Jack Edwards #2

[jmk426]

Sorry I'm not active on this thread at all but I just stumbled across his new video and needed to say this: Did he really say "People refer to me as the Charlie D'Amelio of booktube"??? 1) who says that and 2) Does he "officially" see himself as a booktuber rather than a studytuber now?

I'm also slightly annoyed at his attitude in the video, like how he acted so surprised when We were Liars was good (because if it was recommended on tiktok it can't be good?). Or him asking "where is the flavour" in They Both Die at the End? (also can I just mention I cringed at his "puns" and the way he spoke, like this man has an English degree from Durham, yet speaks like he's a 16 year old Tiktoker)

Idk, all of the books (except one which I haven't read) mean a lot to me and a lot of what he said seemed very surface level and dismissive.

1) no one has ever said that 2) yes he mentioned in a recent video (the q&a i think?) that he has fully transitioned to booktube, which i find interesting considering he leaves traditional booktube content like hauls and tours on his second channel (which to her fair has gotten him nearly to 100k subscribers) and sticks to clickbaity challenges on his main channel. It makes sense why he’s doing it like that because his growth is legitimately insane (he’s doubled his audience in just a few months) but he’s very out of touch with the rest of booktube. He’s obviously networking w a lot of the newer popular channels but he mentioned that he didn’t even know what an ARC (advanced reader’s copy) was at one point. There’s no way you can be an active watcher of booktube, let alone a published author who wants to go into publishing no less, and not know what an ARC is.

The attitude towards YA also rubbed me the wrong way (most people on TikTok are girls in high school not literature grads so what do you expect?) but I was expecting worse tbh. I personally think he would benefit from a more reading vlog type set up instead of bingeing books and then just regurgitating his goodread reviews for his YT audience...it would seem more organic and less didactic.

 

[bublifuk]

‘Jack in the books’ - it sounds like a primary school reading programme

That’s also the vibe his main channel banner gives off. Not even zoomer-quirky, just straight up primary school. What audience does he want to appeal to exactly?

 

[Binx]

Jack, Ali Abdaal and Eve Cornwell are the only somewhat normal studytubers on here!
Ruby Granger is an eating-disorderd little girl, Unjaded Jade is a MLM hippie and Grace beverly is a woke eating-disordered fraud!
At the every least, Jack, Ali and Eve don't have eating disorders, greenwash their products, profit from fake wokery or steal from charities!

What are your legitimate complaints about Jack?

I would choose to explain my reasons but I don't want to enter intro a conversation with someone who criticises and shames people who have eating disorders. Read the thread and go back to fangirling over Jack.

 

[ECH]

His visa got denied. I guess him coming home for Christmas really was a bad choice

 

[Phoebe Weatherfield]

ha! If Jack hasn't heard of them they must be the most obscure of the obscure.

...Despite both being in every bookstore I've ever had the pleasure of browsing.

To me it was confirmation of just how dim he actually is. While he continues to cry about his two (maybe now three?) rejections from Oxford, it is exactly this sort of behaviour which should alert him to why he keeps being rejected. He is clearly not teachable. He doesn't have either the sense or the humility to simply say - "Ok, I haven't heard of these authors but I really want to know more about them, tell me more..." Instead he goes on about the fact he is a "published author" and doesn't need the likes of me pointing out the obvious.

 

[sheleg]

He is just so insufferably cringeworthy. His crappy jokes and puns. His basic opinions. His idiotic wokery. Just blergh.

 

[ECH]

The "we need 65 years of experience for this entry-level job, please provide references or certified proof from a reincarnation specialist that you did this job in a former life or byeeee" thing is a recruitment trend that's needed to be scrapped for a long time. I don't know how strict Sixteenth are about that though, looking at some of their "content executive/assistant" people, they had no real experience beyond maybe an internship here and there.

I imagine the interview process is: They leave you alone in a waiting room. A wallet has been left on a couch nearby containing £500 cash. Five minutes later, a manager will enter. If you mention to them that you found a wallet and return it with all the money inside, you have a sense of morality that isn't compatible with the Sixteenth ethos, and you'll be asked to leave immediately.

