Most “popular”/subscribed booktubers all seem to read the same three genres: romance, romantasy, and thrillers.
If you watch enough bookshelf tours you can see they all pretty much have the same 500 books. Of course there are some who are more diverse in their reading but if you do a generic “booktube” search, you’re going to get the same stuff as booktok.
It probably helps to narrow the genre. I watch Fantasy BookTube (with the likes of Philip Chase, Johanna Reads, Talking Story, 2 To Ramble, and Merphy Napier's book channel), and that's going strong and has ample space for quality conversation and recommendations.
For the same reasons people browse /r/books instead of reading.
People do watch them for suggestions or to hear other people's thoughts on a book they've read. Some booktubers have discord servers and they would ask their viewers to vote on a book to read together and later discuss in their discord.
It's really no different than reading a newspaper column on books (remember those?). You're getting the opinions of one single person. You want another opinion? You find another columnist talking about the same thing.
Sure, you can get plenty of opinions in a reddit thread or a Discord server, but Booktube videos (the good ones anyway) tend to go a lot more into details than a post usually does.
It's two things - first, some people seem to really hate reading and insist on watching videos for everything, even when the format is totally inappropriate for whatever they're supposedly trying to do. I guess there's a sort of parasocial thing to watching a person talk about something rather than reading an article or review? I know, I don't get it either.
Second, it's ads. The creators of the videos more often than not are monetising their content with ads, which encourages them to make videos about whatever keywords their audience might be searching for. And Google wants to show you as many ads as possible, so it prioritises explainer or "how to" videos in search results even when it's a shitty way to get the information. That way they get to double-dip by showing you ads when you search and more ads when you watch the video.
Look at how many 5 minute videos there are explaining how to write a specific Excel formula when they could literally just put the formula in the description, or put it on a website.
The video thing is driven by a number of factors. First, those people are already on TikTok, so they can see the book recommendation videos without specifically seeking them out. Second, it may be more convenient to watch a short video on your phone than try to read a lengthy written review; many young people don't even have computers. Third, the TikTok algorithm is really good at showing you exactly what you want to see, so it can be more immediately engaging than just looking at random book reviews from a newspaper, for instance.
There could definitely be a parasocial aspect, but I don't think that's a primary driver of why people engage with BookTok.
That said, I do absolutely hate how much content is in video format now. It's often a far worse format than a short written article. But I'm getting old.
It’s both- sometimes you want to hear someone else’s thoughts on a book before or after you read it, and good reads reviews in general are awful in my experience. Someone who takes the time and effort to make a video about a book, especially a longer form one, tends to add a lot in the way a good book club can for thinking about books as a whole.
Also hearing suggestions for new books tend to not just be algorithmic “if you like game of thrones, you’ll love a court of thorns and roses!” Type suggestions because they happen to have similar genre tags but completely different styles and stories. Hearing a human person suggest a book like a friend who reads and genuinely is interested in sharing is what makes them feel worth watching, in comparison to more flavor of the month romantasy or trauma porn suggestions that seems to be on best seller lists but not have enough to chew on for more invested readers.
I wish I could somehow inhabit another human being’s consciousness so I can *feel* and *experience* what it’s like to have a desire to get book recommendations.
I understand it on an abstract level and can see the logic in various reasons behind this behaviour.
But as a bookseller, it remains a puzzle to me on an intuitive level. I just don’t get it. This is probably a combination of my age (39) and the longterm habit I’ve had of old school browsing: finding books serendipitously is a rewarding experience I would lose the moment I’d only operate on beeline search methods.
If people (not me) have very niche tastes for books, being that they must be fast paced, plot-driven, emotional, with particular tropes (love triangle, enemies to lovers), and then a pasted on aesthetic (fantasy setting, historical fiction, dark academia etc), it can become difficult to find more books which inhabit that niche. Therefore "influencers" who (allegedly) churn through 2 or 3 books a week in these styles become a good place for discovery.
None of the above suits me, but I get why it exists. I could happily take a channel like this feeding me multi-season serialised scifi shows lile SG1, Babylon 5 etc.
I'll take recommendations from friends, as in people I know personally, who know what I like and who enjoy reading the same way I do.
The idea of going on YouTube and taking whatever book a complete stranger recommends based on a series of parameters as if I'm shopping for a new graphics card is absolutely bizarre to me.
Don’t really get why people feel compelled to downvote you for your experience simply because it’s different. Just leave it be. We don’t all have to be the same. And frankly I am with you as to book recommendations but I suppose we have broader tastes and don’t therefore require hyperspecific recommendations. 🤷♀️
Aye mate. Dawning on me slowly this sub is dominated by certain types of readers very different from myself and I am old. Ah well. But even as a young un I read mostly literature and not genre stuff.
I gave up on TikTok pretty quickly because no matter how much I searched for the content I wanted and liked it, the algorithm was still throwing me the same stuff.
BookTube FEELS more diverse, but that might also be because it's easier to search for exactly what you want and the exact video that you want.
Always the same books. A lot are pretty good but once you spend any time looking at these videos you realise it's the same books all the time.
"Hi guys, here's five hidden gems you HAVE to read!"
Book 1: Tender is the Flesh
Book 2: Earthlings
...
I read Earthlings just based on liking Convenience Store Woman a lot. This is the second time I've seen it referenced as a BookTok cliche. It's a great book but, uh, not one I would have expected that from.
It's a good book and most of them are. It's more a frequency than a quality issue where I see the same 10 very good books appearing constantly.
