It reminds me of the book blogger explosion from 2009 and then the obsession with 'communities.' They have no idea how to engage with readers anymore so flail around before latching onto the latest thing.
You know what is making me mad this week? Book prizes. Why are there so many of them? Why do I keep seeing the same books on them? Fuck off with your book prizes.
Also making me mad this week. I saw a social media post, book deals signed this week!! All the images looked like the same person!! Wow.
Same books in every prize. Same kind of person being signed.
Aside from that. Publishing seems to be in a good place. Far too many good books coming out for me to read.
Booktok. Never been on it. But 20 years ago I did get paid by a local indie book store to write a blog about books. I know. A paid blogger. That’s me. Always ahead of the game.
Watching TikToks genuinely hurts my brain. The whole concept of micro-thin slices of "content" just seems inimical to the proper consumption and enjoyment of books. Even if you told me I could guarantee getting my book published by going on there, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. (Are they even called TikToks? Who cares.)
I think you’re right that it’s all “so five years ago”, with the early authentic joy long gone from it. It’s about Substack now — and even that, I feel, is starting to turn… by the time the publishing industry writ large has cottoned onto something (and started to exploit it), it’s not new or exciting anymore…
Thoughtful long-form comments are becoming more sparse. Notes are full of Twitter-esque one-liners. Not to sound elitist, but the body of thoughtful commenters is being overrun by the dim bulbs you can find anywhere else. If we're searching for well-thought-out discussion, we're soon going to be adrift.
Apologies but I do listen to a lot of books on Amazon’s Audible so I’m guilty of supping with the devil. 😈 I promise to do better when my current contract ends. I thought I’d let you know that I’m cheering myself up about getting nowhere in your and other short story competitions by listening to The Master and Marguerita by Mikhail Bulgakov, a surreal Faustian pantomime that’s both laugh-out-loud funny and deadly serious in turn. Thoroughly enjoying myself and highly recommend this version on Naxos read by Julian Rhind-Tutt.
A thought-provoking piece indeed. I have never engaged with BookTok - but then I'm 65! However, I did start blogging about books in 2008 and still do. I try to write something about every book I read, and variety in reading is my watchword, including world fiction and great non-fiction as well as UK/US/Eurocentric literature. I could move my blog to Substack but I'm too lazy to change platforms. I'm really hoping the current Romantasy rubbish will wane - as did the Twilight-inspired paranormal craze before it. But if it gets teens reading, is there not a glimmer of hope that they might graduate to read more widely?
I very much enjoyed reading 'Lost Lambs' by Madeline Cash recently. It's a comic novel about a wonderfully dysfunctional family with three daughters that turns thrillerish by turns. The youngest daughter and the father are just superb characters in particular. The author is a New Yorker, but the novel feels very Irish, and it's her debut.
Thanks! (And yes, agree with you that if it gets people reading, it’s got to be partly a good thing... I even quite enjoyed the first Twilight novel….)
I've just managed to get Lost Lambs from the library and was a bit hesitant it'd be overhyped and a bit meh as most debuts are (which I understand), so it's reassuring to hear that it's going to be at least a fun read.
Twilight was trash, I agree. But it's not Teens reading Romantsy. It's the Harry Potter generation come of age. People who grew up reading, and continue in the adventure. They are our people!
Great piece Sam! Really interesting. (Although I personally feel much of the push towards diversity was necessary, and generally speaking made things more, not less, interesting - it was often just clumsily executed. Perhaps a bit more complicated than your other examples)
I think for me it’s the content that is lacking depth and purely for attention, and therefore latching on to the current trends purely for engagement. Maybe that is a generalisation, and there are exceptions. I’ve found a person Instagram who talks about what he’s currently reading and there is a wide variety of old and new and different styles for his joy of reading. But that’s quite rare.
A book recommendation from me: Jacaranda's 'Ever Since We Small' by Celeste Mohammed. It's a 'novel-in-stories' but having read Galley Beggar Press's 'After Sappho', I expect you'd call it a novel. Every story (or chapter) incorporates the mythical with liberal imagination. There's a retelling of the Adam and Eve scene which reminded me of the re-telling of the gospel in 'Master and Margarita'. In 'Ever Since We Small' folklore and religion mix liberally. Papa Bois of the forest is less a legend and more of an agent of god. When the Hindu goddesses appear to Jayanti in nineteenth century India, they inspire her to jump off the pyre and run, just before she is to be immolated with her deceased husband. And yet while the mythical actively influences the plot, this is a family saga exploring dark and universal themes: violence against women and it's partner, toxic masculinity, through generations, in a story that journeys from trauma to redemption.
