Bookworms to Bookworms: a Mentoring Idea
The other day, I read Kim’s intriguing post, based on an article about a ‘secret blogging alliance’. At the end of her post, she asked:
Do book bloggers compete with each other? Or, because most of us do this as a hobby, the competition fueled by money isn’t there? What do you think of the idea of a blogging alliance, and how might that work in book blogging?
And I ended my ridiculously long, rambling reply with:
One thing I think would be cool is to have some kind of mentoring system. :D When I was a baby blogger, it was depressing to not have comments/feel to shy to talk to other bloggers/etc. And that was back in ‘07, before the community got as huge as it did. I try to find newbie bloggers now and help them out where I can, but it’d be neat to have a formalised resource, like they do in college sometimes. :)
Succint, I am not. But once I had actually typed out the mentoring idea, it got stuck in my mind. And I noticed a few people who read the comments/on Twitter seemed to think it was interesting too. So I thought about it some more.
As far as I can see, there would be two main challenges for a book blogging mentoring program:
- Getting the word out. This applies more to letting newbies know that there’s such a resource out there, since they are after all new, and it’s not as if there’s one central place all book bloggers must visit to become such (hehe).
- Getting mentors. Most bloggers are busy people, and we love reading as much as we love blogging. So convincing bloggers to spend more time on the internet might be difficult.
That being said, I think there are definite benefits:
- Making new bloggy friends! And even having little mentor families. :D I wasn’t in a sorority in college, but I had a good friend who was. She had a ‘mother’ who had sponsored her in, and the next year she had a ‘daughter’ herself, who also became her sponsor’s ‘granddaughter.’ I thought that was so cute and nice. It’d be neat to do that in blogging!
- Improving our community. This goes both ways; the older bloggers can help newbies avoid common mistakes, while the newbies will be a great injection of fresh blood and ideas.
- The more wondeful book blogs out there, the more wonderful books we’ll learn about! :)
- Did I mention the new friends thing? I think by having small groups, we’ll all be pushed out of safe zones and get to know different bloggers, be exposed to different books, etc.
Of course, this is still in its infancy, and I would love to hear everyone’s ideas and suggestions! I’m mainly posting so that we have a ‘hub’ to discuss these things. But here’s how it roughly played out in my mind…
Mentors: older book bloggers. You don’t have to have been blogging daily for three years, or huge, or anything like that in order to be a mentor. Mainly, you should just feel like you’re in a position to help newbie bloggers and give advice. You can volunteer to have anywhere between 1 and 6 mentees, as long as you can equally commit to them all. Speaking of which, here’s what you’d be committing to:
- leave at least 3 comments/week on Mentee’s blog
- answer any e-mails Mentee sends within one week
- post one dialogue/interview post w/ Mentee at some point (essentially, introducing them to your readers like a debutante)
Mentees: the newbie book bloggers. You don’t have to have started last week, but you feel that you’re just getting your toes wet with the whole blogging thing, and it sure would be nice to have someone to go to for advice. At the same time, you’re interested in networking so that your blog gets more exposure and making close bloggy friends. You’ll be taking on more commitments:
- send one e-mail a week to Mentor, with questions/ideas/rants/etc.
- leave at least 3 comments/week on 2-4 other Mentees’ blogs (in my mind, these are the same 2-4 mentees, so that y’all are almost like sibling newbie bloggers and form your own relationship)
- visit and comment on at least 2 of the ‘favourite posts’ each week (see below)
- display button on blog
- post one dialogue/interview post w/ Mentor (which gives your mentor exposure to your audience)
Community: it seems to me like there should be not only connections between Mentors and Mentees, and between the Mentees themselves, but also among the group as a whole. So I thought it’d be nice to have a weekly Mr. Linky to which all mentors/mentees can add their favourite post of the week, as well as a weekly spotlight on a randomly selected blog (it might be a mentor, might be a mentee).
For those who don’t have the time to become a mentor, but want to support the idea, they could do a post about it, display the button (both of which would help with getting the word out), or visit the favourite posts in the Mr. Linky.
