Discussion Posts: Booktube

Posted on by Ashleigh

Discussion - booktube.PNG

So today marks the start of my new discussion posts!

I really hope you guys enjoy these posts – they’ll be uploaded every Wednesday, right here on my blog.

I thought I’d start of these posts with a light-hearted topic: The Bookish side of YouTube, otherwise known as Booktube.

So let’s talk about Booktube!

 

If you’re not familiar with Booktube, it’s basically one side of YouTube where bookworms post videos of anything book related. Think of it as a book blog, but in video form. They tend to post book reviews, wrap-ups, book hauls, book tags…like I said, a lot like a book blog.

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I personally love Booktube. I love spending time watching people talk about books, and I genuinely get excited when one of my favourite booktubers upload a new video. I even made a blog post a while ago about my favourite booktubers.

Booktube is where I get most of my book recommendations from. A couple of booktubers – Reagan @ Peruse Project and Sasha @ Abookutopia – have very similar taste in books to me, so I always love hearing what they have to say.

But is there a bad side to Booktube?

Booktube is often blamed for causing so much hype surrounding a book. And of course it does help build up hype – when a whole side of YouTube raves about a book, you can hardly miss it. But I don’t think this is a bad thing. I often like the books that are most hype, and even if I don’t, I just view it as a matter of personal taste. I don’t get angry at Booktube for giving me high hopes. Plus book hype isn’t just built on Booktube, there’s Twitter, Instagram, and just general word of mouth too. So I do understand why people think Booktube could be bad, but I think it’s a wonderful thing.

Another thing I’ve seen mentioned is the fact that most booktubers buy books, rather than visit libraries or borrow them from friends/family. Huge book hauls are often featured, even when they have a huge amount of books already on their bookshelves that haven’t yet been read. Again, I do see why some people my think this is a problem, but personally I don’t. I collect books myself, and I adore having a huge selection of books to choose from. And most people who buys books do actually get round to reading them eventually. So no, I don’t see it as an issue. Plus what’s wrong with supporting authors and book shops by buying books? If you can indulge in a hobby you love, I say go for it!

Is Booktube repetitive?

It’s very common that booktubers make similar videos. Book hauls, reviews, tags, unboxings, all those kinds. Is this a bad thing? There are times where I go on YouTube and my subscription box can be full of very similar videos made by different people. BUT I love these kinds of videos…that’s why I subscribed! If I thought Booktube was repetitive, I just wouldn’t subscribe to as many as I do. I do agree that all booktubers videos are very similar, but I think it depends on the person watching whether this matters or not. Every booktuber has their way of doing things, so even if the idea is similar, their different personalities still shine through.

So now here’s your part of the discussion post!

Leave a comment down below telling me, and everyone else viewing this, what your opinion of Booktube is.

Do you watch Booktubers? Who are your favourites?

Can Booktube be blamed for too much book hype?

Do you get bored by the repetitive videos?

Do you have anything else to add, anything else that comes to mind when reading this discussion?

I look forward to reading your comments!

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28 thoughts on “Discussion Posts: Booktube”

  2. I loove booktube! I was a booktuber for a couple of months and loved it so much that I know I’ll start again, hopefully this year. Some of my fav booktubers are Sasha from abookutopia, Riley from Riley Marie, Kassidy from Kassidy Voinche and Zoey from readbyzoey. The videos that get me a little bored are susription unboxings, because most of them receive the same box and for me just watching a video is enough. But I understand that not all suscribers watch a lot of booktubers and that they do that to promote too.
    I think booktube helps and maybe nowadays its a great part of helping building hype around books. But at the same time, as you said, there are social medias and blogs who help in that too.
    Booktube gave me my first review opportunity for a publisher and that was amazings. I think booktube is full of possibilities and I’ll always love it.

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    1. I love booktube too! I watch Sasha and Zoe, but I’ll have to check out the other two you mentioned 🙂 I get what you mean about the subscription unboxings, sometimes I don’t watch everybody’s version of it because like you said, they’re all the same!

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  3. I love booktube! I’ve been watching booktube/booktubers for a while now! 🙂 I have a lot of favorites! Too many to name! Booktube is really what got me into reading a lot more b/c I saw so many book hauls & was exposed to many more books!! To add to the discussion about hype, in my opinion, being a book blogger made me see that some book bloggers generate a lot of hype too, but then again as you stated above many platforms can generate hype! 🙂 Great Discussion Post!

