To be popular on booktube: 1.Must do huge hauls every month 2.Must act like a cartoon character 3.Must have great lighting and camera 4.Must read all the books that everyone else is reading.
I totally agree with #2 and that's not even just specific to BookTube but RU-vid in general. Idk why everyone has to act so over the top and cringe worthy half the time. It's exhausting to watch some of these people.
Right on. I always wondered why are the biggest Booktubers so popular, when they are so annoying. I open their video and close it after 1s due to all that screaming o_O
With 1: I'm not gonna lie I may get a lot of books in a month but now I'm going more towards eBay and book outlet. I'm not lucky enough to be handed popular new release books all the time from publishers. 2: I just unsubscribed from someone who is pretty popular but she is just so over the top and I get that maybe that's her personality but when she has 20 different voices and acts like a crazy freak doing weird gymnastic crap and annoying hair flips it's like I just want to see the books and that's it. Stop acting like a psycho. 3: if people want those big umbrella lights then that's fine and honestly a book review/haul is better if I can hear and understand them otherwise what's the point of putting a video out. 4: they read the most popular because they're probably getting paid to read them. So many times now click on a video and have to hear "this is being sponsored by..." it's annoying. I think they should mention the ad first so people can skip it if they want instead of being 5 minutes in and saying I'm reading this because I'm being paid.
I totally agree about being comfortable reading the amount that you read. When I started my booktube channel, I was embarrassed that I was only reading 4-5 books a month, and then I was like...the majority of people read 4-5 books a year if they're lucky
Insert Literary Pun Here same here! I hate the feeling of racing to read books. I had to unsubscribe from all of the major booktubers for several reasons...but also bc I felt the pressure to read 5 books a week...when I just don't have the time.
IM GLAD SOMEONE SPOKE UP ABOUT THIS!!!!! Like I'm not going to front, I've been that person who felt *Less Than* because I could only read 1-4 books a month. And it's not because I dislike reading but because I have little time to do so. Like...I HAVE A FULL TIME JOB which I commute 1 hour for. A house, husband and puppy baby to look after. And when I watch some of my favorite channels I'd get discouraged reading because they can read so much more than me. After taking a break from booktube, I began to really appreciate MY pace. Now honestly I only watch book hauls to get inspiration on my next book. I stay far away from TBRs and WHAT I READ THIS MONTH.
I subscribe to your channel. Your reviews are so thoughtful. 4-5 books a month is about my pace and I feel like an alien when I talk to people since most people read 0 books a year. Keep posting videos because I really appreciate your take on the classics!
I hate that in "booktube" almost everyone reads the same books, the same genres, ALL THE SAME, how is it possible that everyone reads jonh green but not oscar wilde, or tolstoy or victor hugo or just anything different, it's more about what books are popular
Jocselyn Madrigal i know, it's so difficult to find people in the booktube community who are into the same books as me, and i have no issue with people liking young adult or new adult books, but they're not for me.
I totally agree, and it made me think that there were no booktubers reading the things that I read, when really, I just couldn't find them because that content doesn't get promoted - apparently Gaiman and Rothfuss fans aren't cool enough for booktube, haha.
I'm 13 years old so i don't know but a lot of people in the booktube community read Ya books and are 12-16 (young adult) so of course, the ya videos or videos about these popular books get more views so obviously they'll do the videos that get more views, but there are are a fair share of people who don't read these kind of books.
Caitlan's not so average booktube channel I also agree I wish that the booktubers would branch out and review different books. there are millions of books out there why review the book a million times. that starts to get boring.
I feel that. that's why I like videos on popular books they don't like. cus it's like hey, I could relate. I do enjoy when booktube likes the same books as me but I do wish there were more difference in them. like when I get a shelf, it won't have half the stuff booktubers have. I have never tried half the same things and I like books noone around me has heard of.
