BOOK TABBING 101 IN ALL ITS GLORY.

Random bookish things that are all delectable and delightful!

You know that "If I had a dollar every time.." thing? *insert GIF here* I've collated around eighty questions about page flags since last year. I like being asked about blogging, reading and what-bookish-nots so I decided to basically put up one post to answer all of it. Took a while to do this but FINALLY I HAD THE TIME! Hopefully, this post would clear up confusions about book tabbing or page flagging. Remember that there is no right or wrong way to do this, just go with it! (and am not some pro on this or something because there is no such thing. teehee)

Question 01: What are book tabs?

Well, book tabs or page flags are these small, rectangular-ish pieces of paper that are used to mark book pages. These can be plain ones, colored, translucent with color or some are with designs. I believe that the most popular is the Post-It brand. But you can still find different designed page tabs from various craft or online stores.

Here are some of mine.

Question 02: What, why, how and when do you tab?

I started book tabbing a long time ago, back in high school. I used to do this on my History and Science text books. With novels, I usually go hard on Contemporaries and High-fantasies. I tab so I could basically remember where to go back to, specifically scenes that are either hilarious, swoony, heartbreaking or where the main plot twist happened. Whenever I see the title, I also tab it because I just got accustomed to it. I feel like screaming " I FOUND IT!". The majority of my tabs though are quotes or lines that speak so much to me.

Question 03: What brands of book tabs do you use and where do you buy them?

I used to buy Post-It page flags but this brand is just ridiculously expensive so I opted for the transparent ones. These tabs are easier to pull from the base, you can still read the letters through because duh, it's transparent wahaha and they are way cheaper. These translucent flags are the only ones I use now, I stopped using the colored paper because it doesn't stick well enough. There are also these designed flags that I collect (well, I never intended to) but never use. I think those are good for snail mailing or journaling. I buy wherever, like from local bookstores, online shops on Facebook or other craft stores, most of the time though, I buy them from Divisoria (mall locally).

Question 04: Do you remove them after you've read a book?

No, I do not. I don't want to waste it because I spent time putting those tabs in and I like my books tabbed. Unless I am going to sell the book, that's the only time I do.

One of my fave quotes from Heir of Fire.

Question 05: Is there any particular way you tab? What does each color represent?

Since I am OCD, the flags that I used in the past usually matches the color of the cover, example is my Heir of Fire copy. I used green and yellow. But then I couldn't find any RED flags to match my red books so I stopped doing that. Recently, I am into rainbow tabs. No, no particular color representation. I just use the tabs I assigned (yes, I do assign tabs) to the current book I am reading.

Question 06: Could you teach me how to do this?

There is really no rules in doing this. I mean, book tabbing is easy and fun but if you are intimidated, don't be because you won't damage the book. Just tab the parts you feel like you will need to cite back in your review. I guess that's the first thing to try. Eventually, you'd be comfortable with it and believe me, books also look loved when tabbed! Authors such as Tahereh Mafi, Robyn Schneider and Colleen Hoover were kind of amazed when they saw my books massacred with page flags so go try it!

Question 07: Does the page flags not damage the book?

Depends. I learned from THIS brand that there are tabs which bleed. I never used/bought anything like this after. So far, with the ones I've used, I haven't found any damages *yet*. I am very careful with my books so I am confident that nothing would get damaged.

Some of my tabbed books.

I answered the top seven questions out of eighty. These questions have been sitting in my inbox quite a while and I apologize if it took so long for me to answer. I hope these ones help you out. If you have anything to add, feel free to comment!

Do you tab your books, too?