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    1. Yeah it the main reason I have so many books on my TBR, so I’m not complaining haha! Don’t really know where I’d get my recommendations from if it didn’t exist. I agree that book bloggers add to book hype – I do it plenty of times if I genuinely like a book! And thank you 😀

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  4. I love booktube! A lot of books I read are recommended by booktubers – like Benjamin of Tomes, or Sasha, or Christine from PolandbananasBooks (to name just a few).

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  5. I do watch book tube. My favorite booktuber is Sasha (abookutopia). The only thing I find repetitive is when they mention a book in four or more videos -Haul, tbr, recommendations, review, etc. I also don’t see the point of them making a video about what they’ll be reading each month if they’re just going to discuss it in two more videos. Just my opinion.

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  6. I really love watching Booktube videos, that’s why I made a YouTube account in the first place! But I do sometimes get annoyed when videos are sponsored by publishers, or when Booktubers get FINISHED copies of books, for free, from publishers. I do know that it’s not the Booktuber’s fault, obviously, but I get the feeling that publishers tend to use Booktube as a way to promote their books. Books are very expensive, so sometimes I get a little jealous when I see all those ‘free’ books. But again, I know the Booktubers themselves are not to blame for that.

    But other than that I really like BookTube! Even though it doesn’t really help with your TBR-list… 😉

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    1. Oh I get SO jealous when booktubers are sent free books! Especially when there’s so many of them! I don’t blame the booktubers though – if I was offered free books from a genuine publishing company and knew I could trust them, I definitely wouldn’t pass up the opportunity 😀

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  7. Hey! Great discussion post to start this weekly thing.
    I love Booktube. Booktube is the thing that got me into blogging firstly because I wanted to do exactly what they were doing but I was too she to stand in front of a camera. It’s nice to visually see the excitement and happiness that these people get from just talking about books! It makes me feel like I’m not the only one!
    But Booktube does have some genuine problems. I know you said that you don’t find it a problem that people doing large book hauls and I don’t either. But when almost everyone on Booktube are doing monthly hauls with mostly 15+ books with them all being hardback it can make people feel like what they are doing is inadequate and they need to be buying books just because their favourite Booktuber has it and not because they genuinely like the book which then causes the second problem with Booktube. It promotes a book hoarding culture I think. Some booktubers are doing some Unhauls now and are actually putting book buying bans on themselves because of all that they have accumulated.
    There are more issues but generally it is a warm welcoming place on the Internet 🙂

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    1. Thank you! 😀 I had the same thoughts about booktube, I wanted to try it but wouldn’t be able to get a decent camera and sit talking to it, then have enough confidence to actually upload it, so I made this blog instead!
      I see what you mean about book hoarding. But I think if the reader genuinely wants to read the books they buy, then there’s no issue in building your collection. That’s coming from me though, a person who aspires to have a huge book collection. At least I actually read the books I buy though. There’s something fascinating about book collections 🙂

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      1. I think the thing with book buying is that the pressure surrounding it has caused people some serious problems like people not paying their rent because they need to have the newest book. That is partly there own self control that is lacking but also I think Booktube should promote going to the library more.
        Don’t get me wrong, I want my own book library too!

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        1. Oh wow, I could never imagine it getting that bad! Of course, it’s only OK to buy as many books as you wish when you have the SPARE money for it, not money that you genuinely need for more important things!

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  8. I love booktubers, and sometimes I wish that I could be one if I had the proper equipment. My favourite booktubers are definitely Sasha @ Abookutopia and Kat @ Katytastic. I don’t really think booktubers should be blamed for too much hype on a book, the book community as a whole is to blame for that. The videos can be quite repetitive, but I enjoy them all the same.

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    1. I watch both of them too 🙂 And no, it’s not just up to booktubers to create hype so they can’t be blamed for it all the same – as if book hype is always a bad thing? And same about the repetitiveness!

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  9. Booktube does see to hype books up, but I think this as a kind gesture to debut authors with hardly any advertisement. Booktube also gives an excitement about reading. Their exited ways are infectious and are a thrill to watch. Although some of them do tend to have very similar videos, they always have their own special spark to the video.
    The booktubers I enjoy watching have to be: Arial Bisset since she shares a lot of personal opinions and is always so very excited about these. Jessethereader, he always seems to add a unique flare to his videos. Padfootandprongs07, she has great taste in books. And I’m going to add Carrie from It’s Way Past my Bedtime since she adores books in such a glorious way.
    I loved this post!
    Yours,
    Book Nut

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  11. I absolutely love Booktube! And the reasons for not liking Booktube can also go the same for book blogs but no one says anything. I just love everything that shouts at books! My favorite Booktuber of all time is emmmabooks!

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