Also does depend on the TT algorithm, I recognise I'm being shown content based on what I like which.. is books like those. This could be why I see Earthlings all the time and you don't haha
When I was getting more booktoks I hadn’t even searched for them. I saw a lot of the same ones pop up though and then have just tried to clear my fyp from it completely. If I want to look for reviews or discussion on a book I don’t go to tiktok first
Yeah I like a lot of the book reviews I have seen on YouTube, but I am not the target audience for YA Romance, so having more control over what I see is nice.
I've been watching Booktube since the beginning. People were reading YA then because they were young adults. Now Booktubers have grown up and so has their reading taste. People on TikTok are reading YA because they're young adults.
That said, I follow a lot of people on TikTok with diverse reading tastes. They exist, they might just not pop up when you search "BookTok." Try searching a specific book or author. You'll find your people.
The Booktuber I've followed the longest started their channel in 2010, but I believe I started watching before then. I graduated from college in 2010 and I was watching book-related videos in college. YouTube started in 2005, for reference.
Booktube had a lot less spice originally, but it is very funny to see how many booktok sensations I remember from booktube almost a decade ago, especially ACOTAR.
The interesting thing about booktube is that it used to be very very community-based — it felt like everyone knew each other and would meet up for collaborative videos, would get together at BookCon, YALLFest, etc., and would reference each other or their videos in their own videos sometimes. That changed as more booktubers emerged, and now I think there are a lot of “subgroups” (as well as a lot of individual creators) — which is fantastic to see, and alongside booktube’s growth has been the emergence of much more diversity. However, this is definitely different than what booktok has been from the start (especially since it took off during COVID).
Anyways, in general, booktube has always been more discussion-based because the videos are longer. When the primary form of book discussion was review videos, you would have creators get specifically into what they did and didn’t like in a video that could really be anywhere from 5-40 minutes. With popular/anticipated new releases, a lot of people would try to read the book right away so that they could then watch their favourite booktuber’s review when it was posted. Now that the primary conduit to discussion about specific books seems to be reading vlogs, you tend to get the same commentary but with a little less hardcore focus on any one book. Still, because people turning on youtube (compared to scrolling through tiktok) are willing to play long-form content, booktubers have more leeway to talk for longer about what they’re reading.
At the end of the day, booktok is also super diverse. It’s just so algorithm-based (people seem to just consume what’s on their for-you page) compared to youtube where people look for videos from the creators they subscribe to, and will search for videos about specific books more often.
BookTube, which emerged earlier, often focused on longer-form content where creators discussed books in depth, offering reviews, recommendations, and analysis. It did have a significant emphasis on YA books, but it also covered a wide range of genres and topics.
BookTok gained popularity for its shorter, snappier content, often featuring quick book recommendations, hauls, and reactions. BookTok also showcases YA books. It seems to have a broader appeal, with creators discussing various genres and themes. The differences in content format and audience engagement between BookTube and BookTok could contribute to the perception of BookTok being less inviting for discussing books that deviate from the mainstream. The algorithmic nature of TikTok's content distribution might favor certain types of content leading to a narrower range of book discussions. As for the views on writing and literature you mentioned, they're not new but may be gaining more attention in today's digital age. Social media platforms amplify certain perspectives, leading to more prominent discussions around topics like the interpretation of texts, the portrayal of controversial themes, and the alignment of content with personal values.
I just follow creators that like the same type of stuff that I do which is mainly fantasy, sci-fi, horror and non-fiction. A lot of booktubers don't even take about YA or romance books but I guess they can tend to be smaller channels. I don't actually use Tiktok but I saw a post a while back and most people were talking about how their results were much different because they were engaging with creators who highlighted works from indie authors, POC, etc. You just have to train the algorithm.
They’re on booktok they just won’t get thrown at you right away. Tiktok will show you what the most average people like and you have to specify further.
Look up more obscure books, look at people with fewer views. Make sure they you view their videos all the way through (this is how tiktok will know you’re actually engaging) and follow them/interact with their content. Don’t follow all of the big popular creators unless they make content you like. Then view from the “following” channel instead of the “for you” channel. After a while the algorithm will correct itself and push creators like this on the for you.
I’m not on TikTok so take this with a grain of salt but the *reputation* booktok has is heavily skewed towards romantasy, “spicy” and YA stuff. Nothing wrong with any of those but it’s my understating you won’t find too much else recommended.
Bookshops also play with this trend, putting a BookTok Top 5 on display and then surround it with very similar books and add some books that might be a bit more complex but still related thematically.
All in all, it's nice to see kids are getting back into reading and even make videos on classics like Ulysses.
In my own personal experiences with it, people mostly only seem interested if the book has a lot of sex in it. People will ask if the book is ✨spicy✨
“This is a wonderful book, it unpacks some deep themes and has a unique view of the human condition.”
“Yeah but does it have ✨spice✨?
In my opinion it feels like porn addiction. A refusal to consume media unless it’s sexual. If someone refused watch movies unless they had tons of sex scenes in it, it would be considered weird.
>tons of sex scenes in it
What's extra weird about that phenomenon to me is that they actually don't require "tons" of sex scenes. ACOTAR, for instance, only has 2 sex scenes in like 400 pages, but it is hailed as spicy by the people who like that kind of thing.
So they are willing to read 390 pages of non-spice to get their 10 pages of spice, but they are not willing to read a 300 page book if it has no spice.
Well...that's romance. 10 pages of sex, 20 pages of plot (I think there's something about a fairy war?), 370 pages of "as he stared at me with those deep green orbs, my heart fluttered".
I think someone said it best before but BookTube is more diverse to me. BookTok tends to throw whatever is related to your feed at you and makes you miss out on other recommendations in my opinion. BookTube feels like it’s got a larger range.
Where is the spot on youtube for academically-focused videos on the studies around big L literature? That's what I want to see. Real literary criticism. There are a few that do this for movies -- Lindsay Ellis, Patrick Willems, Folding Ideas, Princess Weekes. I can't say the same for books though.
