Truthful Bookish Tag

Hello readers!

Today's post is going to be a tag, though it's slightly different than most tags I've done in the last year.

To start off this topic, I am a huge advocate for being open, honest, and as transparent as possible. I say whats on my mind, I wear my heart on my sleeve, and sometimes I can come off as blunt or cold just because I was up front with my opinion.

That being said, I was watching one of RawBeautyKristi's videos, which was an Honest Youtuber Tag and I thought a lot of the questions could be translated to the Book community as well. Then the Honest Booktuber tag started floating around and I though why not mash these two tags together? 

Although the truthful youtuber tag was targeted more towards make up, I'll be switching them to bookish items. A lot of the booktuber tag states book-tube I will be talking about the bookish community as a whole.

1: Have you ever received a book or bookish item, tried or read it, didn’t like it and then decided not to review it?

No. The only "item" I've received for review for free was an ebook from NetGalley. I did a full review on it through NetGalley and on Goodreads and my opinion was consistent. Trading goods for services makes me a little nervous regarding the commitment just because I can be a moody reader.

2: Product you use alone but don’t  show or use online?

When I first saw bookbeau's on Instagram I was full-on into getting one. Then I realized I can make my own for way cheaper. I have two I've made and I utilize them all the time. I'll usually slip a book and my Kindle in one for camping or if I know I'm going to have an appointment that day where I might want to bring a book with me.

3: Book you want but won’t buy because you don’t support the author or publisher?

No, generally if I don't want a book it's because I'm not interested in the story, not necessarily because I have an issue with an author.

That being said, there are some authors that I currently don't intend to support for one reason or another regardless if I've read their books or not. 

4: Do you have any blocked words?

Across all social media, I have 0 words blocker.

5: Do you delete comments, if so why?

Never. I haven't really experienced any trolls online and for the most part I think any feedback or comments on my content spark more of a conversation than anything.

6: Do you block people?

No. I did follow a lot of Bookish company on Instagram for a while, like several subscription boxes, and I started to unfollow them just because my feed became a mess. I still support these companies and what they do, however I took a step back just to make sure the content I was seeing were the people that made me join this community in the first place.

7: Have you ever lied about a book or bookish item to stay on good terms with the brand? Have you ever not disclosed a sponsorship?

Nope.

8: Have you ever initially liked a book when you reviewed it and then changed your mind but didn’t let your audience know?

For a short answer, kind of.

For the longer answer, I have done a full review of a book and felt good about it. Then I've listened to another person's perspective about the book, which brings up different themes are aspects that I may have not caught onto that start to alter my opinion. However, more often than not I sit on their reviews of these books and reflect on how that alters my opinion. If I didn't catch it the first time, was it something that I think was important enough to mention? More often than not, no. However it is something I learn from and may be more aware of in the next book I read. It's good to listen to others peoples reviews, even though it is so common to love something and then have someone else talk you out of it. If you can see where they are coming from and understand yourself as a reader, you are learning from other peoples comments rather than being an unauthentic reviewer by changing your mind.

9: Are there any other book influencers that you trust more than others? Any that you don't?

Yes.

I think it's common for us all to have our favorite bookish reviewers, whether it's youtube, blogs, or instagram. Typically, we all have the same taste in genre and themes and will gush about books together. I think that's where a lot of our viewer-ship comes from.

However, I also think there are reviewers out there that try to create a false narrative for books for one reason or another. As I mentioned in a previous quesiton, there are people out there that may talk about a book you just finished and loved but bring up that one character was "problematic". Although they are entitled to their opinion on this book or this character, it also can create a band-wagon for hate that isn't necessary. I think Cassandra Clare and Sarah J. Maas experience this the most in current literature. There fandoms can be very divided by how people feel about their books, but I also think a lot can be inserted by the reviewers that may sway other people's opinions.

10: Have you ever bandwagoned with other people’s thoughts on a particular book?

I've already talked a bit on this subject, but I will admit that I have had my opinion on a character or series change due to a bandwagon. I would say the easiest one to bring up is Maas's inability to kill off any significant characters in her series. This was something that I was made aware of between ACOWAR and Kingdom of Ash that altered my opinion a little bit about Kingdom of Ash. My review still stands that I enjoyed both series, and these are Sarah's characters to do with as she pleases. However it didn't come off very realistic that everyone would survive. 

11: Things other creators do that get on your nerves? 

This is for Instagram specifically, please stop re-posting your grid post to your stories. I understand you think it may help "beat the algorithm" but if I'm seeing the photo in your stories, I'm not going to go through the effort to look at in in the grid.

12. What's something nobody told you about booktube before you started your channel/blog/page?

Quality photos are harder than I imagined and take way more time than you think.

Figuring out layouts can be hard, lighting in a house as dark as mine is impossible, and editing seems pointless sometimes. Do they look beautiful in the end, yeah.

13. What is your opinion on “typical” booktube videos? (wrap-up’s, TBR’s, hauls, etc.)

I personally enjoy consistency but I can also appreciate variety. I think having a familiar video each month, or even a few, is good for any booktuber, bookstagramer, or blogger. It gives you content you are familiar with and confident in posting without being stagnant.

However, I do enjoy creative posts as well. Challenges are always fun to watch or even tag videos.

I think the most over-rated videos can be unboxings. One or two in a month is plenty, but when you have six boxes that you unhaul in a month, it's just far too much and if they are all themed the same can become extremely redundant.

14. What is an assumption you had about the book community before you joined? Was it proven to be correct, or not?

It would be easier to engage with others online. Not just acquiring followers, but more specifically finding others that want to have conversations with you about common book interests. I'm pretty active on Twitter during the week, my Instagram could be better, but for the most part there aren't people out there just having conversations about how they feel about a book.

15. What is something you’ve done that has actually helped you grow your audience?

Subscription boxes should not be underestimated. Some of my more popular posts have been around a subscription box.

Also, Top 5 Wednesday has also helped generate traffic specifically to my blog. I think they are also helpful in getting us as readers to talk about our interests or dislikes outside of reviews, wrap ups, and unhauls.

16. What is a common mistake you see new booktubers making, or one that you made?

Just be sure to make time for photos and be creative with your instagram posts. Instagram is such a short-term thing that finding means to stand out can be harder compared to Youtube or Blogs. Don't kill yourself trying to catch up and be genuine about what you post.

17. What are your thoughts on working with publishers and sponsorships?

I think that the relationship between social media and publishers can be a good thing. They are looking for an opinion from their audience. However, creating a monopoly can be damaging to the bigger community. Look at the beauty community. If you create stipulations around reviews or favor only certain influences than the authenticity of their review and the level of success for your book is false. Room for improvement for me would be finding an avenue for more bookish merch. Harry Potter is well over 20 years old, but people are still buying the merchandise, there are subscription boxes. We like to rep things that remind us of our favorite books and characters.

18. Do you think booktube is dying?

Heavens no. I think it's plateauing a little bit from where it was 2 years ago, but it's definitely not dying. 

Thats my truthful tag. Please feel free to do either of these tags. Leave your comments and thoughts below!

Thanks guys for being patient with me between these book reviews!