I am a proud Bookstagrammer. Do you know what Bookstagram is? Bookstagram is simply Instagram for books and book reviews. People who love to read start their own Instagram accounts for book reviews and book sharing. It’s a whole social media community for book lovers to meet and discuss books. We take pretty pictures of books, post reviews, follow one another and comment on books. The Bookstagram world is open to everyone. You can even tailor your Bookstagram to your favorite genres. Do you love fantasy? Look for fantasy bookstagrammers. Do you love romance or romcoms? Oh, trust me, there’s a whole universe for romcom bookstagrammers. Are you interested in becoming part of this community? I want to share with you how you can join me and so many others. 

Let me share with you why I started my own Bookstagram. I realized that I was posting lots of pictures of books and reviews on my personal Instagram. Maybe too many. It occurred to me that I could connect with people who actually get my crazy book obsession. Believe me, I have. I engage in great conversations about books I’ve read, books I want to read, and books that are completely new to me. 

First of all, you can just start adding bookstagrammers to your personal Instagram if you don’t want to create your own Bookstagram. Maybe you are new to reading or ready to get back into it, and this is a perfect way to discover books you’ll like. Use your handy dandy search tool on Instagram, search Bookstagram, and watch your Gram populate with images of pretty books. 

However, you may be ready to jump in and create your own Bookstagram. If that’s the case, first task is your handle. What clever name can you come up with? Think of pages, your name, books? I chose Joyfulreadswithjoy after a series of ideas that other people already owned. Coming up with a handle takes a few tries, but eventually you will find the one that fits best. 

After you create your new account, it’s time to post your first image. You can always introduce yourself with a cute “Meet the Bookstagrammer” post. After this, start posting your books and reviews. Some popular posts are monthly wrap ups, a new month’s hopeful books, colorful stacks, themed books, flatlays, throwbacks, etc. Of course, this is where the popular hashtags come in. Use them to search for ideas or to tag your photos for others to see. 

I’ve told people about my Bookstagram, and I usually receive a quizzical look. At first, I thought Bookstagram was an entirely different app, but I learned exactly what it was: a Bookstagram community within Instagram. I encourage you to enter this bright and colorful world of friendly readers and reviewers. You are welcome into our book world! Find me at https://www.instagram.com/joyfulreadswithjoy/.