Bookstagram. You probably have heard this term, especially when you consider yourself as a bookworm. But what is that exactly? Bookstagram is a community for people who loves to talk about books through their picture. If you love book and photography, then this community is the perfect place for you to EXPRESS yourself. But how exactly does one create a bookstagram? Well, worry no more my friend! I’ve written this brief guide to start your own bookstagram!

Bookstagram. You probably have heard this term, especially when you consider yourself as a bookworm. But what is that exactly? Bookstagram is a community for people who loves to talk about books through their picture. If you love book and photography, then this community is the perfect place for you to EXPRESS yourself. But how exactly does one create a bookstagram? Well, worry no more my friend! I’ve written this brief guide to start your own bookstagram!

Sign Up

First thing first, you need to Create an Instagram Account - and for your books onlu of course. If you really want to be serious about this then I suggest you to separate your personal account and your bookstagram account. Before I create a bookstagram account, I followed many of bookstagram accounts on my personal, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s getting more confusing as the day goes by. Why? Because I feel like I was colliding two worlds, my personal life which include photos of my friends and celebrity that I follow, and my love for books which include photos from many of bookstagram accounts. After I created a bookstagram, it just felt right for me. I can fully explore my love for books through photos and can escape from my real life whenever I need to.

Username

Next thing you got to do is… Pick a Username! The more catchy the better! Sure, you can always change your username later. But the more you stay with the first username, the better. You can start your username from a character you, mixed with words from your favorite books, anything really. Play with your creativity! Also, there are bunch of websites that regulates account name to help you with.

Theme

Next up, you need to decide your theme. This is totally up to you, whether you want to use one or not. But in my opinion, accounts with a define theme are the ones I always come back to. Why? Because their feed is tidier and so pleased to look at. You can start searching ideas for your ‘theme’ by looking at other bookstagram’s photos. Not copying them of course, just to get a grasp of how you want your photos or feed to look like. A cozy theme? A fall theme? A dark theme? Or maybe a rustic theme? From there, you can sort of know what you need to get a photo that you want, like props and background. Gather them around, and you’re ready for your photoshoot.

Sketching Layout

This is optional, if you’d like to be prepared then you need to do this, plan out your photos by sketching a layout. Write down what props you need and how you’d positioned your books and make a sketch for every frame. No need to be a nice one, a scribble might just do.

Camera and Friends

Choose a photography equipment that suits you the best. If you have a professional camera in your possession, use it. A higher resolution for your photos is guaranteed for sure. But if you don’t have one, you can always use your phone. As long as you have a good lighting, it should be fine. And that brings you to the next question, should I use a lighting equipment or not? It’s totally okay if you don’t want to use one, just make sure you have a good source of lighting like the sun. However, using a natural light can be a little tricky because the amount of light you’d receive every day is not going to be the same therefore the brightness of the photos that you took today might be different from yesterday’s. But hey, that’s what editor applications are for 😊

Take photos

This is it! Have fun! Use your creativity, try different angles, work the props, and more importantly, choose the book or books you want to feature.

NB : taking good photos might took a lot of time, and a lot of effort. So make sure you’re up for it (in my case : I’m in the mood), and always have a little bit of snack to fill up your stomach in case you get hungry 😉)

Editing

The next step is… editing your photos! If the photos you took didn’t came out as bright as you wanted, no need to panic! There are many of editing applications that are easy to operate, or you can learn just by using a tutorial on Youtube. Instagram itself have their own editing program so you can use that too if you don’t want to install any new application. Usually, after I edit my photos (brightness, contrast, etc), I go to the VSCOCam and apply a filter. Using a filter is optional, totally up to you. The advantage of using one is the filter makes your photos look prettier and can be on the same color scheme as the others, also easier to look at.

Caption

Posting a photo without a caption is like eating pancakes without maple syrup, it doesn’t feel right. When posting your very first photo, make sure to introduce yourself because well you’re new to the community and so people can get to know you a little better. Don’t worry, people on bookstagram are so welcome to new members! You can also ask your followers some question, from book related or anything really! Oh! And quoting a book is the perfect caption for when you’re in a hurry (or when you’re lazy) 😉

Hashtag

Gorgeous photo to post : CHECK! Eye catching caption to read : CHECK! Now you only need one thing to complete the package, and that is : Hashtags! Putting hashtags on your photo is important to get your photos view by more people. Using certain hashtag can give your photo repost by accounts who usually featured another bookstagrammer’s photo. And that’s always a good thing!

Have Fun

Besides posting photos, bookstagram community is all about book discussion with fellow bookworms. So, make some friends! Join a book club! Participate in various photo challenge! Fangirl (or fanboy) on! And most importantly, enjoy yourself!