#YouTubeWeek: A BookTube Crash Course, a guest post by AbbyRoseReads

Today’s post is brought to you by my fantastically smart teenage friend Abby. I know Abby through the YA book club I run at the public library. She has previously guest posted  on YALSA’s The Hub during Teen Read Week. Today Abby is giving us a crash course in BookTube. What is BookTube? It’s exactly what you might guess—a community on YouTube dedicated to books! 

 

The Beginning

For about two years I just lurked in the shadows of BookTube trying not to disturb anyone. Then I got up the courage to make an account and figured out that it is way more fun to actually engage with the other readers. After a while you start to build relationships with other booktubers and make some amazing friends. I now follow booktubers on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat and have even done a book exchange with a girl from another state. My first subscriber was a bigger booktuber that I had become friends with on Twitter. These relationships are what I love so much about BookTube. BookTube connects people that wouldn’t otherwise be connected. For me, this meant I was no longer limited by living in a small town with not a lot of book lovers.

 

Tips and More for Posting

 

My channel is AbbyRoseReads. I’m on a sort of pause because of being crazy busy with school and life, but I hope to revive the channel soon. I miss it! I love making videos. It’s like an outlet for all my book nerdiness. Before finding the library book club, I didn’t really have anywhere to share my love for books so finding a way to put my thoughts out there and getting a response was an amazing feeling.

 

I’m new to making videos, but I there are a few tips that I have been told by other content creators. Don’t worry about lighting or what camera you have. The quality of the video is really determined by what you do in it, not by the fancy set up or HD-ness of it. The best thing a person can do for their videos is to be themselves. Don’t try to copy someone else or worry about being too much this or not enough that. Add your own style to the BookTube community. Being unique will get you noticed. Also: be enthusiastic. It catches peoples’ attention and will keep people watching. Remember that you are allowed to read critically. Be honest about how you feel about a book even if it seems unpopular. Make what you want and what makes you happy. If everyone is making book hauls and you hate them, then make something different! Try a discussion video or a skit. Make it fun!

 

 

Some other good user tips are to be enthusiastic about reading. Voice your opinions and share your excitement. The best experiences will be from being involved. Don’t be afraid to comment. Watch a variety of videos until you find ones that fit what you like to read. Respect opinions of others. Readers interpret stories in a great number of ways.

 

Some Favorites

There are SOOOO many other incredible booktubers out there and these only scrape the surface of BookTube.

Ariel Bissett – Ariel and I don’t have a very similar taste in books, but I love her videos anyway. She is critical and really thoughtful. I love that she does discussion videos about book related topics and I also love that she goes outside of the book sphere in some videos too. For example, she is currently studying abroad and putting up videos of her adventures. Ariel is just a great example of why I love BookTube. Her channel and how it has grown shows how once people are able to connect over one thing (books), they can go on to create deeper connections and relationships over other things.

 

 

Bookhunter155 – Manuel has videos in Spanish AND English! Spanish BookTube is a really big community.

 

 

BookishandNerdy – Jillian is one of the queens of bookhauls. This girl knows how to buy books. She’s also great at reading and reviewing a large variety of books because of this. If you want to see some new books or get recommendations, this is a great place to look.

 

 

BrunetteBibliophile – Chloe is just on top of things. Her channel has it all. There are book hauls, tags, unhauls, reactions, and more. She is a consistent uploader with lots of fun things to say about the books she reads and is a good example of a booktuber in terms of what kinds of things they typically make.

 

 

CassJayTuck – She is like BookTube royalty. She was one of the first ones out there talking about books on YouTube before BookTube was a thing. This girl is so clever. She can be brutally honest about a book and show her love for it at the same time. Cassidy is the place to go for critical reviews and she also has hilarious book related skits and rant videos. She was the first booktuber I encountered so she has a special place in my heart.

 

 

Ciara Jav – Funny, Canadian, relatable. We have similar taste in books so I get a lot of recommendations from what she reads.

 

 

CozyTeaReads – Shannon is the sweetest thing out there. Her videos are so cute and positive. Her enthusiasm pours from the screen and I love her cheerful manner that accompanies her book reviews and such.

 

 

DylanBooks – One of the funniest people on BookTube. He’s Australian and has some of the prettiest graphics in his videos.

 

 

Elisabeth Paige – A younger booktuber.

 

 

Elizziebooks – This girl is amazing. She does so much for the BookTube community. Liz works hard on her channel and on running BookTube News on tumblr and youtube. Liz is all about community and bringing us together. She deserves an award for all her hard work she does for the community.

 

Jellafy – Jenny defies what is normal for BookTube and it is fabulous. German, but the videos are in English. She’ll drink a juice box and chat with the viewer about what she read last month and then have a video where there are two of her.

 

 

PeruseProject – This is the place to go if you like fantasy or science fiction. Regan is an expert.

 

 

PolandBananasBOOKS – BookTube elite. One of the firsts. Does a lot of book to movie adaptation coverage AND tons of book reviews. Look up her booktubeathon videos. She does hilarious skit videos.

 

 

thebookbasement – This girl is wise beyond her years. Beautiful channel with great videos.

 

 

twobookteens – A booktube duo. Best friends that share a channel.

 

 

Whittynovels – My first subscriber. Wonderful and very strange. I don’t even know how to describe Whitney.

 

 

A few more to check out:

thelibraryofbrittany, Readbyzoe, tashapolis, JessetheReader, Joel Books, Kassidy Voinche, katskywriter24, Little Book Owl, Maureenkeavy, padfootandprongs07

 

 

Some Cool Things Happening on BookTube

Book clubs are super popular. Different people form to make a book club and then have livestreams to discuss the book. Viewers can join and read and chat along. Check out Booksplosion on Twitter for their latest reads.

Readathons are also making their way from blogs to YouTube.

BookTubeAThon has become a huge hit. I love it and participate every time.

 

 

You can also participate in:

book haul – buying three of more books at once then showing what you bought in a video

unhaul – getting rid of the books you don’t want and getting that TBR under control and making a video of it

wrap up – video talking about all that you read in the past month (or whatever time period)

monthly TBR – video to say what you plan to read in the next month

#FridayReads – videos on Fridays to show what you’re currently reading and what your reading plans are for the weekend

tags – fun videos with some questions that you are tagged by someone else to do, you then answer and name someone else to do the same

challenges – usually something with finding or naming books, a crazy activity that is attempted to win or just to see if you can do it, these can be tags

review/discussion – talking about a book you read, a review will usually be spoiler free and discussion is kind of a free for all of anything and everything you thought about the book

 

Meet Our Guest Blogger

Abby is a Minnesotan teen who is a fan of reading, the internet, and strawberry Twizzlers. She is a dancer, a diver, and runs the teen book club at her local library. Abby can be found on Tumblr at yourstrulyabby and on YouTube at abbyrosereads.

Filed under: Uncategorized, YouTube