Booktubers

[HilaQueen]

I met Jen when she did an event at my local library for her short story collection. She was actually ok.. we have the same name so we kinda has a few comments about that. Sorry you had a bad experience. I can see your POV.. sounds like you had an awful time... I'm curious.. can you share anymore?

Yeah, of course. I should stress, it wasn't how she treated me that upset me, but how she treated another author. Jen was interviewing another author at an event, and I was excited because squee, I got to see Jen Campbell. The author was a woman of colour and Jen was supposed to be interviewing her. Note how I said supposed to.

For every question Jen asked, Jen answered: and more times than not, she answered BEFORE the author gave an answer. What's worse, Jen self-promoted a shameless amount, to the extent that she would recite the URLS to her own YouTube channel and website blog posts during the interview by answering a question that she asked the other author.

So, for example, Jen would ask "What books inspired you for your work?"
The author would bite her lip and reply "Ohh, let me think."
Jen would then JUMP IN and say "Well, whilst she's thinking, the books that inspired me as X, Y, Z, In fact, I listed the books that inspired me on the back page of my book, X which you can buy from my website www.herwebsitename. com. Or, you can visit my youtube channel, www.youtubeurl. com and search for the video "video title here" and you'll get my recommendations."
The author, dazzled, would then answer the question.

And when I say she did this for every question, I mean, she did this for EVERY question. She recited her URLs continuously in full, for answers to questions she was asking the other author. She disrespected this author of colour SO much and I found it just so insulting that I felt hurt. I just saw through all her charades about supporting other women and supporting people of colour. She propped herself up during an event that was supposed to highlight and showcase not just another person, another woman and a woman of colour. It disgusted and hurt me to watch. All her allyship was just self-promotion.

 

[figgypud]

Aw I hope she's okay, I'm genuinely sad to hear that. I hope she still gets to at least share her dog, that must make living alone a little less lonely.

And I know the comments about her cheating with a woman were a while ago but I want to add that I think it's cheap to say that just because she's bi, that's a really tired and ignorant stereotype used against bi people.

 

[Kitt]

I really wish more booktubers promoted using libraries. Libraries needs support but also the amount of books that some of these people haul and then unhaul is mad. I am a librarian, I use my library but I also have a collection of books. I understand wanting to own books but personally, where possible, I read a book from the library first and then buy it if I loved it. If the library doesn’t have it, I’ll buy a copy as a treat or ask for it for my birthday. I think it’s easy to fall into wanting a huge collection but then so many sat unread while they keep hauling more and more. Financially it’s very wasteful.

 

[qwikti]

Anyone seen this comment on Lauren and the Books’s insta? Bit of a pathetic response if you ask me

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I mean, I feel bad for the person, but 'How can you smile when you both have covid?' is a ridiculously unfair question. Do all of the millions of people who've had it have to be depressed the whole time they've got it? She's not even allowed to be happy? If they would have said something like 'don't make light of it' then I would get it, but the idea of being angry that they're still in good spirits is misguided anger.

 

[Hobbitsies]

Does it annoy anyone else that UK booktubers are hawking Book of the Month WHEN IT DOESN'T EVEN SHIP TO THE UK?? Way to sell out for a paycheck, you couldn't even access the product if they weren't sending it to you for free.

 

[HilaQueen]

hailie’s just uploaded an update on her book to Instagram

I mean, I kinda feel bad but I kinda don't. I have. a few friends who are published authors and they tried for over a decade to get published. These booktubers get an audience and just assume that they can a) write a good book and b) they're a given for publishing because they're popular on the internet. Genuinely, just get over yourself and keep trying. I know they think internet popularity is the ultimate green card, but it's not. Work on your craft, re-write it, try again.

 

[xaannaa]

I wonder if she even genuinely enjoys those books? Does she actually read them? Is she committed to her aesthetic even when the camera is off and won’t let herself touch anything that’s not a classic? Or does she obsessively read romance and YA when nobody’s looking? So many questions!

(Disclaimer: I haven’t watched a single video of hers because I could only manage like three minutes. BUT I’ve looked around her website and overall I just find it fascinating how contrived her persona is because it’s gotta be EXHAUSTING.)

I've never posted on this thread and am not fully caught up so apologies if this has been brought up before but I find her so insufferable. That insanely carefully curated persona is so pretentious and her fans absolutely worship the ground she walks on, no critical thoughts whatsoever. Anyway, I googled her just to figure out what other people are saying about her and stumbled upon her blog's faq which i just had to share! It starts off like this:

My name is Dakota Warren.
I am not human. I am a monster. I am a God.
I come in the form of words that will swallow you whole.
I will crack your skull open like a geode and read you like a book. And then when I know your soul, I will turn you into a poem, written in crimson lip liner on a mirror.
I love cherry chapstick. And danger. And lists. And leopard print. And black dogs and black cats with leopard print collars. And rats. And alone time. And words. And myself. I enjoy the depersonalisation of humans and the personification of anything non-human. I dislike idealism. And silence. And empty parking lots. I don’t take well to authority. I am in love with learning but I cannot be taught. I am impossible and unstoppable. I am what the kids call ‘An Atrocity To God’.