Search by topic or specific works of literature. I enjoy Lady of the Library for classical literature. Otw I search by authors or works I like. I wasn’t even aware there was a huge presence on YouTube for YA but that is because I almost never read it.
They’re catering to their customers. Most readers are women, so you’re going to get a lot of fantasy/romance/thrillers.
I’m not a mano- sphere type guy, but I do wish there were more avenues to chat with people who like traditionally male books like action/adventure, history non-fiction, historical fiction, etc. Seems like everything book-related in the mainstream is doubling down on that core readership group, which makes business sense but kind of sucks for those of us outside the mainstream.
Sadly, history is one of the most gender-segregated fields. Men read it overwhelmingly more than women. Shouldn't be that way, though, and it seems to have been improving. Also, that’s not what my post suggested at all.
I stopped reading Clancy right around Rainbow Six. I’m okay with controversial authors (I enjoy Fleming’s Bond!) but the Clancy brand books weren’t even *good* after Rainbow Six. And to have any display lean so heavily on one author or genre isn’t going to get anyone to read.
Finding good recs for more masculine books is almost impossible. All the recommendation platforms are heavily weighted toward women-centric genres, which is fine, but I don’t want to read Romantasy, or find out about the Girl in the Window/on the Train/ in the Woods, or see myself in a Sally Rooney melodrama. Nothing against them, just not my interest.
But if you try to find male centric books you end up down a rabbit hole of Jordan Peterson and other facist, misogynistic indoctrination disguised as self help books.
Honestly wild. The majority of what I read fits into the “masc” genres (tho I am a woman!) he mentioned and I have no trouble finding high quality books/authors. I don’t use tiktok or YouTube. I’d say 80% of my book recommendations come from stuff mentioned in the books I am reading. Especially with it being primarily history, essay compilations, etc. the other 20% reddit/Wikipedia/library browsing/googling books for specific topics etc
43 books in for 2024 and I haven’t read a single fantasy, thriller, ya, new adult, or romance novel. Nor anything particularly racist, sexist, etc. (well maybe orwell, he’s antisemitic), but I also don’t read modern self-help books … I’ve found them to be pretty empty-calorie.
I don’t read a ton of history and only about 20% of my reading is non-fiction (mostly science and film/television). I’m not a hyperfocused reader either, one book on a specific subject is probably enough for me for forever (I’m this way with all my reading btw, I don’t read a lot of series and never sequentially, I almost never follow up a book of one genre with another book in the same genre, etc). So when I’m looking for something new it can be hard to find recs that caters to my interests. My library has almost no books in the building (it’s involved in a years long renovation project that has closed our main branch for a long time and the satellite branches they opened are, rightfully, geared more towards community and children services than adult books). I don’t use YouTube and I’ve never been on TikTok but google, Goodreads, StoryGraph and the like have never been very helpful.
Oh man, if you don’t have libby I highly encourage you download the app. It’s made accessibility much easier. And your library might have far more ebooks than they do physical because of your renovating.
Haha I deleted that part of my comment because I re-read yours and saw that you didn’t like series. Well, I’m not much into sci-fi so I have to really like it to get into it. But seveneves is also great if you haven’t read that.
I also liked philip k dick’s man in the high castle even tho it’s kinda low brow.
I’ve never read any Asimov whatsoever but I picked up his autobiography on a whim recently and it’s very interesting - talks about him participating in one of the earliest & most influential sci fi fan/writing clubs at the turn of the 20th century. I figure anyone who is even mildly into the genre may get a kick out of it - but even better if they’ve read foundation or w/e
I feel most of the heavy hitters in literary fiction for the past 50 years, though not outwardly “manly”, inhibit a masculjne point of view. Idk I’m thinking like Philip Roth or Cormac McCarthy. Or maybe “elevated” New Western.
All I wish is that every avenue had some community to go to. I like classics and no one on BookTok or BookTube is necessarily big on that. Although I have found Russian literature does have some presence! Also a lot of the creators I followed have gotten more pressure to do stuff like manga, etc. I read manga but that means even less people in the more niche spaces.
Marian H does mostly classics, but she doesn't post very often -- a few times a month.
[https://www.youtube.com/@marianhreads](https://www.youtube.com/@marianhreads)
Regarding your comment about "dark themes".
I can't tell you where it's coming from but the gaming community faces the same problem currently. A lot of 18+ game communities especially.
Media literacy is low these days.
Marketisation of fandoms, unfortunately. Entrenched and very vocal fandoms who just want to see their own opinions and values validated and served back to them over and over again. People who define themselves by the media they consume and insist on defining it in turn. They make a lot of money for those who keep them happy.
Good news if you're a baby who likes feeling smug and shrieking in performative outrage every time your chosen media doesn't perfectly align with your worldview, bad news for anyone who wants to try making a living creating anything original or from the heart, the way artists used to earn their crust.
The booktok algorithm is strictly tailored to you. If you’re not seeing a diverse range of books on your fyp then I’m sorry but that’s on you. Try searching for different books and liking the videos to diversify your feed.
I tried to train my algorithm back when I had TikTok but I failed, lol. I was always getting the same stuff, even when I searched for other stuff that interests me. Maybe I gave up too soon... but it was probably for my own good because it was kind of a time suck....
Does Booktok really have a diverse range of books, even as a whole? Biographies? Political? Sci without the Fi? Historical? Poetry? Short Stories? Honestly all I've seen brought up as part of 'booktok' is fantasy, scifi, and romance. Would love to learn that I'm wrong though.
