Special Topics Paper Summary

I wrote my special topics paper about book influencers. More specifically, I discussed BookTok, since it is undoubtedly the most powerful. I approached the topic from the perspective of a reader and as a wannabe author. I established in my first section that BookTok is a powerful force coveted by publishing houses, but that they are unable to truly replicate. I accredited this to the inability of those trying to sell a product to replicate a user's genuine joy regarding that product. Someone gushing about their favorite book is going to describe it sloppily and not use the "proper terms"; but that makes their review all the more appealing to a layperson. As a librarian, I love Kirkus, but I get book recommendations for books I truly want to read from my friends or those with similar taste to me, not from faceless reviewers I don't actually know. Even if I only "know" these influencers in a parasocial sense.

In my second section I discussed some of the divisions within the BookTok community. For instance, its detractors will try to argue that if someone reads hundreds of books a year and does not remember the fine details, that book either can't have been all that great, or the reader in question is not truly absorbing the content of the book. Personally, I don't think everyone has to read highbrow literary fiction all the time, or come away from each reading experience ready to write a five paragraph essay. I do believe diversity in thought and in voice is important, but I don't think all our recreational time should be spent enriching ourselves. Sometimes I think reading for pleasure is needed and acceptable. Constant self-improvement feels capitalist in a way I don't want it to.

In my third section, I talked about how authors feel pressured to have a presence on BookTok because of its power to catapult an author's career into the stratosphere. In lots of my online writers' groups, people complain about the "unearned" success of authors like Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas, and Tessa Bailey, because these unpublished authors feel their books are better than these famous women's. (Yes, I do find these viewpoints often coming from men critical of romance as a genre, but I did not directly touch on that in my paper as it was anecdotal at best). To that end, I encouraged prospective debut authors not to put all their eggs into one basket and to instead send out lots of ARCs to generate genuine enthusiasm and love for their books.