Successful book blogger Julia Mitchell tells us how she found a creative and fulfilling outlet as well as an inspiring, supportive and productive community through blogging. Why not take the leap and get started...?
Back in 2016 I started my book-themed Instagram account, Julia's Bookcase, when I was fresh out of university and in need of something productive to do with my time. While lolling about in bed in the middle of the night, I spontaneously created a new Instagram account and uploaded a photo of the book that I was reading, A Darker Shade of Magic (Tor Books 2015) by Victoria Schwab, and an obsession was born. As my skills improved, I found myself submerged in a community of avid readers.
Fast forward to 2019 and along came my second ‘child’, my blog – Julia’s Bookcase. As much as I loved Instagram, I’d been craving a place where I could create long-form content that was evergreen and would be discovered again and again by bookish internet wanderers. I've since filled that space with a varied mix of book recommendations, Instagram tips and details of my literary travels. To date I’ve written about boutique hotels, a national bookshop town, a residential library, a real-life Hobbit Hole and more!
To date, I’ve worked with a number of high-profile brands, from National Express and Visit Scotland to Universal Pictures and Stylist magazine. I’ve created sponsored Instagram posts on both my grid and my stories, and written advertorial pieces on my blog for Bookatable.com and Fora, a wonderful flexible working space in East London. This isn’t a full-time gig for me (I spend my days working in book publishing), but by night my creative projects have blossomed into a successful and fulfilling side hustle. I’m just an ordinary person who’s worked hard … and if I can do it, then you can do it too.
Time to get started
So take a moment to think about a project you’ve always wanted to launch but never quite had the courage to begin. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably a writer, so perhaps you’ve always liked the idea of running your own blog - a place where you can write the words of your choosing and make money doing it. Or maybe you relish the idea of pairing words with images and sharing your love of sustainable fashion on a dedicated Instagram account of your own. This is the seed of an idea, and my first advice for you is simply to begin. Forget about producing a perfect, complete work of art and just get started, learning as you go. One of the great things about the internet is that, when you start a creative project like this, no one’s going to be watching. You can experiment without consequence.
Find your community
When you’re creating something online, it’s vital to embrace community – both fitting into one and moulding one of your own. It can be so easy to get bogged down in the technicalities of a project when you’re first starting out … like whether you should host your blog on WordPress or Squarespace (I use Squarespace) or what colour scheme you should follow on your Instagram account. But unless you find your tribe, that is, the people who are interested in what you’re creating, then it’s unlikely that many people will see it at all, regardless of its quality.
So here you are – this is your permission slip to take the leap and start something magical.
This is an abridged version of an article taken from the Writers & Artists' Yearbook 2021, which is available now from Bloomsbury.com
Julia Mitchell is a book editor by day and an award-winning blogger, Instagrammer and freelance writer by night. She’s obsessed with all things bookish, owns a colour-coordinated bookshelf and has a penchant for strong cups of tea.
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