background image via the librarian who doesn’t say shhh
yesterday there was some drama going on about bloggers vs. booktubers. it mostly exploded because of this video, which was a discussion between booktubing and book blogging. i wasn’t online during the drama, but i felt it was appropriate to voice in my opinions with this topic floating about.
i think both the book blogging and booktubing community work very hard in their own ways. saying one is superior over the other is rude and false because, really peoples, we’re here to share our love for books – whichever platform we decide to use. i see no difference between book blogging or booktubing except one creates videos while the other creates blog posts. in the end, we’re both creating book-related content, which is the main purpose/important part. how we actually execute that are the minor details.
reasons why i love booktube:
- i wouldn’t have started blogging/bookstagram if i hadn’t discovered booktube. it all started when my friend shared christine’s sea of monsters movie review with me. i’d found her videos hilarious and looking through her other videos, they were all book related. book sharing online was a thing.
- they are promoting books!!! really, we’re sharing our love for books. shouldn’t that be the only thing that matters???
- it feels like i actually know the person. sometimes with blogging, it’s hard to visualize the author – the way they speak, look, act, etc. some people (like myself) like the small sense of anonymity of blogging. but as audience members, it’s more reassuring to know the person behind the opinions.
- videos are easier for me to multitask (especially bookish videos). there will be times when i’m getting ready in the morning or eating or exercising or doing something that is much easier through a video. i don’t have to watch the person talk; i only need to hear what they’re saying.
- in the end, it’s just a personal preference; just like reading a physical book vs. ebook vs. audiobook. books are books! reviews are reviews! book people are book people! all this unnecessary drama is really… unnecessary.
so obviously, i love booktube and booktubers. they’re book people and book people are awesome. end of story. ish. as much as i enjoy booktube, i would always choose blogging over it (as a platform i would use for myself). nothing wrong; just a personal preference. sounds like i’m contradicting myself, but i promise I’M NOT.
reasons why i would never want to booktube:
- putting my face and voice on the interwebs SCARE ME. i love the mysterious-ness and anonymity of blogging. you know me, but you don’t actually know me (as in how i look/sound). people are always quick to judge you at first sight, but with blogging people judge your thoughts before they can judge your face. which makes me feel like, that much better.
- filming, in general, makes me uncomfortable. also filming at home, where my parents can hear me, makes me uncomfortable. they’re usually not nosey, but it’s awkward when they barge in while i’m filming and ask, “are you talking to someone?” (this actually happened because i originally wanted to booktube before i discovered blogging)
- editing takes me ages. i would know because i tried editing once and UGH. i found it dreadful and my computer would heat up like crazy. also imovie would crash. WHYYYYYYY.
- videos also take up a lot of memory. i have a macbook air that is constantly running out of space, so yeah, that won’t work. unless i buy a new computer with a lot of RAM, doesn’t lag, and a good editing software. like that’s going to happen.
both communities are incredible in their own way. let’s spread and cherish our love for books!! because that’s the real reason why we’re here. not for arcs or sponsorships or other things people are arguing about.
what are your thoughts on booktube? who are your favorite booktubers? let me know in the comments!
– alexandra
Just like you, I absolutely ADORE booktube and booktubers. (Polandbananasbooks, abookutopia, emmmasbooks, blondie’s books, peruseproject, jessethereader, katytastic…I watch all of them. ) I’m kinda obsessed with booktube, and i want to actually make a booktube but my parents won’t let me post my self on the internet. Anyways, I think the drama going on between bloggers and booktubers is really ridiculous because like you said, the main focus of everyone is the same: we do it because we LOVE BOOKS. That’s it. I wish some other larger bloggers would understand that, because I’ve heard that they are the ones causing the drama.
Awesome, thoughtful post as always Alexandra! I literally agree with everything you ever post. 🙂
–Silanur
thank you, silanur! it’s a bit baffling to see us argue over such petty things. i’m glad i’m not alone with these thoughts 🙂
All so true! I love the safe anonymity of blogging plus it’s just easier for me to gather my thoughts through writing so I’m not blabbering. But for other people, it’s the opposite or the best of both worlds. They find it easier to talk about their thoughts and that’s perfectly fine. At the end of the day, we’re all sharing our love for books so why ostracize the harmless methods, when the message is the same enjoyable, relatable one?
So far, the booktubers I check out most regularly are katytastic, PeruseProject, polandbananasbooks, and Jean Bookishthoughts. 😀 They’re all really hilarious but thoughtful too and their camera quality/editing is ace.
Very interesting post, Alexandra!
thank you, ju! and yes, as much as i love booktube, i love the safety of blogging more. those booktubers are a few of my favorites as well! their editing skills make me go
Yay! I like this post (:
I have nothing against booktube for sure. I admire all the people who are able to put their faces out on camera because wow *claps for you* My “thing” that I love is how book chats are so much fun to listen to. I don’t really have the attention span for them, usually but they can feel better than posts because in a post, it might get really long and that alone looks daunting but with someone reading it, it feels shorter. or idk what i’m talking about haha.
