The Picky Bookworm Origin Story is the result of trials and challenges.
Many trials and challenges.
I’ve wanted to be a blogger for as long as I can remember. When I was in high school, and home computers were just becoming a thing (hello, can we say dial-up? Who remembers that sound?), I would use a blog for a journal. Over time, I gave up, because I’ve just never been a journaler, and telling people about the innermost workings of my brain felt like an invasion of privacy.
For a long time, I didn’t blog again. I tried a bit when Myspace was a thing, but eventually gave up on that too. Myspace was more a place where I could exercise my creativity, and I enjoyed the design aspect of that platform more than anything. Then, when Facebook came around, so many people moved over there that Myspace quickly became a thing of the past.
Facebook was my social media of choice for a long time, but I was never really able to build a community. I used it mainly to play games, or keep in touch with friends and family that I already knew outside of the platform.
Fast-forward many years later, and I was back to wanting a blog. The only problem was, I had no idea what I would blog about. I wanted something that I would never tire of, and something that people would find useful. I read articles on blogging that said to “niche down,” and “give value.” I knew if I built a blog, I would need something people would actually read.
The two biggest blunders of my early blogging career were my movie review blog, and my young living blog. I even started a Facebook group for my movie blog, titled Movie Geeks Unite, that I could never keep up with. I wasn’t on Facebook enough by this time to make it work. The movie review blog failed because while I love movies, people would rather read reviews for the newest movies to come out, and I didn’t have the budget to go to the movies all the time, or watch all movies available.
My Young Living blog was even more of a colossal failure than my movie blog was. Young Living is an amazing essential oil company, and I love their products, but they are also an MLM, so being successful meant I needed to find other people that would sell as well. I hated the “salesey” part of Young Living, so that blog ended up in the recycle bin as well.
The Picky Bookworm Blog
I finally chose a book blog, because books are a forever subject. I remembered loving books as a kid, and devouring them constantly. I hadn’t read much in recent years, but I’ve always loved to read. I also knew my current library contained plenty of fodder for posts, so I wasn’t going to need to spend a bunch of money to start out. I hadn’t had much experience with self-published books at this point, but that was to come very soon.
My first book review was a dumpster fire. I don’t know why I chose to write about an author I don’t have much respect for, but the book was also part of a series, and in the middle, no less. I cringe every time I think about those first few months, because not only did I have no idea how to blog for my audience, but I wasn’t very strategic in how I chose my books. I just figured “If I talk about books, people will come read about them.”
Once I had a few reviews under my belt, I decided it was time to start sharing with people. I figured Instagram was the place to go, because everyone always talked about how successful they were in using Instagram for their business. While The Picky Bookworm was FAR from a business, I figured it couldn’t hurt. I discovered the #bookstagram community, and realized very quickly I would never fit in there.
- I am NOT a photographer.
- I love ebooks, not hard copy books.
- Most people on bookstagram write their reviews directly on the platform, whereas I wanted a place where I could direct people to my blog.
I already knew how important views were to the popularity of a blog, so for me, Instagram was a no-go.
I spent some time on Facebook, and even started a page for The Picky Bookworm, but because I hadn’t spent much time cultivating relationships with anyone who would engage with my content, I ended up giving up on that platform as well. I was absolutely miserable. A platform where I could build a community was what I was looking for. I wanted to engage with people who would respond when I had something to say.
Enter Twitter.
I had been on Twitter years before, but found it to be an overly political cesspool of ads and toxic comments. I hadn’t spent much time there before, but decided that I would try again. I started by searching hashtags for what I wanted to talk about, such as #books and #reading. Very quickly, I found what would eventually be the community I had searched for so desperately. People were interested in my blog posts, they commented back when I engaged with them, and they were friendly, not toxic.
Holy CRAP.
Once I found my tribe, I started realizing that The Picky Bookworm could be more than just a little hobby blog. I started taking it more seriously, and really felt like I had arrived when authors started messaging me to review their books.
Self-Published Authors. Holy CRAP again.
My first book review request was from an author named David Billingsley. He had written a book named The Connection, and asked if I would read and review it for him. I felt like I had arrived. Not only were authors accepting me, but they were specifically asking for my opinion? The feeling was incredible.
My Twitter Experience
I’ve run into a few toxic people on Twitter, but mostly everyone has been amazing. I’ve been able to take my little hobby blog and turn it into what could be a thriving business. Once I had built a community of people who were interested in what I had to say, I decided it was time to start the podcast I had been terrified to start.
My new Twitter friend Essie, who blogs at Cozy with Books, was my first guest, and that episode still remains one of my most popular. After that, I learned to make candles, and started selling “book-inspired candles,” inspired by the indie books I had read and loved.
The last, and most recent, addition to The Picky Bookworm was my editing services.
English was always my favorite subject in school, and I had been a reader for many years. I knew I could do it, even if I didn’t have a fancy degree. I actually thought having a degree would make it more difficult, because I would need to work with the author’s voice, and edit based on the book itself, not based on all the rules I had learned in school. That was the easy part. Once I decided I could do that, I had to find clients. I created a page on my blog, still on free WordPress, telling people about my services and how much they cost.
I didn’t know how to market myself as a proofreader, because I hadn’t had much experience marketing myself as anything. I still wasn’t much past the “Hey, I wrote this blog post, will you please read it?” phase of blogging. All I knew was that self-published books had a reputation they didn’t really deserve, and I knew I could help them overcome it.
The Picky Bookworm Editing Services
I saw several people advertising their editing services, and while I didn’t really see myself as an editor, yet, I still DM’d one of them and asked for advice. He basically just told me to contact specific authors if I knew I could help, and not to be afraid of hearing NO. Shaking in my boots, I did what he advised.
I had just finished reading a book by a good friend of mine, Brandon Reeder, and had highlighted places in his book that I knew could be improved. I DM’d him and told him I had found a few corrections, and asked if he would be willing to send me a word doc that I could edit and send back to him. I was still new to proofreading, so didn’t ask for anything more than a testimonial I could use for future clients.
He told me that 3 other proofreaders had been through his book. I couldn’t believe it when he told me that. At that point, I knew I had something that I could offer. My conversation with Brandon, and conversations with future authors, convinced me that I could help eliminate the stigma around self-published books, and help support and encourage authors at the same time.
The Picky Bookworm was officially a business.
Now, 2 years later, I get to work with self-published authors every day, and am constantly looking for ways to improve your experience as part of the family.
What is your favorite part of The Picky Bookworm? Let me know below! I’d love to connect with more authors, so if you are writing a book, or have written one, please subscribe! I have all sorts of things that I offer my subscribers, especially sneak peeks of new stuff before everyone else! I don’t email more than once a week, so you won’t feel overwhelmed.
Until next time, friends!
Pamela, aka The Picky Bookworm, has been a reader her whole life. She specializes in indie and self-published books, and loves sharing her thoughts through blogging, podcasting, proofreading, and selling bookish gifts in her online shop
When Pamela is not working, you can find her on Twitter, spending time with her husband, or playing with her cat, Simon.
