How to Get Out of a Booksta Slump

Talking about reading slumps is common, but one topic we don’t touch on as much is the Booksta slump, where we’re either stuck in a rut, stressed out, unmotivated, or discouraged by the engagement on your posts (this one you can blame the algorithm for, because it is always changing!).

If you’re like me and love creating content for Instagram, you’ll know what it’s like to put hours of time and effort into a post, and it doesn’t receive the love it deserves. Alternatively, if you have a set schedule and dedicate a significant amount of time to creating and drafting posts every day, the routine may start feeling overwhelming and lead to burnout as a result.

So what can we do to get ourselves back on our feet and feel inspired to post again if we’re stuck? Here are some ways that could help:

1. Take a break

This is probably the most important tip for your mental well-being. Take some time off and away from Bookstagram if you need to. The community will always be there when you return; the most important thing is to take care of yourself so you’ll be ready to return. And it’s okay if you never do! For many of us, Booksta is simply a hobby and a side interest, not a side-hustle or job you need to keep hustling with.

2. Seek inspiration from other Bookish accounts

When I feel stuck or in a rut, I always watch Booksta content from my favourite creators on YouTube! Jaime Fok and Freya Valerio are my go-tos, but there are countless others out there to seek inspiration from. Sometimes, all we need to do is step back, watch some bookish-related content, and feel inspired by someone else’s reads and content to make the return to Booksta and content creation. The best thing about this is that there are hundreds of accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok to choose from. Find your favourites to find your inspiration!

3. Engage with your audience and followers

If you’re burnt out from the content-creating and posting side of things, you can always temporarily stop and just invest your energy into engaging with your audience through stories, commenting on other people’s posts, and sharing your favourite content. This is a nice alternative if you still want to stay in the Booksta community but don’t want the pressure of having to post.

4. Write down or mind map new ideas

Sometimes, all we need is a bit of redirection or a slight deviation with our Booksta account. Whether that’s re-evaluating the best time to post, figuring out the best theme and style for your feed, or needing some new content ideas, writing them down somewhere can help you get back into the groove of things and enjoy Booksta again. A new direction can be very exciting, so hype yourself up with it!

5. Try something new when creating content

Following on from the previous point, challenge yourself to try out some new ideas or content you don’t normally create! These could be book tags/challenges (I absolutely love these and could do a million of them if I could!), book recommendations with a certain theme, dedicating posts to your favourite characters or book series, quotations from books that stood out to you, your favourite dedications, etc. The list is endless; there’s so much for you to try!

You might want to try using different features of a software app when editing. Canva is my go-to, and there’s always something new for me to learn how to use and experiment with for my next post! Whether it’s a new font, animation, or knowing how to implement certain effects to convey an emotion, there are an abundance of things you could try to enhance the quality and creativity of your content.

6. Similarly, analyse your previous posts and see what your audience engages with the most to figure out what to post more of

If you really want to step back and think like a content creator, take a look at your insights and analytics to see how well your posts are performing and which ones your followers are the most interested in. I try to do it a bit more myself now, but it takes lots of practice and knowing how to understand what you’re looking for. I definitely don’t have all the answers I need, but I have been able to identify some areas I could make small changes to as a starting point!

7. Find a realistic schedule that fits around your life

One thing that seems to be driving everyone crazy is how often we should be posting on Instagram to maximise our discovery, engagement, and followers. The problem is that there is too much information about this, some of which tells you to do one thing and others tell you to do another. Oftentimes, a formula for one account will not work for another because so many other variables are involved. This can make anyone feel frustrated, annoyed, and even down about their progress.

Booksta shouldn’t be stressful. It should revolve around your life, not the other way around. This might mean being able to post once a day or a few times a week. I only post every other day, and while it makes my account grow slowly, it’s a schedule I can stay consistent with. That is not to say the schedule doesn’t change, however. Sometimes I have a few extra reels or content in my drafts that I want to share, and end up posting more than what I normally do, or I'm extra busy and have to reduce a day of posting in a week. Stuff happens and things change—that is okay! At the end of the day, Booksta should be flexible and adaptable depending on your life circumstances.

8. Make sure you enjoy what you’re posting and are having fun doing so!

Perhaps the most important tip in this blog post — make sure what you’re planning, drafting, taking photos of, and posting are enjoyable and something you want to do! Most of us don’t have Booksta as our full-time job and only use it as a hobby to share our bookish thoughts and our favourite books (shout out to all the content creators out there who are and are always hustling!). The last thing you want is for you to burn out and feel discouraged as a result of it. Having lots of likes and followers is great, but it doesn’t beat engaging and communicating in like-minded conversations with the Booksta friends you managed to make on the platform. Booksta is supposed to be a way for us to relax, unwind, and get our creativity flowing, not another layer of stress where all we care about are the numbers and how much a particular post is growing.

Conclusion

It is completely normal for Booksta slumps to happen (I slump more often than you think!), but there are ways to tackle them so that we can bounce back and feel refreshed to get back into the swing of things again.

Let me know what your favourite way to get out of a Booksta slump is!