I feel the same way about the pressure part. I watched one the other day I think the girl said she read over 20 books in a month?? I was like 😒😒😒like howww. I understand some people are fast readers but there still hours invested in reading and feel like some people do that in attempt to "prove" how much they like to read and I'm just thinking it's not a competition. In my last Haul (and it was actually only my second) I think I already mentioned how I wasn't going to do one for a while bc I needed to actually read them (and I'm not in a hurry) because it's NOT a competition. We don't need to be owning and reading a million and one books to be "readers" or to keep up or stay ahead of others.
i work 2 jobs, so readathons are really hard for me. mostly though, becasue my entire life is a readathon. once i get into a book, i'm the kind of person that can't put it down. I binge watch ALL tv, unless it's a currently airing show and i'm caught up, (and i never am. I'll even let myself get behind so i can binge properly). so with books it's the same. I binge once i like it, and stay up too late, and go to work tired anyway, so readathons don't relaly make a difference to me.
I hate how everyone reads the same (popular) books because a popular booktuber did. A lot of really good books get shoved under the rug because its not "cool" to read that genre or something not on the bestsellers list. Everyone should pick books based on their own tastes, not popularity. I also don't like it when some claim to read diverse books but the books themselves they claim are diverse don't really have any diversity in the main story and characters. It's like they just want attention for it.
My biggest problem with BookTube is the feeling of conformity. A lot of the times I feel pressured to make the same types of videos as everyone else, or read what everyone else is reading and I don't like that. It's this like sense of "if you aren't going what they do then you won't be successful and nobody will watch you" I've been guilty to caving into that pressure in the past and jumping on bandwagons and realizing after the fact that I didn't really enjoy doing it. I actually also infinitely prefer to do Book Talks instead of reviews because I think the books should be put in discussion and other view points should be brought up and shared and I feel like reviews are limited to this 5 minute- here's what I liked, didn't like, and how I rated it that I could easily do in a wrap up
I totally agree with everything you said, yet as both a creator and consumer, there is definitely a place for both because I don't always want to devote 20 minutes to one video, so I really love with booktubers do both a review video AND a book talk - even if it makes your content somewhat redundant.
The peer pressure thing happens all the time, I know because it affected me back when I first started booktube. I bought everything everyone else was and it was just terrible. Great video CL! :)
Steve brought me here with his last week on booktube video. :) Glad to see he had another good recommendation. One thing that I've seen around booktube that I'm not a big fan of is when people shun a bad review. Part of booktube is to share our thoughts and have a polite discussion about why we fell that way. I've seen a fair few booktubers get a lot of hate from people just because they negatively reviewed a book that the other person liked. I think having a chat with someone who doesn't like a book that I enjoy is usually pretty beneficial if both parties can keep a level head. I did a review on one book in particular and someone I recommended it to didn't really like it. That made me look it over again and realize... maybe I was a little too easy on the story and I changed my rating for it. Completely civil. Sorry for such the long comment hahaha. Just found your channel so I look forward to watching more of your videos. :)
Ben Sanders Thanks for stopping by! Absolutely agree with what you commented. I don't know why people get so offended by someone having a differing opinion. Especially if you leave a negative review, it's not as if it's the first and last negative review the book may ever get. :)
I loved this! The part about being the only one with a job actually killed me! I'm just starting my own BookTube channel and I really hope I don't fall into a lot of these things. Thank you for your honesty!
Girl, I love this video! I'm getting sick of so many channels not doing a comprehensive review. Most of what they do is just blindly gush about a couple things and never use the book to prove their point or even read critically enough to notice anything that they didn't like. People don't love everything they read. I feel so many are pressured like you're saying to read the same 6 authors. Those people get all the followers when there's other people (like you) who I feel like don't get the attention you deserve :)
I loved the way you respectfully gave your opinions and thoughts. It's really refreshing to see someone so calm when talking about things they dislike. I like how you didn't just bash a person or something that goes on, but you respectfully pointed it out. I also think that you're a lovely person and if you see this comment, I hope you have a wonderful day.
Still fairly new to BookTube and found this video really comforting and reaffirming 😊 it's defiantly a vid I will come back to time and time again in the future when I feel overwhelmed or lost 😊 thanks again
I know this video was from almost a year ago but I have to say that I love how outspoken you are! I'm just getting into your videos so I'm not sure of you're still uploading anymore but...I can agree with a lot of what you're saying. I've been holding back on making my own channel because I just don't feel like I read enough or want to read the same books everyone else is. But this isn't about "fitting in" it's about standing out and being yourself...so, thank you for opening my eyes a bit more. :)
Yeah, I agree about the peer pressure here- hauls, TBRs, readathons. Some of this stuff I really can't/ won't do- like hauls are rare for me. I don't buy too many physical books, I mostly read on the Kindle for my everyday stuff. TBRs aren't my thang- I'm new here and I've disovered that planned reading makes it feel like homework for me, so personally, I don't enjoy it. Agreed on the readathons too- I have a job too and AGAIN it feels like planned reading, which I just don't enjoy: I don't need motivation to read, I love reading. I love the sense of community around readathons though. Buy I travel a lot for work and I just can't keep up, so now I enjoy just following them :)
I love to see at least someone is willing to point out things they don't like about the booktubers. I am not a big fan of booktubers but I watch some of them regularly. Oh. I also like your voice.
