What Are Book Tags and How Do You Use Them?

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If you’re familiar with the book blogosphere, you may have stumbled across some posts labeled as “book tags.”

These posts offer book bloggers a way to share more about themselves, the books they like (or don’t), and more, which leads to greater engagement with their followers and fellow bloggers. They’re also really fun to do!

In this post, we’ll expand on what book tags are, explain how to use them, and see examples of popular tags and questions that book bloggers answer.

What Are Book Tags?

Book tags are popular among book bloggers. There’s not really an official definition, but basically book tags are sets of questions that can be answered by the blogger using a book, genre, or something else book-related.

They serve as a way for book bloggers to engage with their followers and other bloggers in the community. They also lead to more engagement and interaction, since you can “tag” other bloggers and encourage them to share their own answers.

How to Use Book Tags

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Book tags offer a fun, easy way to find inspiration and ideas for new blog content. Some prompts might come with specific “rules” or guidelines. For example, you might be asked to answer the questions using only books you’ve read this year, or instructed to not repeat the same answer more than once.

You can also tag other bloggers to challenge or prompt them to participate in a tag; however, this isn’t necessary to participate. If you find a tag you want to answer, you don’t need to wait until someone tags you. Just go for it!

If you are tagged, however, it’s considered common courtesy to link back to the blogger who tagged you (which makes book tags a great way to build backlinks, too!).

Examples of Popular Book Tags and Questions

Below are several popular book tags, along with examples of blogs that have used them.

  • Life in Books: This tag provides fun, book-related questions to help readers get to know more about the blogger, their life, and their tastes. Questions include, “Count your age along your bookshelf – what book is it?” and “Name a book set in your city/country.”
  • Fall Books: This tag features autumn-themed prompts. Bloggers are asked to list books that “blew them away,” felt “fresh and new,” or gave them the “warm and fuzzies.”
  • Shelfie by Shelfie: Bloggers use this tag to share pictures of their shelves to showcase their organization (or lack thereof), collections, or shelf aesthetic.
  • Reading Habits: This tag asks readers to share their reading habits and preferences, such as where in their home they like to read, and what they like to eat or drink while eating.
  • Spring Cleaning: This tag asks cleaning-related questions, such as which audiobook the blogger would choose to listen to while doing household chores.
  • Writer’s Tag: This tag is writer-focused and asks questions like, “What is one novel that inspired you to write?”

Other Meanings of “Book Tags”

“Book tags” is the term that has been given to these book-related questions answered and shared by bloggers. However, it can also refer to several other tagging systems.

For example, every book on Amazon can be “tagged” with keywords that will help readers who have never heard of that book find it in a search.

If you’re an author with a book available on Amazon, you should be well-versed in Amazon keyword research so you can be sure your book gets found by the right readers.

Other sites, like the book exchange platform PaperBackSwap and LibraryThing, also use tags to help readers quickly view a list of all the books in a given category. Check out PaperBackSwap’s most popular tags for more examples of how these tags work.

Engaging with Readers

In addition to book tags, you can also use book memes and book club discussion questions to engage your blog readers and followers.

To find more great book bloggers, check out our list of indie book review blogs so you can find new recommendations and meet other like-minded readers!

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

 

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:

The post What Are Book Tags and How Do You Use Them? appeared first on TCK Publishing.

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