Bookstagram 101: How I aced bookstagram or I think I did ;)

Hey folks,

Almost all of us are a part of this amazing community called bookstagram. I have met some really amazing people there, and I look up to some people for inspiration and book recommendations. I have also met my fellow blogger and I am so proud of this huge community. Divided by Borders, United by books.

This post is what I have learned so far. There’s obviously more to learn and honestly, I learn something new every day in this place I now see as another Home. So, let’s get started.

Theme

Well, most people have a theme in Instagram and they work hard to keep up with it. By themes, I mean a lot of here things here. You could experiment with a wide range of themes.

Start with a background. It might be your favorite tabletop or a wooden bench. It can also be something as simple as a big sheet of paper or a piece of cloth- both plain or colored and try to use the same for the rest of your picture

This feed right here belongs to one of my favorite bookstagrammer Sakina (click on the name to visit their profile). This can be an example or minimalistic theme, which is perfect for lazy bums like me.

If you want to have a festive theme or a seasonal them, use props. Such as use dried leaves or branches from the trees for Fall themed pictures. Use artificial or real flowers for a floral/spring theme. The props need to be decided based on your theme

For the lovers of colors and props, this is another example. This feed is one of my favorites too. Belongs to Darque Dreamer (click on the name to visit their profile).

You can also have a minimalistic theme, where there’s the book(s) you want to feature with a stack of books on the side or a simple bookish accessory. Most of these theme ideas work amazing for flat-lay pictures.

This feed above belongs to Sumaiyya (click on the name to visit their profile). This is a great example of both flat-lays and non-flat lays.

If you are not a flat-lay kinda person you can take pictures from any angle you want, provided you have the same background (which could be anything). Outdoor theme is one of my favorite. A simple hack to get a good outdoor photo is including tiny accessories or non-bookish items or a little bit of yourself to make it look more classy and not just thrown around/lying there.

You can also do cos-plays from the different fandoms we have. My favorite is Mugdha from @worldof.books_.

Isn’t this beautiful? Use a little imagination fellas!

This brings me to my next topic, filters.

Filters

You might not be a great photographer, but editing skills will save your day. Photoshop is the best that’s out there. However, there are a few apps which work wonders when it comes to filters or making tiny changes to the tiny sections in the image.

A few apps that I use on a daily basis are VSCO, SNAPSEED, and PhotoDirector. VSCO is a paid app so you might give it a skip. Instagram filters are great too.

What I do is I click a series of photographs and then experiment with the different filters and options available. It might sound hectic but when you know the kind of theme you want, it gets a lot easier to narrow things down.

Let me know if u want me to do a Snapseed tutorial video. (because m crushing over it!)

Captions

Most of us struggle with the caption. You can do a few things to avoid that.

1. A quote from the book that’s featured
2. A favorite quote you want to share with the world
3. A book tag
4. Rant
5. Talk about your day
6. You can also talk on a particular topic. Voice your opinion. Gives you a decent audience.
7. Ask Questions (ones that make sense)

Hashtags

Hashtags give you the audience you need for your post. So this is an extremely important part of your post. Make sure to post relevant hashtags and not overcrowd your post.

The secret to gaining more followers

1. There’s no secret. You need to work hard
2. Talk to people. Like their pictures and comment. Make people know you exist
3. Have a story/feed shoutout session. Talk about your favorite people in town
4. Be active. Talk more about books. Give reading updates.
5. Follow people back. Because you don’t wanna be RUDE. Spread love lovelies 🙂

Tadaaa! I guess I have covered all the basics. If there’s anything else you want me to write about, let me know in the comments below.

I would love to do a detailed post on editing and planning your feed but only on popular demand. So, do comment 🙂

Here’s to Bookstagram!

Disclaimer: The feeds featured above are purely for providing examples relevant to the topic I am writing about. I don’t intend to hurt or offend anyone.