Day: November 10, 2016

Monthly Meeting – November Topic: Booktube

So remember way back when, I decided to start a monthly discussion post/meme and then only ended up doing one? Yeah, you don’t? Well that’s alright because I forgot about it too. But I have decided to bring it back and actually follow through this time! Hey, we all get busy and distracted once in a while!

This is a little monthly discussion post to talk about whatever the prompt is for that month. It’s a chance for me to get to know all of you better, for you to get to know me, and connect with other bloggers as well. In addition to the prompt, you are free to ask me anything that you’d like to know. I’m a pretty open book so have fun with it but don’t get crazy! 😉

If you would like to use my post and join in on your own blogs, then please feel free to do so. You can borrow my graphic if you would like to or create your or create your own, it’s up to you! Just be sure to stop by and leave a link to your own post so everyone can stop by!

November Topic: Booktube

Booktube

A small community of Youtubers who make videos about books. They also show book hauls, book reviews/talks, and book tags. Some of the biggest Booktubers are abookutopia (Sasha Alsberg), polandbananasbooks (Christine Riccio), Katytastic (Kat O’Keeffe) and Jessethereader (Jesse)

As a book blogger, I’m sure that most of you are incredibly well aware of this little thing called booktube. It’s a pretty big deal. I mean, REALLY big deal. I only recently got into booktube, so I’m actually one of those people a little late to the party. I tried to get into it at the start of the year but my first few attempts at finding a booktuber that I enjoyed…well…I guess you could say, it didn’t go very well.

Booktube is actually a fairly large community, much larger than what I first expected it to be. Since I was newer to the community, I started off with a few of the most well-known booktubers – polandbananasbooks and abookutopia. While I thought Sasha was alright, I was really turned off by Christine’s channel. I’m sure a lot of you are like, WHAT?! I know, I know! Christine has an insanely large following and tons of people love her videos. I mean, hello, there’s a reason that she’s famous. But her videos and style just didn’t click with me. I think it’s really just an age thing. At almost 26 years old, I’m a little on the older side of the book blogging community. I tend to gravitate towards the less outrageous and enthusiastic nowadays, which a few years ago might not have been the case. Luckily, I gave it another shot a few months ago. I took the time to do some searching and really dug deep into the booktube community, which led me to some really great channels!

I’ve come to find that there are plenty of channels for any and every kind of reader. You only enjoy fantasy novels? There’s a channel for that. Literary fiction is your thing? There’s a channel for that. Interested in only new-releases? We’ve got those too! And every day, more and more book bloggers are turning to Youtube to start their own booktube channel. I believe there are even a few of our fellow bloggers here that are currently running their own booktube channel, and that is so great!

However, I think that there can also be some negative side effects too, just like there can be with almost anything. That kind of sums up life, am I right?

  • Sponsored Videos – Booktubers are being sponsored to make each video surround a certain book or product. I’ve noticed that this has become a really big deal with publishing companies. They sponsor a booktuber to create a video that revolves around one of their newly released books. I mean, I get it, I do. But I also think that’s kind of crappy. I want someone to promote a book because they enjoyed it, not because they were paid to.
  • Fame – Let’s be honest, becoming famous can go to anyone’s head and change the way that they act, whether it’s intentional or not.
  • Loss of Focus – This can go hand in hand with sponsored videos. If a booktuber becomes famous and sponsored, they may change the types of videos that they post or start to focus only on certain books that they know will bring in views. They could start to forget that it’s not about how many views you can get or how much money you’re making, but it’s about spreading and connecting with others over a love of books.

But even with the threat of the negatives, booktube is still a fantastic idea. I absolutely love it! It’s actually become my nightly ritual. I’ll scan the new videos that were uploaded that day while I lay in bed, getting ready to fall asleep. I just find it extremely relaxing. Yes, I’m weird, I know! But hey, we all are a little quirky, right? And isn’t that just a wonderful thing?

Below I’ve made a list of some of my favorite booktubers for you to peruse at your leisure. Just click on their names for a link to their channel! Have a browse and enjoy! 😉

What do you think about booktube? Are you a fan? What are some positives and negatives for booktube? Which booktubers do you subscribe to? Do you have a booktube channel? If so, please leave a link to it in the comments!