Introduction
In the past several years, I opened January with various discussion post prompts for book blogs, including:
- 30 Discussion Post Prompts for Your Book Blog
- 52 Discussion Post Prompts for Your Book Blog in 2018
- 20 Discussion Posts Prompts for Your Book Blog in 2020
I try not to overlap prompts, so that’s 102 prompts right there! And you can check out our Classic Remarks page for discussion prompts related to classic literature.
For 2021, however, I want to highlight 10 discussion post ideas that are practically guaranteed to generate discussion on your blog. There are not necessarily the most original post ideas — bloggers have been talking about them for years — but they are popular post ideas. People have thoughts about these questions, and writing a post about them is sure to get you some comments!
Are Negative Reviews Valuable? Or Are Negative Reviews Cruel to Authors?
This topic came back in December 2020, when a few authors berated a booktuber for making a “Worst Books I Read in 2020” video, and other authors and reviewers entered the fray, debating both the value (or lack thereof) of “worst of” lists and then of negative reviews in general. If you missed the chance to talk about why you do or not like, read, or write negative reviews then, however, I have no doubt another opportunity will arise in 2021 and beyond.
Read Our Post: Negative Reviews Aren’t “Mean;” They’re Integral to Selling Books
Do You Comment Back on Other Blogs?
Another perennial favorite: Do you comment back on the blogs of people who leave comments on your blog? Why or why not? Do you expect other people to do the same? Do you follow people (or unfollow) based on whether they answer comments on their blog or based on whether they comment back on your blog?
Read Our Post: Do You Comment Back?
What Are Your Bookish Pet Peeves?
Maybe people just love to complain, but a post about things that drive you nuts in books is sure to get people responding in the comments, whether they agree with your or actually enjoy the things you hate. Just keep it light instead of actually insulting authors or books!
Read Our Post: 10 Bookish Pet Peeves
Do You Like Writing Book Reviews? Do People Like Reading Reviews?
Although book reviews are generally considered the primary content of book blogs, a lot of bloggers don’t actually enjoy writing them! And bloggers have long noted that reviews often don’t get as many page views as other types of content. So, do you like writing reviews? Or reading them? Can you blog without writing them at all?
Read Our Post: Can You Run a Book Blog without Book Reviews?
What Makes You Follow a Book Blog?
While we all love to support other book bloggers, there are only so many blogs we can follow and read! Explaining what makes you click that follow button and become a regular reader is always a popular topic because it helps other bloggers brainstorm ways they might want to approach how they blog.
Read Our Post: 5 Things That Make Me Want to Read Your Book Blog
Do You Have a Set Reading Goal? What Books “Count” or Don’t Towards the Goal?
At the end of every year (and then at the beginning of the next year!), bloggers and readers begin discuss reading goals: how many books they read vs. how many they’d hoped to, whether they believe in having a reading goal at all or just reading at leisure, whether they’re judging people for “inflating” their reading goals with picture books or graphic novels or audiobooks. While most bloggers seem content to let other people set their goals however they wish, the topic of reading goals always gets discussions flowing.
Read Our Post: Don’t Stress about How Many Books You’ve Read This Year
Should Adults Read Young Adult (Teen) Books?
It feels as if we should have settled this issue somewhere around 2012: people can read whatever they want, and books “for teens” or “for children” can still speak to adults. Yet every six months or so, some major publication seems to publish an opinion piece about how adults shouldn’t be reading young adult books, and then the blogosphere gets talking again, publishing their own posts responding.
Read Our Post: The Debate over YA Is Over
Should Book Bloggers Make Money? How Would They Successfully Monetize?
I’ve been blogging for ten years now, and book bloggers have never regularly made money or received payment from sponsors the ways booktubers or bloggers in other niches do, in spite of how much labor they put into marketing books for publishers and authors. Whether book bloggers deserve to be paid and how they can make money if they choose to monetize is a topic that comes up time and again. Here’s to hoping 2021 is the year bloggers who are interested in monetization finally start making a decent blogging income.
Read Our Posts: I’m Okay with Not Being Paid to Book Blog and What Would Happen If Book Bloggers Made Money?
How Can You Support Other Book Bloggers?
Want to support other bloggers? Want to let your non-blogger followers know how they can support book bloggers beyond just reading their posts? Sharing ways to boost book bloggers is always a hit.
Read Our Post: 7 Concrete Ways to Boost Book Bloggers
Do You Care about Your Blog Stats?
Some bloggers are deeply invested in their stats and growing their audience, while others blog purely for fun and don’t care at all. Discussing your approach to stats (to look at them, or not to look?) and sharing tips on how to improve stats, if that’s what you’re into, will get other bloggers talking.
Read Our Posts: Is Stress about Your Blog Stats Holding You Back? and Book Blogger Stats Survey Results: 2020
Pages Unbound | Book Reviews & Discussions 
I keep seeing this topics around the blogosphere and I agree they gets lots of comments and it’s amazing how many different thoughts we get about these topics. Great post!
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Yes, it’s always fun to see a new spin on some of these!
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Connecting to #7, it also should say “Should adults read middle grade books?”
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To be honest, I’ve never seen anyone mention middle grade in these discussions, possibly because so few adults actually read MG novels in the first place. I also think the arguments are essentially the same: only read books for adults vs. read whatever you want.
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I LOVE writing discussion posts, so I love seeing what kinds of posts are popular… but at the same time, it weirds me out how many times we come back around to the same issues. As far as adults reading YA books, I feel that tension a lot. Until I decided to go back to school to become a teacher, I felt awkward about how much I connect with YA. Now that I have a reason for my reading, in that I want to use these books in my future classroom, I don’t feel as guilty for reading books for kids. Which is silly, because people should be able to read whatever they want to read! I’m more curious about where that pressure or tension comes from now… maybe I will be inspired to write a discussion post about it 😉
Thanks for sharing so many great ideas!
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Ah, yes! A while ago I actually wrote a post about how the same conversations seem to come up again and again, and as someone who’s been blogging for years I keep thinking these conversations are settled and that reading another post on them isn’t that interesting. But there are always people new to the community who think it’s a new topic.
Maybe it comes from all the people blatantly judging people who read YA. :p Though, to be fair, so much YA seems to be written with an adult audience in mind that sometimes it’s not clear it’s “for kids.” I think part of the reason I like a lot of YA fantasy is because it’s so easy to think the characters are 25, not 15.
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It’s interesting to me when I read reviews of certain YA books that feel so authentically teen in voice, and then you see people ragging on it as being “too young” or being closer to middle grade. I highly doubt these reviewers actually asked a teenager before they made their comments! I think we also tend to forget that reading is ultimately really subjective. Not everyone is going to like the same types of stories or even read the same book the exact same way. Which is maybe why these conversations keep rolling back around, but who knows.
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These are great ideas!
But I have to admit after almost 6 years blogging whenever I see that should adults read YA a little part of me wants to respond and ask why so many people care about what others are reading or what other people think about what they’re reading! But yeah I also know from the past that will get responses 🙂
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It is truly baffling. Even if someone personally thinks YA isn’t great, why do they care so much about what other people do in their free time???
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Hmmm, it’s true, these topics must garner a lot of comments because I know I often comment when I see them on other blogs, haha. I don’t usually blog on such topics cos I don’t think I have anything unique or unexpected to contribute to the discussion, but then, I usually have a good back on forth when I comment on other people’s posts on the topics.
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Yeah, I feel that ways sometimes, too, about topics. If I comment on 10 different posts about it, then maybe that’s enough and I don’t need to write my own post??
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