First off, nope, I’m not planning on changing the name of my blog. I’ve been very happy with the title Feed Your Fiction Addiction. (The only complaint I have is that it’s long—but that’s okay.) But, this week I spent a little time procrastinating cleaning up my Bloglovin’ feed (I went through and deleted the hundreds of inactive blogs I was following and also organized the blogs I kept into a better folder system). While I was doing this, I realized something … lots of book bloggers have changed their reading (and therefore blogging) habits over time.
This makes perfect sense, right? But it can cause a little bit of weirdness if you named your blog based on your reading tastes and then you start reading something else most the time. Which led me to this mostly inane post.
It might be time to change your blog name if …
You have YA in your blog title and blog about mostly adult books.
It amazed me the number of blogs that were called YA something or other, but then you scrolled through the feed and almost every book reviewed was a new adult or adult title—often featuring explicit sex and racy covers. Obviously, I have no problem with the blogger reading and reviewing these types of books, but if you put YA in your blog title, you probably want to be reviewing YA, right? Um, I think it’s time for a change …
Your blog title is something racy (Hot Reads, Love Under the Cover, you get the idea…) and you review mostly YA (or even children’s!) books.
I didn’t see this quite as often as the other scenario (maybe just because I don’t follow as many blogs with racy titles), but there were a few of these too. It doesn’t seem like all that many people looking for YA or children’s book reviews would stumble upon your blog this way, but I guess if you feel like those middle grade books are especially hot…
Your blog evokes a certain genre (Witchy Reads, Romance Reads, etc) and you review mostly books that don’t fit that genre.
Even if you think you LOVE a certain genre, I’d recommend keeping it out of your blog title. You’d be surprised how often a die-hard single-genre fan ends up expanding their horizons once they start blogging! The name Cozies Corner just doesn’t have the same ring to it when you’re reviewing all YA Contemporaries.
Your title has nothing to do with books at all!
Now sometimes people choose metaphorical blog names or names that mean something to them that the average person might not know about. That’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m referring to a blog title that seems to refer to a totally different type of blog: health and beauty or travel or something. Again, you probably started out planning to blog about something completely different and then you sort of fell into book blogging. But if your blog title sounds like something else, you might have trouble finding an audience!
Then there are those blog titles that have nothing to do with genres, but just don’t work all that well…
Your blog title is really generic (or so far out there no one can ever remember it!)
Sometimes when you’re first starting out, you just can’t think of anything all that good, so you settle for something that sounds just like 500 other book blogs out there: Books, Books, Books or something. (I’m really sorry if this is your blog name.) As I was going through my list of Bloglovin’ blogs, I would occasionally get to one and think, “Wait, didn’t I already check this blog?” Then I’d realize, no, it was just that there were three other blogs with almost the exact same name.
Oh, and then there’s the rare case of the blog name having a word that is just completely unrecognizable and unreadable. Bozzledoxydooda Books or something. (Darn! No—that actually kind of has a fun ring to it! Anyway, you get the point). I’m sure this name has some deeper meaning for you, but I promise I will never find my way to your blog without a link…. Though, I suppose that’s how I get to most blogs anyway, so this might not be so bad. If you really like your kooky name, go ahead and keep it. At the very least, it’s WAY better than the boring names!
If you have a blog title that meets one of these criteria, you might want to think about changing it.
You don’t even necessarily have to change your URL—just the title that shows up at the top of the blog (and don’t forget to change the title on Bloglovin!). It might seem weird to change your title, but it’s weirder to have a name like Smexy Books and then review picture books you read with your kids. Trust me.
One person I know who successfully changed her blog name is Naomi over at Naomi’s Reading Palace, which used to be Nomi’s Paranormal Palace. At some point she realized that she really wasn’t reading and reviewing much paranormal (she reads and reviews almost solely new adult and adult contemporary). The transition seemed completely smooth from what I could see, and her blog name now doesn’t limit the type of books you expect to see there.
So, go ahead make a change. Or don’t—after all, it’s your blog and you can do whatever the heck you want!
Have you ever considered changing your blog name? Have you run across blogs whose names are … confusing? I want to know!
Very interesting post. I’m safe because The Booksage appeals to my self-importance! I mean, once you’re a sage, always a sage, I alway say.
Yes, and you can be a sage in any genre you want! 🙂
Heck yes, Nicole! Especially when it’s self-proclaimed!
I think I have visited some blogs that have the identity issue. I think my co-bloggers made a good choice with their name, because they still love Cassandra Clare books and it is more of a general nod towards books, thought I have stuck with their vision of predominately YA books. Great post and your gif game was strong.
Yeah, your blog name is definitely generically book related enough that it works even without the Cassandra Clare reference (which I didn’t know about, by the way—I haven’t read them yet).