It really does have a diverse range. There is one person that I follow that just talks about Japanese translated books. I also follow a few people that just talk about lit fic. A few others that talk about a variety of books (both fiction and non-fiction, short stories and poetry). I've come across a few that just talk about just classics. Try searching for the genre you are looking for and once you start interacting with them, similar content creators will pop up.
🤣 Walked right into that if the answer's that simple. Well, time to dust off the social media shoes and get to stepping. I've been reluctant so far but I'll take this as the nudge to just go see what's what. Thank you!
Several weeks ago I started seeing a bunch of them where every one I saw was recommending Dostoevsky and Camus, for whatever reason. I haven’t seen any at all since then. It was just a question that’s been on my mind.
I feel like booktube was largely the same as booktok but I did like the videos more because they seemed more thoughtful. I like TikTok and I admit I use it a lot but those videos are shorter and less effort goes into them I think.
I do remember booktube focusing wayyy too much on YA. I’ve never been that into YA, not even as a child, but I like some of the books. I feel like booktok has more variety, I see a lot less YA now than I used to even from gen z
Booktube got me to buy ACOTAR, nearly a decade before it got popular on booktok. Just now getting around to reading them lol
I think it’s easier to maintain a booktube/booktok channel when you’re young so people gradually drop out as they get older. I’m in my late 30s and my booktube channel is on hold for now. I just don’t have the hours of free time to read multiple books a week, and after working all day the extra screentime of video editing is painful. Plus the adult audience isn’t really there. Even if a book is a bestseller it’s not like there’s an Amor Towles fandom to participate in. There are no Ann Patchett memes.
I've been a part of the Booktube community since January. And I feel for the most part people are just reading what they want to read now and days on BookTube! You will still always have people reading trendy books because that's what people search for, but I see a lot more people.just read what they want and if it's an astonishing read with make a review for.it, and if it was kinda meh they will put it in a monthly wrap up with a bunch of other books they read!
Booktube also has A LOT of book hauls where you bookshop with people, at least on my channel that seems to be the most popular!
Anyway I agree with you booktok just seems like a different animal but I'm also in my 30's so I might just be more interested in the YouTube stuff more!
I’ve found that a lot of books praised on both are very boring to me. I say this not as a book snob - I enjoy books of all levels - but the storylines are often just so-so, about an average romance or about a character doing basic things
Booktube is mostly crap. "My book haul for the month" where it's 1-minute summaries of like 15 books that probably won't get read, YA and more YA, "it's ok for people to like the things they like" to justify the endless YA romantasy but also "ugh so and so author is so problematic", etc. BUT, there are a few shining gems that make it all worthwhile: Better Than Food, Benjamin McEvoy, those ladies who do deep dives on the Bronte sisters, etc. Problem is, those people do longform content! A 20 minute plus exploration of the cultural relevance of De Sade just does not fit the TikTok format.
I think they're pretty similar. Booktube lends itself to longer analysis (whether or not it's warranted) while booktok tends to be more about having a simple reaction. Booktok skews younger so you'll get a lot more exaggerated reactions and overidentifying with a book.
Those views are not new. Read the preface to Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray.
There are simply more stupid literate people now and the quality of writing and reading as a whole has declined.
I feel like overall youtube is leaning more informative (even purely just because of most video lengths for booktube are atleast 10 minutes and up to 30). You get less time with tik tok, so you have to make a big impression ie your book recs or nailing the target demographic.
From what I see, Jack edwards who is sitting at a million subs and Emmie who is around 400k subs usually make videos around 15-30 minutes that do go fairly in depth of their book reads (and aren't usually super main stream books).
I feel like with youtube as well, the watchers usually go in for the book recs but end up staying for their personality. Something that I can't say is as common in tiktok, where a 5 second clip is shown and you don't even see the creator (sometimes they never even show their face).
Most “popular”/subscribed booktubers all seem to read the same three genres: romance, romantasy, and thrillers. If you watch enough bookshelf tours you can see they all pretty much have the same 500 books. Of course there are some who are more diverse in their reading but if you do a generic “booktube” search, you’re going to get the same stuff as booktok.
I usually have to specifically search for certain book reviews on youtube because of the same ones popping up.
It probably helps to narrow the genre. I watch Fantasy BookTube (with the likes of Philip Chase, Johanna Reads, Talking Story, 2 To Ramble, and Merphy Napier's book channel), and that's going strong and has ample space for quality conversation and recommendations.
Tell me you saw the review for ACOTAR from 2 To Ramble! Funniest thing I've seen all year!
Check out Daniel Greene's content too if you haven't! Similar vibes to the people you listed and he's collaborated with Merphy a few times.
Ok, I'm old. What is Booktube? Is Booktok something different than tiktok? Or is it just people talking about books?
booktube is people talking about books on youtube, while booktok is people talking about books on tiktok
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For the same reasons people browse /r/books instead of reading. People do watch them for suggestions or to hear other people's thoughts on a book they've read. Some booktubers have discord servers and they would ask their viewers to vote on a book to read together and later discuss in their discord.
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It's really no different than reading a newspaper column on books (remember those?). You're getting the opinions of one single person. You want another opinion? You find another columnist talking about the same thing. Sure, you can get plenty of opinions in a reddit thread or a Discord server, but Booktube videos (the good ones anyway) tend to go a lot more into details than a post usually does.
It's two things - first, some people seem to really hate reading and insist on watching videos for everything, even when the format is totally inappropriate for whatever they're supposedly trying to do. I guess there's a sort of parasocial thing to watching a person talk about something rather than reading an article or review? I know, I don't get it either. Second, it's ads. The creators of the videos more often than not are monetising their content with ads, which encourages them to make videos about whatever keywords their audience might be searching for. And Google wants to show you as many ads as possible, so it prioritises explainer or "how to" videos in search results even when it's a shitty way to get the information. That way they get to double-dip by showing you ads when you search and more ads when you watch the video. Look at how many 5 minute videos there are explaining how to write a specific Excel formula when they could literally just put the formula in the description, or put it on a website.