Whew. Those are my ideas. But now I really want to hear yours. Here are some questions to get you started thinking, and feel free to leave super-long comments:
How to match mentors-mentees? Randomly? By main book interests? Letting mentors ‘check out’ prospective mentees and choose themselves? Letting mentees choose from a list of mentors?
What time period would the mentor-mentee commit to? Three months? Less? More?
Should there be giveaways only open to people in the group?
Can anyone think of a cuter name than Bookworms to Bookworms?
Should we start small, with a ‘pilot’ program?
What do we do if there’s a shortage of mentors or mentees?
Who wants to be a mentor or mentee?
Do my ‘commitments’ seem too much, especially for the mentors?
Who wants to help me run it?
Who can design an awesome button?
And I know y’all have a ton more ideas that I haven’t though of yet. So get commenting!
A Striped Armchair 
I like the name “Bookworms to bookworms” :D
Your first question is one I started wondering about as I read the post. I think by interests might work better than randomly. And also by goals – for example, if I were to have a mentee more interested in the ARCs/publishing connections/author interviews side of blogging, I wouldn’t be able to help them much because I have very little experience and not all that much interest in that side of things (not that there’s anything wrong with having those goals, of course).
So maybe we could have the mentees fill in a questionnaire about their reading taste/blogging goals/general interests, and then we’d match them with a mentor based on that? And we could also pick “siblings” with similar goals.
What worries me is the possibility of this giving people the idea that you can only connect with people with the exact same interests as you, which really isn’t what I mean. It’s probably better to work closely together if we’re all on the same page, but the fact that we’re all so different is part of what makes blogging fun :D But like you said, the whole group would develop relationships, so hopefully the matching by interests thing wouldn’t be restrictive.
As for time period, maybe we could make it a little longer, like, say, five months? Sometimes it takes 3 months just to start getting regular comments, though hopefully the program would speed things up. I have faith that you’ll have no shortage of mentors, so hopefully new groups would be starting all the time, and as soon as a mentor was done with their first one they could start with another, and etc. I think this will be a big success!
Oh, and I’d love to be a mentor, of course :D
What an awesome and ambitious idea Eva, love it. I wish I had something like this when I started. But then I was already blogging for more than a year before I jumped into book blogging, so it was easier for me.
I would say random assigning would work great instead of letting people choose.
cuter name than Bookworms to Bookworms? no way, it’s already too cute and perfect :)
I think there would be a shortage of mentees, not mentors, but that’s just how I feel, but you’ll never know. If there is a shortage, probably we can ask if someone could take up more responsibilities. Someone who thinks they can take more.
I don’t think the commitments are too much. I guess we already answer more than 20 emails per day, whats with a few more per week. I would LOVE to help you with it. Just let me know.
And of course I would love to be a mentor.
Ah, Eva, I love this idea. I am a whiny, baby blogger who feels a bit like she’s been nipping at ankles in the community. This would be a great way to get involved. My ONLY concern is that if somehow someone is STILL left in the dark (like they’re not picked or they have an absentee mentor) it may be a double slap. Basically, wonderful idea but just make sure everyone really is still included…definitely not saying you won’t, just my paranoid inner child coming out. Haha I was never picked last for gym class…promise. :)
P.S. Pam, I was always picked last for gym class. I got over it.
Eva, I like this idea, and my first concern was answered by your first question: definitely blogs would have to be matched by interest. I don’t have anything to comment on on some blogs because I don’t read the genre fiction, for example. People probably feel the same about my blog too since I never read genre fiction and am just starting to read modern stuff.
I’m not sure what I think about the idea. I like the idea of helping the fledgling bloggers, but I think their issues is they don’t know where to go first. Once they’ve found various different bloggers (and hence the bookworms to bookworms program) they’re probably well on their way to being confident bloggers.
I was afraid it sounded like a large commitment, but then I realized you were talking a few months. I think four or five months is great, it’s not too overwhelming or anything. Any longer and I start wondering what I’m doing in half a year? Will I still have time then?
I don’t know if I want to be a mentor because I’m not sure what “expertise” I have in blogging and I sometimes feel I’d love mentoring myself! So I’ll ponder the concept. I’ll probably join in, just give me time. :)
I love making buttons! So I’ll play with something and see what happens today or tomorrow.