So...this is something that I've kept quiet, but I actually applied and was a top candidate for a position at Sixteenth. It was to work with a specific content creator (I won't say who for my own privacy) but it was the most casual interview process I've been through. The application was a standard submit your information and CV, but then you had to submit a short video about why you wanted to work with influencers. There were a few rounds of interviewing, and every time it was 5-10 minutes and nothing longer, and the questions were incredibly surface level with nothing about my experience or degree or anything like that. I didn't get the job, and as time has gone on I'm glad I didn't because I don't think I would have enjoyed working there.

 

[3calico3]

This is very old news, but did make me laugh: https://thetab.com/uk/durham/2020/0...s-books-as-soon-as-he-put-them-on-insta-47351

 

[MarthaBartha]

Hi, I don't know if this has been talked about her before so I'm sorry if this isn't a new conversation I've just been watching his 'all the books I red in 2021...' video, and he spoke about The Midnight Library again and it's really getting to me the way he talks about it because he overanalyses it and talks about the main theme of the book in a way that he (ad far as we know) doesn't really have the right to. He said that Matt Haig could do more harm than good with the book with I think is total bs, I think he's doing more harm than good by trying to put people off a book which could literally save a life. I agree with his statement that mental health is a huge topic, but that doesn't mean it can't be 'simplified' for those who need some 'self help' content to help them feel understood and have something to relate to. I feel like he's just one of the many people on social media who are talking about important topics such as mental health when they really shouldn't be because they just see it as a topic to be studied. I haven't seen anyone else talk about this, so I'm hoping I'm not the only one upset about this and someone here sees when I'm coming from

He’s under the false impression that writing about suicide could trigger a person to take their life - which is definitely not the case.

Jack knows diddly squat about mental health or suicidal ideation, and he should just stick to being the Tory nonce he is instead of pretending to be some woke progressive.

 

[sheleg]

So he… paid a graphic designer to design a cover, for a non-existent book?

He is such an absolute chode.

 

[Binx]

his taste in books are basic (sorry to those who read similar) he "reads" whats hyped on tiktok and booktube cause he knows what will get him the ad revenue.

I recommend sunbeamsjess (for her book recs only lol) she reads a wide variety of genres and just not whats popular. she also spends time on her videos to talk in depth about each book and gives her honest opinions etc regardless if the author sent her an advanced copy (i'm looking at you jack and sally rooney)

 

[bublifuk]

Why do people like Jack find it such a novelty when working class people have to do work in their vicinity?

Such weird main character energy, as if these people are the support cast who are only there to irritate and/or humour the ‘star’

View attachment 1071078

Oh look, a working class person who obviously has no right to privacy and can be posted without their consent to my thousands of followers! Real main Tory energy

 

[gossip_guy]

Yeah, that kind of generic review makes sense in some circumstances - like if you're just recommending a book to a friend - but when an English grad booktuber does it

It's also a massive red flag giveaway that he doesn't read the overwhelming majority of the books he claims to. I've said it before about Ruby, but if someone reviews books for a living and it's just generic adjectives and no more information than you'd glean from a back cover, it's pretty damning. And if they did read them, and after years of studying English Lit and reviewing books professionally, they still can't engage with, critique or even just describe a book to an audience on any level beyond meaningless, vague descriptors like "powerful and moving" with no further details, that's even worse in a way.

I made it 45 seconds into his new video.

"I've not posted in a while, I've let both my channels go stagnant. But all that's going to change! Anyway, I'm not going to combine my identical channels to avoid spreading my already sparse content too thin. And here's another video idea I took from another booktuber because I can't come up with any ideas for myself despite this being my job. Enjoy!"

 

[Nelliephant]

"YouTube's resident book hoarder" doesn't have the same ring to it

 

[gossip_guy]

So he… paid a graphic designer to design a cover, for a non-existent book?

He is such an absolute chode.

Announces he's going to be an author after showing zero interest in writing before and never having written anything.

Says he's going to share all his wisdom as a published debut author before he's even written a page, let alone sold a book.

Has a cover designed (by someone else) before he's written a single word.

Yeah, this doesn't come off as superficial, entitled fame-chasing at all...

I wouldn't be shocked if his management team reached out to a ghost writing company to get someone else to write the thing.