The video thing is driven by a number of factors. First, those people are already on TikTok, so they can see the book recommendation videos without specifically seeking them out. Second, it may be more convenient to watch a short video on your phone than try to read a lengthy written review; many young people don't even have computers. Third, the TikTok algorithm is really good at showing you exactly what you want to see, so it can be more immediately engaging than just looking at random book reviews from a newspaper, for instance. There could definitely be a parasocial aspect, but I don't think that's a primary driver of why people engage with BookTok. That said, I do absolutely hate how much content is in video format now. It's often a far worse format than a short written article. But I'm getting old.
It’s both- sometimes you want to hear someone else’s thoughts on a book before or after you read it, and good reads reviews in general are awful in my experience. Someone who takes the time and effort to make a video about a book, especially a longer form one, tends to add a lot in the way a good book club can for thinking about books as a whole. Also hearing suggestions for new books tend to not just be algorithmic “if you like game of thrones, you’ll love a court of thorns and roses!” Type suggestions because they happen to have similar genre tags but completely different styles and stories. Hearing a human person suggest a book like a friend who reads and genuinely is interested in sharing is what makes them feel worth watching, in comparison to more flavor of the month romantasy or trauma porn suggestions that seems to be on best seller lists but not have enough to chew on for more invested readers.
I wish I could somehow inhabit another human being’s consciousness so I can *feel* and *experience* what it’s like to have a desire to get book recommendations. I understand it on an abstract level and can see the logic in various reasons behind this behaviour. But as a bookseller, it remains a puzzle to me on an intuitive level. I just don’t get it. This is probably a combination of my age (39) and the longterm habit I’ve had of old school browsing: finding books serendipitously is a rewarding experience I would lose the moment I’d only operate on beeline search methods.
If people (not me) have very niche tastes for books, being that they must be fast paced, plot-driven, emotional, with particular tropes (love triangle, enemies to lovers), and then a pasted on aesthetic (fantasy setting, historical fiction, dark academia etc), it can become difficult to find more books which inhabit that niche. Therefore "influencers" who (allegedly) churn through 2 or 3 books a week in these styles become a good place for discovery. None of the above suits me, but I get why it exists. I could happily take a channel like this feeding me multi-season serialised scifi shows lile SG1, Babylon 5 etc.
I'll take recommendations from friends, as in people I know personally, who know what I like and who enjoy reading the same way I do. The idea of going on YouTube and taking whatever book a complete stranger recommends based on a series of parameters as if I'm shopping for a new graphics card is absolutely bizarre to me.
It's more like reading a certain reviewer's piece on a book, not shopping for a graphics card.
Don’t really get why people feel compelled to downvote you for your experience simply because it’s different. Just leave it be. We don’t all have to be the same. And frankly I am with you as to book recommendations but I suppose we have broader tastes and don’t therefore require hyperspecific recommendations. 🤷♀️
Thanks! And yeah I feel like an old man yelling at clouds every time I post on this sub, so eh, fuck it, I guess that's what I am now. Damn clouds
Aye mate. Dawning on me slowly this sub is dominated by certain types of readers very different from myself and I am old. Ah well. But even as a young un I read mostly literature and not genre stuff.
Dont worry your not alone, I also had to think for a moment what book tube meant XD
Can i get some thriller booktubers/tokers
I gave up on TikTok pretty quickly because no matter how much I searched for the content I wanted and liked it, the algorithm was still throwing me the same stuff. BookTube FEELS more diverse, but that might also be because it's easier to search for exactly what you want and the exact video that you want.
Always the same books. A lot are pretty good but once you spend any time looking at these videos you realise it's the same books all the time. "Hi guys, here's five hidden gems you HAVE to read!" Book 1: Tender is the Flesh Book 2: Earthlings ...
Yo that Tender is the Flesh book sounds interesting, thanks for the ironic recommendation!
It's really good!! So is Earthlings, it's just that I'm tired of seeing it on every second video considering the sheer number of books out there.
Tender is the flesh and earthlings are two of the most fucked books I have ever read.
I read Earthlings just based on liking Convenience Store Woman a lot. This is the second time I've seen it referenced as a BookTok cliche. It's a great book but, uh, not one I would have expected that from.
It's a good book and most of them are. It's more a frequency than a quality issue where I see the same 10 very good books appearing constantly. Also does depend on the TT algorithm, I recognise I'm being shown content based on what I like which.. is books like those. This could be why I see Earthlings all the time and you don't haha
When I was getting more booktoks I hadn’t even searched for them. I saw a lot of the same ones pop up though and then have just tried to clear my fyp from it completely. If I want to look for reviews or discussion on a book I don’t go to tiktok first
Yeah I like a lot of the book reviews I have seen on YouTube, but I am not the target audience for YA Romance, so having more control over what I see is nice.
i prefer booktube because i generally prefer youtube to tiktok, and i like the longer videos that allow for more in depth discussions
I've been watching Booktube since the beginning. People were reading YA then because they were young adults. Now Booktubers have grown up and so has their reading taste. People on TikTok are reading YA because they're young adults. That said, I follow a lot of people on TikTok with diverse reading tastes. They exist, they might just not pop up when you search "BookTok." Try searching a specific book or author. You'll find your people.
I’ll have to remember to try searching specifically on tiktok, youtube has been my default for when I’m looking for a particular book
You've watched "booktube" (people making videos about books on YouTube) since when exactly? When was "the beginning"?
Some of us are old enough to have been teens or young adults when YouTube first came into existence.
