Booktubers

[Nelliephant]

I think it's easy to fall in to "popular booktube", because they are the biggest channels.

I get you, I've tried a whole load of popular, hyped books that are so out of my genre choice, and truth is I hated them. I will just never like fantasy romance!

Hopefully you can find some channels to watch that inspire you and your reading. If you like Emmie I'd recommend CarolynMarieReads. I know they've done some videos together, and do similar content.

 

[qwikti]

I think it's easy to fall in to "popular booktube", because they are the biggest channels.

I get you, I've tried a whole load of popular, hyped books that are so out of my genre choice, and truth is I hated them. I will just never like fantasy romance!

Hopefully you can find some channels to watch that inspire you and your reading. If you like Emmie I'd recommend CarolynMarieReads. I know they've done some videos together, and do similar content.

thank you!! i will be sure to check her out

 

[alwaysbreading]

The books Booktube loves I usually hate. Especially those fantasy romances like anything SJM, Cassandra Clare and Jennifer Armentrout. There are some great smaller booktubers on there that read a variety but they're harder to find.

 

[mindlessness]

The books Booktube loves I usually hate. Especially those fantasy romances like anything SJM, Cassandra Clare and Jennifer Armentrout. There are some great smaller booktubers on there that read a variety but they're harder to find.

Add Colleen Hoover to this list. How any of them can enjoy her awful books is beyond me. Some have done excellent rants on them though - especially Caleb Joseph's videos a few years ago.

 

[Kitt]

Yeah I’ve been watching booktube since end of 2013 so I’ve been through the phase of reading / buying loads of random stuff you don’t actually want to read just cause it’s hyped. I think everyone does it. I now just watch people’s whose content I like regardless of if we read exactly the same stuff. I’m now good at deciding whether a book as for me and just ignoring hype if not.

Also keep watching and finding channels and you’ll find your niche of people who read your type of thing. It’s not all YA fantasy, I don’t know any YA fantasy releases at the moment cause I just avoid that type of booktuber.

Ciara Foster might be one to try for the person who likes Emmie. She likes a mix but also reads classics.

 

[DietGossip]

It has encouraged me to explore my options more and try genres and books that i would never have tried before, but at the same time, it has kind of made me fall for this idea that it's okay not to challenge yourself with reading (which i totally agree with for some readers - like any hobby, it's all about what works for the individual), and so i've let so many classics fall by the wayside for me to pursue random fantasy and romance, which are great genres, but i feel i could be more enriched if i didn't fall into hype of good reviews on yt and just challenged myself a bit more. certainly an error on my part, but i'm gonna phase out some of the content to get back into pushing myself with reading.

Don't forget though that reading is like watching TV, you don't have to always push yourself- sometimes you just need that really trashy, awful book.

 

[Nelliephant]

The books Booktube loves I usually hate. Especially those fantasy romances like anything SJM, Cassandra Clare and Jennifer Armentrout. There are some great smaller booktubers on there that read a variety but they're harder to find.

I'm using this as my excuse to go on a rant, sorry.

I DNFed From Blood and Ash yesterday, luckily just a library ebook, I didn't spend any money.
I was the worst book I've read in a very long time, it made ACOTAR look like a masterpiece. The writing was poor, I had to reread a lot of sentences for it to make sense. The characters were caricatures of every other fantasy romance: girl who is clumsy, yet a bad ass, doesn't know how beautiful she is; dark, hot mysterious man; abusive uncle figure; etc. The plot was poor, the foreshadowing was so heavy handed I realised exactly what the plot was very early on. Made even worse that the main character was so dumb she didn't realise although pretty much all the foreshadowing was in her thoughts.
The whole book could have been half the length if there was a decent editor.
It also tackled topics to do with abuse, but as soon as a hot guy was on the scene consent and boundaries didn't matter.
Last thing, it's as if JLA got to the end of the book, realised she had done the annoying "she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding" and did a find and replace. There were multiple instances where "she let out a breath she was holding". Who would write that multiple times in a book, it's nonsensical?