Rebecca brings up (to me) another issue. That is, I am not a “new” blogger, but there are many things I would love to know, like how to make buttons, that I totally cannot figure out on my own. Most of my other issues are also tech-y issues. What about a sub-mentoring group for technoid to techless bloggers?
Eva – have I told you how adorable you are!?
I have one more idea to suggest (based on Rebecca’s comment) how about a council of wise non-mentors who could be available on an adhoc basis to answer the occasional odd/difficult question? For example, if a mentee wanted to find a particular blogger for style or ‘who has seen a certain situation’ and the mentor didn’t know, they could pitch it to the council? That gives those who might not commit to the one-on-one a way to participate?
I think this is a wonderful idea!
Great idea, when I started it took me ages to find blogs I was interested in, and I still now only get a few comments a week. Would be great to see new bloggers introduced – a few bloggers are doing a weekly feature on new bloggers at the mo, Kirsten from Story Siren does one about YA bloggers – might be a place to fish out mentees.
I am in the midst of creating my first book blog, and I think this would be a very fun experience!
This is a FANTASTIC idea. I have been blogging on and off for several years, but the book blogging thing is new to me and I would love to be able to connect with someone who has been doing it for a bit to help guide me along.
I am all over this!
I love the idea, but I’d hate to be limited to looking after a single person or even small group. I am happy to answer any questions that a blogger has – new or old. I want everyone to know that I am approachable. I love Care’s idea about a council, but I think that new bloggers should realise that we aren’t all scary and they can come and ask us whatever they like. Good luck with your plan. I’m sure it will help a lot of people.
Perhaps you could write a post to ask new bloggers which questions they would most like to know the answers to. I’d be happy to write a post on some of the answers and I’m sure others would too.
I’d also like to point out that all the information is probably out there already. If you want to know the answer – just search for it on the internet.
I have searched but sometimes the info is still confusing or just not detailed enough
Actually, in the last couple months I’ve found myself in a sort of mentor role already. It was completely unexpected, because I honestly sort of feel like a newbie still, like I”m just barely getting over the newbie hump, but I have a group of bloggers who already email me for advice and stuff. I love their blogs and I’ve gotten to know them a lot better than many bloggers, I comment on their blogs all the time, and they comment on mine. Some are more newbie than others, and that of course doesn’t stop me from emailing more veteren bloggers than me when *I* need help (thanks, Ana!). So I think this is a good idea.
Like everyone else has been saying, I think it’s a good idea to match on interests. I like leaving comments that say more than just “good review.” I like leaving thoughtful comments, and to get thoughtful comments back. In order to do that, I have to have some interest in the posts. It helps if the blogger and I have similar reading tastes and blogging goals. It would be difficult, for instance, for me to comment 3x/wk if the blogger puts up mostly memes. I almost never comment on or even read memes. It would also be difficult for me to spotlight a book blog that mostly consists of memes. I don’t feel I could honestly say how wonderful that blog is, because I probably wouldn’t feel that way. So, long story short, matching on interests and blogging goals seems like a must.
I don’t have a problem with the commitments or anything, and I think it’s fun to have a little blog family, getting to know people. Even once the newbies aren’t new anymore, they still have someone to go to when something’s unfamiliar to them, the way I go to Ana, Trish, Rebecca, or other bloggers I’ve known for a long time.
Okay, this is getting long…I’ll be quiet now. :)
I think this is a very good idea. I’m not sure I’m on-board but I’m definately on the dock checking out the boat.
I think having someone leaving regular comments, three times a week say, would be great. I went for a long time without comments when I started.
I think matching by taste and interest would be important, but I’m not sure about the best way to do that. Maybe a questionaire, as Nymeth suggests. That might be more reasonable than having them choose from a list, because some of the more high-profile bloggers would probably get asked to do a lot more than others. Maybe there could be a space for them to mention favorite blogs they already read; they could get matched with one of those or with someone whose style is similar.
And commenting on 3 posts per week might be difficult, especially if either blogger involved doesn’t post more than 3x per week. Or if, as Amanda says, they mostly post memes or something that their partner just isn’t interested in. I think that should be a loose requirement.