Ooh nice! It took me a moment, but I do remember Nomi’s blog being more Paranormal related. I still visit it on occasion with meme hopping but I’ve even noticed her WoW picks tend to be far outside what I would read myself.
I probably talked about my blog name story on my blog a few times already. I was trying to create my blog on a whim when book blogging was still very new and hardly anyone was doing it. I just thought of a GREAT read, as that was how I thought of the book I was trying to promote at the time. I like typing it just so, as well, because it’s not exactly standard either. Most times a publisher for press reasons types it A Great Read and I wince because it just looks so wrong. I don’t review books that I consider A Great Read, I read ones that turn into a GREAT read! Lol!
And since I’m choosy enough about the books I read, I tend to pick ones I feel like I will enjoy on some level. Though I do label 5 stars as a GREAT read and less stars stipulates it as something a touch less than GREAT, it’s all still levels of GREATness. For the rare 2 stars or even 1 star books it usually came about as the book wasn’t anything at all as to what I expected based on descriptions. I still remember one…can’t think of the title off the bat, but I could if I dug for it…that I thought was going to be this great mystery kind of read and be eerie and all…except it turned into something that was not at all mysterious and was just so droll. So I can be taken by surprise in the wrong way with some books which gives them a rating that’s not so GREAT. But those are very rare indeed!
It’s funny that the capitalization is important in your blog name—I’ve definitely noticed that you write it that way, and I always try to do it correctly! (Though maybe I’ve smushed it together? Like, aGREATread? I feel like I’ve done that before.)
You make such an excellent point – I”m always a bit bummed out when I land on a blog that sounds like it will be deliciously fantasy and ends up being filled with REALLY racy books. It’s okay, good for them, it’s just not my genre? And deceptive, like if Burger King decided to start selling ONLY salads.
Ha! Yes! Or Pizza Hut decides pizza’s just not their thing. False advertising! 🙂
*raises hand* I’ve changed my blog name!! About 4 years ago I used to be Notebook Sisters…and then my sister stopped blogging with me, so that was awkward. ?? It CAN be a lot of work and a bit daunting to change names, because it’s hard to recognise people if they do? But I totally think it’s worth it. Just pls no one do it too often hahha.? I get super confused with the generic blog names and I think it’s sad when people call their blogs “just another book blog” or something. Like no! There’s room for us all to be unique and special! I hate it when people talk themselves down before they even start. *sad face* Anyway an EXCELLENT post and I totally agree with your points!!
I actually thought of your blog when I wrote this post as well, but “your sister stopped blogging” seemed like a really specific reason to change your blog name and not necessarily applicable as an example for my post. 🙂 I felt like your name change went really smoothly—I don’t remember ever being confused!
Oh yes, these are all great examples of when it might be time to change your blog name! And you’ve made me glad that I don’t have YA or racy words or genre stuff in my blog name lol. Although I’m pretty sure no one can ever remember mine probably, at least not the word order. But I suppose if they Google something that includes the word ‘metaphor’ and the word ‘moonlight’ and ‘books’ they’d find it XD And you’re right, those kind of generic ones do confuse me sometimes because I get them all mixed up :-/
I’ll confess that I sometimes got your blog name wrong at first. But I always found you!
Nice post! Mine probably doesn’t make the MOST sense, in terms of the Mag part but I kind of like it. I think a blog is still a lot like an online magazine. I do like that it’s not limiting though – that’s a good point you made!!
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Blogs are basically online magazines, so why not?
I an GUILTY of this sooo, sooo much! I started as I Heart Romance and then I started reading more YA books so I added YA to my blog title, same URL. Now, I’m reviewing mostly adult romances but I don’t think I will change my blog name. I like the sound of it, you know? I still review YA, too so it’s not totally misleading.
I do agree with the confusion of your blog title especially if you have a younger audience. I do think that I don’t have a younger audience. I still feature YA titles in any memes that I have or top ten lists or any other features on my blog.
See, you changed your name to go with your new reading habits, which works fine. And now that you have both in the title people won’t be surprised either way. That works for me! (And, of course, remember that this is just my opinion based on some random Bloglovin’ culling—certainly no hard-and-fast rules here!)
Oooh this is fun! Because yes. There is a blog that I am thinking of (and I have to wonder if it is the same one you are 😉 ) that has a certain genre name but literally never reviews that genre and I always find myself getting confused! I did actually change my blog name when I first started! I could NOT think of a name for it, so I temporarily named it the SUPER unique “Shannon Hearts Books” which… is terrible obviously. I still don’t *love* my name because it doesn’t really have a ton to do with books, unless you get the reference, but… it’ll have to do because it is what it is! But now, you’ve tempted me to go through all the (tons, sadly) of inactive blogs/those I don’t ever read on Bloglovin!