If there ever was any BookTok bubble, which I suspect there wasn't, it seems to have burst a long time ago. Yes, some social media thing brought attention to some book thing, for a brief moment, and it happened to be on a video platform for people with small attention spans, but that doesn't make it something significant.
The theory is that the right brightly coloured video or soundbite on that platform can sell a million books, well so can a comment from a footballer, or a pair of shoes worn by a supermodel, and a whole host of things that might just capture the moment (but only for a moment) and be related to a book, or a brand of hot dogs, or a flavour of soup. It will then be forgotten fairly quickly, business as normal, waiting for the next random spike to appear somewhere in the vast seething cauldron of social media before that too is forgotten.
I had a look at BookTok, which doesn't actually exist, it is just TikTok, and as a tool for promoting books, found it pretty valueless. If it ever did have a value, which I doubt, it has long since passed. A spontaneous and fairly random event resulted in a book getting promotion and resulting sales, but that does not mean it has become a marketing outlet for books.
Thank you Sam for reminding people that something that grabs the industry headlines for a moment should be kept in proportion.
It reminds me of the book blogger explosion from 2009 and then the obsession with 'communities.' They have no idea how to engage with readers anymore so flail around before latching onto the latest thing.
Yes, this sounds right. (I grow older and sadder every time I hear the word "community".)
Bring back the Net Book Agreement and the days when a review in the Guardian could sell 1000 hardbacks.
I believe this is what is currently happening in my personal heaven (i.e. the 1990s, but with additional labradors for everyone)
Thanks for this piece Sam. Good to know that some people in publishing know when the emperor is unclothed.
You know what is making me mad this week? Book prizes. Why are there so many of them? Why do I keep seeing the same books on them? Fuck off with your book prizes.
Also making me mad this week. I saw a social media post, book deals signed this week!! All the images looked like the same person!! Wow.
Same books in every prize. Same kind of person being signed.
Aside from that. Publishing seems to be in a good place. Far too many good books coming out for me to read.
Booktok. Never been on it. But 20 years ago I did get paid by a local indie book store to write a blog about books. I know. A paid blogger. That’s me. Always ahead of the game.
Watching TikToks genuinely hurts my brain. The whole concept of micro-thin slices of "content" just seems inimical to the proper consumption and enjoyment of books. Even if you told me I could guarantee getting my book published by going on there, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. (Are they even called TikToks? Who cares.)
I think you’re right that it’s all “so five years ago”, with the early authentic joy long gone from it. It’s about Substack now — and even that, I feel, is starting to turn… by the time the publishing industry writ large has cottoned onto something (and started to exploit it), it’s not new or exciting anymore…
Yes, Substack is starting to turn.
Thoughtful long-form comments are becoming more sparse. Notes are full of Twitter-esque one-liners. Not to sound elitist, but the body of thoughtful commenters is being overrun by the dim bulbs you can find anywhere else. If we're searching for well-thought-out discussion, we're soon going to be adrift.
Apologies but I do listen to a lot of books on Amazon’s Audible so I’m guilty of supping with the devil. 😈 I promise to do better when my current contract ends. I thought I’d let you know that I’m cheering myself up about getting nowhere in your and other short story competitions by listening to The Master and Marguerita by Mikhail Bulgakov, a surreal Faustian pantomime that’s both laugh-out-loud funny and deadly serious in turn. Thoroughly enjoying myself and highly recommend this version on Naxos read by Julian Rhind-Tutt.
Wonderful book! Thanks for that! And better luck next year.
(Spiracle and Kobo provide excellent alternatives when you’re ready to swap… Hope it goes well!)
http://Libro.fm too — they support indie bookshops!
Thanks Sam. Do you know when you might be open for novel submissions again?
Not yet sure. We have a few things to get through... Hopefully before too long though.
