Balancing Rep Spots: A Real Routine in the Bookish World
Scheduling. Prepping. Commitments.
In the bookish space, we all see rep spots. Book boxes do it, merch companies do it, even stickers and bookish accessory companies do it. And with those rep spots come commitments, and of course those commitments are centered around marketing and posting.
A lot of people not only apply for these rep spots and get them, but they also do street teams and arc reading as well. And as someone who has been in the bookish space for almost four years, I have had my fair share of these rep and team commitments, and I always get asked, “how do you do it?”
Well, the simple truth is I plan, I schedule, and I cross my fingers haha. Kidding on that last part.
Typically when joining any type of team, regardless if it’s a rep spot, or a street team, or an arc team, you get a guideline of how many posts you are required to make every month.
Everyone always asks how I do it, so let me give you a walk through. First, I take those requirements, write them down, and start planning my calendar.
Example - if a book box requires 2-4 posts a month, I make sure I handle those first which can include author announcements, live now, boxes I have received, etc. If a merch team requires 1-3 posts a month, I handle those next and so on.
So, I take one day, typically a Sunday, and I do a mass content day. I am talking multiple shirts, books, sounds for reels. All of it, and I plan it all out. What shirt fits the book I’m going to show, what shirt needs a certain pose, what am I going to highlight for a book that I have arc read or just want to show, all my reel sounds and I shoot content til I have went through all my commitments, and then I do extra for the books I just want to post. This usually lands me anywhere from 120-300 photos, different poses, angles, flat lays, etc. And usually I end up with 8-12 reels to break up static posts.
I edit for roughly two hours, and then I start scheduling. Instagram usually lets me schedule 14-20 days out at a time depending if it wants to cooperate or not that day. And now with the scheduling feature on tiktok, I use that to my advantage too, because here is what most don’t know, when you are a smaller account, (like I am on Instagram) missing just one day can slow your engagement and traction. And let’s be honest, sometimes life just gets hectic and if you know you have a week or two of scheduled posts, you can go MIA for a little on socials and it not hurt your account.
Now I know some will say, “Damn that’s like a whole day”, and yeah it basically is, but it is also only ONE day. One day for 14-20 days worth of content, and when I notice I’m running down to my last bit of scheduled posts, I check my photos and reels, see if I have any more I can schedule or if I need to take another Sunday and do content again. It seems like a lot, and sometimes it can be overwhelming or you can hit a burn out stage, but that’s also why I stopped scheduling my Sunday posts. Instead I take a fresh shelfie every Sunday and post that.
Now I’m not saying this works for everyone, because it doesn’t. Sometimes it does though and it can take some pressure off.
Never know until you try type of thing.
So take it or leave it. Try it or don’t. But also remember, if you ever get overwhelmed by rep commitments or team commitments, it is ALWAYS okay to step back and take time for you, because if I have said it once, I will say it a million times, YOUR MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS and NEVER OVERWHELM YOURSELF.