I know what you’re thinking. Mad, wouldn’t I want my hobby as a job, isn’t that the dream? But I’ve been asked a handful of times whether I’d make book blogging my full time job and, even if we lived in some Fantasy realm where book blogging makes millions and my blog’s grown to the point of being able to make money, I still think I’d keep it as a hobby.
I’m going to caveat all this with if you’ve made blogging your full time job then that’s amazing. I admire your bravery in taking that step and, as a computer scientist, think it’s great that technology has allowed people to have so much freedom in their career. But, personally, I’m not dreaming of becoming a rich and famous book blogger, earning my millions in some mysterious way benign to most bloggers. Blogging isn’t bitcoin and I don’t think I could make enough money out of it, but I also know I don’t want to make it my career.
My first thought would be my job. I’m in the incredibly lucky position that I really like what I do. Its not perfect all the time, there are obviously bumps and I definitely miss the days where I didn’t have to see the 6am/7am hour, that would surely happen if I was completely in control of my own time. But, on the whole I’m good at computer science, love it and am really hoping to make a difference in the field.
The second big factor is that I don’t want to treat my blog differently. I don’t want to see each follower as number rather than a friend and watch my stats meticulously to find which content is engaging and which isn’t. One genuine comment is worth more to me than a 100 views. Blogging is my space to relax, chat about books, get recommendations and just chill. It’s not my office. I love my blog, but even doing the most fun jobs, like blogging all day, there will be some moments when you want to do something else. I like having the freedom to write posts, chat about whatever, post on social media when I fancy talking to the world, and then switch off my phone if I feel. I always reserve Sundays as a blogging break and try to not be too hard on myself about when I read and when I forget to post. If it’s not fun I just won’t do it.
The final reason I wouldn’t blog as a career is the work. Blogging, and just freelancing in general, looks hard. Planning your own hours has lots of downsides: working late in the evening, working weekends, never knowing when to switch off. Or, at least, that’s what it was like for me at university. I found that stressful and know I wasn’t very good at it.
Then there’s the hours I’d have to put in to be good. I’m a computer scientist, I understand SEO, can write code and know how to write a good website. But social media, marketing and graphic design? Yeah not so much. It takes a lot of skills to run a successful blog and I like wouldn’t want the pressure, I enjoy exploring and learning those skills in my own time, trying out things and not being too worried if they don’t work.
There would be more obligations to be a better blogger if it was my career and I don’t want that. I’m not saying I don’t want to be good at book blogging- I do. I want my writing, confidence and online marketing skills to improve. I enjoy learning these skills knowing they’re just for me, not to wack on an impressive CV or produce a steady income to pay rent and buy food.
What about you? How long have you been blogging? Would you want a hobby as your career? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
I think discussing the glamourised ideal of blogging as THE job is so important – and normalising wanting to keep it a hobby, particularly when you love your “normal” job.
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Yessss and so many people do it to try and get a career but it’s just so much pressure because really the stats are all pretty random
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Like you, even I find social media marketing difficult to grasp. While I don’t love my job, I feel that I get paid really well doing something I know how to do and have been doing since the last 13 years! In comparison, I’m still a baby in the blogging world. I also don’t want to tag my blog in a particular category because I like book blogging, travel blogging, writing about general stuff.. so then I guess it becomes harder to monetise a blog that’s not specific enough 😊
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Oh it’s so confusing! Wow what is your job? Yeah me too, and they say you should have a focus if you want to do well but I do a bit of everything too. You can probably still do it however. If you have the stats 🤔 idk I’m no expert!
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I work in IT.. more like a Business Analyst instead of a coder/developer 😀 my stats are still newbie – like so not like I can cash on that yet.. but maybe in the future
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Ah so cool! Wow that’s so impressive! I’m.sure they’ll grow, it just takes time really
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Yeah fingers crossed😊
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I do agree that it would be horrible to lose that fun element that comes with blogging. If I was to make money with it, I’d rather just stick to part time with traditional employment
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Yeah I’d have to do something like that but even then… I’d find working for me stressful regardless what I end up doing tbh because there’s no guaranteed pay cheque
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“Blogging is my space to relax, chat about books, get recommendations and just chill.”