The mentee commenting community intrigues me, but I think it might be better just to ask them to comment on 3 posts among all the mentees, rather than just 2 or 3 that are chosen for them. I imagine they’ll find themselves gravitating to certain mentee bloggers more than others, and the sub-community would happen organically, as it did with among all of us veteran bloggers.
And I totally support Care’s idea of a council or “circle of experts.” If I had a mentee who had, say, questions about using Blogger or about self-hosting or making buttons, I’d be no help at all, but I’d be happy to throw the question to someone with expertise in those areas.
And, yes, I’d certainly be willing to be a mentor.
I’m not sure I’d make any kind of mentor, but I would totally support this idea if it comes into being and write about it on my blog. I think it would be a great resource for our more shy beginners.
Lezlie
This is a fantastic idea!! I would love to be a mentor. I think this would be a wonderful way to not only build this community up but it would make us so much stronger as a whole!! I’m game!
Great Idea! This post has inspired me to make a list of all the blogging Do’s and Don’ts I’ve learned by trial and error. Even though I’ve been blogging for 2 years, there are still a lot of things I could learn (technical things; how does Mr. Linky work?) while I have knowledge galore on upping your stats!
Great idea. I love it.
This is a great idea. I still feel very new to book blogging (though I’m not really new to reviewing), and I know there are things that I’m still not ready to do. (Like contests…setting them up seems so daunting.)
I also echo everyone’s comments on matching blogs based on interest. I have a hard time commenting on non-YA posts because I largely don’t read anything except YA! My only concern with that is that some bloggers may have difficulties classify what genre their blog falls in. I’ve seem a lot of eclectic bloggers out there.
And I love the idea of a book blogging family. I was in a sorority and I’m still ridiculously close to my mother, daughter, and grand-daughter. ;D
So I’m in as a mentee.
I feel like I was mentored when I first started. I joined as part of a class. We were required at one point to visit other blogs and leave comments. Later I joined Sunday Salon. I set a personal goal of leaving at least five comments on blogs each Sunday. I knew how happy it made me to receive comments, so I wanted others to have the same joy.
I would like to mentor other bloggers, but I will say that I’m a lite blogger. I generally only blog one day a week (Sunday). I read blogs every morning with my coffee and I try to comment on them, but it might be a little too much to commit to commenting on that many blogs. I could try, perhaps.
I would only like to mentor bloggers whose blogs I would love to read. I would want to read bloggers who read a lot and who read literary fiction, creative nonfiction, and children’s books.
Great idea! I’d love to be a mentor, but have no ideas about how to go about pairing and doing all the other work… though I think pairing up people who have similar interests would be a good idea. I don’t think your commitments sound like a lot of work, either.
You’ve got a great brain, Eva. :-)
I am a new blogger and I think this would be a wonderful program. I would be happy to create a few badges for the program. I love doing stuff like that…. let me know.
I really like this idea in general. Things I like specifically, based on both your original post and comments up to now:
Match mentors/mentees based on reading/blogging interests.
Mentor “council,” since some people have more/different expertise than others.
The name Bookworms to Bookworms :-).
The commitment doesn’t sound unreasonable.
I’d be interested in being in a mentor if anyone would have me :-).
I’ll be watching for further updates on this – great idea, Eva!
I just wanted to share this link with you guys. When we were going thru our international adoption I belonged to several yahoo groups that were invaluable to learning what to do, there is actually a yahoo group already for Independant Book Reviewers and many book bloggers are on it.
Here is the link”:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Independent-Book-Reviews/
You know I think this is an awesome idea. I feel like it’s really important to not just assign mentors randomly — mentors and mentees would ideally have a close relationship, and so you’d want to be working with people who have similar goals/interests. That’s not to say it’s impossible to have relationships with different bloggers, but if you’re spending a lot of time interacting with someone you’d want it to feel beneficial.
As for the experts thing — I’ve been thinking a bit about the idea of using a blog. We could solicit guest posts from some of the “experts’ about different topics and try to update it a few times a week with stuff about mentoring or book blogging FAQs or whatever… that way mentors/mentees might have a resource to go to with questions or a place for discussion? That might work… I dunno though. I’ll think more and get back to you — I mostly just wanted to comment so I could get follow up comments via e-mail :)
Eva, I read Kim’s blog post, when it went up and it definitely generated a lot of discussion!
I’m not sure I have anything original to add here although I like the idea of some kind of blog (or tab on someone’s blog)… and it could be called “Bookworms to Bookworms”) that would have a place for FAQs, a place to ask suggestions/questions, maybe a place where people could leave a message like MENTOR WANTED FOR NEWBIE BLOGGER, with contact info and/or URL included.
I think sometimes the new blogger needs to figure out what his/her voice will be; to discover what they like writing about the most– and how they like to write (short posts more frequently? long ones, once a week?). Then maybe at that point that is when a mentor would come in. I feel like I’m still figuring it out on my blog :-).
Of course a blogger wouldn’t have to be new to want ideas and suggestions, or mentoring.
I like it! I also like Jill (aka rhapsody)’s suggestion about help for when we have techie questions. If there are more mentors than mentees, what about upping the ratio? For example, a mentee could have a tech mentor, a community mentor, a mentor for OMG moments… Mentees could request mentors in all of the areas in which they need help. And there could be a short term v. long term option (short term being weeks, long term being 3 months or so).
In that scenario, I could see myself being both. I could have used a mentor this weekend when I moved my blog! And I’m willing to show someone around, so to speak, but I wouldn’t necessarily feel comfortable giving tech advice.
Oh yes, and definitely match by interests!
And if you need help, let me know…after BBAW, though!
I’m wondering if this will be an ongoing thing. Like once the 4-5 months is up, do we wait a bit and then start over? New bloggers are entering the scene every day. And like you said, how do you let people know that this program even exists.
This is a huge undertaking and admire the thought that you’ve put into it. I will definitely be supportive!
I love this idea. I love to assist newbies as it wasnt all that long ago that I was one myself and I am very thankful for those who helped me.
Count me in if this becomes a go! :)
I think this would be a lovely idea! As a newbie, I often feel a bit overwhelmed with navigating the big book blogging world. I would love to be a part of this. I need a lot of help. :D
As you know, I like the idea, but I am wondering how it would play out in application. If you match up on interests, what if the mentee is doing wordpress and the mentor is using blogger?
That’s why it might work to actually have little groups…maybe like three mentors (or coaches) across different platforms and interests and then 3-6 mentees.
Or even better, keep the mentoring relationship to blogging content and really utilize the book blogging tips group on bookblogs.ning for tech issues. If all mentors and mentees were aware of it, it would be a great place to deal with those issues.
So say you have someone sign up, they get assigned to a mentor and the mentor sends them a letter saying they’ll work with them on building confidence, how to write reviews, getting comments, linking etc. and if they have specific technical questions they are encouraged to use the bookblogs.ning blogging tips group.
Make sense? It takes a village to raise a blogger. ;)
Ohhh Amy. I like your idea Amy of utilizing the ning. The nice thing is that discussions are archived there. If somebody else had the same problem, then others could find it as well.
I like the idea of using the Ning too. Maybe make a Mentor group with a list of mentoring bloggers. Possibly have subgroups like YA bloggers, sci-fi, etc.
I guess until you know what mentees want, there will be a lot of fumbling.
I don’t really have any creative ideas, but I do think a questionnaire would be the best way to match bloggers, both by interests and by blogging platform like Amy has said. Using the blogging tips forum on book blogs ning is a good idea, but I can imagine it being easiest for a newbie to also have this in common with their mentor.
I’m not sure how useful I would be as a mentor, as I feel I’m only a little blog, but I would be willing to publicize the program and step in if I think it’s something I can do! And I love the name, it’s adorable.
I think this is a great idea!
Eva this is a fabulous idea though I think it will be difficult to really dedicate time to singular bloggers. I do like Amy’s idea of using ning to create a larger scale group where people could come in and provide assistance to all. I also like that information would be archived there so that it could always be referred to later.
I’ll be happy to help support where I can :)
Great idea! I would have had no idea how to really get up and running without the help of a couple of other bloggers, one who is a friend and had just started blogging in the past few months and one who is, literally, a pro.
This is such a fabulous idea. I’m still fairly new to it all, but I know that fellow bloggers like J.Kaye have helped boost my confidence immensely.