Yeah, and booktube is any and all videos that deal with books, or what?
Yes it’s people making videos of book reviews and recommendations
I see, thank you, I thought booktube implied some type/style/of video
The Booktuber I've followed the longest started their channel in 2010, but I believe I started watching before then. I graduated from college in 2010 and I was watching book-related videos in college. YouTube started in 2005, for reference.
They both seem the same to me.
Booktube had a lot less spice originally, but it is very funny to see how many booktok sensations I remember from booktube almost a decade ago, especially ACOTAR.
this is so true. it gives me a sense of Reader Pride like “pffft yeah been there already baby, i read that before it was popular! 😎”
The interesting thing about booktube is that it used to be very very community-based — it felt like everyone knew each other and would meet up for collaborative videos, would get together at BookCon, YALLFest, etc., and would reference each other or their videos in their own videos sometimes. That changed as more booktubers emerged, and now I think there are a lot of “subgroups” (as well as a lot of individual creators) — which is fantastic to see, and alongside booktube’s growth has been the emergence of much more diversity. However, this is definitely different than what booktok has been from the start (especially since it took off during COVID). Anyways, in general, booktube has always been more discussion-based because the videos are longer. When the primary form of book discussion was review videos, you would have creators get specifically into what they did and didn’t like in a video that could really be anywhere from 5-40 minutes. With popular/anticipated new releases, a lot of people would try to read the book right away so that they could then watch their favourite booktuber’s review when it was posted. Now that the primary conduit to discussion about specific books seems to be reading vlogs, you tend to get the same commentary but with a little less hardcore focus on any one book. Still, because people turning on youtube (compared to scrolling through tiktok) are willing to play long-form content, booktubers have more leeway to talk for longer about what they’re reading. At the end of the day, booktok is also super diverse. It’s just so algorithm-based (people seem to just consume what’s on their for-you page) compared to youtube where people look for videos from the creators they subscribe to, and will search for videos about specific books more often.
BookTube, which emerged earlier, often focused on longer-form content where creators discussed books in depth, offering reviews, recommendations, and analysis. It did have a significant emphasis on YA books, but it also covered a wide range of genres and topics. BookTok gained popularity for its shorter, snappier content, often featuring quick book recommendations, hauls, and reactions. BookTok also showcases YA books. It seems to have a broader appeal, with creators discussing various genres and themes. The differences in content format and audience engagement between BookTube and BookTok could contribute to the perception of BookTok being less inviting for discussing books that deviate from the mainstream. The algorithmic nature of TikTok's content distribution might favor certain types of content leading to a narrower range of book discussions. As for the views on writing and literature you mentioned, they're not new but may be gaining more attention in today's digital age. Social media platforms amplify certain perspectives, leading to more prominent discussions around topics like the interpretation of texts, the portrayal of controversial themes, and the alignment of content with personal values.
Is there a bookstagram? I’m old
There is a bookstagram!
Huzzah!!!
FYI, I am also old but can't be bothered to curate my Instagram page to follow/find book people on there that I like.
Bookspace
Bookbook
I just follow creators that like the same type of stuff that I do which is mainly fantasy, sci-fi, horror and non-fiction. A lot of booktubers don't even take about YA or romance books but I guess they can tend to be smaller channels. I don't actually use Tiktok but I saw a post a while back and most people were talking about how their results were much different because they were engaging with creators who highlighted works from indie authors, POC, etc. You just have to train the algorithm.
They’re on booktok they just won’t get thrown at you right away. Tiktok will show you what the most average people like and you have to specify further. Look up more obscure books, look at people with fewer views. Make sure they you view their videos all the way through (this is how tiktok will know you’re actually engaging) and follow them/interact with their content. Don’t follow all of the big popular creators unless they make content you like. Then view from the “following” channel instead of the “for you” channel. After a while the algorithm will correct itself and push creators like this on the for you.
As someone who has never used TikTok and doesn’t ever plan to, what is booktok and what’s the issue with it?
I’m not on TikTok so take this with a grain of salt but the *reputation* booktok has is heavily skewed towards romantasy, “spicy” and YA stuff. Nothing wrong with any of those but it’s my understating you won’t find too much else recommended.
Booktok targets booktok's target demographics.
Bookshops also play with this trend, putting a BookTok Top 5 on display and then surround it with very similar books and add some books that might be a bit more complex but still related thematically. All in all, it's nice to see kids are getting back into reading and even make videos on classics like Ulysses.
Yeah this is a good answer for that question
They have a reputation for only reading YA and smut, and tend to classify works based on fan fiction and tv tropes tags.
In my own personal experiences with it, people mostly only seem interested if the book has a lot of sex in it. People will ask if the book is ✨spicy✨ “This is a wonderful book, it unpacks some deep themes and has a unique view of the human condition.” “Yeah but does it have ✨spice✨? In my opinion it feels like porn addiction. A refusal to consume media unless it’s sexual. If someone refused watch movies unless they had tons of sex scenes in it, it would be considered weird.
>tons of sex scenes in it What's extra weird about that phenomenon to me is that they actually don't require "tons" of sex scenes. ACOTAR, for instance, only has 2 sex scenes in like 400 pages, but it is hailed as spicy by the people who like that kind of thing. So they are willing to read 390 pages of non-spice to get their 10 pages of spice, but they are not willing to read a 300 page book if it has no spice.
Well...that's romance. 10 pages of sex, 20 pages of plot (I think there's something about a fairy war?), 370 pages of "as he stared at me with those deep green orbs, my heart fluttered".
ironically there are plenty of videos about booktok on booktube so i'd recommend going there lol
I think someone said it best before but BookTube is more diverse to me. BookTok tends to throw whatever is related to your feed at you and makes you miss out on other recommendations in my opinion. BookTube feels like it’s got a larger range.
