How Many Books Make a Book Blogger?

~ Elysia @Light of the Bookworm

I recently watched a youtube video by the booktuber Cindy Reads where she talks about only having 4 books in her whole collection. This got me thinking about my own experience over the last year and a half of book blogging.
I remember when I first began and anytime I saw another blogger’s beautiful collection of floor to ceiling books I firstly felt admiration then a tiny sense of inadequacy. It’s probably super silly but I did feel like I didn’t have enough books to be a book blogger and that if I haven’t read all the extremely hyped YA books that we all see floating around then I wouldn’t be qualified to discuss and talk about books in this space… Which is of course beyond stupid especially knowing myself that I don’t like to stick to one genre; so I couldn’t possibly have read all the books from it.

Since then I realised that my tiny city centre apartment cannot possibly handle the rate I was buying books to try and keep up with new releases. So I’ve taken to only buying a new release if its something I’m extremely interested in especially when a new hardback can set you back £15 which very quickly add up!
Now I mostly read Ebooks, Library books and audiobooks it might not look as impressive but I have completely come to terms with the fact that as a full time worker & adult, I’m never going to be able to read ALL the books I see. I’ve also massively grown to love my smallish collection of books (120ish) visiting my main shelf regularly and looking at my most loved stories.

I guess what I have learned is having a huge collection isn’t always achievable for a number of factors. But Most importantly the number of books in my home has no impact on your worth as a book blogger.

P.S I genuinely adore seeing peoples bookshelves (my fave videos are shelf tours) so I hope this didn’t come across as negative, I just wanted to share my perspective on the feelings I’m sure lots of us have had. Sending love to you all.🌼

Published by Elysia @Light of the Bookworm

Books and Nature 🌍📚

36 thoughts on “How Many Books Make a Book Blogger?”

  2. I feel like it’s something that keeps circulation in the book community, that you need everything to be a good blogger or bookstagrammer. And I don’t doubt special editions add to that, but I’m glad to see a lot of people speak against this. I absolutely love this post. Thank you for speaking out

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  4. I loved this post! Sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough books in my shelf to be a book blogger too so I completely agree with everything you said here

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  8. Hi Elysia, I found you through New Bloggers. This is an excellent post and I can totally relate. When I first started book blogging I initially had this overwhelming feeling that i was falling behind others because I wasn’t reading the latest titles or the most popular ones. It took me a while to remember that I created a blog to discuss the books that I personally loved in the first place, and that meant being comfortable with my own reading habits.

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  10. I completely agree with you on the hole thing about feeling inadequate when looking at others bookshelves when first starting off. Sadly, unlike you I keep on buying books, but its okay for me in my mind as it means I am directly supporting the author and I try and aim my money towards indie author and self-published authors. The library really is an amazing place though. Have a great day and thank you for reading my comment 🙂

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  11. I am always in AWE of Cindy and her four book collection, and love that she uses it as an opportunity to encourage library use. I definitely have had feelings of inadequacy when seeing other people’s collections – I have always wanted a Belle library with a ladder! – but I prefer to buy books I love and will want to re-read. I don’t think a book blogger needs to buy books at all, and I love seeing people using their libraries and other options… especially bookstagram pics of eBooks.

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  13. I completely agree with you. I just started exploring new book genres and am totally loving it! Great post Elysia!
    Btw I too blog @ The Confessions Of A Music And Book Addict and would appreciate some support!
    Stay safe,
    -Prutha xoxo

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  14. Good post, Elysia. I think every bookworm alive would like a huge library in their home but in the real world we compromise.
    Most of my books are ebooks too, although I went to my first book signing event last September and now have a small collection of signed paperbacks. I’m looking to go to another one, once the UK lockdown has been lifted and I can find one I want to attend.
    Enjoy your collection of treasures. x

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  16. So much common sense in your post Elysia. Bloggers shouldn’t feel pressured at all about their reading – otherwise it takes the fun out of it. It irritates me when I see some bloggers almost boasting about how many books they read in a year or how many free review copies they get.

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  17. Clearly, reading books makes a book-blogger – whether one digitally or physically owns these books is irrelevant (unless for photography/aesthetic/web design or book collection purposes). For example, you can be a great book blogger having zero books and reviewing only library books – no one will ever notice. The most important thing is reading not having.

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  18. I’ve read more than 600 books, have 300 books at home, and have donated more than 500 already. In my experience, I was a book blogger even when I didn’t have these massive figures to my name. Number of books can’t decide if you’re a true book lover or blogger!

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  19. This was a great post and I completely agree! No number of books can make you a book blogger or not make you one and I’m glad that you are happy with what suits you. I would love to buy all the books and have amazing bookshelves, but it’s just not viable both in the physical space I have and the lack of funds aha! I’ve come to the same conclusion as you and it’s important people realise that they are book lovers and can be book bloggers however many books they have!

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  20. I bought some books earlier this year and just haven’t had a chance to read them because they’re quite intense and I need to be in the right headspace for them.

    Between library books, audiobooks, Audio library books and Netgalley I’m spoiled for choice but it might not seem like I read a LOT in terms of physical books, so the disconnect between showing off a big stack of books and books I actually read is widening but I’ve learned to be OK with that because U physically don’t have the time, money or space to have loads of books that I haven’t read as yet.

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