A thought-provoking piece indeed. I have never engaged with BookTok - but then I'm 65! However, I did start blogging about books in 2008 and still do. I try to write something about every book I read, and variety in reading is my watchword, including world fiction and great non-fiction as well as UK/US/Eurocentric literature. I could move my blog to Substack but I'm too lazy to change platforms. I'm really hoping the current Romantasy rubbish will wane - as did the Twilight-inspired paranormal craze before it. But if it gets teens reading, is there not a glimmer of hope that they might graduate to read more widely?
I very much enjoyed reading 'Lost Lambs' by Madeline Cash recently. It's a comic novel about a wonderfully dysfunctional family with three daughters that turns thrillerish by turns. The youngest daughter and the father are just superb characters in particular. The author is a New Yorker, but the novel feels very Irish, and it's her debut.
Thanks! (And yes, agree with you that if it gets people reading, it’s got to be partly a good thing... I even quite enjoyed the first Twilight novel….)
Me too on Twilight, but I didn't read on...
I've just managed to get Lost Lambs from the library and was a bit hesitant it'd be overhyped and a bit meh as most debuts are (which I understand), so it's reassuring to hear that it's going to be at least a fun read.
Twilight was trash, I agree. But it's not Teens reading Romantsy. It's the Harry Potter generation come of age. People who grew up reading, and continue in the adventure. They are our people!
Spot on. Music to my ancient ears.
Great piece Sam! Really interesting. (Although I personally feel much of the push towards diversity was necessary, and generally speaking made things more, not less, interesting - it was often just clumsily executed. Perhaps a bit more complicated than your other examples)
Happy for booktok to die though!
Yes, it was complicated. And I agree there was some good. The problem was that so many people in publishing dived in on the censorship and cruelty...
I think for me it’s the content that is lacking depth and purely for attention, and therefore latching on to the current trends purely for engagement. Maybe that is a generalisation, and there are exceptions. I’ve found a person Instagram who talks about what he’s currently reading and there is a wide variety of old and new and different styles for his joy of reading. But that’s quite rare.
Totally agree. Just holding up a book & saying ‘this is great’ verges on the nihilistic.
Thank you for this thoughtful article, exposing the lack of serious critical discussion on Booktok.
They should latch onto fan conventions as there are ten of thousands of readers there. But instead they cling to nonsense like booktok
I hope you're right
A book recommendation from me: Jacaranda's 'Ever Since We Small' by Celeste Mohammed. It's a 'novel-in-stories' but having read Galley Beggar Press's 'After Sappho', I expect you'd call it a novel. Every story (or chapter) incorporates the mythical with liberal imagination. There's a retelling of the Adam and Eve scene which reminded me of the re-telling of the gospel in 'Master and Margarita'. In 'Ever Since We Small' folklore and religion mix liberally. Papa Bois of the forest is less a legend and more of an agent of god. When the Hindu goddesses appear to Jayanti in nineteenth century India, they inspire her to jump off the pyre and run, just before she is to be immolated with her deceased husband. And yet while the mythical actively influences the plot, this is a family saga exploring dark and universal themes: violence against women and it's partner, toxic masculinity, through generations, in a story that journeys from trauma to redemption.
If there ever was any BookTok bubble, which I suspect there wasn't, it seems to have burst a long time ago. Yes, some social media thing brought attention to some book thing, for a brief moment, and it happened to be on a video platform for people with small attention spans, but that doesn't make it something significant.
The theory is that the right brightly coloured video or soundbite on that platform can sell a million books, well so can a comment from a footballer, or a pair of shoes worn by a supermodel, and a whole host of things that might just capture the moment (but only for a moment) and be related to a book, or a brand of hot dogs, or a flavour of soup. It will then be forgotten fairly quickly, business as normal, waiting for the next random spike to appear somewhere in the vast seething cauldron of social media before that too is forgotten.
I had a look at BookTok, which doesn't actually exist, it is just TikTok, and as a tool for promoting books, found it pretty valueless. If it ever did have a value, which I doubt, it has long since passed. A spontaneous and fairly random event resulted in a book getting promotion and resulting sales, but that does not mean it has become a marketing outlet for books.
Thank you Sam for reminding people that something that grabs the industry headlines for a moment should be kept in proportion.