Ok, poorly structured rant over.

 

[alwaysbreading]

Mel really takes any and every sponsorship thrown at her

 

[DietGossip]

Mel really takes any and every sponsorship thrown at her

Mel is going in my camp of book collectors on youtube. She's another who reads a ton of middle grade and manga and I'm like 80% sure it's just for the numbers.

 

[qwikti]

I don't know anything about booktuber gossip, and my curiosity made me go and search out some info on this, and my god..... these people are literally insufferable. i watched a couple Jess Owens Book CommuniTea videos, and it was all so insufferable, and the commenters were all the most irritating kind of people, biggest circlejerk stating the same opinions on the most insignificant ''''''''drama'''''''' i have ever seen....

for a community centred around reading, wherein you literally place yourself in the shoes of someone else for hundreds of pages, something that surely would foster empathy and thinking about things differently, there is roughly 1 (one) opinion and that's if I use the word 'opinion' loosely tbh

Unnecessary rant over~

 

[bookish]

I don't know anything about booktuber gossip, and my curiosity made me go and search out some info on this, and my god..... these people are literally insufferable. i watched a couple Jess Owens Book CommuniTea videos, and it was all so insufferable, and the commenters were all the most irritating kind of people, biggest circlejerk stating the same opinions on the most insignificant ''''''''drama'''''''' i have ever seen....

for a community centred around reading, wherein you literally place yourself in the shoes of someone else for hundreds of pages, something that surely would foster empathy and thinking about things differently, there is roughly 1 (one) opinion and that's if I use the word 'opinion' loosely tbh

Unnecessary rant over~

Circle jerking is the perfect term for the UK booktuber group. They're such a Mean Girl clique who are constantly fapping each other off

 

[silkytoes]

Circle jerking is the perfect term for the UK booktuber group. They're such a Mean Girl clique who are constantly fapping each other off

I hadn't noticed it so much with the UK ones but maybe I'm watching the wrong ones!

I definitely see it in the younger US crowd who mainly read YA. They constantly cause drama over absolutely nothing and will all dog pile on and subtweet about whatever's happening. There's only one acceptable way to think and be with them.

I don't see that same amount of drama from the UK booktubers. They don't seem to live online in the same way.

 

[secretalphabets]

It confuses me too and I am still not sure what her partner's name is. RJ? Archie? I don't know

It's RG. I'm pretty sure his name is Ralph + middle name with G.

 

[alwaysbreading]

Mel is going in my camp of book collectors on youtube. She's another who reads a ton of middle grade and manga and I'm like 80% sure it's just for the numbers.

Oh she's definitely a book collector. She'll grab any book. I can't buy her fake enthusiasm over Book of the Month when those books are always adult books from genres she doesn't read. And pubs really go out of their way to send her books they won't send other international booktubers and bookstagammers. She's a nice girl but between the sponsorships, patreon, and adsense she's bringing in enough money that she should take down her wishlist. She was talking about how admirable it is J Elle was giving back to the community donating books while having people buy books for her she can afford.

Between the YA authors who most of also write MG now pushing adults to read MG and booktube following along I see the actual middle schoolers are getting pushed out of middle grade. I struggle finding books for my niece because most of these are not the books kids want but books the adults are vicariously living through.

 

[alwaysbreading]

I know booktubers get offended when people mention they're tired of filler content and always turn it around to you don't know what people have going on but you can tell some folks are only putting up said content to say they have content. Coffee b roll fits a nice aesthetic but come on watching you pour coffee is not content. You can't even doing a step by step on how to make it.

 

[DietGossip]

Between the YA authors who most of also write MG now pushing adults to read MG and booktube following along I see the actual middle schoolers are getting pushed out of middle grade. I struggle finding books for my niece because most of these are not the books kids want but books the adults are vicariously living through.

Don't even get me started on how annoying Book of the Month and their four to five minute long adverts are. And I completely agree, after a certain point people who make Booktube (and even booktok!) content should not be asking their viewers to buy them books. I really want people who promote less consumption, libraries or E-Readers (without buying the physical book as well) to get a bit more attention on booktube, but that's not 'aesthetic'.

