, I think there’s a lot more that can be said about this topic!
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I completely agree with everything you’ve said! I think there’s definitely something to consider with how blog posts have more longevity! And I agree I guess it falls to us bloggers to keep hyping each other up and supporting each other!
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omg i love this post!! so many more people are on other platforms, but i definitely agree with all of your points because everyone in this community is so supportive ā¤ļø
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thank you! i think it’s really important to remember why the blogging community is so great and valuable!
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Thank you for writing this post! I definitely agree that blogging is a bit irrelevant compared to other platforms, but the reason I have a blog instead of something else is because I much prefer writing to taking photos or videos. I have a bookstagram but I quickly realized Instagram isnāt really a good platform for me; I prefer long-form content. So Iām actually now in the process of working up the courage to start a booktube channelā I think that is the most similar to blogging, but I love the blogging community and wish it was more popular!
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That’s exactly why I decided on blogging too! I’ve considered moving to YouTube but I’m not amazing at video content, maybe one day in the future! For the moment I’m super proud of our small but strong community here as book bloggers!
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I honestly feel the underappreciated phenomena of the book blogging community. I am a new blogger and I sometimes feel dread about trying to take photos to post on Instagram or arvel on the idea of making a YT vid of my future posts. Hence, the lack of photos in my blog’s Instagram handle and having a sense of blogging fatigue. Yet, I still see us thriving in our warm and thoughtful community.
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I understand that, doing photos and videos isn’t for everyone and I’m glad that blogging allows us to chat about books in a format that works for us. It’s difficult to see other platforms get so much more attention but we’re still a strong community and what we do matters
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I think that even though book blogging is āunpopularā right now, compared to the past, thatās not necessarily a bad thing, as you mentioned, now thereās a tight knit community and low drama.
I feel like there will always be readers who are more attracted to long form reviews and recs and it seems a bit more intimate and niche than the other social media platforms.
Which is what drew me to book blogging.
Iām not the best at taking photos and I canāt imagine āpivoting to videoā, so blogging feels very comfortable and warm to me, and as of right now, I donāt mind feeling as if Iām talking into the ether.
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I completely agree with you!
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Oh, it is a little sad that the other platforms donāt reciprocate the love in the form of shout outs, when they must be getting ideas and recs from book bloggers, because this was the first form which spawned this book social media empire thing thatās going on now.
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Yeah I feel like some people don’t understand the history of the bookish community and appreciate how book bloggers have shaped how it is today
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