Bookstagram made me buy it: Does social media influence what you read?
What would you read if you weren't on social media?
We're all guilty. You have a book or multiple books on your shelf that are only there because you saw it on instagram.
Social media can make us feel accountable, and that can be a really good thing in terms of ethics and questions of social justice. But it also can create a sense of judgement and shame in regards to reading choices.
Depending on your "niche", or what you feel like you niche has evolved into, it can be daunting to read outside of that.
And no, I don't mean that it's hard to "read more widely", because that phrase alone has become something pressured and rule based.
For instance, say you mainline Young Adult fantasy and you announce you're going to read more widely, and pick up a YA contemporary book. That's definitely broadening your reading horizons. But it's still in the same wheelhouse.
You couldn't also read an adult or new adult romance, or a cosy crime or a piece of light women's fiction. Because that's not reading more widely either.
But if you cracked open a classic (but make it a popular one so the bookish community can congratulate you and tell you how much you'll love it), or stumbled into literary fiction (preferably from a Prize shortlist) well NOW you're reading more widely.
If it has literary merit or some kind of political value then YEEHAW you're doing it.
It doesn't matter if you're actively engaged and enjoying it. It's not about whether or not you loved the book. You're missing the point.
And that point actually is… social media is fake and is designed to make you feel inferior or to incite a sense of FOMO so you get buy something. According to Influencer Marketing Hub “67% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing.” It goes on to say that micro-influencers actually see better engagement with campaign content compared to mega influencers. I’m not sure how true that is across all niches, but I think that’s probably true for many sectors, including books.
Whoa, hold up. I definitely think that there is a lot of good, well intentioned and supportive people in the bookish community. And most of us on there aren’t being paid to promote certain titles (although HELLO PUBLISHERS our inbox is open). Millie over at ‘Wandering Through Lit’ has a really great piece on why it’s time book content creators should be getting paid accordingly. You can check that out here. But I think my point is that for smaller communities there is an elelment of unspoken trust between us and when one by one by one by one (you get the idea) a certain book is being held up as THE ONE to buy and read… It’s very easy to be influenced into getting it too.
There’s also a pressure to perform. Being part of bookstagram and booktok seems to come with an invisible set of rules and if you’re not following the then you won’t be successful.
I love discovering new books on bookstagram. A book that you wouldn’t have even thought of picking up, and any reading is better than no reading. However, I think there’s an element of “preference lost” in this process. What do you actually like to read? The same as everyone else? Do you really? Hand on heart?
Good books will always be good books, and there will also always be a healthy amount of people who love and hate that book too.
Spreading the word when you read a great book is a sincerely fantastic thing to do.
But the bulk of it, the stuff shoved in your face on your TikTok FYP and your Twitter feed and Instagram Stories? Why is it the same few new books? Over and over. And you HAVE to read them, right?
*BUZZER SOUND* Wrong!
Somewhere along the way we've lost our enjoyment in reading. Our true happiness in books that make us squeal in a language called "fangirl" and then rave about it on Goodreads.
A big revelation for me was recognising that I don't have to read anything I don't want to. I don't have to finish a book if I started it. I don't have to read every day to be a bona fide "bookworm". There are some recent trends and movement online towards reclaiming that joy, I think. For instance, there’s been a spike in revisiting childhood and cult classics like Chelley’s Point Horror Book Club, and I recently stumbled across this account that showcases R. L. Stine’s 90s Goosebumps books (and other retro horror). LOVE that.
Still, we’re made to feel silly for it and I think some of that shame is born out of the practice of belittling anything women are interested in. If you have a hobby or a specific interest, and it's aimed at women, by women in particular, then it's automatically crap. It has to be. Because women's interests are inferior. Bless us and our little pile of books.
Oh, but we can play with the boys if we read serious titles for serious people.
Confession time. Do you know what books I absolutely live for? The ones I come back to time and time again? Sports College Romance. Yessir. Those pumped up jocks and those studious girls. The ones with all the sweat and the sex and the drama resolving in a HEA. That's the stuff I want to read all day.
Of course, I read plenty of other genres and titles too! It very much depends on my mood. But I am so tired of feeling ashamed of my Kindle Unlimited binges. As if it makes me less of a book person, as if my opinion doesn't matter because I read morally questionable romance books.
Well screw that. I choose bookish joy. I'm going back to my college football players and their drama.