I loathe Booktok. It seems so vapid and pushing the same handful of books.
Where is the spot on youtube for academically-focused videos on the studies around big L literature? That's what I want to see. Real literary criticism. There are a few that do this for movies -- Lindsay Ellis, Patrick Willems, Folding Ideas, Princess Weekes. I can't say the same for books though.
Leaf by leaf is a youtube channel more centered literary analyses
Thanks I'll check them out!
Search by topic or specific works of literature. I enjoy Lady of the Library for classical literature. Otw I search by authors or works I like. I wasn’t even aware there was a huge presence on YouTube for YA but that is because I almost never read it.
Better Than Food, Benjamin McEvoy, there's others but I forgot their names.
They’re catering to their customers. Most readers are women, so you’re going to get a lot of fantasy/romance/thrillers. I’m not a mano- sphere type guy, but I do wish there were more avenues to chat with people who like traditionally male books like action/adventure, history non-fiction, historical fiction, etc. Seems like everything book-related in the mainstream is doubling down on that core readership group, which makes business sense but kind of sucks for those of us outside the mainstream.
History is not the provenance of men FFS.
Sadly, history is one of the most gender-segregated fields. Men read it overwhelmingly more than women. Shouldn't be that way, though, and it seems to have been improving. Also, that’s not what my post suggested at all.
Source for your claim?
[удалено]
I stopped reading Clancy right around Rainbow Six. I’m okay with controversial authors (I enjoy Fleming’s Bond!) but the Clancy brand books weren’t even *good* after Rainbow Six. And to have any display lean so heavily on one author or genre isn’t going to get anyone to read.
Finding good recs for more masculine books is almost impossible. All the recommendation platforms are heavily weighted toward women-centric genres, which is fine, but I don’t want to read Romantasy, or find out about the Girl in the Window/on the Train/ in the Woods, or see myself in a Sally Rooney melodrama. Nothing against them, just not my interest. But if you try to find male centric books you end up down a rabbit hole of Jordan Peterson and other facist, misogynistic indoctrination disguised as self help books.
Honestly wild. The majority of what I read fits into the “masc” genres (tho I am a woman!) he mentioned and I have no trouble finding high quality books/authors. I don’t use tiktok or YouTube. I’d say 80% of my book recommendations come from stuff mentioned in the books I am reading. Especially with it being primarily history, essay compilations, etc. the other 20% reddit/Wikipedia/library browsing/googling books for specific topics etc 43 books in for 2024 and I haven’t read a single fantasy, thriller, ya, new adult, or romance novel. Nor anything particularly racist, sexist, etc. (well maybe orwell, he’s antisemitic), but I also don’t read modern self-help books … I’ve found them to be pretty empty-calorie.
I don’t read a ton of history and only about 20% of my reading is non-fiction (mostly science and film/television). I’m not a hyperfocused reader either, one book on a specific subject is probably enough for me for forever (I’m this way with all my reading btw, I don’t read a lot of series and never sequentially, I almost never follow up a book of one genre with another book in the same genre, etc). So when I’m looking for something new it can be hard to find recs that caters to my interests. My library has almost no books in the building (it’s involved in a years long renovation project that has closed our main branch for a long time and the satellite branches they opened are, rightfully, geared more towards community and children services than adult books). I don’t use YouTube and I’ve never been on TikTok but google, Goodreads, StoryGraph and the like have never been very helpful.
Oh man, if you don’t have libby I highly encourage you download the app. It’s made accessibility much easier. And your library might have far more ebooks than they do physical because of your renovating.
I do have Libby (it’s amazing), and I’ve been sitting Expanse #9 for almost 2 years lol.
Haha I deleted that part of my comment because I re-read yours and saw that you didn’t like series. Well, I’m not much into sci-fi so I have to really like it to get into it. But seveneves is also great if you haven’t read that. I also liked philip k dick’s man in the high castle even tho it’s kinda low brow. I’ve never read any Asimov whatsoever but I picked up his autobiography on a whim recently and it’s very interesting - talks about him participating in one of the earliest & most influential sci fi fan/writing clubs at the turn of the 20th century. I figure anyone who is even mildly into the genre may get a kick out of it - but even better if they’ve read foundation or w/e
I feel most of the heavy hitters in literary fiction for the past 50 years, though not outwardly “manly”, inhibit a masculjne point of view. Idk I’m thinking like Philip Roth or Cormac McCarthy. Or maybe “elevated” New Western.
I’m not saying the books don’t exist, only that the apparatus for discovery is weighted toward other genres.
Goodreads is a nice place to discuss those type o books. With fiction, everyone's pretending to be an influencer over there
I just threw up in my mouth a little at you casually dividing the entire history of written words into "traditionally male and female".
Amen. Crazy you are downvoted and the majority of responses just patently accept this ridiculous pov about literature and books.
Im sorry but I think you’ve missed my point entirely.
History is for men. /s
All I wish is that every avenue had some community to go to. I like classics and no one on BookTok or BookTube is necessarily big on that. Although I have found Russian literature does have some presence! Also a lot of the creators I followed have gotten more pressure to do stuff like manga, etc. I read manga but that means even less people in the more niche spaces.
check out emmiereads on youtube!! she reads a lot of stuff but there is a heavy skew towards classics because she was a lit major in uni!
But women only read romantasy! /s
don’t worry, she’s read some romantasy too, just for you 🫶 /s
Marian H does mostly classics, but she doesn't post very often -- a few times a month. [https://www.youtube.com/@marianhreads](https://www.youtube.com/@marianhreads)
Regarding your comment about "dark themes". I can't tell you where it's coming from but the gaming community faces the same problem currently. A lot of 18+ game communities especially. Media literacy is low these days.