I TOTALLY agree with what you said about book reviews. I feel like people feel a pressure to make their reviews longer so they try to fill the space with the synopsis. When I do them I try to only do a one or two sentence summary of what it's about and the rest of my video will be my thoughts on it.
I agree with all your points mostly except for posting often, I just like you also have a job and I often feel like really in the mood to post much. Plus the content, I rather not post at all then just post something just for the sake of posting. But I agree most about reviews, I never know how much I should say but I pretty much never watch spoiler free reviews because damn these are 99% summary of the book from goodreads :D In general, I love the points you made and looking forward to your other videos!
I can easily relate to some of the things that you've mentioned, but seem to rarely think about. Honestly, I'm impressed at how you handled explaining your dislikes. Everything you mentioned are all just flaws that we become annoyed with and like you said, the pressure of the community can be hard of some of the Booktubers. It was very mature and you didn't point out certain Booktubers who do these things, or mock them.
Excellent post. Thanks very much for your insight. I agree about all of your points to one degree or another but mostly the fact that so many reviews are little more than retelling the story or even gif after gif with no actual review.
I agree with you on everything, especially on reviews (and i am guilty on doing it, but i am trying to change that). Also for book hauls , I felt like I had to buy books because I did not have as many as other people, because I read on kindle a lot or listen to books. Now if I buy books (which i am guilty for having so many hauls ) is either because I love the books and either read it, I will read it that week or month, or I got them for free . Most of the books i have the past few moths they are bargain price not matter if is only or store (it has to be 30% or more off to make me think to buy it or ill wait).
Hey! I totally agree with some of these! I'm new to BookTube, and I just feel like there are all of these under lying pressures to read so many book a month. Trust me you're not alone. I also have a job, I'm a paramedic who works 12 hour shifts and sometimes don't even have time to eat something let alone open a book, and when I get home I go straight to bed. So yes there are a lot of hidden pressures in BookTube community!
Great video! I agree completely about reviews. Whenever I do a synopsis, it's only a few sentences, while the rest is all my opinion. I comment on what I like/dislike about the characters, story, style, and setting. I can't do readathons. I don't read enough for them. And I really don't have the time. I also work, but it seems the only time I can read a significant amount is on the bus to and from work! I read at my own pace. The last book I finished took me more than 6 months :) One thing that I hate about booktube is that everyone is always reviewing the newest books, and rarely older books. Almost all I review these days are older books, but that has a lot to do with the fact that I haven't really bought many books recently. I have a huge backlog of books, and I'll always go back to the 70s, 80s and 90s for books to read. Unfortunately, those reviews get few views.
Jay Dee Archer That's a good point that you brought up, the trend of reading and reviewing the latest/newest book on the market. There are a lot of smaller channels that review older books but the problem is you really got to dig and search for them because they don't come anywhere near the top of the search results which is unfortunate.
the pressure of reading a huge number of books per month is so true! I always feel suprised when people say that they re-read like 2 books that month. When they had such a huge bookhaul or TBR. I feel awful, but it's just hard to believe. I quite openly only read 3 or 4 books some months - thats life. Sometime i get in from work and i just cant look at another page. We're all human.
i feel liek in regards to that, i think almost everyone wishes they could post more. but for most of us, this is a hobby, and not a job, so there's not always enough time to balance everything like work, school, or multiple jobs, if you're me, life stuff that needs doing, you know?
Omg, so agree to the last thing! Also, everyone always seems to love the same books. I don't mind that everyone reads the same ones (I do it too), but sometimes I feel forced to like a book because everyone does.
OMG I thought it was just me with the book reviews in Goodreads! It's like they copied and pasted the synopsis from the book itself! Just tell me what you thought about it! 😂😂😂 I gave up on readathons.
