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October 2016 Reflection



I wasn't exactly sure if I wanted to make an October Reflection for this month. After all, I didn't really do anything this month. It was a "break" or just a little "gap". This past month doesn't count, right?

That's where I decided to go ahead and write a reflection. This month wasn't an intentional break month. I didn't make a notice in advance for everyone to know. I didn't even know myself that this was going to happen. But it happened, and, since it's a tradition to do these little monthly reflections, there should be no excuse.

Moving on, if you have not been around for our past monthly reflections, I would recommend that you of course look at our past ones (that is, if you're interested in these). I'll also give you a little summary about what we do: In these reflections, I look back on how our blog and bookstagram (Instagram + books) did as well as give a sneak peek into our blog and bookstagram in the coming month.


Looking Back Into October


The Blog
So, funny story: I didn't exactly work on the blog much in October? As a result, our pageviews dropped significantly, by about 77%, in fact. That is extremely bad. It certainly is well-deserved, but I hope to never have another month like this past one again. Only two posts were published in the whole month. (And I missed my chance at a Halloween post, since it was on one of our posting days.)

Instagram
Luckily for all of those people who follow us on Instagram, I did keep up with this. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the exact number of followers we had at the end of the month, but I believe we had around 950 followers. This means that we gained a bit under 250 followers this month, which is around the same amount as last month. I think the trick is finally nailing an editing style and participating in Shoutout for Shoutouts (a.k.a sfs).


We also successfully participated in @commasandampersands on Instagram's October 2016 photo challenge, #ampersandoct16. One of our photos was even featured in the weekly overview of the challenge:

(Above: the picture that was featured on @commasandampersands's page.)

 Goals
I did not make goals for October because, well, I didn't actually write my September 2016 Reflection until late October, and thus never made any goals for October.

Coming Up in November


 The Blog
I'm currently planning a handful of posts, which include a book review on On Writing by Stephen King, a book review on Salt to the Sea, a post/posts on little lessons from On Writing, and a book review on The Handmaid's Tale, along with some other ideas in the making. While I do have all of these ideas, I am not sure when I want to post them, so these may or may not be posted this month.

I also plan on possibly adding a new addition to our "Posting Schedule" tab on the top of our page (desktop users: second tab to the left; mobile users: click the button on the top and select "Posting Schedule). 

Instagram
As some of you probably already know, we are participating in two photo challenges this month, because I couldn't find just one that suited us. We are currently participating in @acciobooksncoffee and @_livelaughread's #livelaughbooksnovember challenge. We are also participating in @readwithmikee and @pagewithaview's #novbookstagram photo challenge.



Goals
Ah...goals, goals, goals! Where would we be without them? (I bet I'd still be okay because I never follow them, haha.) Here are my goals for November:


  1. Use my posting schedule! I really need to get back into using my posting schedule. I think it was a great tool for me in planning and figuring out what to do with posts and all. One day I'll make a post about my posting schedule (or maybe I'll do it this month; who knows?).
  2. Actually work on the blog. A pretty obvious one, it may seem simple and easy, but for me, it's not. But I so badly want to keep up with the blog, so try I shall!
  3. Reach 1,000 followers. Okay, this one's not really my call, but Em wants to reach 1,000 by the end of the month. I am going to try my best to do whatever I can to reach that goal. Besides, I think it'll be pretty simple...we're almost there!

Now I guess I'll have to see how the month of November plays out!

Note: When this post and my November goals were made, we had not yet reached 1,000 followers on Instagram, which is why reaching 1,000 followers is a goal.

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