Tomorrow, I have a post on my reaction to the booktube vs. blogging video and crap… that might stir up some drama because I unfortunately, didn’t agree with some of it.
More drama?! I feel like faceplanting onto a wall somewhere because I swear even the smallest things blow up these days. Just a couple of days ago there was some controversy surrounding a blogger who plagiarized another blogger’s review, was found out, and then wrote up a post about it saying it was all for an “experiment.” And now this. I definitely agree that both booktubing and blogging take up a lot of effort, and that neither is more superior or inferior to the other. Even if one DID take up less time and energy, I still don’t think it’s right to go talk about it and stick it up other people’s faces, because hey — everyone is different, and everyone does things differently. I wish people would respect that.
I’m not much of a booktuber fan, though! Even though videos should be more interesting than reading long articles, I’m like Nova — I just don’t have the attention span for them. >< I also find that I retain more from what I read, instead of what I hear. And I like showing people that I appreciate their thoughts and effort by leaving comments, and I feel more sincere leaving a comment on a blog rather than on YouTube. I'm super weird, I know! But yup, I'm totally in awe of people who don't mind putting their faces up on camera for the entire world to see and talking their hearts out about books, as well as spending HOURS editing their video to make it perfect. I don't have enough confidence to do that. T_T
I 100% agree with this post. To all those people who want to try making blogging or booktubing sound better than the other: don't make a big deal out of something that shouldn't exist, for god's sake. Great post, Alexandra!
All of this drama is really petty. We all share our love for books but we share it in different ways. I love booktube! I can 100% say that I wouldn’t have made a book blog if it weren’t for booktube. This pettiness has to stop. Maybe if book bloggers and booktubers did a collaboration? That would be cool
i kept on hearing about this the other day but had literally no clue what was actually going on and i still really don’t but… as for me, i don’t have anything against booktube either! like it’s just a different type of medium and while i don’t watch booktube videos as much any more, there was a time when i did watch a lot and i so enjoyed it. but yeah i would suck at being a booktuber. i actually went through this phase of wanting to be a youtuber in general but omg i would actually be horrible. even the two videos i did film make me cringe yuck yuck and i think i’m actually going to take them down because ew. filming takes sooo much time and then you have to edit as well and while i actually kinda like the idea of talking to other people, all the filming / video / techy stuff is kinda a huge drawback for me which is why i’m probably going to stay blogging. but yes basically this post is amazing.
as for favourite booktubers: peruseproject and thebookbasement are ones that come to mind. there’re probably others i really enjoyed too but it’s been so long i can’t remember. do you have any recs as well??
This post is awesome! You basically described all my feelings on this situation. I love BookTube so much. It opened my eyes to so many new books, authors and genres. All of my favorite books I found because of BookTube. BookTube and blogging are both doing the same thing. Promoting and sharing their love for books. They just happen to be on different platforms. My favorite BookTubers are Christine (Polandbananasbooks), JesseTheReader, Kat (Katytastic), Regan (PeruseProject), Raleen (PadfootandProngs07), and those are just a few out of all the ones I watch. BookTube has become such a huge part in my life and even though I blog and don’t make videos, I still feel such a sense of community. Great post!
First off, I love your blog! I am a new reader and follower 🙂 and I’m glad I missed that drama because I agree with what you said, both are awesome since we’re all promoting books here! There are pros and cons for both booktubing and blogging, but it’s all about preference like you said. I’ve been literally thinking of moving to booktube because of the reasons you said. BUT I hate how my future vids would fill up my space in my laptop, and then having the video crash at some point and having to start all over. IT SOUNDS SO STRESSFUL (for me), I decided (like right now lmao) that I’ll just stick to blogging 🙂 I’ve been blogging for nearly 3 years and I realized that blogging will be my preference since I express myself better in written words than verbal. Wow I rambled a lot lol.
I think both blogging and BookTubing are great, but that may just be because I do both. I love discovering great blogs and BookTube channels. I love to connect with people who have the same interests as me. They both do the same thing, talk about books, so why should there be any conflict? The BookTube community is great and so is the blogosphere! Great post by the way! 🙂
I LOVE booktube. I spent a few years on YouTube without ever knowing the BookTube side of it so as soon as I found it, it was instalove. (I think the first person I found was also Christine and I ADORED her (still do) so it sort of spiralled). I think I actually watch more booktube videos than I do read blogs but thats because I’m lazy and bloglovin ANNOYS ME.
I don’t understand the conflict, can’t we all just get along? BOOK CONTENT IS BOOK CONTENT PEOPLE.
IM THE FRIEND I FEEL SO COOL !1!1!1!
I started blogging and now I’m adventuring on YouTube. I’m from Brazil. Both spaces help me engage with other readers. Also, I’m a writer, so this helps me to promote my own work. I confess I’m not comfortable with filming but I’m getting used to it.