Thanks for this. I'm trying to figure out where I fit in the booktube world and how many videos I need to look at doing so I really appreciated this video. I also agree with a lot of what you said. I also find as another commenter said that you need to read certain books at the right time to really fit in so it's good to know that I don't. But now I don't have all the excuses to buy all of the books ;)
I too struggle with the book review. Sometimes, I get so caught up with describing the storyline that I feel like I've already covered my thoughts and only give a one sentence commentary. Thanks for the reminder. I'll try to remember this in my next review :-)
Totally agree with the readathon thing! I have so many things to do for uni and work on the side, I never have time for read-a-thons during the schoolyear :(
I love how kindly you stated your thoughts. Almost like constructive criticism. Hopefully this can challenge booktubers out there in a good way. 😊 I am new to watching booktubers and I felt pretty lost.
There's one booktuber I really like readingbukowski is the name of her channel. I believe she gives really thorough genuine reviews on the books she reads.
Awesome video! Just started my own channel and one of my main goals is to provide well rounded reviews that mainly focus on my thoughts and impressions of a particular book. I know those are the types of reviews I personally enjoy, so it's nice to see that you feel the same way :)
I also don't like readathons but mostly because they seem way too unrealistic. I prefer to take my time when reading any book. Other than that... I enjoy every other aspect of the Booktube community. I like reading/watching good and bad reviews. I've always been intrigued by the fact that no two people will interpret something in the same way. ☺
Unrelated to the subject of the video, but I just noticed in the background that you have the Amulet graphic novel series! Are you planning on reviewing these sometime? My 4th-6th graders love them and I can’t keep the series on my classroom shelves.
I work 12 hour shifts Saturday and Sunday so a readathon in the middle of the week works wonderfully for me. And I hate when they have weekend ones! lol
I completely agree about the reviewing part. Don't get me wrong, I love BookTube, I started my own because of all the people that I watch. But the one thing I found that was recurring was BookTuber's opinions on books. Most don't say much about the writing, characters, plot, pacing, all that kind of jazz. All we really get is the synopsis which takes up most of the video and the fact that they liked it. For that reason, I make sure that all my reviews go into depth about more than just the skin deep part of a book. You really only need to give a quick two minute synopsis, especially if it is a spoiler free review.
When I first started my BookTube channel I posted three videos a week, and all the books were popular and what everyone else was reading. I got burned out so now I upload videos a few times per month... and I was sick of only reviewing books that I thought were popular, so I started reading and reviewing books that I love which are ROMANCE NOVELS! There aren't many romance BookTubers out there which makes me sad. I know it's not popular and not what people like, but it makes me happy. And I read about 1-2 books per month which is fine for me atm.
I’m guilty of some of this as well. My reviews could use some work. We all need to work on different things, 😊but I agree with you! Some things do get old.
I don't like it when Booktubers apologize for reading a book because they are so worried about other booktubers looking down on that book. That's another way I've seen reviewers give in to pressure, sometimes even before actual pressure exists.
Trends I dislike ...everyone with the same background....bookshelf with Christmas lights. Same thing happened in the beauty community ..everyone got the white ikea desks and shelving with the required bath n body works candle. Hey book tube..we know you love books...we all love books....we don't need to feel like it's a library.
What annoys me about booktube is since I started booktube I've started feeling conscious about how much I read in a month. I never used to care as much as long as I liked what I read but now I'm always saying 'I read a disappointing amount this year'
I don't make videos myself, but I follow a lot of booktubers and I completely agree with all of this. While I don't make my own videos, I do like to join in with read-a-thons and events like that but I always feel a little left out because obviously work commitments are more important. I have to wake up at 6.30 and don't get back until 8 at night, I'm not going to stay up reading until midnight. Also I think I always expect too much with reviews because my friend studied language so when she tells me about a book, she'll talk about semantics and stuff (as you can tell, I'm not that good), so I do really dislike when a review basically consists of a page of the synopsis with a line at the end saying "so yeah, it was good".
Feeling left out is a good way to put it. Totally agree with what you said and once work and family/household commitments are squared away there isn't a lot of time unless you sacrifice sleep (which I do during readathons because I want to participate with everyone).
