We recently connected with Vilma Gonzalez and have shared our conversation below.

Vilma, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

My passion for books came way before the idea for a blog/business. I grew up reading, finding inspiration for my own writing, for who I was and wanted to become in the books I so voraciously read. As I became an adult, and had kids, books were my escape for real life, for times I was stressed out and worried. I was working for a tech company when I inspired my friend and co-worker to start reading. She would ask me for recommendations, and I wrote them for her in an Excel sheet, a sheet which kept growing. It was a sheet that included not only book name, author, rating, but also a quick summary of the plot and main characters. That spreadsheet started getting passed around the office and one day, my friend said, “you should start a blog.”

I became a bit obsessed with the idea of creating my own, unique platform, but had no idea where to start. I knew I needed to figure out who I wanted to be in this space, and for me, I wanted to be someone relatable whose guidance was trusted and who shared recommendations across a wide variety of genres. There weren’t a lot of book bloggers at the times, but the big bloggers tended to focus on one or two genres, and my interests were wildly diverse — I wanted to differentiate myself in that way and develop a blog that reflected my own interests.

I started building a website for what would become Vilma’s Book Blog, and started following authors, sending them messages to connect, and reaching out to publishers in hopes of attaining advanced book copies to review. It was really difficult at first. No one would write me back. No one knew me. I kept at it, however, and as a full-time marketer in my day job, approached this endeavor with a business lens. I created a weekly newsletter to share book releases and news (no one had done it then). My website focused on ease of use, ensuring valuable content was easily accessible. And most importantly, I began to cultivate a small, but loyal community of readers on Facebook (Vilma’s Vixens), who loved to read and longed to connect with other like-minded people.

My foray into the book world was rather serendipitous in terms of timing too… the Indie book world was beginning to take off (2012 and 2013). In the fervid aftermath of Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey, authors like Colleen Hoover released books that readers couldn’t stop talking about, feeding the growing appetite for coming-of-age and “New Adult” romances in particular. What was amazing then, is that authors were so accessible, and they built loyal communities of readers who became ardent advocates.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve always been a rather nerdy, introverted type of person, preferring books to people in most cases. The idea for my business grew from a passion I had long cultivated, and felt like a natural next step in my life. And while my business side-hustle flourished, I continued on forging my career path as a marketer, working for ad agencies, UT Austin and technology companies. Over time my expertise grew in both spaces with what I did for the blog inspiring things I could do in my day job, and vice versa. I’m currently a Global Marketing Director, and my small business continues to inspire what I do on a daily basis.

I’m proud of how I used a business mindset to grow my business, even when I evolved from a book blog to a lifestyle blog (Vilma Iris Blog – as it is today). However, what I’m most proud of is the community of people I built, and the relationships with authors I’ve developed, and sustained, over time.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2017, I had a strong desire to expand my business and cover content beyond books. Again, I wanted my business to represent my varied interests and built a plan to pivot to a lifestyle blog. It felt incredibly risky, and it was, but I wanted to be authentic to my own vision, and to who I was. I wrote content in advance and again mapped out my website, creating content pathways for books, beauty, style, home and life. That July, I launched the new Vilma Iris blog with fresh features that would hopefully entire people to subscribe, and proffer support.

The pivot has allowed me to forge relationships with other brands, and has offered an outlet for even publishers to leverage as they try and show different sides of their authors.

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

The social media landscape was wildly different in 2012 and 2013, as it is now. Facebook reigned then, and Groups were beginning to take off. Knowing that my business premise centered on building a subscriber/reader base, I tapped into Groups to develop a community of like-minded, avid readers. Vilma’s Vixens offered a space where readers could talk to each other, and talk to authors too, in a very intimate and informal way. We had group reads followed by chat events with the authors themselves, and through this group space, began to branch out to other platforms like Instagram and YouTube. There, I focused on content strategies that were native to the platform themselves. On Instagram I featured books in real spaces, and evolved along with the platform from posting very curated shots, to more authentic, real-life shots on the go. On YouTube, I interviewed authors, and gave more runway for more in-depth conversations. My approach in social has continued to evolve over time (in terms of format and trending content), and I’m pretty certain that the diversity of my interests have limited growth, especially on Instagram, but if I go back to what I wanted to achieve in the first place, it was to cultivate a loyal, like-minded community, and do so authentically in a way that reflected who I was — I continue true to that thinking.

My advice to creators and small-business owners today would be to consider your own personal brand, the outcomes you want to achieve and the current state of the market, and choose platforms that feel like a natural fit with your goals and with your style. Think through how you can differentiate yourself AUTHENTICALLY. How can you best express yourself/your business, and what platforms feel like an organic extension of that desired expression. I would also advise a prioritization… what will be your main platform for communication and content, and which platforms will be amplifiers of that? Trying to cut through on all platforms is sometimes an overwhelming, if not impossible, task.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vilmairis.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vilmairisblog/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vilmairisblog
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vilmagonzalez/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/vilmairisblog
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/vilmairis
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vilmairisblog

Image Credits
There are a lot of authors in the group photo from my Austin Book Fest Event, and I can share if you plan to use that pic. Other photos include authors like: (all NYT bestselling authors): Colleen Hoover, Anna Todd, R.S. Grey, Jennifer L. Armentrout