The other day I challenged Nymeth to be my mentor. She said O.K., but that was that.
I think that something valuable that could come out of this, if nothing else, is just more exposure for newer bloggers. Linking is always important!
I think this is a great idea. I still feel like a newbie even though my blog is almost a year old. Only good things can come out of a mentoring program. I do have one question. How long would a blogger have to be blogging in order to be considered a mentor or mentee? I’m not sure I worded that right.
Grace
Eva, this is such a wonderful–and huge!–idea. I started blogging in January and am still feeling my way around, still making huge gaffes, still learning what the questions are. Something like a(n) FAQ list or Most Common Mistakes specific to blogging about books would be really helpful. It is also an incredible amount of work for very busy people. That said, just reading these comments has been helpful: I learned about the .ning thing (whatever it is), and a Yahoo group. Had not known that either existed!
And then the blogging community as a whole–and the “bookies” in particular–have been nothing but friendly and supportive. This is just one more example of that kindness. Thank you.
That’s a wonderful idea, Eva! I’d love to interact and learn new things from other bookbloggers as well! :)
This is definitely a cool idea! As a new book blogger, I’d love to hear words of wisdom from someone who is already awesome at it. It’s definitely intimidating to look at some of these fab blogs that get lots and lots of comments. :)
This is a sound idea; I’m a new blogger and what I’ve found when starting out that it was hard to find out where to go, what to do, stuff like library loot and whatnot, stuff that helps bring bookbloggers together. Also, in the beginning, and to an extent, now, I feel like an outsider looking in a special club. I suppose that’s due to me being a newbie etc.
*Just to point out that I haven’t found any blogger to be elitist.
I think the mentor-mentee should be random because a) it’ll stop it being a popularity contest and b) it’ll be better to have people with different tastes paired up.
What a wonderful idea? Now, who wants to be my mentor. Let’s get this started. :)
Actually I like Amy’s idea of having mentoring groups rather than a one-on-one situation. If you have multiple mentors working with multiple mentees, you can worry less about interest. A newbie book blogger might not even know what he/she is interested in yet. If every team had a straight up reviewer, an ARC person, and a review/personal life/ARC/photography/etc. person, the new blogger would be able to learn about multiple styles of book blogging. A more valid mentor-mentee relationship develops over time, so eventually these groups might go in to more one-on-one situations.
First I want to applaud all of the thought you put into this and actually putting it out there for everyone.
And second, there are just too many questions to answer! This is a fantastic idea and I like everything you’ve come up with. I would be happy to help, although I don’t exactly consider myself any sort of expert. I’m pretty good for moral support, though :)
I do think that 3 months probably isn’t long enough for the newbie and I like the name.
And finally, let me know if you need any help.
I love your idea! The only possible downside I can see is that I don’t know if I would consider myself a mentor… although my blog has been around a while its nowhere near what I would really want, as far as content or style. I don’t know if I would want me as a mentee!
Otherwise, this is something that would have been awesome as a newbie blogger!
I think this is a wonderful idea. A pilot would be nice so that you can try out your initial ideas and see if they work. I’m a new blogger and I would love to have a mentor and feel more included in a community. I know that many who have been blogging for a while have developed that, but I’m definitely not quite there yet (still, everyone has been really supportive)!
I love the name and the amount of commitment. Although, I also believe that the program should be flexible. Even new bloggers have other commitments and I think that the mentor/mentee should work out a schedule of commitments that works for both of them.
Good luck with developing this idea further. I look forward to hearing more about it in the future. And if you do kick off a pilot program, I’d love to be a part of it!
I would so be interested in becoming a mentee. I’ve only been blogging for 3 months. Before that, I’d never even written a book review. Fortunately, I was taking an English class at the time, and my teacher helped me out. I have no idea how to do buttons. I don’t even know who the “prominent” book bloggers are. Somehow I stumbled upon BBAW (which I’m participating in this year) which led me to this site.
I’m interested, but it would be hard for me to commit to making so many comments each week. And I don’t know if I’d be a mentor or a mentee–I haven’t been much of a joiner because of time constraints and also personality. Certainly I’d help advertise this and suggest some interest categories, which may be the hardest (or at least the most time-consuming) part.