We recently connected with Holly Larrabee and have shared our conversation below.

Holly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned how to bookstagram, basically by trial and error. Seven years ago, we were in the process of getting my dog, GusGus – and I knew I wanted to make him an instagram account because I was going to be super annoying with all the photos I took of him. I wanted to do it right though, I followed accounts like dougthepug and saw how creative his owner is, and I wanted to do that too.
I started researching heavily, I read blog after blog as to what to do to make your name stand out, how many hashtags to use, and the best times to post, and how to find your voice – I had notebooks on notebooks of notes I took. Gus’s account was so fun for me, getting him to dress up, and making funny captions was a blast. But, about a year in, I saw that he didn’t like to take photos and it got harder to do – I did not want to force him, so that was that.
I still loved to take photos though, and loved being creative with lighting and captions, I just needed an outlet to do that. Then Covid hit, and I was diagnosed with anxiety – my social anxiety had me not wanting to leave the house. So I started reading, as an escape and LOVED it. I wanted to talk about books more with people who read them too, hence, hollyreadit was born.

Taking everything I learned from Gus’s account really kind of gave me a head start. I knew what hashtags to use, the do’s and the don’ts of the instagram rules. I really don’t think there’s anyway to speed up this process, being a creator it’s all a learning game. You are going to make mistakes, you are going to continue to grow and I think that’s the beauty of it all. My advice to anyone wanting to be a creator on the instagram platform, is take your time, go with the growing pains, take notes, find your niche, and just have fun with it.

Holly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi, I am Holly Larrabee. I am a bookstagrammer called hollyreadit. Bookstagram is a community on Instagram, that focuses on all things books – book reviews, book recommendations, book aesthetic, etc. My focus is on reviewing Thriller and Horror books – I love to hype up books that aren’t talked about enough and shed light on them. I love to make my photos fit with the cover or theme of the book, so it’s alot of fun designing and posting them.
This year I am trying our more talking reviews, so instead of photos, I will make reel and talk about what a book is about and why you should read it. I am most proud when I recommend a book, and I get messages back saying how much they love the book too – it is such a great feeling!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I went through a ton of growing pains first starting out. When I started my account, I didn’t set out to make thousands of followers, I did it as an outlet to talk about what I love, which is books. About 3 months in, I found what I really wanted to focus on – it’s definitely important to have a niche, so your followers will know what to expect from your account. My niche was thriller and horror books, so I began following and interacting with accounts like mine. From there it surprisingly took off – I would recommend after finding your niche, to focus on your aesthetic, having a cohesive account is satisfying and eye catching and a great way to attract followers. Be consistent in your posting, and use hashtags! Be yourself in every post and once again, HAVE FUN!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being someone who people depend on for book recommendations is so rewarding. It makes my day when I get a DM of someone saying, “I am going to the beach, what book should I take with me?” or “I really loved this book, what’s a book that is similar?” It brings me so much joy!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollyreadit