In today’s Blogger Spotlight, we have a man of very few words in Grumpy Old Books by Noel Powell. Noel is proud of his unique selling point – the fact he’s not young and bookish, he’s just a grumpy old man who loves books. Something else unique about Grumpy Old Books is that he includes a summary of the author of the book he’s reviewed at the bottom of each of his reviews.
What made you get into blogging?
I got into blogging because I am mean with money. I love books so I signed up to NetGalley to get free advanced copies of books about to be published. All I had to was give an honest review. However to get the top of the range blockbuster free books I had to demonstrate that I had “a following” so I set up Grumpy Old Books. I enjoy it so much now that I no longer use NetGalley.
What’s your most successful post?
Apart from my “Aims and Introduction” page, my most popular post is a
What’s been your biggest uphill battle with blogging?
The biggest struggle with blogging is just finding the time to get down my thoughts and actually write the posts.
What are you most proud of about your blog?
I am most proud of my USP (unique selling point). There are lots of book blogs out there but most are run by nice youngish booky people. I am indeed a grumpy old non-tech-savvy bloke who works in a Welsh steelworks. I think it’s a pretty unusual point of view for book blogs.
What one tip would you give to people looking to start a blog?
My top tip is… don’t do it for fame or money or to be “an influencer”. Do it because you love the subject you’re writing about.