Oh, how funny—you do not seem like a “Shannon Hearts Books” kind of girl. I think that your blog name fits you perfect AND it’s a nod to your favorite, so that makes it even better.
I did change my blogname once, years ago. But it was only about 6 months after I started blogging so it was no big deal. I like to look at a blog name and get a sense of the blog, so I do agree with your points.
I think mostly the discrepancy happens when a person changes blog direction, but not blog name. What was once a perfect name, just isn’t anymore.
Yeah, it’s a lot easier to do when your blog is newer, but some people have managed it later too.
I actually changed my blog-name this year. I started as ‘Diary of a Reading Addict’ – but it just didn’t suit me any more and I was shortening it to DORA all the time anyway (it was a bit of a mouthful & I couldn’t be bothered to keep typing it out); so I figured Dora Reads was a better way to go! XD
Oh, fun! I didn’t realize that’s how your blog got its name!
My blog didn’t have a name at all for about a year after I started it. It just had a blank red header at the top. Awkward. I guess any name is better than no name, but I agree with you. There are a lot of blogs with similar names. I get confused.
Ha! Yes, no name is definitely not the best.
I agree that some of those scenario’s do make for time to change a blog name. I have seen blog names that I thought were going to be fantasy but there was little fantasy to be found. I was so sad, haha. I like my blog name, A Dance with Books, but it isn’t especially stand out. On the other hand I haven’t come across variations on it either. 🙂 Thinking of a title is so hard though. ._.
I like A Dance with Books—it’s pretty!
I have my days where I really want to change my blog name (Cat on the Bookshelf). I have tried thinking of other names, but I never come up with anything that I like better than that. I could play up a book title if I talked about certain books consistently, but I don’t. My tastes change, and I want to read a lot of books. For me, my blog name avoids genre issues, but it’s hardly a unique name. I will stick with it until I can figure out something better. So, I know that names get confusing, and I’ve been confused by some lately. I agree with Aj that something is better than nothing.
Cat on the Bookshelf works well for you. It’s cute!
I totally agree, sometimes it’s right to change your name as your blogging habits and tastes change. Or if your name just plain old isn’t working for you. I intentionally chose a blog name that didn’t necessarily have anything to do with books because I had intended to have a bit of a mix. I’m totally happy keeping it as it is, it’s from a quote I like anyway so it works for me.
Your blog name is really unique, and even if it doesn’t specifically have to do with books, it doesn’t point to another topic either.
What a lovely post idea, Nicole! I feel like one’s blog name says so much about who one is as a person — your loves, your passions, your personality. It represents you in so many ways, which is both beautiful & terrifying all at once. That’s probably why it can be so satisfying to change your blog name when it’s not working for you — & in most cases, it works out perfectly fine, with no one being particularly confused & the blogger much more content than before. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, friend! <3
Topaz (Six Impossible Things)
I agree that your blog name can be a fantastic representation of who we are.
Funny I decide to change the title of my blog last week and now I read your post. In my case definitely it was “Your title has nothing to do with books at all!” I had to merge my book blog with my family blog because I couldn’t keep up with both and my family blog’s name had NOTHING to do with books. Great Post as usual!
I noticed the blog name change and I love it!!
I think these are really good points! When I decided to start book blogging, I knew I would need a pretty general name as I planned to write about all sorts of books. I wouldn’t have liked being stuck with a particular title that didn’t describe what I was blogging about.
Falling Letters is unique and bookish!
You make very excellent points! My blog name came from me wanting to review books that have been adapted into movies, but once I started blogging, I realized sometimes I want to read newer books that obviously haven’t become movies, yet. I still love my blog name and concept, so I am definitely not changing the name. I try to mostly review movie books and sprinkle the others ones in to keep things interesting and make sure my blog doesn’t feel stale.
Your blog name works perfectly for both books and movies!
This is such a fun post! So our name came about because our favorite books to read are ones where there’s something in the way for the hero and heroine to be a couple. Or there’s a reason why they shouldn’t be together, yet they still want to. And we found that scenario in contemporary, sci-fi, paranormal, fantasy etc so it worked for us. But now this has me thinking that we should have a post or a page that lists our favorites in each genre….it would be a long list lol. So thank you for that thought!!
I agree that your blog name could encompass a lot of genres!
Briana and I awkwardly realized shortly after starting our blog that, abbreviated, it’s “PU,” which seems rather unfortunate, but so far we have not changed our name. Our biggest problem is that there is apparently some Canadian festival called Pages Unbound and people routinely tag us on Twitter for it. :/
No need to abbreviate, so you’re just fine!