And yeah that's a lot of the issues I have with YA as well. Because adults are becoming the main audience, it's written in such a way that appeals to adults- I read a YA Contemporary book recently and the whole time I was just sat there like "these are adult characters who have been aged down to appeal to the YA market". It defeats the point of the genre, and it's making me annoyed that YA and MG are so widely recommended online.

 

[alwaysbreading]

Don't even get me started on how annoying Book of the Month and their four to five minute long adverts are. And I completely agree, after a certain point people who make Booktube (and even booktok!) content should not be asking their viewers to buy them books. I really want people who promote less consumption, libraries or E-Readers (without buying the physical book as well) to get a bit more attention on booktube, but that's not 'aesthetic'.

And yeah that's a lot of the issues I have with YA as well. Because adults are becoming the main audience, it's written in such a way that appeals to adults- I read a YA Contemporary book recently and the whole time I was just sat there like "these are adult characters who have been aged down to appeal to the YA market". It defeats the point of the genre, and it's making me annoyed that YA and MG are so widely recommended online.

Rae of Books is a booktube librarian who doesn't get enough attention



They get mad that people are grumbling about the sponsorships but it's annoying when you go to watch one day and every video has a book of the month sponsorship in the beginning. That's not a slight against them. Get your affiliate money and free books. That's a slight against BOTM for offering too many affiliate positions when most of the affiliates don't read the types of books they generally offer. And that's in addition to the paid ads BOTM already places on Booktube content. I'm wondering when they're going to evaluate their return on investment soon.

Another odd one is the Ana Luisa sponsorhips. Do jewelry shopping and book shopping even go together?

I'm a book reviewer and it annoys me how MG is pushed online not to purchase for the actual middle schoolers but for adult consumption. And I even saw some others trying to convince adults to buy children's picture books for themselves. And some of these new authors have convinced themselves there's no diversity in adult books and everyone feels they have to run straight to YA.

 

[mindlessness]

Yes! Ana Luisa seem to sponsor almost anyone (Gabriella Lindley included!)

Some of their products look lovely but no way am I going to buy them. Over-exposed.


On YA and MG: I think it's fine for adults to read the genres. However the sheer amount of adults buying those books have definitely changed the market, and as you all have said, the content often isn't actually what children and teens want anymore. It feels like it is written for the adult readers a lot the time.

 

[alwaysbreading]

Yes! Ana Luisa seem to sponsor almost anyone (Gabriella Lindley included!)

Some of their products look lovely but no way am I going to buy them. Over-exposed.


On YA and MG: I think it's fine for adults to read the genres. However the sheer amount of adults buying those books have definitely changed the market, and as you all have said, the content often isn't actually what children and teens want anymore. It feels like it is written for the adult readers a lot the time.

I've ordered from Ana Luisa before some of their earrings are a little overpriced for the size. It seems like if you have at least 1k following they'll send some free jewelry your way.

It's honestly shocking to me how many adults including authors refuse to read adult fiction and overly brag about only reading YA and MG. Like the only adult books they'll read are ones that have crossover appeal like The Year of the Witching or Ninth House. Booktubers have a bad habit of either calling the adult books like they new adult(which is a category that traditional publishing doesn't even recognize) or YA. And women authors already have a problem with people not taking their fantasy work serious and dubbing it YA even when the characters are mid to late 20s.

 

[DietGossip]

It's honestly shocking to me how many adults including authors refuse to read adult fiction and overly brag about only reading YA and MG. Like the only adult books they'll read are ones that have crossover appeal like The Year of the Witching or Ninth House. Booktubers have a bad habit of either calling the adult books like they new adult(which is a category that traditional publishing doesn't even recognize) or YA. And women authors already have a problem with people not taking their fantasy work serious and dubbing it YA even when the characters are mid to late 20s.

Then you go on Goodreads and it's been shelved as both YA and Adult and you get confused as to what category it actually is!!