Since 2020, the #booktok and #bookstagram trends have continued to grow. Whilst there are many positives, such as author exposure and a general promotion of the idea of reading, many of these creators/accounts tend to be a lot more shallow than perceived.
As a slight warning, this post will probably represent a slight rant on my part. With that in mind, below are some reasons why I personally dislike the BookTok/Bookstagram trends, despite how lucrative they are.
Subpar Content
Many of these creators tend to offer little in terms of individual input or meaningful content. Many ‘reviews’ simply come down to a few basic words or a star rating, often with no expansion on why it was the verdict.
This is fine at a glance, but it seems few people care to write full-on reviews when it comes to social media. Then again, do we blame the creator or the audience? I certainly know my longer-form content isn’t coming close to the sorts of figures the aforementioned content amasses.
Yet, in the face of that, I’m content to persevere with writing what I find to be meaningful reviews and recommendations of what I have read, rather than attempting to rehash whatever Goodreads says about it.
Aesthetics Over Substance
Books are pretty in their own right. We often link them to fanciful imagery: intelligence, depth, personal complexities, mystique, and so on. In an online sphere, this is what tends to reap in the attention over actual review or literary focus. Look at how pretty my book is in this colour-filtered photo!
Many of these book-related creators utilise books for their aesthetic, as well as an ego boost to feel more intelligent than they really are, often trying to flex about the thickness of a book or how old-fashioned it is. I sincerely doubt that these people are reading 300+ page novels within a day or two (despite their proclamations), whilst also being able to pose said novels next to an overpriced coffee in a suitably hipsterish café.
It’s an obnoxious and surprisingly hollow affair that reveals how fashion seems to rule over everything nowadays.
Cancel Culture
Whilst most of us will concede that cancel culture can sometimes be beneficial in ridding social media and television of scummy personalities — it’s rather obtuse when it’s levied at an author regarding fictitious stories.
Novels written decades ago are often scrutinised under a modern lens and found offensive by some of these more delicately-minded creators. It’s one thing to call out blatant racism within a work, but it’s also vital to realise that discussing and utilising themes of sexism, racism, and many sociopolitical phobias is still a manner of story telling. Are you going to tell me all copies of Huckleberry Finn should be burned and banished just because it contains slurs?
To censor literature, and condemn authors, simply because it isn’t your cup of tea is quite childish. There has been great efforts made to combat the censoring and redacting of books, to preserve our barely existent rights of expression — but these TikTok-born creators tend not to see beyond their own noses or staunchly politicised views, even when it comes to fiction. If it upsets them, it’s rubbish… or that’s how their philosophy tends to come across.
Promotes Needless Spending
There tends to be an obsession amongst some of these creators regarding certain editions of books. Whilst it doesn’t rub off on someone like me, it does become concerning when considering younger audiences.
Many of these people show off hundreds of books – in stacks, lining bookshelves, strewn across a desk – and it subconsciously encourages a consumerist mentality. It seems to be more about owning books, as decor, rather than reading and appreciating the stories crafted inside.
Defacing Book Covers
Now and then you’ll come across a book reprint with something along the lines of ‘AS SEEN ON TIKTOK’ or ‘THE #1 ON BOOKTOK’ (etc. etc.)
It would be less offensive if this was just a sticker that you could peel off, but it’s often not. It’s a permanent detail, a constant advertisement for social media right on the face of your newly bought novel.
I tend to wonder what is going to happen to these sorts of reprints if/when the likes of TikTok and Instagram get shut down or renamed into something else. Either way, it’s just a needless smear that effectively insults the cover art and you as the consumer.
You may feel I have no right to comment on these matters since this a website and not a social media page, but there was once an adjoining Instagram profile for the site.
Through that, I found no one would really engage with snippets of reviews I put on there, but would quickly flock towards rushed-out posts and simple pictures of books with no real substance to them. So, yes, I have experienced the depressingly shallow way social media operates from a creator perspective.
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