Welcome to a little chat about BookTube, and how I'm not loving it as much as I used to. I want to start this by saying that BookTube is the part of YouTube that talks about books, and that I am so very grateful for everything it's given me, and I wouldn't be the reader I am today without it. But here are a few thoughts, so please take them as my opinion and my opinion only. Also, I am not referencing any particular BookTubers in this post, so please don't make assumptions ;). Let's get into it!!
BookTube inspired me to read when I didn't feel like it. BookTube was a vaguely productive way to spend my free time in lockdown. BookTube made me feel part of a community. BookTube taught me to see classics differently and eventually inspired me to pick a few up (which I loved and I'm now a huge classics reader!!). BookTube helped me read some of my absolute favourite books of all time.
But it also made me compare how much I was reading to everyone else on the internet. It also made me feel like I SHOULD be reading a certain thing. It also made me compare how many books I had to everyone else on the internet. It made me overthink my thoughts on books I read (Are they not controversial enough? Am I being too soft? Am I making too many criticisms? Am I being too harsh?). It made me feel overwhelmed with the amount of books I still have to read.
So I would say that I am falling out of love with BookTube. It used to be my absolute obsession. I would rewatch videos a million times and squeal as my favourites posted. And although I'm still subscribed to a few and watch their videos on occasion, I don't feel that same tug, that same "OMG THEY POSTED I HAVE TO WATCH THIS". I now think more like "oh, I'll watch that later". And I don't know if it's the content of certain channels that has changed to the point that I don't really want to watch it anymore, or if it's me that's changed, but I absolutely don't want to force myself to watch something.
I love the online book community. From the bloggers (my biased favourites of course) to the BookTubers, to the way that I know BookTokers are promoting books to an even bigger audience. I love the love in the bookish community. But I also see a lot of comparison, and I hate how BookTube pushes this, from "BOOKSHELF TOUR || over 1000 books" to "My Home Library || mostly classics", it just feels like everyone has a perfectly curated, immaculate bookshelf with hundreds of books. And although I am guilty to the latter offense, I really don't want to put forward how many books I have. Sure, I have lot, but that's not the most important thing. And I take a lot of pride over the way my bookshelf looks, but it certainly doesn't look anything like the ones I've seen on BookTube.
I also feel like the YA market is very underrepresented on BookTube. Many older BookTubers frown upon YA books and repeatedly say "I'm not much of a YA reader, I read more middle grade. I just don't like the romances in YA, they all feel very fake, and there's also a lot of fantasy, which I don't read either so it's not for me" , and I get it, YA romances are sometimes cheesy and there is fantasy and some books do feel fake, but putting all YA books into this category just feel wrong, an as an avid YA reader, it's actually verging on offensive. There are so many YA books that don't have an ounce of romance in them. There are so many YA books that are powerful, passionate and have a real story to tell. I get that YA isn't for everyone, but sometimes a "I love YA for all the young people out there today, I wish it had been so developed when I was a kid" wouldn't go amiss.
And it's absolutely not all BookTubers. There are SO MANY incredible BookTubers, who have truly changed my life, and I don't want to put them in the shadow in this post.
I want to love BookTube, I really do. I just feel more attracted to different types of YouTube videos now, and that's okay. I still watch BookTube. I still enjoy some videos. I still care about the bookish influencers that I've followed over the last few years. I still want to support them. But I also want to see change in the way YA is viewed, and the consumerism that is SO present among the bookish community, and not only on BookTube.
I don't want this to be a salty post. I just want to raise awareness for the issues among the online book community, in particular BookTube, and just share some thoughts. I will always be grateful for what BookTube has done for me and how it's changed me, and I truly believe it has.
I hope that my opinions have been interesting to hear, and I hope that some of you will think about some of things I've raised in this post. Thank you so much for joining me and I wish you all very happy reading!
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By the time you are reading this post, I will be at the end of a few days on a school trip in Iceland. Magical.
I so agree with this! I am also guilty of comparing myself to the videos on booktube, especially the ones that are like 'The 20 Books I read in March'. I know I don't physically even have time to read that many books in a month, but that doesn't stop me questioning myself. I also really don't like watching a video that gives a negative review about a book I loved, because after that it sort of taints my own opinion, and I can never really see it in the same way,
ReplyDeleteHope you have had the most amazing, special time in Iceland!
Definitely the end of month wrap ups make me feel super guilty!! I've barely read anything in April so far, and I don't want to feel bad about it, it's just unreasonable to read that much in a month!! Negative videos also taint my opinion, as to positive videos....it's a tough one! Thank you, currently at the airport, it's been the most incredible trip! <33
DeleteI also find myself watching less booktube videos as I have other interest. I also don't read a lot of YA so maybe it's why I haven't come across any videos you've talked about. The people I watch don't read YA. But I wouldn't compare YA to middle or even adult books. All books are different so comparing them is not always fair.
ReplyDeleteAs to the numbers of books read, well, we really shouldn't compare ourselves to these people considering some them read as part of their jobs.
I have seen a lot of videos on book shelf and book shelf tours and seeing all those people with so many books and most of them unread, I just wonder, will they get read or not. Before, I might have been a little envy of them for having so many books but now I really don't since I now mostly read ebooks from the library. Owning book is great if you have the space for them, I don't.
Iceland must be nice, I've never been.
Have a lovely day.
I definitely agree with not comparing YA to middle grade or adult books! It's hard not to compare yourself to people online because they appear to have "perfect" lives and although some of it is their job, some of them have jobs outside of YouTube and it'd frustrating to see how much they read. I also wonder how many of these books get read and sometimes I think the amount of books is just so excessive. Iceland is beautiful! Thank you so much for commenting and I hope you have a lovely day. Happy reading.
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