On May 31, 2017, I attended BlogboundCon, a mini convention featuring a series of panels crafted for the [book] blogging community by bloggers and authors alike. Blogbound takes place during the week of Book Expo/Con.

See my recap on all the shenanigans below:

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The Invitation To Moderate

I was invited to moderate a panel on Social Media and Monetization. To give context, I was initially planning to attend Blogbound regardless. It was when I was approached by Hazel @ Stay Bookish and Mishma @ Chasing Faerytales, both of whom were looking for someone to moderate their panel, that this gig presented itself. In the spirit of transparency, what I will say is that I am terribad at public speaking as I either (a) speak too quickly, (b) mumble when speaking, (c) have too many things going on my head to string together a cohesive thought, or (d) all of the above. 

But I said yes (after speaking to a few people).

So here you have it: my bio and the panel itself.

Not gonna lie, it’s rad as heck to see yourself on something like this. Zero regrets, and I do encourage you to step up and challenge your meh-ness to say Yes to things like these. I gave myself an opportunity, and though failure haunted me, I was better for it. Though I must say, being a moderator is spades different than being a panelist. To have to come up with prompts to start the conversation and then have to keep the dialogue going? It’s tough without preparation.

Going into this panel, I was hesitant as to the avenues I wanted to delve into with the panelists as I didn’t want to “over prepare” them with prompts which could have diluted the authenticity of answering questions on their feet. What I will say is that I’m glad the initial questions I had provided Hazel, Mishma, and Alexandra @ The Books Buzz, was a good starting point for them to know where the dialogue could go.

I cannot speak to the success of the panel from an informative side but from what few have told me, it went well. We covered topics like: blogging outlets that garner the most user engagement, methods to monetize, and how you can beef up your bookstagram!

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#QuietYA and TriviaYA Panels

In terms of the other panels I attended, I was able to get a glimpse of the first panel with respect to QuietYA (but was gone for the bulk of the time due to my bow-tie malfunction). But it was great to hear DJ, Lizzie, and Julie speak to lesser known titles and community members that deserve greater recognition.

The other panel I attended was three rounds of YA Trivia. Each round featured YA-related questions with a third round that was nearly impossible (based on National Book Award finalists). I think there was an even mix of easy/difficult questions that made for an enjoyable evening of fun.

What was most important to me was all the bookish joy and connections I made with others in the community (see: to discover new voices on this platform is great!) Blogbound was definitely the start to a great week of fun

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Afterthoughts

In any event, I extend my thanks to the organizers at Blogbound for allowing me to moderate this panel and for all of you attendees (now or in the future) who make events like these what they are.

If there’s anything you want to know about social media for book blogging and/or monetizing, I’d be happy to share the information that I learned from the panel!

Cheers,
Joey

connect: 
afterthoughtAn // twitter
anotherafterthought // goodreads
picturevomit // instagram