I find it super interesting to read about BookTok (which I discovered through you; I had no idea it existed) and now about book covers, as these are two aspects that don’t exist in what makes me happy while reading.
I transitioned to full Kindle about 7-8 years ago, and since then, I have to admit that I don’t miss the physical experience of reading a book. In fact, I think a Kindle provides a superior reading experience—it's more convenient, easier to transport, allows me to switch between books, take notes, and read in the dark, etc. The cover aspect is completely absent from my decision-making criteria (on Kindle, I don’t even know what the cover looks like).
The only exception for me is cartography books, which I love, and I have a couple of them at home.
I might be wrong, but from what I read through your article (like people recording themselves crying while reading books) it seems that there's a lot of "signaling" there and people do it more to attract views than for the joy of reading. But I might too old to understand this way of consuming books.
I'm not on BookTok (or TikTok, for that matter) either. As for formats, I'm very much in the physical book camp — in fact, it's my Kindle, not my books, that's collecting dust! I did give ebooks a try years ago when I thought I'd make use of all those notes later on, but that didn't pan quite out. I do love the materiality of books, though I'll admit there are times when I wonder why all that paper around me is good for. But except for a few old leather-bound editions I have, I don't care much for a pretty bookshelf — a nice cover is just a nice-to-have.
Re: signaling, I tend to agree with you, and that's what I've tried to convey when I wrote about the community feeling performative. Whether that's the camera-facing sobs or the obsession with tropes, it's just not my vibe or the sort of literature I consume and want to promote.
That being said, when you work in media and entertainment like I do, it's important to check yourself and make sure you're not projecting your own bias on people's tastes — that you're not on the wrong side of cultural history, if you will. When I write "If we abstain from value judgments on what type of literature people ought to be consuming, or what their bookshelves ought to look like," I do mean it literally. If we dismiss the trend and a community of millions as stupid or a fad, it prevents us from learning anything useful about them. So while I have strong opinions, I've done my best to look at things with an open mind. My goal with this series is to lay a path that doesn't close itself off from cultural shifts but acknowledges them and leverages them as elegantly as possible.
I'm well aware that my opinion about TikTok is mainly due to the fact that I'm too old to embrace these codes, but I fully respect the younger generation that do it. Just not for me, but I fully understand that books shouldn't be a "rigid" object but should be adopted by every generation with their own code.
Thanks for the post! Great as usual!
I find it super interesting to read about BookTok (which I discovered through you; I had no idea it existed) and now about book covers, as these are two aspects that don’t exist in what makes me happy while reading.
I transitioned to full Kindle about 7-8 years ago, and since then, I have to admit that I don’t miss the physical experience of reading a book. In fact, I think a Kindle provides a superior reading experience—it's more convenient, easier to transport, allows me to switch between books, take notes, and read in the dark, etc. The cover aspect is completely absent from my decision-making criteria (on Kindle, I don’t even know what the cover looks like).
The only exception for me is cartography books, which I love, and I have a couple of them at home.
I might be wrong, but from what I read through your article (like people recording themselves crying while reading books) it seems that there's a lot of "signaling" there and people do it more to attract views than for the joy of reading. But I might too old to understand this way of consuming books.
Thanks for reading, Clément :).
I'm not on BookTok (or TikTok, for that matter) either. As for formats, I'm very much in the physical book camp — in fact, it's my Kindle, not my books, that's collecting dust! I did give ebooks a try years ago when I thought I'd make use of all those notes later on, but that didn't pan quite out. I do love the materiality of books, though I'll admit there are times when I wonder why all that paper around me is good for. But except for a few old leather-bound editions I have, I don't care much for a pretty bookshelf — a nice cover is just a nice-to-have.
Interestingly, even BookTok readers can see through the industry's marketing ploys. See this post on low-quality "special editions": https://www.reddit.com/r/fantasyromance/comments/1dzjx34/every_book_has_sprayed_edges_now/.
Re: signaling, I tend to agree with you, and that's what I've tried to convey when I wrote about the community feeling performative. Whether that's the camera-facing sobs or the obsession with tropes, it's just not my vibe or the sort of literature I consume and want to promote.
That being said, when you work in media and entertainment like I do, it's important to check yourself and make sure you're not projecting your own bias on people's tastes — that you're not on the wrong side of cultural history, if you will. When I write "If we abstain from value judgments on what type of literature people ought to be consuming, or what their bookshelves ought to look like," I do mean it literally. If we dismiss the trend and a community of millions as stupid or a fad, it prevents us from learning anything useful about them. So while I have strong opinions, I've done my best to look at things with an open mind. My goal with this series is to lay a path that doesn't close itself off from cultural shifts but acknowledges them and leverages them as elegantly as possible.
Yes, fully agree with you!
I'm well aware that my opinion about TikTok is mainly due to the fact that I'm too old to embrace these codes, but I fully respect the younger generation that do it. Just not for me, but I fully understand that books shouldn't be a "rigid" object but should be adopted by every generation with their own code.