 

[qwikti]

The jokes are getting worse too. 'I feel like I've just eaten an eleven course meal. I need to leave in...two minutes ago for the actual meal I'm going to eat.'

Is this some sort of 4D Durham-level translated-fiction-readers-only line?

I am PRAYINGGGG that his book is written the way he talks, I will laugh myself to death.

'It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. We had more times than a watchmaker. Call me Times New Roman, because boy, we had some times. Forget the Sunday Times, because this was a 7-days a week kind of times.'

 

[bublifuk]

John Fish's video 'I Read Every Book Joe from You Recommended' predates all of them - January 5th 2020. It was one of the most successful videos on his channel by a massive margin (getting over 3 million views) so it'd be easy for anyone to see how popular the 'I read the favourite books of fictional characters/celebrities' format would be and run with it.

I don't know if it was smart or stupid of John not to use the idea as an ongoing series himself, but props to him for not running it into the ground and just making new content instead. uncarley even made the exact same 'Joe from You' video a year and a half later with no credit.

In July 16 2020, Jack uploaded 'I read every book Marianne recommends in Normal People'. Same format, almost the exact same title layout. He obviously thought he might get caught doing the exact same video but wasn't overly concerned about doing exactly that with much smaller creators when he started ripping off uncarley's content full-force.

But whoever did it first, Jack did it last every time and there's way too many red flags that he's just lazily stealing all his ideas. I can't wait to see how much he plagiarised for his book, if he ever finishes it.

Oh totally. Although to be fair to Carley, she actually read the books mentioned by the female characters in You, not Joe. So while her videos definitely seem inspired by John's original video (it's pretty much exactly the same format - read a couple of books and then reflect), she is at least creative with it (still think everyone should give credit where credit is due ofc). Jack has just completely ripped off his videos from others. I mean... let me ask the audience:

(Yes, Jack reads exactly the two books that Carley has read in her videos. And yes, that's almost the exact same thumbnail.)

 

[gossip_guy]

His newsletter is out.

He spends more time reminding everyone that he lives in Paris than talking about whatever collection of pretentious drivel he's shitting out.

It's also full of egotistical, self-congratulatory bullshit.

Jack equates himself with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and the unnamed artist of some Parisian painting he apparently found in his apartment in France. Did he mention that he lives in France already? Well, several hundred more times per day won't hurt.

He talks about his barely-written novel as though it's some mythic future work of genius and it comes off like he's trying desperately to write the kind of New Yorker profile you'd see focused on elusive authors and legendary actors. Only, y'know, he's writing it about himself and hasn't actually produced anything of merit ever. To try to capture that tone, he's ditched the puns in favour of just a bunch of muddled metaphors, because he's a literary professional now (in his mind, at least).

He talks about his novel being released as an absolute certainty. I'm all for optimism, but there's a fine line between that and entitlement, and Jack's several hundred miles over it (in Paris, didn't you know?).

He refuses to even share a basic premise or genre, but given how self-absorbed he is, it'll undoubtedly be some faux-literary wankfest about a directionless graduate "finding himself" in Paris while making bad puns.

Inspiring confidence, he mentions that he doesn't even know who the protagonist/s should be. Always a good start.

 

[elangamai]

First time poster here, honestly that last video really was my last straw. The fake crying at the end, acting like reading foreign literature is this revolutionary thing when literaly (I assume) most people do it without a second thought?, lying about reading these books in 7 days when he shelved them as "read" on his PUBLIC Goodreads before, the self sufficience, the condescending undertone, the lame jokes... that's too much.

 

[Phoebe Weatherfield]

Had to come here because I put one of his book videos on in the background while I'm working.

"You're telling me that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and none of us knew?" - some of us knew, Jack. How hard would it to be to say "I didn't know" and not assume that you're the smartest person in the room at all times

When he was still at Durham and posting videos about how clever he was I got into a beef with him because he went on and on about the fact he had never heard of Anita Brookner and James Kelman. He seemed to think both with obscure authors and didn't like me pointing out they had both won the Booker prize and were pretty much household names as a result. I then got all his tween fans accusing me of "gatekeeping" literature, and how dare I suggest that either Brookner or Kelman were worth the admission price if Jack hadn't heard of them.