I just cannot take her seriously at all.
And it says the blog was started in 2019, so it's not like these are the pretentious ramblings of a 13 year old who thinks they're unique because they have a tumblr and listen to arctic monkeys.

FAQ | Memoirs Of A Nowhere Girl

Frequently Asked Questions that aren't even frequently asked and are conjured up from my own brain smoosh.

www.nowheregirl.space

 

[SoulDestroyer]

Why do "influencers" lie about such weird things?

Simon Savidge on his Insta today has posted photos of a lake in Wales: "Popped to our favourite secret lake in North Wales yesterday. It’s really hard to get to and has absolutely no signal so you can really switch off… "

It's Llyn Gwynant. It's next to the A498 main road through Snowdonia. There's nothing secret about it, nor is it hard to get to. You can see it from the main road and pull into small lay-bys to get out of the car and sit on little shingle beaches. I know this area like the back of my hand. He took photos of mountains behind him which pinpoints exactly where he is.

Then he moans about how many people spoilt the peace and quiet by flying drones and having BBQs etc. That's because it's very accessible to people ... y'know, by being next to a main road!!!

 

[figgypud]

I mean, I feel bad for the person, but 'How can you smile when you both have covid?' is a ridiculously unfair question. Do all of the millions of people who've had it have to be depressed the whole time they've got it? She's not even allowed to be happy? If they would have said something like 'don't make light of it' then I would get it, but the idea of being angry that they're still in good spirits is misguided anger.

I would agree completely if they weren't holding the tests up and grinning with them, that feels off to me. I know it wasn't intended maliciously but it's almost like "haha lol silly us!" when for some people like that person's parents a positive test was/can be a death sentence. I think it's easy to forget how scary it was pre-vaccine. If they weren't holding up the tests, it wouldn't bother me at all.

 

[Millennial Pink]

This rubbed me the wrong way. "Children, you have spoiled a 20 year old book and now Santa won't come".

I do think that leaving spoilers on posts is rude and I wouldn't do it myself, but isn't this just an occupational hazard?

 

[zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

And another UK Booktuber doing Book Of The Month sponsorships.. GK Reads.. I am sure they all say that YT tells them a lot of their viewers are in the US but I'm not convinced that they are...

I wouldn't mind that if BoTM was thinking of expanding shipping outside the US but they are not so what's the point of having European & Aussie booktubers showing off the boxes if the subscribers from those places can't get the box? it is useless

 

[bookish]

I also assumed it was Jen. I enjoy watching her videos, they are really cosy but I wouldn’t put it pass her to have been abrupt

I know of Jen via one of her Youtube "friends" (seriously, these YouTubers don't realise how much their fellow Youtube friends bitch about them being their backs, it's so toxic). Jen is such an arrogant snot. She even blocked one reviewer on Goodreads for giving her book a three-star rating. She isn't the kindest person irl.

 

[Kitt]

Do not understand the people that buy booktubers books off their wish lists at all. What a waste of money. Just to get a little moment of validation when they say their name. Just watching Jade’s Christmas unboxing and someone called Cece has bought so many things. It’s ridiculous.

 

[Kitt]

Emma (Drinking by my Shelf) is one of the few people I get lots of recommendations off but my god her accent is getting worse and worse. It’s so put on and gets worse when she thinks she’s saying something funny.

 

[Millennial Pink]

While we're on Jen, this review about her short story collection always made me uncomfortable about her:

In general I'm quite wary of booktubers reviewing other booktuber's books. I haven't read this one, but I did read some others that were recommended and they proved to be utter dross.

 

[Sprezza]

Lauren and the Books wears some bloody awful dresses

 

[Nelliephant]

Do not understand the people that buy booktubers books off their wish lists at all. What a waste of money. Just to get a little moment of validation when they say their name. Just watching Jade’s Christmas unboxing and someone called Cece has bought so many things. It’s ridiculous.

I get that people might want a booktuber they like to read their favourite book, but surely they see how many books these people have and that's not how it works. They get books from people and then they linger on their shelves for possibly years before they're read (if they're ever read at all). Buying a booktuber a book doesn't mean they'll actually read it.

 

[Kitt]

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Look I love booktube, I watch a lot of videos and I take part in readathons but this is getting ridiculous.

Booktubers are a sensitive lot. And they all have their beef so publicly. BeccaandtheBooks and BookRoast had two of the biggest readathons across the same month and there was no drama.

 

[queenamber]

I'm going to give Lauren the benefit of the doubt here. I really don't think she meant for that to seem malicious but to outside eyes it does look very silly and borderline offensive. She's taken the pandemic very seriously so it's jarring to see her sat smiling with a Covid test. She just didn't think properly before posting IMO.

 

[bunnyblue]

Does this annoy anyone else? He sounds so ungrateful and privileged! Clearly he’s not worried about sustainability with the hundreds of paper books in his library!

It’s also like… I doubt all the publishers that send him things are diligently checking his feed, maybe one or two will see it but not all, so they’ll just keep doing it. If he actually wanted them to know he’d communicate it directly, rather than making a performance of it on socials.
(This has come up as an issue for influencers generally, so it’s his business if he wants to post about it, but it rubs me the wrong way to address the message Dear Publishers… )