I SO AGREE WITH THE GOODREADS ONE!! It baffles me why people even do that. Probobly because they don't feel like a one-sentence review is any good, which I get that feeling but short reviews I think are fine. It shows that you didn't have a lot of thoughts on the book.
I love everything about booktube. although since I started my own channel, I keep wondering how they make their backgrounds look so pretty. how they read so many books? how they look so awesome all the time?
I hate that everyone thinks they need to read the same book. If it genuinely interests you, then fair enough, but otherwise try reading what you want to read rather than what everyone else is reading! I hope no one thinks the way you do about book hauls. I'm always hauling lots because I'm addicted to collecting books (both physical and ebooks) I've always been fixated on the idea of having my own mini library haha!
Excellent vid. Ditto on the long synopses -- I'd much rather hear about your feelings and opinions than a long awkward summary of the plot. I feel like I'm hearing a high school book report -- no thanks! One thing I dislike about BT is most people are so controversy-adverse. I totally understand why (people are *so* sensitive about their faves!), but I like hearing a good disagreement or controversial statement about a book. Except when it's my favorite, of course ... :o)
I'm always up for a good discussion on differing opinions when it comes to books. Im always curious to know what they see in a book that they liked that I didn't and vice versa.
I did notice a lot of Booktubers "rereading" books, specially Harry Potter and Jane Austen. I've never thought they were just pretending, but it does make sense :)
I wish I could post three times a week. I try to read the books I talk about on my channel and some books take time to digest before I can talk about them, so even doing once a week is pushing it sometimes.
I can relate to the book haul thing. Im a full time mom, full time employee and soon to be part time student. I aint got the money that many books nor the time to real them!
I agree on the wrap up videos, I love booktubrlers like SarawithoutanH who don't mind saying I've only read 2 books this month and I'm going to tell u about them
You stated your opinions so graciously! You're so right about the troll thing. When I was much younger, I responded to one and it kept going back and forth, so one day I just randomly replied, "Refrigerator." Miraculously, the troll never responded. However, I definitely never responded to another troll again. Lol.
I really don't like how shallow booktube can be. I hardly ever see secondhand books or library books on booktube. It's all about the beautiful covers. I actually download a ton of free classic books on my Nook and borrow books from my local library because I don't have a ton a free space for books. I also get annoyed with the amount of YA books on Booktube. I have also seen a few booktubers claim to re-read books all the time and it does seem to be a response to the pressure to read an insane number of books each month. Can you really enjoy a book when you rush through it?
Yes, I agree. It seems that there are alot of fake booktubers out there. With this there is a huge bias that they only read female hero books, or popular books, self published books or non self published, etc. To my knowledge I have not found a booktuber that reads any and all without a sponsorship.
Just a comment on the middle of the week posting... Some people don't have Monday through Friday jobs. Some work a 4 on 2 off or are working a flexible schedule job where they work Friday - Tuesday, etc. That might be why some people post on days that are the middle of your work week.
i feel kind of proud, but also like a wierdo, because when i put my reviews on goodreads, i usually don't even bother including a synopsis, unless it need to summarize things to talk about them for whatever reason. I figure if you want to know what it's about, there's a perfectly good description on every book's page. If you're reading my review, it isn't for the synopsis. it's for my thoughts.
Hey I really like this video because I'm a new book tuber and looking for more ways to improve and make my viewers happy! This is defiantly a great video for me to make changes and put out better or faster content! Thanks I like this so much you should totally do more :)?
I hate when booktubers hate or love a book because of other people's opinions of the book. I want everyone to read the book and then voice your opinion. not my friend said the book is crap so now automatically I have the same opinion.
people constantly apologizing about things... like giving away books, not liking a book. how they look... just own it and don't worry about others. not everyone is going to like the same thing.
I hate booktube because were made to answer an article about them in class and I never even finished a book this past 8 months of my life and yeah its generally boring and this positive vibe theyre making is not my forte.
books by leynes I do recommend Vagabond but only if you can stomach violence because it's incredibly violent. If you purchase the omnibus it does include a spread of beautifully done full color pages at the beginning of each volume.
LuvFromCL thank you so much for the quick answer :) I love violence (well, that sounds creepy), Battle Royale is my favorite Manga :D I was hesitant to check Vagabond out because the run is so damn long...
