Firstly – you guys are amazeballs! I had over 200 views of ‘Scrooges of Bookstagram’ and the blog hasn’t been up for 24 hours! So pat yourself on the back because you cuties deserve it!!  #proudmoment.

And to follow this up, I thought I would put up clear instructions on avoiding the scrooges.

But shall we take a trip down memory lane and educate the non-bookish world about what bookstagram really is??

It is an Instagram account dedicated to books.

That’s the basic bitch of it and is a clear sign when looking for scrooges. Looking at accounts you shouldn’t see a clear promotion of them but a showcase of the books. If you are looking at an account that really only posts selfies of themselves with a product or a book taking up 3% of the photo or photos of the same ‘popular’ or new release book in every single photo. You are looking at a scrooge. Or at least someone who really loves themselves. Remember people this is for bookstagram and we are here to talk about books not people. We deal with people enough in our everyday lives, lets us be happy little introverts on bookstagram.

If you want some great examples of accounts that showcase their product with themselves included and are NOT scrooges, take a gander at these accounts:

@hollyheartsbooks

@jobis89

@paperfury

@babblingbooks

@lillytales

These are just some of the amazing accounts that I recommend you follow because reading is their jam, their love and a major part of their account. They don’t tend to read just the new releases and you can find a variety of books of their favourite genre on their feed. They aren’t in it for the popularity vote, they are purely in this game for the love of books. So I would recommend following them.

And while I’m fuelling up on coffee and typing this with sleep filled eyes, let’s talk about the caption as well. Honest to Satan’s left bicep you can write in the caption whatever you want, there is no guidelines on how to bookstagram, honestly just wing it like we do life. But if you are looking at a person’s account and they hardly ever talk about reading and writing or books for that fact then hit that fucking big read button because we have a scrooge. Shall we get them a constellation prize? Scrooges will generally talk about themselves in the post or purely just a post about promoting free products. (I ain’t going over the free products thing again though, I have only been out of bed for an hour and I am not in an adulting mood today, so please check the previous post) If it’s all about the free products, themselves and well themselves then you are looking at a try hard influencer or as I like to the call them… SCROOGE.

Just a wild example: start looking for bookstagram accounts that feature classics, their favourite series, a book that was published well over 10 years ago or basically anything that wasn’t published in the last 12 months. These are the kind of accounts that are true bookstagrammers, the ones that really love reading and find joy from reading not popularity. And seriously praise mayonnaise, these are the type of accounts where they will respond to you. You will get reading updates in their stories instead of a photo of themselves drinking coffee, you will find them randomly shouting out accounts they love and expect nothing in return.  They will post about read alongs, great stores they found and many other wonderful book related things.

Another major part about finding the scrooges if their interaction. For instance some of the accounts I have mentioned before are not following me but I have had a conversation with each of them regarding books, because they actually fucking care. Its refreshing. I love it. If you can reach out to an account and they respond, it is a clear indication that they are not a scrooge. Because, after all, they care about the books and not whole heartedly about only themselves.

So keep these kind of dot points in mind when going through accounts you already follow or accounts that you may want to follow, because we want bookstagram to be a positive place and if we can slowly flush out the negativity of it all, it will be a better place. And hopefully these little hints will save you from following an account and later on down the track being like damn this bitch only about herself.

Again, I want to say thanks for the support guys, your shout outs about the blog and positive comments really make it worthwhile. I know that to some I may come across as negative but that isn’t the case. I am opinionated, I will stand up for myself and those that deserve it and I have no problems calling out the bullshit that I see on bookstagram. After all, if your arse looks fat in those jeans, I will tell you, because life is too short not to be honest and true. Anyway, it’s refreshing to see so much support with my rants or aka honest opinion, because after all we are all here for the love of books.

Blue xx