7 Reasons Why I Hate Being Called an Influencer
It seems like every decade or so, new media gets a buzzword that immediately goes toxic.
A word becomes popularized, it becomes beaten to death, and a large number of people cringe every time they hear it.
Right now, that word is influencer, and I really, really hate being called one.
3 Ways to Minimize Social Media Use on Your Phone
For those who read This Week in Blogging regularly, it should be somewhat obvious that I do not like being constantly on, constantly working, and, perhaps worst of all, spending a lot of that time on social media in particular.
So in 2026, I set a goal to detox from my phone. Although this was primarily with social media in mind, it really is for all the things- playing on Instagram, reading Reddit, searching the web, etc. I was simply on my phone far too much!
Since most social networks have made their services worse purely to keep you on their pages longer, I just threw my hands up and decided to do the opposite. So in this one, I thought I'd share three things I'm doing to help minimize my screen time.
3 Predictions for Blogging in 2026 – Preparing for the Year
The start of a new year is always a time to look forward, and when it comes to blogging in 2026, there are a lot of things to be aware of.
So in this one, we thought we'd pull out our crystal ball and look at some of the biggest things that are likely to come this year, predict what will happen, and share a bit about what we are doing to prepare!
Raptive Review – Increasing Programmatic Ad Earnings
In late 2025, I decided to make a change on my websites- I moved from Mediavine to Raptive.
On one hand, I was curious to see how the networks compared. On the other hand, I had been hearing that Raptive was making moves to help bloggers earn more revenue.
Given that they accepted a second site of mine on at much lower traffic than I would've got in to Mediavine for (pre changes to traffic requirements which were announced a few weeks later), I figured if there was any good time to test a switch, it would be now.
So how are things going? We share some insights in this Raptive review!
5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Publishing on IngramSpark
When I decided to self-publish a book, my research into publishing companies led me to IngramSpark- often considered to be a gold standard in publishing.
As I was in a bit of crunch time to get my book out for the holidays, I leapt in headfirst and went all-in on the service.
While I would admit that I had a good experience with IngramSpark all around, there are some things I wish I had spent more time understanding ahead of time as it would've changed how I approached designing and releasing my book.
So if you're looking to publish a book, don't overlook these details!