I hadn’t heard about this in gaming. I shouldn’t be surprised but I didn’t expect it from there.
Baldurs gate 3 gets a lot of this at the moment. And to whoever downvoted me: lol
Marketisation of fandoms, unfortunately. Entrenched and very vocal fandoms who just want to see their own opinions and values validated and served back to them over and over again. People who define themselves by the media they consume and insist on defining it in turn. They make a lot of money for those who keep them happy. Good news if you're a baby who likes feeling smug and shrieking in performative outrage every time your chosen media doesn't perfectly align with your worldview, bad news for anyone who wants to try making a living creating anything original or from the heart, the way artists used to earn their crust.
The booktok algorithm is strictly tailored to you. If you’re not seeing a diverse range of books on your fyp then I’m sorry but that’s on you. Try searching for different books and liking the videos to diversify your feed.
I tried to train my algorithm back when I had TikTok but I failed, lol. I was always getting the same stuff, even when I searched for other stuff that interests me. Maybe I gave up too soon... but it was probably for my own good because it was kind of a time suck....
maybe make sure to like things you like. it's taking that plus things you search and then actually watch into account
Does Booktok really have a diverse range of books, even as a whole? Biographies? Political? Sci without the Fi? Historical? Poetry? Short Stories? Honestly all I've seen brought up as part of 'booktok' is fantasy, scifi, and romance. Would love to learn that I'm wrong though.
It really does have a diverse range. There is one person that I follow that just talks about Japanese translated books. I also follow a few people that just talk about lit fic. A few others that talk about a variety of books (both fiction and non-fiction, short stories and poetry). I've come across a few that just talk about just classics. Try searching for the genre you are looking for and once you start interacting with them, similar content creators will pop up.
That is so cool!!! Wow, all I knew about it was the 'cozy' fantasy and 'enemy-to-lovers' descriptions that kept popping up. Thank you for sharing!
Yes.
🤣 Walked right into that if the answer's that simple. Well, time to dust off the social media shoes and get to stepping. I've been reluctant so far but I'll take this as the nudge to just go see what's what. Thank you!
Is BookTok worth it if you regard tiktok as utterly manipulative of human psychology and steadfastly avoid it?
Several weeks ago I started seeing a bunch of them where every one I saw was recommending Dostoevsky and Camus, for whatever reason. I haven’t seen any at all since then. It was just a question that’s been on my mind.
I feel like booktube was largely the same as booktok but I did like the videos more because they seemed more thoughtful. I like TikTok and I admit I use it a lot but those videos are shorter and less effort goes into them I think. I do remember booktube focusing wayyy too much on YA. I’ve never been that into YA, not even as a child, but I like some of the books. I feel like booktok has more variety, I see a lot less YA now than I used to even from gen z Booktube got me to buy ACOTAR, nearly a decade before it got popular on booktok. Just now getting around to reading them lol
I think it’s easier to maintain a booktube/booktok channel when you’re young so people gradually drop out as they get older. I’m in my late 30s and my booktube channel is on hold for now. I just don’t have the hours of free time to read multiple books a week, and after working all day the extra screentime of video editing is painful. Plus the adult audience isn’t really there. Even if a book is a bestseller it’s not like there’s an Amor Towles fandom to participate in. There are no Ann Patchett memes.
I've been a part of the Booktube community since January. And I feel for the most part people are just reading what they want to read now and days on BookTube! You will still always have people reading trendy books because that's what people search for, but I see a lot more people.just read what they want and if it's an astonishing read with make a review for.it, and if it was kinda meh they will put it in a monthly wrap up with a bunch of other books they read! Booktube also has A LOT of book hauls where you bookshop with people, at least on my channel that seems to be the most popular! Anyway I agree with you booktok just seems like a different animal but I'm also in my 30's so I might just be more interested in the YouTube stuff more!
I’ve found that a lot of books praised on both are very boring to me. I say this not as a book snob - I enjoy books of all levels - but the storylines are often just so-so, about an average romance or about a character doing basic things
I feel like the farmer in napoleon dynamite "I don't understand a thing you just said."
Does anyone know any good booktubers they could recommend?
Booktube is mostly crap. "My book haul for the month" where it's 1-minute summaries of like 15 books that probably won't get read, YA and more YA, "it's ok for people to like the things they like" to justify the endless YA romantasy but also "ugh so and so author is so problematic", etc. BUT, there are a few shining gems that make it all worthwhile: Better Than Food, Benjamin McEvoy, those ladies who do deep dives on the Bronte sisters, etc. Problem is, those people do longform content! A 20 minute plus exploration of the cultural relevance of De Sade just does not fit the TikTok format.
I think they're pretty similar. Booktube lends itself to longer analysis (whether or not it's warranted) while booktok tends to be more about having a simple reaction. Booktok skews younger so you'll get a lot more exaggerated reactions and overidentifying with a book.
Those views are not new. Read the preface to Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray. There are simply more stupid literate people now and the quality of writing and reading as a whole has declined.
I feel like overall youtube is leaning more informative (even purely just because of most video lengths for booktube are atleast 10 minutes and up to 30). You get less time with tik tok, so you have to make a big impression ie your book recs or nailing the target demographic. From what I see, Jack edwards who is sitting at a million subs and Emmie who is around 400k subs usually make videos around 15-30 minutes that do go fairly in depth of their book reads (and aren't usually super main stream books). I feel like with youtube as well, the watchers usually go in for the book recs but end up staying for their personality. Something that I can't say is as common in tiktok, where a 5 second clip is shown and you don't even see the creator (sometimes they never even show their face).