I have actually changed my blog’s name. When I made a blog, it was on a fly and I came up with a random name that was too long and hard to remember. But it was vague and didn’t restrict to one topic, so i was fine. That was when I was posting mostly personal posts and was just transitioning to posts that will tell the reader something.
But this year, I began telling IRL people about my blog and none of them could remember it. None. They always needed a link, and I realised I had to change the name.
I spent a few months debating whether or not I should, though, because I already made a brand. I wad worried of changing and no one recognising me. But the biggest worry was losing my views. I was FINALLY appearing at google first pages for searches and received views from search engines every day, vastly increasing the stats. If I changed, I would lose all my SEO rankings.
In the end, I decided that I’m not planning to monetize my blog and that I would rather have a name which could be remembered more than keeping my SEO rankings. I’ll just make new rankings. And that’s what I’m still doing now—concentrating on my content and getting the blog out there.
I love your blog name. I think you made a great choice!
It didn’t take long for the name of our blog to be decided on, and I love it because I read so many different genres. Frankly, I wouldn’t know what else to name it, so I am glad we got it right the first time. LOL
It’s nice that you chose something you love!
[…] Feed Your Fiction Addiction considers When It Might Be Time to Change Your Blog Name […]
Great post topic! And yes I fall under the unrelated blog name so traffic is probably a lot slower than it would be if I had chosen a bookish name. I found it really hard to come up with a blog name mostly because I didn’t want to be too resticted if I changed genres but also because it’s really hard to be origional.
I chose crushingcinders because it was comfortable fit for me. Its a word I came up with many years ago when thinking up a new online password. At the time I was fed up with trying to be perfect (like the version of Cinderella at the ball).
Your name is unique enough that it works, though. And it’s not complete gobbledygook, even if it doesn’t have a direct relationship to books. It doesn’t sound like a different type of blog either—it’s not like “Traveling with Sue” and then a book all about books.
You are right, Nicole, it’s kind of important that the blog name goes with what the blog is about… Especially when it comes to genre. However, I think that if the blog name doesn’t necessarily scream ‘books’ it can still be remembered as a book blog.
I spent hardly any time at all deciding on my blog’s name when I started – it’s like (un)Conventional Bookviews just fell into my head. I like to think I’m not completely conventional, and bookviews is a play on books and reviews, so it definitely works out well.
It’s interesting to see the reasoning behind those who have changed their blog name, as I think it’s hard sometimes to initiate a change like that.
Great post!!
I agree that the name doesn’t necessarily have to scream books—as long as it doesn’t scream something else (like travel or music or movies), I’m fine with an interesting name that doesn’t specifically have to do with books. I love your blog name—it’s always really stood out to me.
Great post! I could relate, as I have changed blog names over the years, mostly because I once had a LOT of blogs (11 or more), and then combined some. I now have six.
My blog An Interior Journey started out as Explorations; my Snow Sparks began as Snow Connections.
But Rainy Days and Mondays has remained the same, as I still love what it evokes in me.
Thanks for sharing!
Six blogs!!! You must be superwoman!
[…] Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction explores the reasons why it could be time to change your blog name. […]
These are all really good points of times when it would probably be good to switch them! Mine is Olivia’s Catastrophe which is really general but I mostly blog books. But I wouldn’t want to change it because I am eventually planning to get my life together at some point and include fitness/health into my blog more. I haven’t done it yet due to time constraints and all…
The nice thing about a general name is that if you decide to change focus, it still works. Your name is unique and fun!
Woah, you can do a folder system on Bloglovin’? O_o why didn’t I know that. Cause that would HELP A LOT.
Hahaha, Hot Reads for a YA blog :DDDD but that’s the thing though, a lot of people dont’ really have a concept of YA. Anything colorful and shiny is often thought of as YA… it might have a YA vibe, but it also might not be meant for teenagers…
I guess that’s why I went with just “Avalinahs Books”, even though that doesn’t say anything about what kind of content I blog… I know I don’t know what I blog xD I blog everything! Maybe that’s bad, but I’m not going to change my reading tastes over what sounds good, lol. So hey, at least it has the word “books” in the name xD
I think your name works well—generic enough to work for any genres, but we know you’re going to blog about books! I’ve always wondered, though, why is your blog name spelled Avalinah when you spell your name Evelina? I’ve always been curious!
Evelina is just my real life name 🙂 avalinah has been my internet username for ages. That’s all 😀 it’s kind of boring to use your real name. I planned to use avalinah, but when I started to blog, everyone was just using their given name so I also started doing that 😀
That’s what I assumed, but I always wondered if maybe it was just an alternate spelling. 🙂
[…] blog post by Nicole @ feedyourfictionaddiction on When it might be time to change your blog name is really helpful and I only wish it was published way before for me to take […]