Hi Guys,
Welcome back
to the Glistening Lane ✨
In my
everyday life, I come across several people who have certain “prejudices”
towards the blogging world. Ironically, half of the people who interact with me
on an everyday life are unaware about my blogging life. And if the truth be
told, I choose not to disclose it to any and every other person. No, I am not ashamed! Probably there’s some fun associated with weaving
an image of a mysterious personality. But again, it’s also because people tend
to link every behavioral trait with blogging. Say for instance, I don’t
interact much with people and that’s only because I fall under the introvert
personality; who knows that the next minute they’d assume “Oh, she isn’t very
friendly because she’s too proud of her internet life”. My answer to them “Madame,
I’m pretty much a child of a human world; internet is definitely not my only
zone”.
Within this
post, I’d share with you guys some of the weird questions that I’ve heard at
least once in my three years of blogging experience. So, everything is based on
my real-life experiences and here we go, let’s begin with some!
P.s. excuse
my wittiness throughout.
“You get so much of stuff for free.
Almost all your makeup needs must be getting sufficed via PR packages”.
FYI – 95% of my makeup collection has been purchased via my own savings.
When I first started in this industry, exactly around three years ago, I had to save my pocket money from useless expenses in order to buy products that I felt were worth reviewing on the blog. In initial 1.5 to 2 years, I had no brand collaborations and that was the time when I invested upon makeup brushes, eyeshadow palettes and what not! Now that I put them to optimum use on an every day basis, people tend to assume that everything was sent to me.
The PR
packages that I receive are technically never free. I have to tire my eyes in
front of the laptop, create awesome flatlays, and take fancy pictures which
also require adequate hours of editing and image optimization. Also, blog is
not only about scribbling or curating content. It also includes sending collaboration
mails, attending to formalities of customs like filling KYC for clearance,
promoting content once the blog post goes live, etc.
P.s. even paid collaborations don't really pay for my heavy-duty investment of a professional camera.
"Ever thought
about getting candies for the office work you do each month? It ain’t free
girl!" 😒
“Blogging is a cake-walk. All you
gotta do is pour your heart out and take some random shots with a camera”.
Sorry if I
prick your dreams but things aren’t as easy as they seem. If you try to put up a
perfect work, it doesn’t mean every time you’ll pick a camera, every object in
front of the DSLR will automatically go aligned. I have to read so much stuff
online that has nothing to do with my field; you have zero idea about it! Starting with blogging is definitely easy I'd say, but sustaining it even though you see no personal benefits after years of hard work is where the game begins.
“If those are PR packages then your
blog posts must be biased”.
PR packages
are a usual concept in the field of blogging. This means that a brand willing
sends over its products to bloggers in order to heighten their online presence.
Positive or negative review, they’d still derive their share of fame out of it,
especially if the brand is in a start-up stage. Also, they don’t pay bloggers
for weaving a positive response. In case of sponsored posts, the blog post
clearly states the same either in the starting or the end of the blog post; so you can understand that the community of bloggers is quite serious when it comes to maintaining ‘blogger
ethics’.
Therefore, blog posts with PR packages in concern aren’t biased, but
looks like somebody else is!
“How was this month’s XYZ
subscription box?”
If you know that I blog and you’re also following me on different channels then you must’ve already seen my social media posts that I’ve reviewed the XYZ subscription box on my blog. All it takes is that one click for all your answers.
“You take such good pictures, would
you please take some good shots of my outfit today?”
No, not at
all! Will that
work as an answer?
I love taking
pictures of products. My photography skills are reserved for stuff that I love
to capture. Also, stop asking me for #OOTD pictures! It’s as if we have
switched roles and you are a blogger with a constant pressure to upload Instagram/social
media posts.
P.s. take
the initiative of asking me if I’d like them to take my pictures.
“Day 1: Your flatlays are just
average. Everyone can take such pictures with a DSLR. Plus we have so many good
editing applications available.
Day 2: Hey; how’s this click of mine?
ME: Umm.. Just lacks some exposure,
little saturation, alignment errors and mismatched background.”
Believe me
or not, but this actually happens. It’s like one day someone wants to acquire
the position of a critique and they’d start taking in account the apparent
flaws of your photography. I remember someone once telling me “Oh, all your
pictures on Instagram have you looking away from the camera”. If you don’t know
that already, I’m cool with those pictures and on top of that I’m camera shy.
It’s my humble request to let me decide what content I want to post on my feed.
While on
this particular day I was criticised, next day this person also wants me to
guide them as to what camera I use, what editing application I use and how I add
watermark/text to a picture.
Learn to be
thankful my friend. I'd probably know more technicalities than your mind can grasp in one go!
“So much of your life simply revolves
around the internet and social media in particular”.
There’s so
much to my life that isn’t shared on the blogging sphere. Probably, a lot of it
is kept aside from you as well. Keep your judging glasses to some rest girl! I
know how to balance things and what to put on social media.
By the way, who are you? Social media police?
“I just resumed blogging after a time
span of 6 months. Can you tell me about the events happening this month”?
Yes, dear.
Had I not
been a content writer, I would have established a PR agency. Moreover, social
causes intrigue me so much! 😑
Stabilize
your blogging career first and then gather information concerning events.
“I’m new to this blogging community.
I would love to work together with you. Can I get the email ID of XYZ brand’s
PR person? (Sees Instagram stories about an event)”
That happens
as well guys!
I may have
shared the email ID but then I see some 20 K followers and a month old blogger
extracting away my work and I’d happily serve her a plate full of email IDs.
Excuse me, what for?
“We are coming up with an amazing
skincare brand and would love it if you could review our products. You can
checkout our catalogue for purchasing whatever pleases you. We are a start-up
so we can’t really sponsor your posts or send products”.
As a
blogger, I’m providing new brands a platform to gather potential customers and
carving an online presence for them. Although ideally, they should be paying me
because I construct beautiful flatlays around their product which they often
use on their social media. In case that isn’t feasible, the least they can do
is to invest some time and money on a long term investment of advertising. If
you can build a brand, you definitely can spend on promoting it as well. If any
of the brands is reading this, “your products will not pay for our bills, sir”.
Comment down below if you’ve ever incurred any
of the experiences I’ve shared.
Also Read:
3 Comments
Loved reading this post. I have faced many of this in my blogging life as well. Another common statement that I encounter is: "Are you a guinea pig for all skincare brands out there? Why would you do this to yourself?" :D
ReplyDeleteRecently Posted: Review of Gulnare Goddess Rose Gold Elixir Dry Oil for Glowing Skin
That's a hard-to-swallow-pills post for non-bloggers and PR people :P Everything is relatable to us bloggers and I enjoyed reading every bit of it!
ReplyDeletehttps://thebeautyholic.com/
Whoa! I could agree more with you dear...the GIF of Aishwarya is stunning though...hi hi hi...this was insanely honest and sau pratishat sahi...:D..thank you for being bold as always..
ReplyDeleteP.S: I have kind of redesigned my blog dear. I would invite you to visit my page and motivate me….love love from Soma
http://cosmeticsarenas.com/satthwa-moroccan-argan-oil-shampoo-review/
I would love to answer your queries. So, feel free to write them down here!