15. The Toxicity of BookTok: A Discussion
Ramblings of the positivity and negativity of BookTok, a bunch of interesting new releases, and an author of the week who is the Queen of Magical Realism
I will never forget the first book related TikTok I saw. A girl was showing all of her favorite quotes from heroes, and I saved it because it included one of my personal favorite quotes from The Selection series. Reading was something I never fully advertised and wouldn’t have thought to create an account dedicated to it. My self confidence was a zero, my anxiety an all time high. It sounds ridiculous to me now that I ever thought that, but all I can do is have compassion for my old self and wish I could tell her the wonderful things I get to do now. As always, hindsight is 20/20.
I loved all the book accounts, loved finding recommendations, laughing at memes, and admired the confidence these people had to celebrate a wonderful part of their lives. I know there are thousands of other readers who do the same thing, who simply enjoy. We share fun tropes, characters we love, world building that is amazing, books you absolutely have to read, quotes and dedications … the list goes on.
But everything in our universe has a positive and a negative side.
It seems like authors need to be marketers these days. To make your book successful, you have to be active in these communities and increase knowledge of your book. I feel like I’ve seen more and more books fast-tracked through publishing. There has been a huge focus on those tropes I mentioned - almost like there is a list people are checking off.
One bed? Check.
Banter? Check.
Enemies to lovers? Check.
Sometimes, I feel like the quality of books I have been reading have been lower than before BookTok took off. And I say this as someone who literally has a Bookstagram. To be clear, not all of the books I’ve read the past few years or even a majority fall under this umbrella. However, as someone who has been reading since I was four years old, I have definitely noticed a lower quality in writing and a higher focus on hitting topics and tropes.
Not to mention there is always drama. How people are sexualizing hockey players so much that they are uncomfortable. How an author left negative reviews on her friend’s debut works to bump up her own. How readers will turn on an author so quickly. That one author who tried to say that you shouldn’t rate a book lower than 3 stars. The theme that if you don’t like a popular book, you feel out of place.
As someone who is trying to create a platform here and writing my own book, this bothers me. I write and I read because I love it, because it is a part of who I am. I started sharing that with the world last year because I finally gained the confidence to do so. This community was created with the intention to spread positivity and the amazingness of reading with however many people I can. I want nothing to do with drama or toxicity, but the only thing I can guarantee is that everything does harm and good, promotes positivity and negativity.
So, with that, I want to know your thoughts. Do you think BookTok does more harm than good?
A good list to get you started!! As always, there are tons more out.
The Prisoner’s Throne (The Stolen Heir Duology #2) by Holly Black (Fantasy): March 5, 2024
The Hunter (Cal Hooper #2) by Tana French (Mystery): March 5, 2024
This Could Be Us (Skyland #2) by Kennedy Ryan (Romance): March 5, 2024
Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage (Romance): March 5, 2024
Books I’ve compiled from B&N Top 100, the NYT Bestsellers List, and Amazon Bestsellers in no particular order. I’ve decided to simply add the books I haven’t before, since I’ve caught up to the new additions. If you’re curious, last week’s post can be found here.
The Chaos Agent (Gray Agent #13) by Mark Greaney (Thriller)
Leopard’s Hunt (Leopard People #14) by Christine Feehan (Romance)
The Atlas Maneuver (Cotton Malone #18) by Steve Berry (Thriller)
Splinters by Leslie Jamison (Memoir, Nonfiction)
This American Ex-Wife by Lyz Lenz (Memoir, Nonfiction)
The Five Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand (Romance)
The author of the week is Ashley Poston! I have been obsessed with her book, The Seven Year Slip, since I read it last year.
Ashley has written The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip. Her books weave together romance, grief, love, and magic together in beautiful, lyrical writing. I really liked The Dead Romantics, but The Seven Year Slip was one of my favorite books of the year. A slip of magic. A taste of lemon. A love of travel. An abundance of love. I cannot wait for my reread this summer.
Ashley went to the University of South Carolina and got her degree in English. Before becoming an author, she worked in publishing for a decade. She loves arts and crafts as well as long walks and podcasts. When she has writers block, she writes fan fiction. I think I love her.
ALSO I just found out her new book, A Novel Love Story, releases this summer on July 25th! I am so excited. Here is her website and Instagram.
Just a reminder to submit any books you think others will love on the R&R page or to my email: thesundayreads@gmail.com!
Fear the Flames by Olivia Rose Darling
I might have already recommended this, but I can’t stop thinking about it so here we go.
It's long in the sense that it's thought out. The author takes her time with the characters, getting into our main girl's head, building relationships amongst our Band of Thieves. It's never boring. I love them all. I have a new book boyfriend. I have a new fav heroine. I have a new fav little group of found family. I literally love them. This book is my new personality trait which sucks a bit because this book is getting rereleased with a publisher in fall 2024 with new things (!) then book 2 doesn't come out until 2025 with two more after that!! What am I to do??
I was a bit confused in the beginning. I kept having to refer back to the map while trying to understand the world here, but once I got into it, I felt like I had a really complete understanding, so in the end I think it was worth it.
I agree. The books that I read simply because I walked into a library and just picked up some books are some of the best books that I have read. I feel like I get into reading slumps more often now due to reading BookTok books that just don't live up to the hype. I've been going back to reading books I loved years ago just to get out of a slump. Bookselling has always been commercialized, but I think that BookTok, mostly, reduces books to buzzwords instead of focusing on exhilarating literature. I have had some luck with BookTok books, but pushing books for a check is not where it's at.
Love this, and I absolutely agree with a lot of commenters already that BookTok, while great for bringing some life back into reading, often at times feels like an echo chamber of competition and "tropes" instead of plot or character drive. Obviously not just exclusive to BookTok, but definitely more prevalent today. While reading what's popular or driven by algorithm is still reading (which is great!) I think it means people aren't as exploring and reading as diversely as they could be doing. Pick up a book because you want to - not because everyone else is doing it (I say this as someone who has just binge-read Fourth Wing a year later and enjoyed it so much more because it was on my own terms!)