Ah, Bookstagram – One of many corners of the internet that book lovers have created to geek out on all things pretty pages, beautiful books, and aesthetic author insights!
BookTok is TikTok's realm for instant recommendations, Facebook groups welcome all the reviews, and Twitter has book-lovers everywhere conversing and retweeting.
So what’s Bookstagram, you may ask?
It’s not a separate app, but instead, it’s an Instagram account that specifically features visually-aesthetic photos relating to books. Consider it the home for authors to share their love of storytelling and reading through gorgeous pictures.
Not to mention, it's become a successful (and profitable) way for audiences to engage with their favorite authors other than through their words.
So how can you, as the awesome author you are, create and benefit from a Bookstagram account? We’ll be taking you through all there is to know so you can get posting instantly after reading this!
- What is a Bookstagrammer?
- How to Create a Dreamy Bookstagram Your Followers Will Love
- How Can You Use Bookstagram to Promote Your Work?
- Brilliant Bookstagrams to Follow and Engage With
What is a Bookstagrammer?
A bookstagramer is a person who owns an Instagram account that is dedicated to all things – you guessed it – books! Whether it’s posting a themed photo of the folded-down pages of your favorite novel or capturing a peaceful moment of yourself in an aesthetic library, there are a ton of ways to create content for your bookstagram.
A bookstagrammer may create their account for a variety of reasons, like:
- To build hype around their newly-released self-published book
- To connect with other authors and book-lovers globally
- To create an audience around your work
- To conduct giveaways, Q&As, or book tours!
But in order to accomplish goals beyond the pretty pictures, you’ll need to consider a few things – let’s get into it!
How to Create a Dreamy Bookstagram Your Followers Will Love
Typically, authors and content creators pick a photography style or certain theme that they stick with throughout. This not only helps build beautiful visuals but also helps your account be recognized on the feed.
- Pick a Memorable Theme
For example, you can imitate a floral theme and use vines, pretty flowers, and nature’s beauty as props for your photos. Or you can go play around with light exposure and pick a low tone aesthetic.
Here are a few themes to choose from for your Bookstagram account:
- Minimalism: Using a plain white background to display one or multiple books. This theme is perfect for authors wanting to create a squeaky clean and refreshing collection of photos to place all the emphasis on the books rather than anything else.
- Moody Tones: Low light exposure and shadows have been all the rave for stylish Instagram accounts so why not use it for all the book-ish visuals, too? Mystery novel writers would have fun with these filters!
- Bursting with Colour: A lot of bookstagrams ditch the neutral tones and quite literally splash out on the colors! If your selection of books (or your own book) is characterful, dramatic and beautiful-crafted, you’ll want your bookstagram to say this. Choose vibrant colors to really bring your book to life.
- Floral & Flattering: Why not fuse together blossoming flowers with your favorite pages to curate the most botanic, bookish photos? Set out to capture your books in natural lighting, and use any props you can find around the house or in the backyard.
- Create a Consistent Posting Schedule!
The secret to keeping your growing audience engaged with your Bookstagram is to post quality content, regularly.
If creating and posting content each day doesn’t fit with your normal day-to-day routine, you can batch create and then use a scheduling app, like Hootsuite, to allow each post to be published automatically.
While most Bookstagrammers are posting their content 2 or 3 times a day, don’t feel overwhelmed to do the same. The beauty of Bookstagram is that it’s a creative process within itself – one that you deserve to enjoy!
Aside from batch creation, you can also repurpose old content or repost other Bookstagrammers to let your followers know that your account is still alive and running.
- Follow Other Bookstgrammers
Because of how niche the crowd is, you’ll want to follow other Bookstagram accounts to both support and connect with authors and readers globally.
Regardless of if you’re a casual-poster on the gram or if you want to aim for the stars and be a Bookstagram influencer, interacting with other Bookstagrammers can even help you find new reads, or perhaps inspire your next self-published novel!
There’s a ton of benefits to engaging with the reading community, not to mention the leverage it gives you when you want to get promoting for any releases.
- Use Bookstagram Hashtags
While many social media users are no longer making use of hashtags, they’re still super important for the algorithm and, therefore, the success of your account.
Using hashtags is a surefire way for more book-lovers to find you. Hashtags like #bookstagram, #bookreviews, #whatsonmybookshelf, and #bookrecommendations are all great ones to start out with.
Try to use a range of high-volume and low-volume Instagram tags to avoid drowning your post out because #bookstagram really is a huge ocean of cool content!
- Make Use of Video Content Like Reels
Word in the library is – Instagram will be returning to its natural state this year by putting the emphasis back on photos after they tried to give TikTok a run for their money with reels.
For photo-enthusiasts, this is great news. Though, users have really fallen in love with the idea of aesthetic reels in the past year so we can’t see this format completely disappearing anytime soon.
If you’re a BookTok lover, you can repurpose any videos you may have and post them up on your Bookstagram. Examples of book-related reels include mini clips of decorating your bookshelf, a cosy video of you reading by the fireplace, or even a zoom in on your favorite pages.
Having a good mix of videos and photos keeps the audience invested in your account, plus it builds on your content creating skills!
How Can You Use Bookstagram to Promote Your Work?
While you can utilize your Bookstagram account to share your admiration of other authors, it actually proves the perfect way to get your own self-published book out there (and off the shelves!).
As a self-published author, promoting on social media will be your best friend. Start by targeting small Bookstagram accounts and ask them to review your work and post about it.
Another way to get your audience excited about your book is to consciously show them the process from brainstorming to byline. Whether it’s posting an insta story of a late-night writing session or revealing the secret drafts, any audience loves behind-the-scenes insight!
Giveaways are a popular way to build book momentum before the launch. You can personally offer to give signed copies of your book away and then ask your loyal community to repost the contest. Remember to do some thoughtful planning before hitting publish just to make sure all the giveaway logistics are in order!
Finally – talk to your community via Q&As and the comments section! Followers love it when accounts communicate with them because it distinguishes their account from others by giving a more personal touch. If readers feel connected to the author, they’re much more likely to promote, purchase, read, and review your work – just because you’re awesome!
So we’ve gone through all there is to know about Bookstagram and how you, as a self-published author, can use it to its fullest advantage. Now let’s fill your visual appetite and give you some awe-inspiring Bookstagram examples to follow:
Brilliant Bookstagrams to Follow and Engage With
Instagram Handle: @james_trevino
Probably the most famous bookstagrammer with nearly 300k followers, James uses pretty impressive ways to create epic book scenes for his fans – including the famous book dominos!
Instagram Handle: @whatshotblog
Laura, founder of whatshotblog, fuses her love of travel with a passion for literature to bring us mesmerizing visuals from all over the globe. Whether she’s tucked in a blanket with a good read, or discovering the grande libraries of Paris, her account is nothing short of dreamy.
Instagram Handle: @clumsy.words
Minimal yet funky book visuals? This is clumsy.words in a nutshell. The use of abstract postures and faceless shots makes this Bookstagram so wildly amazing in more ways than one. It goes to show just how fun books can be and why sometimes all you need is a good story to lose yourself into!
Instagram handle: @mylittlebooktique_bykate
If you’re looking to support a smaller (but still beautiful-created) Bookstagram account, check out Kate! She displays all her favorite reads in different corners of her cozy home while keeping things utterly British with a cup of tea and biscuits on show. We love how warm her page feels and it’s just the content that you need on a fall/winter’s day!
