Why I Don’t Have BookTube – Let’s Talk Bookish

So…hi!

I really did just pull a disappearing act for a month.

Being busy, not having the motivation to blog, and consistently forgetting to do so is becoming an annoying habit.

But I’m here today! So that’s something. I guess.

Yeah, I know. I’ve really forgotten how to write intros.

I’m not even going to make any optimistic promises or hopes that I’ll be back consistently because who knows. I might disappear yet again. Maybe if I don’t expect myself to return more consistently, I actually will. You know, how you try to trick yourself into doing something by pretending you don’t care, but deep down you actually care?

I really don’t know what I’m doing.

But anyway, I thought I should start catching up by writing last Friday’s post that I missed (and the previous 4 of the previous Fridays are also waiting. Hopefully I’ll post them eventually). I might actually do a double discussion in my next post so I can tackle two topics at once, but it depends on what the topics were. Yeah. I don’t remember. So much stuff is going through my mind that I can’t keep track of it all.

Anywho. Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by me and the wonderful Dani @ Literary Lion, where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts.

Friday, March the 12th’s topic was: Do you run a BookTube? Why/why not?

This was Dani’s topic which was pretty apt considering that she recently started a BookTube! Definitely go check her out and watch her amazing videos! I don’t have a BookTube so I’ll just talk about why I don’t in today’s post.

So, I don’t have a BookTube. Or a BookStagram (that’s how you spell it right?). Or a BookTwitter. Or a BookTok which, I believe, is becoming huge these days.

It’s just me, my little blog, and my half-dead GoodReads account (I have so many books that I need to update on there 🤦🏾‍♀️).

Why?

I don’t feel that comfortable putting myself as out there like that with social media. I know a blog is pretty “out there” for some people, but being on Twitter or YouTube or TikTok just seems more out-there than a book blog is.

The blogging community is peaceful and calm. It requires me to really think and write and choose what I’m going to say. All those other social media are pretty rapid-fire and just don’t have the same vibe as blogging does. Which, duh Rukky, they’re totally different things.

However, out of all of those social media, the only one I’m interested in possibly having is a BookStagram. Though I don’t have any books to take pictures of, so it’d be kind of useless. Except if I use it to promote my blog. I don’t know, maybe I’ll join that hype train one day.

But back to the main topic.

Part of why I’m not interested in BookTube is because I’m not a huge fan of my voice, and I feel like the videos would be very awkward. I’m just too shy to be in them, and I’d feel a lot more self-conscious there than I am on here. Here I can be me without putting myself totally out there, but with Youtube, it’s not the same.

Sure, I could do videos in a way that I’m never in them and I don’t have to speak, but I wouldn’t know what content to make since I have the aforementioned problem of not having any books.

Not only that, but I don’t even really watch BookTube, so I’m not pulled to join the community there. I’m more of a blog/writing kind of person so having a blog fits my personality a lot better.

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An interesting question that Dani raised was,

Do you think one format does certain things better than the other? 

I’m sure they both have their perks. I’m obviously biased to blogs, but I can see how doing a video would more accurately convey emotions or ideas compared to written words. It may also feel a little bit more connected because you get to see the person behind the channel and hear them talk and discuss, so it feels more real at times.

Blogs can be trickier because you really have to establish your voice for people to start feeling a connection to your writing. But it’s also a perfect way for people like me who prefer to be themselves without any judgement from anyone. Sure, some people wouldn’t judge, but I’d be too preoccupied worrying about that one person who might to truly relax and enjoy it.

Sometimes I wonder if bookish social media or BookTube are going to take over blogging (I’ve seen other posts talking about that as well). Blogging is becoming, for lack of a better term, a classic in the bookosphere. And that’s not always so bad (classics in books are forever remembered though they can be viciously hated or loved), but it does hurt to think that my hobby might be slowly dying out and that one day, shorter visual content will become the norm.

I like words. I like long, rambly, self-contemplative, and snarky posts. On a level, I love having so many posts to read even if it does get overwhelming pretty fast. I can honestly see myself continuing with this blog for a good number of years because it’s just so Me.

So, even if blogging is becoming a slowly-dying art, I will still cherish it because it created an important chapter in my life.

This Topic’s Participants:

Mallory @ Starlight Reading | Dani @ Literary Lion | Raji @ Worlds Unlike Our Own

Bex @ Bex the Bibliophile | Fives @ Down the Rabbit Hole | Clemence @ Dreamed Worlds

Nastassja @ One Thousand and One Book | Mikaela @ Mikaela Reads | Evelyn @ Evelyn Reads

Hasini @ Bibliosini | Felicia @ Felicia Sue Lynn Reviews | Jess @ Comfort Reads

Nicole @ Thoughts Stained With Ink

Is BookTube for you? Do you think social media is slowly killing book blogs? If you have a BookTube, share it down below! Who knows, maybe I’ll start watching them. If you have a BookTube and a blog, which do you prefer/what are the pros and cons of each? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

p.s. yayy!! i did it in less than an hour like i said!