Honestly, I can relate. I do enjoy writing, I love blogging and my job. I’m working as a copywriter and that being said, I know basic SEO, how to write a blog. But like you said, maintaining a blog as a career is tiring. We keep analyzing which content that gain a lot of engagement, what type of post our followers love the most. When maintaining the company’s (where I work), I have a handful team who helps each other out—so I don’t feel overwhelmed. I don’t really have to take a lot of times designing good graphic, writing a blog post, analyzing the traffic, maintaining our social medias—all those stuffs. It’s a lot work to do, while it’s fun, it’s also tiring. I can’t imagine if I ever turn my blog as a career. I don’t think a freelance blogger here in my country is paid enough. The work and the payment is not worth it, if I ever want to turn my blog as my career.
When I finally decided to make my own blog, it’s because I want to express myself and be active on book community. I want to write my own reviews, recommending books to people—I want to make this blog as an escape from my 8am to 4pm work. I want to make this as my rendezvous, where I can say anything and make some new friends. Yes, I would love to see my blog growing bigger (that’s one of my goals, after all), but I don’t think I would turn this as my career. Let me find a stable job instead.
I agree with most of your point, it’s different to be a blogger as career and doing it as a hobby.
And…sorry for the rant. 😔
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Yessss everything you’ve said I totally agree with! It’s crazy how similar your job is to blogging, although as I work on websites all day I suppose my job is similar too which is possibly part of why we feel this way. I also think, realistically, my blog would need to get a lot bigger before I could even consider it becoming my job. I realise making money in the blogging world is tough and don’t think even if I was working a massive blog I’d see the same income as I’d get doing a stable career, especially not for the amount of work that goes into blogging. It’s cool you know all the SEO stuff from work! I bet it really helps with growing your blog!
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I agree wholeheartedly. I love blogging so so so much, but if it became a job I would resent it.
What I enjoy about it being a hobby is if I don’t have a set schedule that’s fine! But if it was a job that would become an issue and it just wouldn’t be fun anymore ☹
Have a career in blogging, great, I admire you, really I do! But it just isn’t for me, I prefer the genuine interaction that a hobby brings because I’m so passionate about it💓
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Exactly. I love not having to stress about it and not knowing that I can’t eat all month or whatever if I don’t publish X many blog posts. Yeah same, I think it’s very brave when people do go into blogging full time and very admirable but I’m too stressy to ever really do it myself
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I would love to blog for a living! My job is quite similar – I write Web content and do SEO for clients, so why not just do it for myself? Unfortunately, I agree with you that freelancing has plenty of downsides, so until I can make enough money with it
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I’ll stick to my regular job 😊Sorry about two comments, I published the first one by accident
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Ah no worries, I do it all the time!
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Oh that’s so cool! Blogging must be quite easy for you then! Yeah I think I’d have the same reservations with any freelance role tbh
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The writing part is easy, finding time not so much 😂
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I think I would struggle to stay invested in blogging if I did it as a full-time career – I probably wouldn’t enjoy it as much. Anyway I am very happy in my current job 🙂
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Yessss. And it could stop being fun with that much pressure
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I’ve been blogging for about 5 years now and never once thought about trying to make it a career. I probably wouldn’t make it simply because of the fact that I don’t always stick to a post schedule like I would want. I also agree that for me, it’s important to keep viewing followers and comments as engagement in my blog, as friends, etc rather than money or whatever to be made. Great post!
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I wouldn’t have thought about it if I wasn’t asked by a friend. Yeah same, my blog would need to grow a lot to make money. Yeah exactly! Thanks
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Great points. I hope to make a career out of writing someday but not blogging. I love to write but don’t care for the trying to keep up on social media and worrying about views. I kind of take the attitude of if it happens, it will happen. I use my blog to practice getting better at writing. Eventually I will try some freelance and see how it goes. Definitely don’t want to spoil the fun by taking it too seriously though.
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I’d love to be a writer full time 😍 yeah same. Although maybe that would making writing stressful too… Yeah I practice my writing through my blog too, yep me neither!
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